Introduction to Maya - Modeling Fundamentals Vol 2
This course will look in the fundamentals of modeling in Maya with an emphasis on creating good topology. It's aimed at people that have some modeling experience in Maya but are having trouble with
complex objects.
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1
06-12-2011
, 11:31 PM
Lead Modeler - Framestore
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Lock-Out Trailer
This is the first trailer of the sci fi movie 'Lock-Out', of which I was the Modeling Supervisor.
the trailer is pretty low quality right now until I can find an HD version. But it looks like it could be a good laugh....
All the 3d Assets on the trailer are actually the ones I did...there are alot more and even more interesting ones to come so hopefully there'll be another trailer before its release....
enjoy
Lock-Out - Trailer 1 (Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Luc Besson, James Mather, Stephen St. Leger) - YouTube
Jay
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2
06-12-2011
, 11:44 PM
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06-12-2011
, 11:44 PM
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From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"
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4
06-12-2011
, 11:50 PM
Lead Modeler - Framestore
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lets hope its fun....
Jay
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07-12-2011
, 01:24 AM
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07-12-2011
, 03:00 AM
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Also, I know you cannot use any of the assets from the movie but I, and maybe others, would be interested in knowing what kind of poly count restrictions you have on movie models. In my case the hard surface bits like the space ships, the space ship cannons, and any other bits that you could describe from the clip?
Maybe give an end to end example of the modeling pipeline. What kind of references you get. Poly budget topology restrictions, whether you have to build a single model or several at different levels of detail. What kind of time budget per model do you get? Stuff like that to help understand the process in the production studio vs just doodling as a hobby.
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675
Last edited by ctbram; 07-12-2011 at 03:07 AM.
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7
07-12-2011
, 03:52 AM
Technical Director
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But damn, that's gotta be quite a big room to fit spaceships in it
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
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07-12-2011
, 06:20 AM
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cheers bullet
bullet1968
"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes
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9
07-12-2011
, 09:58 AM
Lead Modeler - Framestore
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I'll post up some info later on during my break
J
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10
07-12-2011
, 02:00 PM
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Looks good Jay I am looking forward to it. I am a big scifi fan and there has been nothing I have been interested in seeing for quite some time.
Also, I know you cannot use any of the assets from the movie but I, and maybe others, would be interested in knowing what kind of poly count restrictions you have on movie models. In my case the hard surface bits like the space ships, the space ship cannons, and any other bits that you could describe from the clip?
Maybe give an end to end example of the modeling pipeline. What kind of references you get. Poly budget topology restrictions, whether you have to build a single model or several at different levels of detail. What kind of time budget per model do you get? Stuff like that to help understand the process in the production studio vs just doodling as a hobby.
okay so...as requested by Rick (CTBRAM) heres a bit of an overview on the stuff seen in the trailer.
Polycounts on assets for film arent like that of a pc game, the nearest you'll get to a game asset will either be a pre-viz model or even the low res proxys for animation. Although some game models are getting up to 10k plus polys. With photorealistic models you have to get alot of details in to make convincing plus extra polys for strength of forms. The movie industry pretty much relies on the polysmooth/sub d style of modelling these days. More for less if you will. So its not tons of polys, its just put where they are needed and optimised that way so there is a nice balance. Some companies do just throw tons of poly at the stuff to get things out the door but for the most part its as Ive mentioned.
The space fighters here were one of the first assets I built on the movie and despite having concept art and being signed off by Luc Besson on the concept models it still had several changes over a six month period. it had a Cobra like gun then it didnt then we had missiles and so on.... I even did a whole new version myself based on an F14 Tomcat which everyone loved but unfortunately didnt make the film because of the style the Directors were after (I did get a bottle of Champagne for my efforts from James Mather, one of the films Directors though on trying to improve the intial design)
The Cannons you see in the trailer were pretty much finaled the minute the model was finished. I only had about four or five different concept pieces, they were pretty much the same generally but I took all the best bits and made an uber cannon that elevates up and unfolds before unleashing thousands of rounds of bullets. Yes bullets and not lasers for a change. the theory was they would work because the 'Space prison' was hovering in the earths atmosphere and therefore bullets would still work.
I dont wanna get into the technical theory on that so please dont ask for any....figure it out yourself.
Anyway the cannons themselves were huge with a gattling style rotating barrel. I think the size of them began at around the size of a house, but it became clear that at this scale, one shot from one of these would take out a fighter with one bullet. So it was scaled down to about the height of 12 feet high. Still big but more acceptable.
the space prison you see hovering above the earth was without a doubt the largest single asset on the film, though we did build a whole city, but I cant mention that until its seen publicly in the trailer..maybe trailer two may have it in. Anyway the Space prison was 1.5 miles high and 1 mile in width initlally but it got scaled down to around 75% in the end. It was a real mission getting detail on it. because of shear scale probs.
We referenced battle ships and stuff and also the Death Star Surface from Star Wars...just get an idea how those guys did it. We built stuff in sections and place them randomly all over. A good buddy of mine who I helped write the modelling pipeline at Windmill wrote me a placement script to place the sections exactly where I needed them automatically. this was only used on the absolute hi res model that had close ups. for medium and long shots we used lower res geo coupled with normal maps. Displacements were considered early on but with the probs they can bring it was decided by my 3d Supervisor and myself to not use them so I did some tests in Zbrush with Normal maps and it seemed to work. So we ended up using the hi res sections I mentioned earlier and baked the details onto poly planes. It worked a treat for the long shots and you would never know.
Also there were several other areas of the Space station that had huge amounts of detail like scaffolding as it was constantly being repaired so the need for mixing maps and geo was a real necessity, especially at that scale. Also we did what we call 'dress for shot'. So if a shot called for something specific, we'd make a hi res version of a particular area of the space Prison and do the shot. We'd add other bits of the intial model so it looks like its this one giant model when in fact its like several set pieces. Things like this are worth noting because textures need to hold up so by doing it in parts keeps it all looking good and consistant and it saves time in the long run. We'd also have areas with nuts and bolts, stuff that just wouldnt be usable on the main model itself.
If I remember rightly the Space Prison was around 8million polys when I'd finished it. And this was just the 'basic' model. We did do stuff on cards for shots too, but that was mainly long shots.
From start to finish on a model in the pipeline really depends on alot of things. Mainly its the amount of reference and also the feedback. In the case of the Space Prison...I had one piece of artwork that was half cloaked in darkness...I had to literally make it up as I went along...hence the referencing of Battle ships and so on. Theres alot of back and forth that goes on...the details of things can get changed right down to the wire and then theres a cut off because changes hold up the whole process of the film being made. If I change a model, that means the poor texture artist has to repaint it so theres a knock on effect. Its not all plain sailing as it seems
anyway if theres anything else let me know...back to work now
Jay
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07-12-2011
, 03:40 PM
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your insights are always helpful.
- Jake
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07-12-2011
, 05:30 PM
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I have had the opportunity to see several movie production models so it did not surprise me that there was no serious poly limit. I have a Star Trek movie model with almost 15 million polys in it. I knew about the proxy models used for animatics but was curious about short and long shot models so the bit about baking out normal maps for the long shots was good to learn.
Thanks again for sharing.
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675
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07-12-2011
, 06:19 PM
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07-12-2011
, 09:44 PM
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no worries whatsoever. Once the movie is out Ill post up the wires and stuff I have of the hero models I did. The only one absent is the Space Prison...but I'll try and get hold of that at some point once the film is released.
Actually I did mention about the city model, but Im not showing pictures of it so I guess its fine to tell you that we built 15miles of New York highway. That included roads, bollards, towers, run down areas, traffic, concrete barriers, street lamps, gantries, flyovers.....the list was endless. Although I didnt build the streets or its furniture as that was being done by the mid level guys, I was involved in the hero assets for that scene, but every asset did get checked by myself...so if something was considered 'illegal' I sent it back to the modeler. Its best to do these checks because of the amount of work involved. It only takes one bad model in a huge scene to screw you over and things have to stop while you find the culprit responsible. Luckily this happened only once or twice on my shift.
Texture sizes for the roads were huge tiles at done at 8k in Mari and Photoshop, but downsized to 4k and 2k for final output. If I recall I was pretty much the only one really modelling from May to July as my guys contracts were ending and also some were being pulled to do texturing. There were sooo many assets...we basically created a world from scratch.
@Rick. Yeah I love my sci fi too mate. If I were to put a tone on this, I would say its a distopian future, Blade Runner meets Escape from New York...but with that Raiders of the Lost Ark/Die Hard rhythm to it.
If theres anything else I can remember I'll post it.....
cheers
Jay
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15
14-12-2011
, 10:37 PM
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It actually looks great. Check the bike chase sequence you can just make it out but its real fast...fast cuts...My showreel looks great lol for next year
MS One: Maximum Security - Official Trailer (2012) (HD) - YouTube
Jay
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