1. Welcome to Tundras.com!

    You are currently viewing as a guest! To get full-access, you need to register for a FREE account.

    As a registered member, you’ll be able to:
    • Participate in all Tundra discussion topics
    • Transfer over your build thread from a different forum to this one
    • Communicate privately with other Tundra owners from around the world
    • Post your own photos in our Members Gallery
    • Access all special features of the site

CG work

Discussion in 'Photography' started by smslavin, Dec 5, 2019.

  1. Dec 5, 2019 at 5:17 PM
    #1
    smslavin

    smslavin [OP] Behind a lens...

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2017
    Member:
    #8578
    Messages:
    7,208
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Sean
    Hudson Valley
    Vehicle:
    2016 Tundra CrewMax SR5
    Some stuff
    so, because i don't have enough going on these days, i decided to start tackling the massive learning curve of vfx and cgi. there are some ideas in my head for my film work that i can't do without it.

    as usual, i dove head first into the shallow end by grabbing some pre-built models from sketchfab. i've also been cruising turbosquid. some of the stuff people build is absolutely mind blowing. i'll never get to that point but i do want to use those models in a believable manner.

    back to the shallow end...

    i grabbed some models, dropped them into blender and started clicking around. figured out their rigging, how to reposition things and how to animate. blender's UI is massive and it's taken awhile to figure out where everything is. i was able to export animations with an alpha channel and drop them into video clips inside of motion. i'm not a premiere/after effects fan boy. worked out okay but not convincing in the least.

    today, i took a few steps back and found a great tutorial series. seriously, who needs film school these days? worked through a few and created something absolutely brilliant. oscar worthy for sure. what's better than a shiny monkey head?

    suzanne.jpg

    what i really love is that i can take my knowledge of lighting setups and apply it virtually to the models. single key. a key with a small fill. full 3 point setup. whatever i want.

    i now have a handle on shaders, materials, lighting, hdri files and the basics of blender's UI. i'm really impressed with what blender can do as an open source software package. it should be able to handle everything i need. my 10 year old, modded out mac pro on the other hand... is struggling just a bit.

    i have a few more basics tutorials to go then i'm moving into the rigging and animation side. once i can animate a model, it'll be time to work on the compositing.

    anyone else playing and/or working with this stuff?
     
    Black Wolf, TheBeast and Bob like this.
  2. Dec 5, 2019 at 6:19 PM
    #2
    14CRWMX

    14CRWMX New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2019
    Member:
    #37734
    Messages:
    303
    Gender:
    Male
    Tampa Bay
    Vehicle:
    2014 SR5
    Good stuff brother, keep it up :thumbsup:
     
  3. Dec 7, 2019 at 5:54 PM
    #3
    smslavin

    smslavin [OP] Behind a lens...

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2017
    Member:
    #8578
    Messages:
    7,208
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Sean
    Hudson Valley
    Vehicle:
    2016 Tundra CrewMax SR5
    Some stuff
    still futzing around with the monkey head. this was an interesting one to work through. not quite done yet, as i still need to animate it, but i’m starting to realize just how powerful blender can be.
    FAAF2FEA-7115-43F2-BDEC-192247F98858.png

    slowly working my way towards compositing with actual video.
     
    Black Wolf likes this.
  4. Dec 7, 2019 at 6:28 PM
    #4
    drobb

    drobb The Feral Snail

    Joined:
    Apr 9, 2016
    Member:
    #3093
    Messages:
    825
    Gender:
    Male
    SoCal
    Vehicle:
    2013 Tundra CrewMax 4x4
    smslavin[OP] likes this.
  5. Dec 7, 2019 at 6:31 PM
    #5
    831Tun

    831Tun heartless Bastrd

    Joined:
    Jun 7, 2016
    Member:
    #3549
    Messages:
    11,577
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Warren
    Santa Cruz
    Vehicle:
    '16 CM limited
    TC long travel. Deaver 420 SU leaf packs.
    Since you asked, I agree, I don't think there's anything better than a shiny monkey's head.
     
    Black Wolf, TheBeast and smslavin[OP] like this.
  6. Dec 7, 2019 at 9:37 PM
    #6
    smslavin

    smslavin [OP] Behind a lens...

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2017
    Member:
    #8578
    Messages:
    7,208
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Sean
    Hudson Valley
    Vehicle:
    2016 Tundra CrewMax SR5
    Some stuff
    :thumbsup:
    hadn’t seen that. looks like good stuff. thanks.

    :thumbsup:
     
    831Tun[QUOTED] likes this.
  7. Dec 12, 2019 at 5:25 PM
    #7
    smslavin

    smslavin [OP] Behind a lens...

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2017
    Member:
    #8578
    Messages:
    7,208
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Sean
    Hudson Valley
    Vehicle:
    2016 Tundra CrewMax SR5
    Some stuff
    more practice with the monkey head. blender animations into fcpx timelines. obviously some fine tuning that needs to happen and i need to figure out what happened to the alpha channel...

     
    Black Wolf likes this.
  8. Dec 26, 2019 at 4:10 PM
    #8
    smslavin

    smslavin [OP] Behind a lens...

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2017
    Member:
    #8578
    Messages:
    7,208
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Sean
    Hudson Valley
    Vehicle:
    2016 Tundra CrewMax SR5
    Some stuff
    work in progress. models are not mine. grabbed those from cgtrader and sketchfab. i did make the water. right now, i'm more interested in scene/world building and working with lighting and camera angles. absolutely no idea where i am going with this...

    gate.jpg
     
    Black Wolf likes this.
  9. Dec 29, 2019 at 12:09 PM
    #9
    smslavin

    smslavin [OP] Behind a lens...

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2017
    Member:
    #8578
    Messages:
    7,208
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Sean
    Hudson Valley
    Vehicle:
    2016 Tundra CrewMax SR5
    Some stuff
    ok, so, i've always had respect for the skill required by top notch animators. after spending the past couple of hours learning the ins and outs of rigging models in blender, i'd say that respect has gone up a notch or two.

    blender.jpg

    hoping i can make this do what i want it to without completely melting my aging mac... :bananadead:
     
    Black Wolf and drobb like this.
  10. Dec 30, 2019 at 10:03 AM
    #10
    smslavin

    smslavin [OP] Behind a lens...

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2017
    Member:
    #8578
    Messages:
    7,208
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Sean
    Hudson Valley
    Vehicle:
    2016 Tundra CrewMax SR5
    Some stuff
    ok. well, i'd say this is progress. ship is not mine but everything else is.

    planet.jpg

    starting to get the hang of this. i think. maybe.
     
    NE_WARRIOR, GODZILLA and Black Wolf like this.
  11. Dec 30, 2019 at 10:43 AM
    #11
    Yzed608

    Yzed608 New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2017
    Member:
    #8351
    Messages:
    980
    Gender:
    Male
    Wisconsin
    Nice! I have some experience modeling and rendering in Blender, mostly dealing with models for a MX video game (MX Simulator). Blender is a VERY powerful program. I haven't really messed around with the 2.8 version too much, I'm more familiar with the older 2.7 UI and cycles render engine. I have zero experience with the Eevee rendering engine.

    A few sites that have helped me:
    https://cgcookie.com/
    http://www.blendtuts.com/
    https://www.blenderdiplom.com/en/
    https://www.blendernation.com/
    https://www.blendswap.com/

    This model I did the "plastics" on the bike (not the frame etc). Since it's for a game the poly count is low.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    This is a render scene I did, all the base models were existing (I made the fencing) I just modified the textures and materials and setup the scene. Doing all the snow stuff was pretty fun, it's just a displacement map on a plane, the snow on the tires is setup similar just on a separate torus shaped model and a masking setup.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    Textures, materials and render:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    The only animation experience I have.
    [​IMG]

    Keep up the learning! I can't say I'm a huge fan of Premiere yet (I used to use Sony Vegas, now I'm subscribed to CC for PS, LR and PR) but from what I've seen from much more experienced, skilled people than me, is that Blender is a very good tool to integrate with video editing software.
     
    GODZILLA, smslavin[OP] and drobb like this.
  12. Dec 30, 2019 at 11:55 AM
    #12
    smslavin

    smslavin [OP] Behind a lens...

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2017
    Member:
    #8578
    Messages:
    7,208
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Sean
    Hudson Valley
    Vehicle:
    2016 Tundra CrewMax SR5
    Some stuff
    the snow looks great. i haven't played much with building environmental stuff yet but, it's on my list.

    i'm not a fan of premiere. at all. all i want from adobe is Lr and Ps. i do all my video editing in FCPx and i use Motion for graphics and compositing. i've only tried some super basic stuff but going from Blender to FCPx/Motion (or the other way) has been pretty good. i've got some larger projects in mind so we'll see what happens.
     
  13. Dec 30, 2019 at 12:13 PM
    #13
    Yzed608

    Yzed608 New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2017
    Member:
    #8351
    Messages:
    980
    Gender:
    Male
    Wisconsin
    Thanks! Also try to take a look at some plugins for Blender. It is very easy to integrate things into the program since it's open source, there are a ton of great add-ons/plugins depending on what you want to do.
     
    smslavin[OP] likes this.
  14. Dec 30, 2019 at 4:06 PM
    #14
    smslavin

    smslavin [OP] Behind a lens...

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2017
    Member:
    #8578
    Messages:
    7,208
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Sean
    Hudson Valley
    Vehicle:
    2016 Tundra CrewMax SR5
    Some stuff
    whew. this one almost melted my computer...

    planet3.jpg
     
    Squatting Pigeon and Ckatz53 like this.
  15. Jan 6, 2020 at 3:02 PM
    #15
    smslavin

    smslavin [OP] Behind a lens...

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2017
    Member:
    #8578
    Messages:
    7,208
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Sean
    Hudson Valley
    Vehicle:
    2016 Tundra CrewMax SR5
    Some stuff
    ok, next exercise complete. been working on this the past few days and it's a combination of several different tutorials. there are still things to learn with regards to lighting, animation and overall workflow but this is a skill that might be handy to have.



    i'm still absolutely floored at the available tools in a free piece of software.
     
    Yzed608, drobb and Squatting Pigeon like this.
  16. Jan 27, 2020 at 8:27 AM
    #16
    smslavin

    smslavin [OP] Behind a lens...

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2017
    Member:
    #8578
    Messages:
    7,208
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Sean
    Hudson Valley
    Vehicle:
    2016 Tundra CrewMax SR5
    Some stuff
    ongoing piece. been working on it on and off the past few weeks. still haven't decided if it's done but i'm letting it sit for awhile.

    Box Space v3.jpg
     
    Yzed608 likes this.
To Top