Today’s class is about how to create custom textures for our 3d models using substance painter. The whole concept of how SP works is pretty straightforward. It is very similar to Photoshop where we paint with masks and layers.
Substance Painter offers a bunch of materials and smart materials that are packaged with the program. Creating custom materials with substance designer or importing existing smart materials is also possible. Most of the existing materials are not exactly usable straight out of the box. But they can be modified or used as a base start point to create the final texture.
I think the most important thing for texturing would be that whatever the artist choose to add to the materials must have their reasons. And that reason is to sell the story and concept.
The image below was a test image that I did for the class. I was trying out the different brushes and materials in SP.
Reflection
Texturing is the next step after UV unwrapping. I feel that it is a important step as it gives the 3d model life. It gives the asset a reason to exist. Without textures, the whole 3d environment will just be plain and dull white clay material. I would definitely be using more SP to create textures for future projects.
Instead of a layer system, the node tree system is a list of instructions
Merge Node and its operations:
over
mask
average
overlay
stencil
minimum
maximum
under
etc…
Reformat node: changing image size/format. Upscaling will result in the degradation of image quality. You can choose the interpolation methods but the result is often jittery. Can look at AI tools if upscaling is really needed.
Premult Workflow: Unpremult to divide by alpha -> do grading and CC -> then premult
When doing grading, we process and treat RGB separately from Alpha channels.
Colorspace and linearisation
32 Bit Color
Colour Matching Methods: 1. Edit the white point of the original colour, then adjust the gain.
2. Divide color, then multiply
Ctrl Shift-drag to get an average colour data
Alt + K for cloning nodes creates a reference copy of the node with linkages for all the parameters.
QC
Control highlights, mid-tones and low
Reflections
Today the main takeaway for me is the concept of per-multipilcation. To do image edits, we need to unpremult before doing any operation to the image. This is because there is extra image data in the channels that we are not aware. This information is new to me and I will definitely keep this in mind the next time when I do compositing.
UV mapping is the process of generating a flat representation of a 3d dimensional geometry. This UV map can be represented by UV coordinates which are also known as texture coordinates. Since it’s 2d, the two parameters it are U for the X-axis and V for the Y-axis.
Applying textures – right click assign material (either existing or new material)
Creating materials – edit from hypershade
Maya’s UV editor – interface to edit UVs if needed, auto unwrap works most of the time.
Demo example: Earth and Moon
Earth texture (source: USGS)Moon texture (source: NASA)Earth and Moon geometry in Maya viewport
Reflections
As most of the modeling work will be done in Maya, the next step will be to UV wrap them. Having proper UV maps is very important to ensure the textures does not appear in the wrong places of the model. For the class activity, we are tasked to texture two different spheres with the earth and moon’s texture from online sources. The task was pretty straightforward as when unwrapping a UV sphere the projection is already the same as the geographic projection of the images (Mercator Projection being the most popular for maps). All we have to do was to auto unwrap and apply the textures with a standard material in Maya. I look forward to further texture lessons.
Rotoscoping for VFX is used to create a matte or mask for an element from a plate, so it can be extracted out to place on a different background or edited. Rotoscoping gives artists a chance to produce scenes that would otherwise be difficult to do in real life. It also allows us to edit out unwanted elements in post-production. the possibilities are endless.
Roto Node and Rotopaint are generally similar. Rotopaint allows you to paint on the plate. But the roto node is lighter.
Colour Channels & Alpha
Mattes can be located on each channel
Motion blur in mattes is important, and often roto mattes have motion blur included
Rotoscoping
Divide and conquer, split the subject into parts for the roto mask.
Lesser spline points will result in a smoother animated mask
Roto Assignment: Running Man
The assignment brief was to create a matte for the running man as well as the bridge railings from the plate. The following is my attempt at the assignment.
Reflections
Today we learnt about isolating specific elements within a plate into different layers. It involves creating an animated mask which is black and white so that we can use different pixel operations to extract them out from the background. I find that this is a incredibly tedious task. Although Gonzalo said it can be quite nice and easy to do, I find that my mind when numb when trying to shift those individual keys to create the roto masks. Perhaps my workflow is not that refined, but I did not enjoy the entire process. I also was not pleased with my final result of the running man as I see a lot of problems with my work. I will need more practice to get better.
DynaMesh is a great tool for free-form sculpting because it removes the need for concerns about a geometry’s topology. It’s possible to change the overall shape of any DynaMesh by using the brushes in Zbrush. I think it is very useful for me to create low and middle-resolution sculpts, for blocking or low-resolution models. It is also a great way for me to make the base mesh before adding more details to my models and progressing to high-resolution models.
Zremesher
I find the remesher tool in Zbrush really useful, it automatically produces topology for my dynamesh model. Also in the V3, the new algorithm can produce better results on the sculpts.
Reflection
Today we continue with Zbrush organic sculpting/modelling. I really enjoy sculpting because somehow I find it very therapeutic. I continue to work on my skull. I also try different brushes that is inbuilt within Zbrush. I also found out about stencils where you can sculpt details with texture alphas which is super cool.
Another cool feature about Zbrush would definitely be Dynamesh and Zremesher. Dynamesh quickly allows me to start sculpting from a sphere to a base mesh with low details in a short time. After having the proper proportions I can then increase the amount of polygons to sculpt in even more details. I am amazed by how much polygons Zbrush can handle and not crash. Previously sculpting in blender gives me quite bad experience as the software will crash after the geometry exceeds >1mil polys. Zbrush can handle a few mil polys easily.
Furthermore, ZRemesher is really a cool tool to quickly optimise the topology of my model, from a few million polygons to a few hundred thousand in just one click. The software dev behind this is really a genius.
Compositors create the final image of a frame, shot or sequence. They take different digital elements; like the animations, background plates, graphics and special effects (SFX) and put them together to make a believable picture.
General Pipeline of a film/movie
Pipeline workflow
Three routes in an established production company
Technical Artist
CG Generalist
Compositor
Digital Compositor progression:
Roto
Prep
Junior comp
Mid comp
Senior comp
Lead comp/department head
2D sup
VFX sup
Software for Compositing
After Effects
Layer based compositing
8/16-bit colour, for broadcasting use
Most of the time, not computationally heavy
popular with motion graphics
Unstable performances with large data files, and other colour spaces other than sRGB
Missing features for digital compositing
Davinci Resolve
Node-based
better colour management
works well with heavy files
Free
Comp and grading in the same software
Nuke
Supports USD (universal scene description)
Customizable
Comes in different types
NukeX
Nuke Student
Nuke Non-Commerical
Nuke Indie
Differences across all nuke versions
Nuke
More information is available in the documents in the week 3 folder.
What was went through:
UI navigation
Toolbar
Node graph
Properties
Viewer
Some basic shortcuts
Nuke script format, open projects, save projects
Workspaces
Node groups
Commonly used nodes
Feedback
Wk2 Assignment
Comments: Pay more attention to telling the story. Need more direction.
Next week’s homework:
Practice and get comfortable with the software
Next class: Rotoscoping
Reflections
Today’s class is still covering a bit of theory. Gonzalo covered in detail what the job of a compositor entails and where compositing is positioned in the pipeline. He also covered the general progression of a digital compositor. We then moved on to talk about the differences between the different general compositing software in the different industries.
The later part of the class, we finally proceed to open nuke. Gonzalo very patiently introduced us to node based compositing with Nuke. He also covered some common nodes that we will be using often in our journey. He assured us that it is alright to not understand everything that he covered as it might be overwhelming at first, but eventually we will get it. I really like the pacing of his class as it was not too fast nor it was slow. I look forward to more Nuke classes as it seems interesting.
UE5’s material system is like most DDCs which is a node-based system.
Common nodes:
math nodes
Constants
Texture nodes
Function/Parm
Coordinates
In PBR, roughness is rough for a value of 1 and shiny is 0.
We created 4 basic materials:
Master base
Glass
Chrome
Emissive
IOR is index of refraction which is the angle at which light ray bends when entering surface.
Master and Instanced material. Instance materials build upon master master materials to increase performance.
However, often we need to plan and organise the materials.
MIs can be derived from master materials using parameters.
Mipmaps are like LODs for geometries, its the same texture but adapts resolution according to camera view.
Texture map formats:
In games, mutliple maps are stacked to different color channels.
Progress for Cabin in Woods
Found some reference images for cabin in the woods for my UE5 project.
Blocking layout for Cabin in the Woods, this is my blocking for my UE level
BLOCKING IMAGE HERE
REFERENCE IMAGES HERE
I will need to apply what I learnt about shaders and use it to apply some materials to my cabin as well as my lake will need some shaders as well.
Reflections
Material and Shading is a very important concept for CG artist to understand. I am glad Emily covered it in detail. She mainly went through the PBR (Physically based rendering) workflow. She also mentioned some tips and tricks to apply material and shaders in UE5. Hopefully I can apply what was taught to my cabin in woods project and make my scene more realistic. The nodes system in UE5 is familiar to other rendering softwares which mostly uses nodes system as well. So I did not struggle much with understanding the core concept of materials in UE5. The concept of material instancing however, is new, and I need some time to understand. I will need to look into it further. Also I will need to look into NPR(non physical rendering).
Importance of concept art. It occurs early in the creative process and the pipeline whether games or film.
Discussion of Assasin’s Creed concept art. Breakdown frame composition/color/mood/shadows etc…
Shape design/ Silhouette design
Concept art allows ideas to be more grounded and concrete. It also allows for further development.
Discussion of photo bashing, a combination of different elements into one concept art. Fast and efficient over quality. The idea is to quickly generate many different variations over polishing and refining a single concept.
We gave photobashing a try and we all collected some images online and created our own concept art.
For my work, I tried to combine a bee and a shark with a cybernetic element included in the final result
Final Work
Introduction to Zbrush
What was covered:
Basic UI navigation
Masking
Some brushes
Move
Clay Tubes
Smooth
Colouring
SubDiv Concepts
Importing & Exporting
Saving files
Reflection
As someone that struggled with drawing, I always admired people that can create good drawing. I always like those hyper realistic portrait drawings or breath taking big scenes. They always leave me in awe and wondering how it is humanly possible for someone to complete it (i am guessing years of practice). Although I feel my skill level at concept art is really low, I do appreciate good concept artist as they lay the ground work for any content. Without their imagination, we will not have such diverse content on our screens.
For the next part of the Zbrush class, as half of the class before covered concept art, we did not have much time left to cover for Zbrush. We only went through the basic UI navigation. We were tasked to sculpt a smiley face to ourselves familiarise with the brushes and operators in Zbrush. I know that we need to sculpt a skull so I started to find some reference images of a anomaly accurate skull. I started with a sphere and did the base shape. I will continue working on it during my free time in the week.
Goal is to communicate an idea through “Mise en scène“.
Visual storytelling = an emotional experience for the viewer.
“Mise en scène” is the combination of everything that appears in a frame.
Every shot is designed to stay true and adhere to the film’s theme.
Movie example: Up in the air. Framing composition breakdown.
Movie example: The Wrestler. The rim’s shining light separates the character from the background. Focus mainly on the character silhouette rather than the expressions on the face.
Composition
The placement, size and visibility of an element in the frame will affect how an audience understands its importance to the story. Also known as Hitchcock’s story.
Movie example: 2001: A Space Odyssey. The contrast of colour added perspective. The character goes deep and forward. Very directional. Direct the audience’s glaze to the centre. Very clean shot, not messy and full of stuff.
Aspect Ratio
Every comp starts with the dimensions of the frame.
The most common for cinema is 2.39:1 (cine scope). 2.35:1 is popular in modern days.
For web content, 16:9 is widely used.
Frame Axes
Every frame has two axis X & Y. However, there is a third when composing a shot, which is Z-axis, also know as depth. This is an important element to prevent a shot being too flat looking.
Movie example: Children of Men (2006), using fog as a tool to show the environment of the set.
Movie example: Apocalypse Now (1979) camera closeup to show intimacy.
Rule of the Thirds
Movie example: Se7en (1995). Conventions to create a harmonious composition. third guideline helps to place the essential elements in the shot. 4 points in the frame.
Movie example: Prometheus (2012)
Movie example: The King’s Speech.
Movie example: TRON: Legacy (2010), the rule of thirds is not adhered to, the character is at the centre for symmetry. which is also a composition/framing technique.
High/Low Angle
The height of the camera can change the audience’s perception of that subject.
High angle, makes the subject look powerless
Low angle,
Changes the power dynamic between subjects.
Movie example: No Country for Old Men (2007)
Movie example: The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Shot selection
For filmmakers to categorize and name different shots. Define the size of the elements in the shot.
Extreme close up
close up
Loose close up
Tight medium shot
Medium-full shot
Full shot
What is Light?
Arts definition = trans-cultural language that evokes a common emotional response in the audience.
Good lighting makes the illusion of cinema feel real.
Light radiates outwards and spreads in every direction from the source.
Take note that light can spill over
Light can also be refracted & reflected
Light can be absorbed, and the rest of the wavelengths are reflected back as the colour we normally see.
Brightness vs Exposure vs Gamma
Brightness: make everything brighter or darker evenly.
Exposure: more effect on brighter parts, less effect on darker parts.
Gamma: more effect on darker parts, less effect on brighter parts.
The Four Main Attributes of Light
Intensity of light
Measured in F-stops
Sometimes known as exposure
Quality of light
Soft light
Soft-edge shadows
Wrap around the subject and bleed into the shadows
Hard light
Defined edges, little fall-off
E.g. sunlight
Size of the source
Source distance from the subject
Filtering
Angle of light
Position of the light in relation to the subject
Core lighting setup (as a baseline) is three three-point lighting
Key light, 45-degree angle towards the subject, main source
Fill light, 45-degree angle opposite the key light
Rim/backlight, behind the subject, illuminates the subject dimension/volume, separation from the background.
Movie example: Amelie (2001)
Movie example: Blade Runner (1982)
Movie example: Schindler’s List (1993)
Colour of light
RGB = White light
Colour Temperature
Light has its native temperature. It is measured in Kelvin as a standard unit.
Colour grading
The process of manipulating the images to achieve a stylistic look. Mainly the colour and the contrast of the film. Some examples include complementary colours, Analogous colours, Triadic colours, and monochromatic colours.
Movie example: Drive (2011)
Movie example: Hugo (2011)
Feedback
Review of last week’s mood board related to time:
Sentences need to be concise and efficient. Get to the point.
All images need to tell one story instead of individual stories.
The picture with the white background stands out from the rest of the mood board. It would be good to have coherence between all the pictures.
Reflections
Today we continued with the second part of the cinematography lesson with Gonzalo. For this class, I think the most inspiring part of the class was about the composition of a shot. Especially the rule of the thirds and the shot angles. I feel that as aspiring film makers (sort of) it is important to understand the reason why a shot is framed. Following the general guides for the the rule of thirds will definitely help us keep our shots grounded and be more aesthetically pleasing. Next lesson we will start with using the nuke software. I look forward to it.
Homework for next week is to record about 10-15s about travel.
We need to model a hot air balloon as it will be used for a class assignment with Gonzalo for composition class in the coming weeks.
Using reference images, we model the air hot balloon so that we can use it for our compositing assignment.
Concepts of modelling technique used:
extrude, edge loop, inset, and soft/weight transformation,
Reflections
Since I have not touched modeling for some time. I feel quite rusty with the software. But after awhile, it gradually came back to me and I was able to model a hot air balloon as requested. As part of the nuke assignment, I think the next step will be to UV unwrap it and apply textures for rendering. I look forward to the next modeling class with Manos as we will be covering organic modeling with Zbrush.
Emily’s Class
Asset Gathering in UE5
Need to enable the various plugins that support the file formats to be imported into UE5.
Sketchfab.com is a good place for 3D models but caution the copyright rules.
Models need to follow the proper naming conventions so that the correct material IDs can be assigned.
Modeling in UE5
Unreal DOES NOT support quads or N-gons so all models will be triangulated.
Nanite in UE5 supports VERY high poly counts such as photo scans or Zbrush sculpts.
Reflections
Today we learnt a bit of modelling with UE5. Although, UE5 can do modeling, I feel that maybe it is not the best tool for the job as I feel that it is missing some of the features that the other software has. Perhaps it would be better to just model in other DCCs and import it to UE5 for layout and rendering. But it is comforting to know that UE5 does allow for simple geometry editing.
Homework:
Find references for cabin in the woods, and relevant small environments
Also, need to block out the environment for the UE5 assignment
