Where flavour is king!

Johnnie Walker 

"Where flavour is king"

Alt Vfx Brisbane

I recently had the pleasure of working with the incredibly talented crew at Alt Vfx in sunny Brisbane, Queensland. Working on shading objects and lighting scenes for the vfx heavy spot was challenging due to the sheer size of some of the scenes and required heavy optimization to keep rendering times at an acceptable level but hey that's half the fun right? My favorite shot to light up and also one of the most demanding shots was the wide open spice room shot, a softly mood lit shot with incredible detail! Please have a look at the spot itself and also the vfx breakdown.

The Spot

A shot breakdown from Alt Vfx

Please visit the Alt Vfx website to view the rest of there amazing work! 

Alt VFX 

Gallardo

 I can handle your automotive rendering needs

Get in contact with me today!

Vray Hidden Line Wireframe Shader

AJ HL Wireframe Shader v1.0
A useful shader for checking tracking and matchmove objects.

When checking a camera track or a matchmove against film footage its always good to check your markers and animation with a hidden line wireframe render before handover. To do this in Vray is currently a little painful in terms of setting up a wireframe shader that can pass through an image plane so to save time I have setup this basic shader network that will automatically create the shader with a projection setup linked to the scene imageplane of your camera.


Install instructions
Download the script from below and paste into the maya script editor as python
Run the script directly from there 
OR
Drag the script into a shelf for a one click solution

DOWNLOAD
AJ HL Wireframe Shader v1.0

There are a few minor bugs that I will work on but here's the list to watch out for.


v1.0 known bugs
use at your own risk.. yada yada...

• There can be only one image plane in the scene
• The camera and image plane must already be created before running the script or it wont link
• You need to manually select what camera your projection is coming from using the imageplane_passthrough node in the hypershade network.

Nuke Inventory - Standard Issue One

So if your using Nuke everyday then here are some scripts that will make life just the little bit easier! I will add more tools over time :) Most of these will be available from www.nukepedia.com

 TABTABTAB! 

A mate of mine has made a very useful alternative to the tab shortcut called TABTABTAB. It is a must have if your everyday nuke workflow involves hitting the tab key over and over to find that one special node ;)

TABTABTAB Can be downloaded free from nukepedia.

http://www.nukepedia.com/python-scripts/ui/tabtabtab/


Backdrop Tools

Another useful tool to keep all them noodled, tangled, mess of nodes neat.. neatish.. nuke's backdrop tool is good but it has issues with layering. This tool fixes backdrop layer issues allowing your to keep things boxed up and neat. If you need to hand off your scripts to other artists it's a good idea to keep sections labeled so if your absent another artist can pick up your comp without having spontaneously combusting at there chair from looking into your comp script! :)

Backdrop Tools can be downloaded from nukepedia

http://www.nukepedia.com/python-scripts/nodegraph/backdroptools/


More useful tools to come :)

GoPro Hero2 Protune Firmware update

So GoPro has announced that the Hero2 will recieve one hell of a professional makeover adding 24fps / higher 35mbps capture rate (from 15mbps) and a flatter CineStyle color profile for using LUT's and working in a non-destructive color workflow! Wowee!! glad I just picked one up, and now I cant wait for the new firmware.

This is a post pulled from 3dvision blog that sums it up nicely.


"GoPro has announced their partnership with Technicolor at the NAB 2012 Show in Las Vegas in order to embed Technicolor’s CineStyle color profile for the debut of the new GoPro Protune firmware this summer. The new Protune firmware for the GoPro HD HERO2 action cameras will also bring support for 24fps frame rate recording, higher 35 Mbps data rate, neutral color profile for better color correction in post-production, log curve encoding offering more detail in shadows and highlights as well as reduced sharpening and noise reduction. The GoPro Protune firmware will be a free firmware upgrade available for the HD HERO2 camera only and will work with the GoPro CineForm Studio without any problems. Using Protune with GoPro CineForm Studio Premium and GoPro CineForm Studio Professional should provide additional benefits, offering extensive color correction controls and customizable presets to create professional, cinematic looks from the GoPro HERO2 captured content. Non-destructive 3D LUTs should provide even more flexibility, enabling users to further tweak their images, manipulate saturation and contrast and color correction controls to create highly stylized content.

There is no word if the Protune firmware will be compatible with the 3D HERO accessory, but there should be nor reason for it not to be. And the 24 fps recording mode along with the higher bitrate would also be a benefit for people using the HD HERO2 action cameras in pairs to record stereoscopic 3D footage. The less additional processing on the input would also be a plus for stereo 3D recording, although there are still some things that need attention when using the 3D HERO adapter in the latest standard firmware for stereo 3D recording in order to have matching exposure and white balance on both cameras for example. Still, can’t wait to see some sample video footage recorded with HD HERO2 using the new Protune firmware…"



NAB 2012: GoPro going cinestyle - HERO2 35Mbit & Technicolor from cinema5D on Vimeo.
http://gopro.com/gopro-partners-with-technicolor-to-incorporate-cinestyle%E2%84%A2-into-gopro%E2%80%99s-new-protune%E2%84%A2-firmware-for-hd-hero2-at-nab-2012/

Need photo realistic quality car rendering? Give me a buzz! 

PROMETHEUS

So i recently had the honor of working on Ridley Scott's upcoming alien prequel - Prometheus!

What an awesome project!! being my first stereoscopic film I had a lot to learn, ever tried 3d camera tracking? ever tried 3d camera tracking in stereoscopic on a HR Giger detailed set? well its not an easy task! I worked with highly detailed lidar geo and believe me, when they need to match within half a subpixel there's no room for error. As the films not out yet these are similar shots to what I was assigned (found all images on google). I will share my own shots once they have clearance after release.

For the first time I had also been thrown into 2D compositing for a feature film! Lots of thanks to my comp buddies for all there help in teaching me new skills and tricks to make my shots look great and in stereoscopic on the big screen!! When you see Miss Vickers looking over the horizon and there's not a ton of crew and camera's in her helmet reflection, you wont ever know :)

There are some funky things that happen in stereoscopic, a shot that is already complex can become insane when you add the other eye. Reconciliation is a common practice for stereo plates in that both color and vertical alignment need to match perfectly for both eyes to ensure a comfortable stereo experience. Nuke has some excellent tools for doing exactly that, I will cover more on this topic later on.


Until its release in a few weeks here's some links to drool over :)

Official website
http://www.prometheus-movie.com

David 3 Viral
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWmbqH_z7jM

Youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/PrometheusNews

Welcome to AJ3DVFX!

I have been working in the visual effects industry for about 5 years and this blog is to share my knowledge, tools, artwork and experience back to the community! I have written scripts and tools for Maya, Vray, 3Delight and Nuke that I use day to day and will also share tools I have found to be useful.