VFX FUNDAMENTALS


Houdini Workshop: (Week 2)

Houdini:

  • Space and G for Zoom In
  • Blast node is for delete.
  • Everything is node based in Houdini.
  • Houdini uses something called packed primitives.
  • Select al nodes and click right mouse button and alt to create Merge or simply add Merge node using Tab button.
  • * Means all
  • Ctrl + B for fullscreen-ing a viewport.
  • Increase the iterations amount in foreach_end node for multiplying the number of objects or items.

Houdini Workshop: (Week 1)

3D Equalizer/3DE:

  • website: vfx camera database VFX Camera Database | A database of digital camera sensor sizes. Designed for visual effects professionals. (vfxcamdb.com)
  • Camera (left side) > Browse (right side) > LOCATE FOOTAGE
  • Environments > Basic > Select Camera lenses > Browse > Select footage.
  • Ctrl + Left Click > to select tracking points on a clip (stretch inside box)
  • T – Shortcut for track
  • E – End
  • Middle scroll for scrolling up,down,sideway
  • Set tracking mode to Pattern.
  • Expand the Search Area box for cleaner and much better tracking.
  • End the tracking just before the key points go out of the frame.
  • Check for the green to red bar for track check. If it reaches red or orange, reposition the search area and tracking data for better and cleaner tracking.
  • Point Browser > Config > Use Horizontal Plane > Image Controls > Enable Image controls and Colour Controls
  • Use > < keys for tracking left or right frames manually.
  • Use Saturation, Brightness, etc.
  • Use Backward Tracking properties in the 2D Tracking direction area on right side for tracking backwards.
  • The more the points in tracking, the better and clearer the tracking will be.
  • Alt + C for 3D
  • Use the point weighting blending to sort out the problematic curves. If that doesn’t work out, try adding more points nearby.
  • The value should be anything under 1 or 1 in the deviation curves.
  • Add Distortion and Quartic Distortion
  • F1 F2 for viewport toggling and Edit Toggling
  • Pg UP and Pg Down for toggling between tracker points.
  • use Snap to grid in Vie option for positioning trackers in respect to grid lines. Best for doors or anything with 90 degrees.
  • Use Fixed Camera Position Constraint in Camera Constraints option under Camera tab for ensuring the camera was fixed in a tripod for shooting the footage.
  • Comma or Full Stop for backward or frontward manual tracking
  • I for turning image control on and off.
  • F6 for 3D viewport.
  • Export the file from 3DEas maya export in MEL file.
  • Open Maya and import scene. Import the fbx model of helmet.
  • Match the size of the helmet to the one in the scene.
  • Add the helmet into the group of the scene.
  • The helmet will be matched with the movement of the scene.

TERM 1

WEEK 10

ADOBE SUBSTANCE PAINTER

I imported my models to SP to texture it and was pretty impressed with the outputs.


WEEK 9

ADOBE SUBSTANCE PAINTER

I finished the texturing of my hot air balloon in Substance Painter. But I think it still feels incomplete especially the balloon area. So, I will probably be adding some pictures of anything there to make it feel more complete. I did not like the output I produced in SP so I think this will not be used but it was a good practice anyways.


WEEK 8

MAYA

I started my modelling of the Hot Air Balloon in MAYA for Gonzalos Balloon Festival Project.

NUKE

Filtering Algorithm:

  • Image filtering algorithms exists to help us define what happens to our pixels as we transform and process the images.
  • DONT GO over 10%. Max – 50% to change the format of an image.

Concatenation:

  • It is the ability to perform one single mathematical calculation across several tools in the Transform family.
  • Don’t add Grade, Color Correction node or any other non-concatenating nodes between two Transform nodes to avoid BLUR in the footages. It loses a lot of detail in the footage.
  • Add Grade, Color Correction node or any other non-concatenating nodes before or after any Transform node.
  • BBOX or Bounding Box defines the area of the frame that Nuke sees as having valid image data. The larger the bounding box is, the longer it takes Nuke to process and render the image. To minimize processing and rendering times, you can crop the bounding box. Occasionally, the bounding box may also be too small, in which case you need to expand it.

Shuffle:

  • Rearrange up to 8 channels from a single image (B input). For example, you can use it to swap rgba.red for rgba.green, and vice versa.
  • Rearrange channels between two separate nodes (A and B input), like a foreground and background branch.
  • Replace a channel with black (removing the alpha channel, for example) or with white (making the alpha solid, for example)
  • Create new channels.
  • Press TAB on the Viewer to create 3D Space.
  • Use CTRL key to rotate.
  • Use Mouse Scroll to Zoom in/Out.
  • Press Mouse Scroll to Pan Left/Right
  • Select PG UP/DOWN arrows after placing mouse on the viewer to change channels.

Planar Tracker:

  • Good for videos with perspective shift.
  • Planar Tracking Node in Tab
  • Cornerpin Absolute may shrink the image to be tracked so it’s better to use Relative because it translates the corners roto-ed perfectly and removes image deformation.
  • Cornerpin Baked does not allow any adjustments to be made to the roto-ed iamge/footage.

Defocus:

  • Ramp is a node that shows color channel from black to white.
  • Ramp Generates a gradation between two defined edges.
  • Use Defocus node instead of Blur node for a filmy look.

ASSGNMENT FOR NEXT WEEK: Get ready 2-3 textured hot air balloon 3d models, 60% of the look AND Replace the 1st and 2nd poster in the place, add a third element e.g. graffiti, drawing (should be obvious)


WEEK 7

ADOBE SUBSTANCE PAINTER

Today’s class was about adding texture and materials to various models. Substance Painter actually is a really good and easy software to add textures and materials to models.

NUKE

2D Tracking:

  • Transform is a super useful node that deals with translation, rotation, and scale as well as tracking, warping, and motion blur.
  • The 2D tracker allows you to extract animation data from the position, rotation, and size of an image. Using expressions, you can apply the data directly to transform and match-move another element. Or you can invert the values of the data and apply them to the original element – again through expressions – to stabilize the image.
  • Click Tab – Select Tracker
  • Tracker node can contain 1 or more tracking points inside it. You can check by selecting the Tracker node in Properties Tab.
  • Types of Tracks:
    • 2D Track
    • 2.5 Track (2.5D (two-and-a-half dimensional) perspective refers to gameplay or movement in a videogame or virtual reality environment that is restricted to a 2D plane with little or no access to a three dimensional in a space that otherwise appears to be three-dimensional and is often simulated and rendered in a 3D digital environment.)
    • 3D Track

Always Turn this ON

Stabilizing Footage with Denoise plate (Week 6)

“ASSIGNMENT FOR NEXT WEEK: ROTO FINGERS ON iPHONE AND ADD A MOVING WALLPAPER, & ADD COMPONENTS TO THE ROTOed MOUNTAINS LIKE HOUSE,WALLS,etc”

ROTO-ed
NODES

WEEK 6

NUKE

Premultiplication (NODE):

  • TRY TO BE ORGANISED WHILE WORKING
  • Premult multiplies the inputs rgb channels by its alpha, i.e., multiplies the RGB values by the alpha.
  • Premultiplies the input image
  • It is used for:
    • Merging unpremultiplied images. This avoids unwanted artifacts, such as fringing around masked objects.
    • Color correcting premultiplied images. When you color correct a premultiplied image, you should first connect an Unpremult node to the image to turn the image into an unpremultiplied one. Then, perform the color correction. Finally, add a Premult node to return the image to its original premultiplied state for Merge operations.
  • Add Premult node by searching in TAB or find it Properties tab and under Output option.
  • PG UP and PG DOWN for shuffling between rgb and other color layers
  • M – Shortcut for Merge
  • G – Grade
  • T – Shortcut for Transform
  • D – Disable
  • Merge node in Properties tab has several operations including Over, Overlay, Divide, etc
  • Crl+Shift+X – Change Background and Foreground
  • Reformat node helps in resizing and repositioning image sequences to different formats (width and height).This also allows you to use plates of varying image resolution on a single script without running into issues when combining them. All scripts should include Reformat nodes after each Read node to specify, at the very least, the output resolution of the images in the script.
  • You can change the image format in Properties Tab after selecting Reformat.
  • Add Unpremult to an image and then Grade/other node and Again Premult to change values of grade of the main image without affecting BG image.

ColorSpace and Linearization:

  • Colorspace defines how the footage was captured or exported. Most files are non-linear, and knowing the correct colorspace is critical for proper linearization.
  • Linearization is the process of converting footage into linear space. All the tools inside nuke are built around linear math. This also allows the mixing of media types.
  • Rec709 is a color format.
  • 8 -bit colors = 256 colors
  • 16-bit colors = 65536 colors
  • 24-bit colors = 16.8 million colors
  • Nuke uses 24-bit colors
  • Import LOG files as SLog file instead of Linear.

LUTs, CDLs and Grades:

  • LUTs can be used for creatively or technically, i.e. converting from log to linear, or adding a “look”.
  • CDLs are creative, i.e., adding a look to the clip.
  • Graded footage means color added to its final look.
  • Highlights, Midtones and Shadows are important part of color correction.
  • Commonly used nodes are Grade and Color Correction.
  • In Nuke, to grade Highlights we use either GAIN or MULTIPLY, to grade Shadows we use LIFT and to grade Midtones we use GAMMA. In Color Correct node, Lift is called Offset.
  • Color lookup is similar to the color curve in Photoshop.
  • The line graph goes from 0 to 1 by adding and manipulating points we can grade the image.
  • Add a point in the line – CTRL+ALT+CLICK and then remove point CTRL+X.

  • Group involves 2 or more nodes.
  • Can be identified with S on the properties tab.
  • Has a hexagon shape instead of the normal rectangle shape for the node.

WEEK 5

NUKE

Rotoscoping:

  • Rotoscoping describes the process of manually altering film footage one frame at a time.
  • Roto node & RotoPaint are similar. The main difference between these two is that you can only create and edit Bezier and B-spline shapes with Roto, while RotoPaint allows you to draw paint strokes too with various brushes.
  • “DIVIDE AND CONQUER”, i.e, Divide each parts before roto-ing or in other words split each sections of a body from head, arms, legs etc.
  • ” LESSER THE POINTS, EASIER THE WORK”

“ASSIGNMENT FOR NEXT WEEK: ROTO THE MAN AND ROTO THE MOUNTAINS”

The Arms are ROTO-ed
The Chest is ROTO-ed
The Legs are ROTO-ed
The Bridge is TRACKED
The Bridge is ROTO-ed
To view like this, add CONTACTSHEET node and increase number of rows and columns and also add SHUFFLE node and connect it to the Channel Merge node

Clean Plate
ROTO-ed
Color matte after Rotoscoping
Grey Scale
NODES

WEEK 4

UNREAL ENGINE 5

  • Material expressions are node based system
  • Math based, i.e., it works in 0-1 scale, meaning that 1 = 100% = white
  • UE5 uses a Physically Based Rendering (PBR) workflow for Materials combining Materials, Lighting and Exposure. This means that Materials closely approximate the way surfaces interact with light in the real world.
  • Top 4 PBR based materials are :
    • ALBEDO or BASE COLOR
    • METALLIC
    • SPECULAR
    • ROUGHNESS
  • Material based properties :
    • Material Domain
    • Blend Mode
    • Shading Model
  • Texture Pyramids or Mipmaps are copies of the original texture that are saved at lower resolutions. You can think of mipmapping like the equivalent of Level of Detail (LOD), but for textures.


NUKE

  • Compositors create the final image of a frame, shot or VFX sequence. They take all the different digital materials used (assets), such as computer-generated (CG) images, live action footage and matte paintings, and combine them to appear as one cohesive image and shot.
  • Digital Compositors Job Progression :
    • Roto
    • Prep
    • Junior Compositor
    • Mid Compositor
    • Senior Compositor
    • Lead Compositor or Department Head
    • 2D Supervisor
    • VFX Supervisor
  • Different versions of NUKE :
    • NUKE
    • NUKE X
    • NUKE STUDIO
    • NUKE NON-COMMERCIAL
    • NUKE STUDENT
    • NUKE INDIE


Command Keys MAYA :

  • W – MOVE TOOL
  • E – ROTATE TOOL
  • R – SCALE TOOL
  • F – FRAME
  • S – SET KEY
  • X – SNAP TO GRIDS (press and release)
  • V – SNAP TO POINTS (press and release)
  • C – SNAP TO CURVES (press and release)
  • T – SHOW MANIPULATOR TOOL
  • G – REPEAT
  • CTRL+Z – UNDO
  • CTRL+SHIFT+Z – REDO
  • H – HIDE/UNHIDE
  • Q – SELECT TOOL
  • A – FRAME ALL IN ACTIVE PANEL
  • G – REPEAT
  • Y – SELECT LAST USED TOOL (except W,E,R,Q)
  • 0 – DEFAULT QUALITY DISPLAY
  • 1 – ROUGH QUALITY DISPLAY
  • 2 – MEDIUM QUALITY DISPLAY
  • 3 – SMOOTH QUALITY DISPLAY / Curve Objects
  • 4 – WIREFRAME
  • 5 – SHADED DISPLAY
  • 6 – SHADED AND TEXTURED DISPLAY
  • 7 – USE ALL LIGHTS