Re - Rendering the clock scene

Below are some renders I created using mental ray. These particular images are from an animated sequence where the long hand hits 12. This is the POV of the main character as he waits for the information on his next hit.

I had done previous renders for this sequence, however Chris felt the animation of the hand was not strong enough to include into the film. We initially set about refining the hand movement so that the motion could be scene real time rather than have the hand teleport to the 12c position which is what happened in the previous render.

My main concern was the render time for this particular shot. The previous render took a very long time to complete because of the large textures we needed to create defined numbers on the clock. Chris and myself could not understand why the render had been taking so long. However, when we opened the file ready for re-rendering we realised there were quite a few components that did not need to be there. We deleted quite a few objects and deleted the history for the scene. This seemed to do the trick as the whole batch render was completed overnight.

The final image is a playblast of the final animation for this particular shot. We both felt that the animation was a lot stronger than the previous attempts.

The Envelope Scene

Below are some images which show the light setup I used for this scene. Primarily I used some are lights to create a 3 point lighting system that would illuminate the shot in an appealing way. There was a bit of trial and error when setting up the lights as I wanted the lamp stand to be partially illuminated. In order to do this I needed to create an area light near the base of the stand to achieve a subtle but appealing result. This can be seen in the latest render for a still shot in Chris's film. When setting up the scene ready for rendering I adjusted certain objects like the phone and table to make them more realistic within the frame. To do this I would simply adjust the verts of the object to create irregularities which softens the image and makes it more believable. I also had to adjust the UV's for the chest of drawers as well as the wall. This was because this scene was originally intended for an long shot. However, by increasing the size of the Uv's I was able to create the level of detail that was necessary for the shot. Chris and I rendered the Fg colour pass as well as the occlusion on my laptop. Once this was done I gave the images to Chris to composite in Photoshop.

I enjoyed creating this scene and lighting it accordingly, however I must say that Chris's storyboards explained everything perfectly and I was able to create a realistic lighting system based on his drawings. I knew exactly where to put the lights. There was a little trial and error adjusting the intensity of the light as well as their decay rate, but it was mostly straight forward. I used the techniques and skills from previous renders to aid me when lighting the scene. I now feel confident when lighting a particular scene to describe visually the emotional content of a scene.

Chris did an amazing job on the composite and I was very happy with the final result. We also had comments from other students saying that it looked real and was more like a photograph. This was always our intention, so I think we did something right.

Vest Uv

Here are a the Uv textures I created for Frank's vest which I created using photoshop. I took a snapshot of the UV frame in Maya and exported it as jpg with a large resolution. Chris supplied me with the basic fabric texture and I added some sweat patches and stains to make the object a little less regular and more realistic. To create the bump I desaturated the image using an adjustment layer and increased the contrast slightly. I need to apply this texture to the vest object to see what it looks like when lit.

When creating the majority of the textures for Frank I felt that the textures needed to be of high quality so I increased the resolution of the images. The results are of a good quality and react well when lit in the right way. I had tried using 2k textures b4, however, they lost huge amounts of quality and looked mediocre at best. There a few close up shots where these high res textures will be needed. So far I am happy with the test renders I have set up in mental ray.

Now its just a case of applying all the textures to the upper body and se how they react to the lights in a particular scene.

Texturing the hair

Below are the hair textures I have been working on this week which will be used for Franks hair. The texture itself is a 3.5k snapshot that was taken in the Uv texture editor. When creating the textures I had to consider Frank's age as well as the concepts that had been done early in the development stage. Chris wanted a mousey brown look with white hair at the sides which would give an indication of his age. My early texures had too much red in them so I had to adjust the saturation and colour balance within photoshop to get the right hair colour. Chris had said early on in production that he wanted the character to be reminiscent of Mr Incredible.

The texturing process took a little longer than expected for a multitude of reasons one of them being computer software errors. Because the texture file was quite large this caused some lagging issues when saving. The only way to solve the problem was to restart the computer. I had to do this several times which slowed down production, unfortunately this cannot be helped as I am using a laptop.

Another set back cropped up when I tried to open the most recent texture to apply to the model and change the colour slightly. When I opened the texture in Photoshop it created a noisy image which can be seen below. The file had somehow become unreadable and I had to revert to adapting an older save file. This was very annoying but I did complete the texture the same day.

UV for the hair object

The image above represents the UV layout for the object that would represent Frank's hair. When looking at this layout I knew I was going to have problem when trying to texture this. The object here was not UV'd properly. Maya will create its own default mapping and literally jumble up the uvs to create this shape. In order to texture the object I needed the uv's to be laid out flat in a manner with which I could distinguish the the Uv's that would make up the 3d model.

Initially when I tried texturing the object using this UV layout I had no idea which squares represented the front or back of the model. I tried creating template tests which would help me map out the image, but it was almost impossible and the textures appeared to be stretched and deformed. The images below show the test templates which I used, however, they did not help much. I was hoping to use the patterns to make sense of the image but to no avail.

My only option now was to ask for the assistance of a UV artist to flatten the image in a way that I could understand which would make the texturing of this object far easier. Farhan Younas agreed to help and solved the issue fairly quickly. With the object now properly UV'd I could now start work on the hair. The image below shows what the hair should look like when it is properly UV'd.

With the image properly laid out I could now texture the image accordingly in a less time consuming manner which would also produce better quality results. Although I am not familiar with the automatic mapping process at the moment, I intend to learn this technique in the very near future. By acquiring skills like these I hope to achieve better quality work for eventual employers. I could learn these techniques now but the process would take some time to learn which would slow down the production of the film. We thought it was best to acquire the assistance of a competent artist to help us in this area s that we could continue film production as the deadline is fast approaching.

Character Renders

The images below show what the main character in the film will look like. As yet I have managed to complete the texturing for the characters skin as well as his vest and trousers. looking at the render I was very happy with the results particularly when I had never attempted character texturing before. I am very grateful to Farhan Younas who was the artist responsible for good quality UV mapping. I am delighted with the results and Chris seems to be very happy with the renders as well. I particularly like the way in which the texture reacts to certain light levels. I applied a bump map which raised certain areas like moles and wrinkles, while other areas like his stubble appeared as though they had been recessed. The overall effect was a very realistic skin texture. However, the lighting in the scenes should amplify his facial features and bring out the areas of interest. By adding a blinn and altering the the settings a little I was able to create a realistic skin material which would create a specular effect. I had to turn off reflections completely as the skin would appear as though it were a shiny, reflective metal which was definitely not the look I was going for.

There was a bit of trial and error in certain areas, that is to say I had to keep the colour tones relatively the same where seems appeared. The model had been UV'd in sections to break the model down and make the texturing process somewhat easier. However this technique would result in seems occurring where two surfaces had been separated. In these areas it was important to use the right colour tones so that the seems themselves would not be easily visible.

I know have to concentrate my efforts on completing the clothes as well as the hair. The rig itself has not been completed but I wanted to complete the textures in time so that we could begin animation straight away when the rig had been done. This would save huge amounts of time rather than waiting for next phase in the character pipeline.

Texturing the Character

Below are screenshots from the UV texture editor I used within maya to create the material that would create the characters skin. In the first image you can see the UV wireframe that I use to distinguish the specific areas of the character. This is useful when trying to apply different colour tones for different facial features like the eye sockets and lips. The UV layout represents the 2d flattened image of a 3d object in maya. This type of UV mapping is necessary when creating the texture for the character especially the face where different and specific skin tones are required to make a realistic looking head.

The second image was the first completed Uv map layout. However, when I applied the texture I noticed that a white stripe appeared on the upper chest area which was not desirable at all. Initially I thought that the character had not been UV'd properly. However, when I painted all the areas in the texture editor as seen in the third image problem had been rectified. I thought that you would not need to paint the areas outside the uv's. However, I think that a little stretching occurs when you apply the texture. In future I will paint the entire uv snapshot to prevent the lines from appearing.

When creating the texture I wanted to create a certain amount of realism as well as some skin tone variation. I also used the standard brush to create some moles and irregularities to prevent any kind of symmetry that would loose the sense of realism. When I completed the texture I then applied a sharpen filter that would define the different colour values and stiples that would form the stubble. I then used the texture to create the bump map which would bring out the moles and recesses to create a realistic unevenness to the facial features. Now it was time to apply the textures to the object.

Clock Render/Problems and Solutions

Here are some screen grabs of the clock close up shot were the clock strikes 12. Initially I thought that rendering this scene was going` to be easy, however the combination of mental ray settings, large textures as well as the resolution of the image combined made the render take much longer than expected. I really don't understand why the render took so long, there were no other files or programs open.

The render itself took two days to complete and this of course slowed down production and prevented me from starting the UV maps for the character. Looking at the animation it, it seems a little too fast. Its too quick on the eye. This will have to be slowed down. I need to find out how to speed up the render if we have to do it again.

Glass/ Dielectric Material

When working on Chris’s scene, which included the glass, I realized the importance of Hdri mapping as well as a sky dome. We tried to render realistic glass using a dielectric material. However, when we initially rendered the scene without a sky dome the glass appeared very dark, almost opaque. This was due to two reasons. The first was the fact that we had not created a sky dome, which would help reflect light back to the glass. In Maya when you render a scene everything outside the scene is rendered as black. So we needed some kind of surface or HDRI, which reflected some colour back. This would solve part of the issue. Another technique was to change the ray tracing values so that they could pass through multiple surfaces allowing the majority of the glass to be illuminated causing refractions of light needed for caustics.

Following some newly acquired tutorials we rectified the problem of the glass appearing opaque. However when we rendered the scene a weird oval shape appeared at the bottom of the glass, which looked very wrong indeed. I suggested that Chris change the camera angle as this issue could have been caused by the refractions within the glass at that particular angle. We rendered the scene again and this seemed to do the trick. There are a few more issues that need addressing as the render is far from perfect. However, I am confident that these minor issues can be dealt with in post. Currently there are strong reflections on the surface of the table that look unrealistic in context with the actual illumination in the scene.

When creating Chris's glass scene we wanted the shot to look as appealing and as realistic as possible. The glass material needed to have that transparent quality, while still allowing refraction to take place. We also wanted to replicate caustics, an effect that occurs in reality when light rays pass through glass and are refracted. Refraction is caused by the change in density between air and glass. This effect also causes patterns to form as the light is reflected and refracted inside the glass. Creating this effect in maya can be achieved, however, I needed some tutorials to point me in the right direction.I found a tutorial that showed me how to create a glass ornament using mia’s dialectric material that simulates the refractive qualities of thick glass which is what Chris wanted.

Although the tutorial dealt with a different shaped glass than the one we wanted to use the principles were still the same. At this point in time I was unaware of what material I should be using to create a glass material. I started out by creating a plane that would form the ground plane. I then create the simple glass ornament that was suspended by a tripod. I began following the tutorial rigorously to create the glass material. Initially I applied a blinn to the object that would eventually be the glass. I then opened up the blinns output settings and changed them to a dielectric material that would simulate glass. I rendered the scene but realised that there was no light and no caustics.

Caustics is a way in which Maya simulates the way in which light passes through a glass object and refracts onto a surface. This can be seen when a glass material is light and forms light patterns beneath the glass. To create this effect I needed to flood the scene with photons, which simulate realistic light rays that will help create the caustics effect. First I created a simple area light that will create my primary and only light source. Once the light was in place I created an additional light that would produce the photons necessary for caustics. I then configured all the necessary render settings to render the glass. I was amazed at the result. The photons simulated real refraction perfectly. If we could get the glass in our scene to look this good it would be an achievement. I did realise that the glass did not seem to reflect the white light source. An object that is reflective should show indications of where the light is coming from as bright highlights. I could not understand why this was happening. But I had an idea.

I proposed to render exactly the same scene but changing the glass material to a reflective metal of some kind. By doing this I could acquire some realistic reflections that I could lay over the glass material in Photoshop by compositing individual layers. I did three passes, which included cpolour, occlusion and reflection. Although the renders collectively consumed one day the results acquire would be more than satisfactory. I have discovered that rendering glass with GI and caustics takes considerable amounts of time to render. This is due to the way in which Maya has to do many calculations in order to simulate real lighting. It has to consider material density, reflection, and refraction as well a bounce light. All these attributed increase render time dramatically. Unfortunately I do not posses a desktop computer, which would have sped up the render process. However, the technique proved to be quite effective and the result was very impressive. I will now apply what I have learnt in this tutorial to our scene and adhering to all the necessary render settings and lighting setup to make this render work.

Below are some glass render tests as well as a render for a shot in Chris's film. I was very happy with the results as I had created some very realistic effects. Considering I had no knowledge in creating glass prior to these tests I think I have shown tremendous determination in overcoming these technical obstacles.

Hat Miss

The images below depict a scene in which Frank throws a playing card into a hat. Chris set up the scene in maya and blocked out the shot. I went in and created area lights in the scene which would illuminate the animation taking place. It was important to get the light levels right as this sequence was more symbolic. The card represents the woman he loves as she escapes from his grasp. The scene represent the forbidden love for a woman that ends up being his next target and is ironic. So the lighting needs to be just right for the viewer to understand the significance of the scene and what it is conveying.

The lighting in the scene was purely fiction and unrealistic but adds to the theatricality of the piece. The animation was fairly straight forward as it was just a case of moving the card into the right position and giving it a little twist to replicate some sort of air resistance. Chris added a nice bit of secondary animation where the hat moves as the card is in contact with the rim. Chris and I both agreed the animation was sufficient for the needs of the shot and I set about rendering the shot ready for Joe to composite.

Exterior Shot

I really enjoyed doing these images. These renders will form the final shot of the film where we see the protagonist exit the apartment and go off into the night. This building will be in the background as the character walks off camera. I had modeled the exterior early in the production but now it was time to light the scene according to Chris's storyboards.

I created some area yellow area lights which would emit the warm glow created by the sodium lamps on the street. I made sure that the light had a linear decay so that it would not cause over exposure. I also made sure that the lights had ray tracing capability so that the light would not pass through objects. This was vital in this scene as the scene would take place at night. Once I had the sodium lights in place I adjusted the intensity so as not to illuminate too much. The scene was supposed to be dark and gloomy as the main character sets off for his next hit. The lighting had to enforce this and describe visually what the character was feeling emotionally.

Chris wanted an extra light source coming from a hotel sign which would help suggest that the character was renting an apartment. The blue tones of the glowing sign would also soften the reds of the brick facades.

The images below show some of the more early light tests using mental ray as well as the positioning of the hotel sign. We decided to move the sign to the left of the image so that it would not be too jarring on the eye. While setting up the scene I was always mindful of the positioning of the camera as well as certain objects in the scene and the way in which the light would interact with the various surfaces. Once I was happy with the layout of the scene as well as the lighting I began to render a colour and occlusion pass.

The images below show the finalised exterior shot and composite. I also added a chemist sign which I felt gave some more focus to the shot as well as colour and it looks cool too. I very much enjoyed this process and the results far exceeded my expectations. Plus this shot was completed within a day.

The Sig Sauer Shot

I had modeled the pistol very early on in the production process but I now needed to texture it ready for rendering. Setting up the scene was fairly straight forward as I created a plane, which would depict the wooden table in the film. I would rest the pistol as well as the silencer on that plane. I added some fairly detailed textures to the plane that Chris created using Photoshop. The key to the shot would be decent textures, bump mapping and excellent use of lighting. I applied some basic blinn textures to the gun as I had tried previously to add textures, which had some scratches but looked terrible and would add to render time significantly. I implemented a three-point lighting system that would highlight specific areas of interest within the image. I also brought in a blue rime light to give the still shot a more moody feel that added some dynamism to the image. I frequently rendered the image to see if any areas needed changing and that the lighting and composition were correct.

I realized that the scene needed something else to balance the image. The shot itself is an important one, as Frank feels reluctant to continue his trade. The gun is a symbol of his violent crimes and the victims he has killed. I added some bullets in the scene, which not only help focus the viewer’s attention but also brings a sinister element to the shot. I added a brass and copper blinn to the bullets that would reflect light on the whole scene. Initially I was happy with the scene. However, the gun needed some more detail to make it more believable.

The grip needed a bump and at the start I was concerned how I was going to apply it to a specific part of the gun. I had tried several times before to apply a bump but these attempts failed and just looked struck on. I then had a brain wave and decided to construct the bump using Maya rather than acquiring images from the Internet. There is a specific area where the bump needed to be applied that consisted of small interlocking diamonds that would form the handgrip. To do this I opened a new scene in Maya and created several diamonds and cloned them to form a square lattice. I then applied created a camera, which faced these objects directly. I then rendered the scene in 1080p and imported the image into Photoshop so I could convert it to a jpg file that would be small but detailed enough to create a bump sufficient for the grip.

I then opened the Sig Sauer scene and selected the faces necessary for texturing and planar mapping. By planar mapping the grip area I would ensure that the bump, when applied would not stretch. I was very happy with the results as the bump reflected some of the light created from the area light in the scene. I rendered the scene with shadows and I also rendered an occlusion layer in mental ray that would create some ambient shadows in specific areas. I then imported these renders into Photoshop as psd files and began to composite the image. I realized that the gun needed some scratches and dents to imply that the pistol had been used many times before. At this stage the gun looked too shiny and pristine. I used a variety of brushes to add scratches and imperfections, which would make the whole scene more believable. In the final stages of the composition process I added some sharpen filters that would help define the edges of different surfaces and make the overall image crisper. I was very happy with the final result as well as the visual look of the scene. I paid careful attention to the storyboard and constantly had a vision in my mind of how I wanted the shot to look. By having a goal I was able to create a very specific image that would tell part of the story. The rendering did take a long time but this was worth it as the results far exceeded my expectations and the expectations of the director. It was very important to acquire an emotional aspect to the shot that would help tell the story and reflect the emotional struggle of the main character. During this process I learnt that lighting is extremely important in creating a visually beautiful image as well as good composition. But I suppose the most important thing I gained from this little exercise was the ability to use Maya to create textures. I was able to create accurate textures, which could be applied to my models at a very fast rate. I will use this technique in the future, especially when creating repeating patterns.