Hi, minoribus! I’ve not used Substance Painter or Quixel yet, though when I’m able to afford a new computer, I’d like to start trying out at least one of those programs. I have been using Bitmap2Material lately, though. I just started playing with it, and it didn’t take too long to get used to the layout. It helps a lot with creating materials from a single image texture, and the ability to create tiling textures is also very good.
I haven’t gotten much into PBR stuff yet (as far as going nuts with all the different types of maps), since Cycles isn’t really set up to focus on PBR stuff (at least not yet). I know there are some PBR node groups out there that people have created, but I just haven’t gotten around to really playing with them, and the node setups I’ve been using so far have been working okay. One of these days soon I’d like to sit down and really look at how to use PBR maps in Cycles. Have you been using them in Blender? If so, do you have any recommendations about how to use PBR maps?
In other news, the first shoot for the video is tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it! There will likely be 2-3 shoots, because I’m filming very late in the day, and the light will only last for about 30 minutes before it’s too dark to keep shooting.
I was able to get part of the video shot on Sunday evening, and I’m hopeful I’ll be able to get the rest of it filmed during this week. I feel a very intense desire to get it shot as quickly, and as well, as possible. I’ve been watching John and Mary’s home and cats since Thursday, and that’s made it harder to work on anything (since they live one town over, and all my work is on my desktop). But they’re back home now, so I can get a lot more work done.
I tweaked the boids a bit more today. Haven’t done any full renders of the animation, but here’s a still from the test scene:
The legs move at the correct pace of each particle, and even though it’s a bit robotic (the arms don’t move, and obstacle avoidance is a little jerky), I think that’s okay because it stills fits the look of Minecraft, where AI entities aren’t the most graceful creatures.
Lots more work coming this week as new footage comes in!
I guess it was a lot of try and error to get the leg speed right, James. But I’m eager to see these walking!
One of these days soon I’d like to sit down and really look at how to use PBR maps in Cycles. Have you been using them in Blender? If so, do you have any recommendations about how to use PBR maps?
I’ve played with them lately because of the new PBR painting features of 3dCoat 4.5 beta. I plugged the maps into a ready made shader from bend swap and I made own shaders with them. The results for metal objects have been nice. Not exactly what I saw in the 3DCoat viewport, but nice nonetheless It’s worth a try.
minoribus - That’s very interesting. I’ll have to try them out!
ironshirt - Thanks! I try to make my videos interesting and different.
I’m still working on this one, but it’s taken a break to get a couple other videos out first. I expect to reach 10,000 subscribers this summer, so I want to do something special for them. I’m asking them to vote on what to use in our first motion capture video; the Atlas mechs from Titanfall, or this really cool Hulkbuster suit:
It’s been almost two months since my last update! I have completed two new videos for my channel, and now I can finally return my attention to this short film. I think the break from the project has been beneficial, and I am again excited to work on it. I’ve made a number of changes to the story, such as getting into the action right off the bat, as well as changing the location.
There is a nearby bridge that I’ve decided suits the film better. The area looks really spectacular at 7:00 PM, when the sun is low in the sky and the light bounces off the side of the bridge and back onto the are- it just looks cool. The only issue is that it’s the rainy season here, and it’s very difficult to find an evening which doesn’t have cloudy skies. I will continue to try to wait for the weather to cooperate, but just in case I have to bite the bullet and shoot on cloudy days, I wanted to see what it would look like.
Here’s a test with the helicopter. I think it needs to be scaled up a bit, but it’s just the first test.
Oh, and I’ve also decided to render out in a wider aspect ratio (cinemascope) but still at 1280 pixels wide. It’s a format I’ve always liked, but the main reason is just to cut down on render times. I’d love to render 1080 for this project, but I did some tests, and that’s still just a bit too much of a commitment for my PC.
I know it was only a test with the cloudy sky, but I think the lighting needs more drama in the last render, James. Compared to #25 it’s kind of flat. And to me the render reveals an immanent problem of this project, which is difficult to solve. The model lacks details, if compared to the environment. I wonder if it would help if the borders of the individual building blocks would be visible clearly. I’d try to add a tiny bevel to all of them and see how it looks in that case.
I was thinking the same things, minoribus. The chopper could really use some extra detail on it, and the hard directional light just has a nicer look to it than the overcast lighting. We finally got a nice, sunny day where I could test the direct light on location. While it looked nicer from certain angles, it also became very difficult to shoot from others. My camera is about 5 years old now, and doesn’t handle big dynamic range as well as the newer cameras do.
While I’d prefer to shoot live action (for the novelty of it, as well as reduced rendering times), creating everything in Blender would give me more control over the look, including the technical quality. It also allows slight changes to the story. I’ll continue testing both options to see which is the better direction to go in.
Thanks as well for the beveling suggestion; that’s a good idea!
Good, that makes me certain that the helicopter definitely needs more detail. I had an inkling it looked a bit plain, but now that we have a consensus on it, it’s moved from an inkling to a certainty.
I decided to create a teaser for the video, for a few reasons. Firstly, it will give me a bit of practice for the film, figuring out how to make the zombie horde look more interesting (multiple walk cycles instead of all using the same one). A bit of practice with audio design and look development as well. Additionally, it will give me another video to upload; once two or three weeks pass on a channel without a new video, views immediately start to take a dive. It’s just how YouTube works currently. Less views, less subscribers gained. And thirdly, it will hopefully build up a little interest in the video for people who don’t follow me.
Anyway, I shot the footage for the teaser this evening. I had the help of a few friends who I’ve worked with on music videos before. The shot is just a simple reveal of a man running up a hill, gradually coming into view. Behind him, a horde of zombies is revealed chasing after him. I shot it at 300mm to allow for appropriate perspective. How many of you have seen the film “The Professional”? If you have, you may remember the shot which inspired this one.
My goodness, this project seems to have just dragged on and on. Sorry about that! The good news is that the video is almost done! Assuming there are no unforeseen setbacks, I should have it finished within a few days.
In the meanwhile, I’ll share some screengrabs from the video. This one is the puddle shot, which took some creative thinking to pull off.
It looks nicer in motion than in a still frame. I’ll upload a mini-tutorial explaining how I created the shot as soon as the video is up. It took a couple attempts to get right!
Very cool. James. I was curious how the pixelated minecraft stuff and the real world environment would blend together. But all this is great. The voice over is awesome. A good choice and it adds so much to it. The zombie animation is also good, some minor problems with slipping, but nothing that would led it down. And I love the scenes with the puddles and when the helicopter comes down.
