In this class, we set up the lightning and colour corrected our model to get it ready to render and compositing later on After Effects.
To create the illumination of my scene, I wanted to recreate the real lighting of the scene I took as reference. I added 3 spotlights to my scene: one is in front of the model to illuminate the face, and the other two are behind as backlights.
Since the lip sync looked a bit odd without a tongue, I modelled one, added a standard surface material with some shiny highlights (to give a wet look) and animated it in the parts with ‘L’, ‘D’, ‘S’, and ‘T’ sounds.
Using the ‘Hypershade’ editor, I added two colour correct nodes: one linked to the base colour and coat of the skin material, and the second linked to the specular colour of the skin material. I added a soft yellowish base colour to the skin as is shown in the reference clip but then added a blue/purple highlight with the specular colour to make it a bit more interesting. I also added a subsurface scattering to make the skin a bit more translucent, so it looks more realistic.
After I was happy with my lighting, I set my project render details to half resolution to have a relatively quick render to review the final look. Thankfully, I did not have to change anything as I like how it ended so I set my project at HD 1920×1080 resolution and render the final lip sync animation as an alpha.
The final render turned out to be good and it is ready for compositing with a background and some nice VFX. So I imported it to After Effects and searched for a proper background for the scene. I found this already blurred background with a futuristic look so I added it to the comp and colour corrected it to make it darker, more saturated and showing more blue hues (I added colour balance and brightness and contrast effects).
Then I also colour corrected the face as it seemed a little flat so using the ‘Levels’ effect increased the contrast and added a bit of more shadows and saturation.
Finally, I also scaled up the face and I scaled down the background towards to end to make the scene more dynamic and simulate the camera movement.
I think that the final scene turned out good, as I like the contrast between the blue/purple background, and the yellowish skin colour of the face with the subtle blue/purple highlights on the head and forehead. Overall, I think the scene looks realistic and the lip sync and head movements looks pretty natural.
References
topntp26, freepik. Blurred abstract background interior view looking out toward to empty office lobby and entrance doors and glass curtain wall with frame. [Online] Available at: Available at: https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/blurred-abstract-background-interior-view-looking-out-toward-empty-office-lobby-entrance-doors-glass-curtain-wall-with-frame_1254627.htm#query=building%20indoor&position=36&from_view=search&track=sph [Accessed 12 December 2022]