Nira's VFX Blog
A journey through my master

Tag: Planet hologram

Categories
Advanced & Experimental Group

Week 7: Radio & Planet Hologram Final Models & UV Maps

This week I added some more details to the radio and the planet hologram, and tried to finish the UV maps of both of them to leave them ready for texturing next week.

Radio model improvement

I considered that the radio was looking a bit flat and boring. Since the style we are approaching is more detailed and crowded, I decided to add some patterns on the top of the radio following the organic shapes I added in the front part of the model. Also, I saw that Liam and Roos had a specific pattern in their models (couch, arm chair, and coffee table) which made the style of the objects look more cohesive. Therefore, I asked them how they made it and added it to the sides of my radio. For the top decoration, I used curves as before that then I would transform into brush strokes and lastly into mesh. For the pattern on the sides, I created a plane, then used the ‘Poke’ feature to create these crossed intersections on each subdivision of the plane, and then I extruded those faces keeping the faces separately.

Final radio model – 360 render in Maya

Radio UV maps

After I finished with the final version of the radio, I moved on with the UV maps.

Radio top UV map
Radio main body UV map
Radio top decoration UV map
Radio channels screen UV map
Radio top switchers UV map
Radio volume screen UV map
Radio middle switcher UV map
Radio handle UV map
Radio bottom speaker UV map
Radio base UV map
Radio decorations UV map
Radio inner mechanism UV map
Radio inner cables UV map
Radio UV maps with checkerboards

Planet hologram base remodelling and hologram

After Martyna and Roos had a 1-to-1 session with Dom, he considered that the platform of the hologram was too small and it did not feel like part of the composition. Therefore, I remodelled the platform, this time based on Martyna’s idea of taking an old school compass as a reference. This compass idea fits really good with the hologram style as it would look like it is a navigation map for the spaceship’s route. I also made the Earth continents shape in the inner sphere of the hologram, using MASH distribute node to generate particles and then make a road map so the particles follow the shape of a 2D image that I found online and converted in an alpha map in Photoshop. Then, I also added extra particles in the outer sphere of the hologram to give like a more random and glitchy effect. I also animated the rings and spheres so they rotate simultaneously. Lastly, I also found a tutorial that shows how to create a proper hologram effect (using a multiply and a facing ratio nodes, playing with transmission weight and then adding a ‘Lens effect’ to the render settings).

Hologram effect tutorial (Arnold renderer, 2021)
Distribute node to replicate the particle created and distribute it around the inner sphere
Visibility node that is linked to the 2D image of the world map so it follows the alpha map
Signal node added to the particles of the outer sphere to give some random animation to these
Playblast of final hologram model with animation (no textures added)
Base remodelled
Base remodelled
Hologram effect
Final model

References

Arnold renderer, 2021. Arnold tutorial – How to create a holographic effect in MtoA (online). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glG4dUnSH3o&list=PLAlv9GvsMvnMCUwPx_gcXaCj_yHYdIPqD&index=1 [Accessed 27 May 2023]

Categories
Advanced & Experimental Group

Week 5: Group Project Presentation, Radio and Planet Hologram Models in Maya, & Full Version of Matchmove Task

This week we had the first presentation of our group project, I also started with my next two models drafts (radio and planet hologram), & also made the matchmove task until the end of the footage as requested by Gonzalo.

Group presentation

This week we were asked to make a presentation of the current work in progress of our group project, so look dev artists shared the WIPs of our first models, CG generalist and CG lead shared the draft layout of the scene with illumination test, compositor showed their matchmove and clean up of the scene, and compositing lead shared their research about colour palette, textures and overall style of the scene.

Presentation_steampunkDownload

Team meeting and weekly target – draft models

After the presentation, we also had a group meeting to review the progress of our project and decide the next steps to follow for next week. Since we needed a more refined layout to see dimensions and positioning of the models in the space, we decided to try and have all draft models done for next Monday. The CG generalist and CG lead also created a folder in the UAL shared drive so we could also access it and upload all our models there as alembic (abc). Martyna also took a human figure from Maya’s content browser and scaled it to the scene size we wanted so we have a scale reference.

From my side, as I already finished the spaceship model (and this was approved on FTrack by Gonzalo too), this week I focused on finishing the radio and the planet hologram draft models for Monday.

Radio

For the radio model, I took the two pictures below as references. Both styles are different but I like some features from both styles that I consider can be incorporated together. For example the main outer shape and the speaker on the left radio could be mixed with the buttons and decoration lines of the second reference on the right.

Radio references

I then tried to incorporate these elements in my model and came up with the following draft model:

Radio draft model – Wireframe front view
Radio draft model – Wireframe 3/4 view
Radio draft model – Wireframe top view
Radio draft model

Planet hologram

For the planet hologram I used the below image as reference since it mixes a futuristic hologram effect with steampunk metallic textures in the rings, planet and base. I consider it is a good example for the futuristic steampunk style we are aiming for.

Planet hologram reference

In this version I made a draft of the model and tested how it would look like with a basic hologram effect and a simple animation made with manual key framing:

Planet hologram base
Planet hologram constellations – close-up
Planet hologram constellations – final arrangement
Planet hologram – wireframe view
Planet hologram draft model

Extended matchmove task

Also, we were asked by Gonzalo on FTrack to finish the matchmove task until the last frame. When I went back to 3D Equaliser and tried to add the last tracking points for the final frames, it was showing as a flat line in the deviation graph, as if I did not add any points from frame 450 onwards. However, after trying to figure it out by myself, I asked my classmates for help and Martyna managed to help me with this. As she had the same issue last week, she asked Dom and he explained that this was due to having two different tracking points in the beginning of the scene and at the end of the scene in the same place. Since they were different points and were on the same place, the programme could not read them properly and assumed that there were no tracking points in that area. Therefore, all that I needed to do was to take the point added at the beginning of the scene and extend it until the end from the point it was visible again inside the frame. This solved my issue with the programme not recognising the tracks and managed to finish the tracking until the end. Then in Maya I adjusted the scene again and exported the alembic cards, cones, and camera to Nuke, to finally add the lens distortion.

Extended matchmove Maya playblast
Extended matchmove final comp