An attempt at making a Solar System

# 1 12-12-2011 , 02:57 PM

Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011

Posts: 520

So far, made two tests and first one seems good (after some fixes).
Maya Solar System Test (Final) - YouTube
Second scene vid:
Maya Solar System test 2 - YouTube
Fixed the glow interference with the rings of Jupiter and Saturn.

Questions:
1 - why are those stars flickering in the distance? They are spheres with glow effect applied to them, but they are much bigger than they are seen and are far away from what the camera is focused on (i.e Saturn). I like the effect, but not sure if it's a good idea to leave it that way or not.

2 - Motion - is it just my LCD screen or is it really choppy? The video is compiled with 24 fps, but was rendered with "every frame" setting in Maya.

3 - anything else that needs fixing?

Last edited by SilverFeather; 12-12-2011 at 09:29 PM.

Quote

# 2 12-12-2011 , 09:52 PM

Super Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2006

Location: South FL

Posts: 3,522

Both look good, but Video 2 looks better, I think its the camera movement in video 1 that throws it off, kinda wobbly with weird pacing. The glow flicker is probably due to 'auto exposure' being on, edit the 'shader glow' node (it's one of the default shading nodes Maya creates, jump into hypershade and you'll see it). Once you uncheck auto exposure, you'll have to tweak the glow again though.

The video doesn't appear choppy, well not here anyways. I can't see anything that needs fixing, I don't know maybe add space dust? user added image

- Genny
__________________
::|| My CG Blog ||::
::|| My Maya FAQ ||::

Quote

# 3 12-12-2011 , 10:17 PM

Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011

Posts: 520

Both look good, but Video 2 looks better, I think its the camera movement in video 1 that throws it off, kinda wobbly with weird pacing. The glow flicker is probably due to 'auto exposure' being on, edit the 'shader glow' node (it's one of the default shading nodes Maya creates, jump into hypershade and you'll see it). Once you uncheck auto exposure, you'll have to tweak the glow again though.

The video doesn't appear choppy, well not here anyways. I can't see anything that needs fixing, I don't know maybe add space dust?

Originally Posted by GecT

The first video is supposed to be fast and camera moving randomly. Tried to make it move like that in 2nd too (as you can still notice the camera going from left to right a bit), but needed a slower speed so that it will show the rest of the stuff. It's meant to look as if seen from some kind of probe's camera, also sped up (as normally, those planets don't even spin that fast anyway).
Next scene will be with the probe orbiting around Saturn, as there is a nice view from the back of it and I want to export it (seen in pic). Then I can jump to Uranus, which is to the right of Saturn and has a halo as well.

The shader glow's auto-exposure has been turned off in order to fix the rings' flickering already. So that's not what made the stars flicker. All I can blame it on is the distance they are placed: about 20 cm real-life, away from Saturn. Saturn itself is approx. 10 cm away from the sun. Scene is huge too.

Space dust... idk how to do that though, not sure if the scene could handle any more particles. So far I have asteroids, but in this area they are barely visible (due to not enough light reaching them), if you have it on full screen they are slightly noticeable though.
Cannot figure out where to place the dust, as in the maps I followed I could not see where it is placed (if any exists there).

Attached Thumbnails

Click image for larger version

Name: ScreenShot303.png
Views: 462
Size: 143.8 KB
ID: 49804

Quote

# 4 12-12-2011 , 10:34 PM

Super Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2006

Location: South FL

Posts: 3,522

Hmm and your camera clipping plane is far enough to not cut anything off right?

- Genny
__________________
::|| My CG Blog ||::
::|| My Maya FAQ ||::

Quote

# 5 12-12-2011 , 10:39 PM

Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011

Posts: 520

Hmm and your camera clipping plane is far enough to not cut anything off right?

Originally Posted by GecT

I didn't modify the clipping plane, so not sure if it cuts the stars or not. All I know is that the camera is far away from those stars and it's only the most distant stars that flicker there.
Will check to see what can be done with the far-clip plane.

Not sure if this is a good setting... should I modify it? I'll set it to 999999999 to see if this fixes it.

Attached Images

Last edited by SilverFeather; 12-12-2011 at 10:43 PM.

Quote

# 6 12-12-2011 , 11:02 PM

Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011

Posts: 520

They still flicker, and there's nothing between the camera and the stars that could make them disappear, I wonder what's going on with them...
Also, I keep hearing of these methods of shell-rendering or what ever it's called, where the batch renderer operates without Maya (which saves some RAM). How is that done?

Example of flickering, notice frame 61 and 62 lack one star (different one), then 63 adds both out of nowhere.

Attached Thumbnails

Click image for larger version

Name: 1Scene.061.png
Views: 498
Size: 95.7 KB
ID: 49811

Click image for larger version

Name: 1Scene.062.png
Views: 478
Size: 108.6 KB
ID: 49812

Click image for larger version

Name: 1Scene.063.png
Views: 486
Size: 153.7 KB
ID: 49813

Last edited by SilverFeather; 12-12-2011 at 11:07 PM.

Quote

# 7 13-12-2011 , 12:59 AM

Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011

Posts: 520

Well, I got Adobe AE, but can't figure out how to mix clips together.

Also, noticed something is wrong with the first clip that I've put on youtube, hardly noticeable, but if you stop at 0:01, the stars seem to have a horrible double of themselves. Might need to render that part again. It might also be because of the compression, not sure.
What is the best codec to compress with? These files are 6 mb each, and 13 seconds long each.

Quote

# 8 13-12-2011 , 06:06 AM

Technical Director
Join Date: Feb 2004

Posts: 2,988

"The best codec", if you find it; let us know. user added image

The reason why there are so many codecs is that they're built for different purposes. If one did it all, we wouldn't need the others.

h.264, DivX, and Xvid are pretty common. Youtube compresses the video by itself though. If you want no loss in quality, use the "Animation" codec when exporting a Quicktime. The file sizes will be large, but who cares? Hard drives are ridiculously cheap now. If you really want to get into codecs, I suggest you look for an in-depth source; rather than a 3d site.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Quote

# 9 13-12-2011 , 10:44 AM

Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011

Posts: 520

"The best codec", if you find it; let us know. The reason why there are so many codecs is that they're built for different purposes. If one did it all, we wouldn't need the others.

h.264, DivX, and Xvid are pretty common. Youtube compresses the video by itself though. If you want no loss in quality, use the "Animation" codec when exporting a Quicktime. The file sizes will be large, but who cares? Hard drives are ridiculously cheap now. If you really want to get into codecs, I suggest you look for an in-depth source; rather than a 3d site.

Originally Posted by NextDesign

Actually I mean best compression type, I keep mixing codecs with compression type. So far i use Intel Indeo Video 4.5 as compression.

I want to export an .avi with as best quality as possible while having at least some compression, I doubt 1 gb for 13 seconds is reasonable, when the final product has to be around 1 minute long at least.
6 mb for 13 seconds - reasonable.

Quote

# 10 13-12-2011 , 02:27 PM

Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011

Posts: 520

Adobe After effects failed on me as well: Movie comes out upside down and with crappy color even though in it it looks good. LOL! O_o What is the setting that would be the most recommended if I'd want to combine multiple clips into a single movie file while keeping quality but having a decent file size, not 1 gb for few seconds?
This file has to be uploaded to youtube too, so having a 1 GB file might not be a good idea for just up to 1 minute of video...

In the end I settled for .mov. Seems like this one isn't messed up as the other formats on youtube.
Decent compression too.
Maya Solar System (scene mix in After Effects) - YouTube

Last edited by SilverFeather; 13-12-2011 at 05:04 PM.

Quote

# 11 13-12-2011 , 06:49 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2011

Location: Sliema Malta

Posts: 497

All I can recommend is that you move the camera with a spline. Are you doing this already? It will help you control the movement. Also shooting at a longer focal length is going to give you that "Big" feel much more. As for the stars the other users are going to have to direct you on what to do. Normally I make a large sphere and map noise to the texture under the luma channel. Too bad you can't import the scene into AE like I can with C4D. Could solve your space dust problem with "particular" quite quickly...

.mov is a standard codec but the other settings you are using are what counts. Keep at it. Keep building...

Quote

# 12 13-12-2011 , 07:32 PM

Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011

Posts: 520

All I can recommend is that you move the camera with a spline. Are you doing this already? It will help you control the movement. Also shooting at a longer focal length is going to give you that "Big" feel much more. As for the stars the other users are going to have to direct you on what to do. Normally I make a large sphere and map noise to the texture under the luma channel. Too bad you can't import the scene into AE like I can with C4D. Could solve your space dust problem with "particular" quite quickly...

.mov is a standard codec but the other settings you are using are what counts. Keep at it. Keep building...

Originally Posted by Chavfister

I'm not having trouble with the camera though, I just want the flight to be zig-zaggy when it moves from one planet to the other, I don't want straight movement.
I didn't try motion path yet but it's way too confusing for me.

I think I'll leave the stars blinking, but will need to figure out why this happens, in case some other artifacts might disappear while in the distance. The stars (including the sun) are big spheres with a lambert with glow. I think I might need to polish the red and yellow stars though, as they don't glow as expected in 2nd part of it. They are barely noticeable there.

Space dust: I need to find a map of where this dust has to be placed and how, as I am following pretty much the exact details (even the moons are where they should be placed according to the information I've gathered) of the solar system. All planets are to scale, including their moons.
Rotations and orbit: trying to keep them as true as possible.

.mov at highest quality settings produced a 10 mb file (in last video).

EDIT: Maybe I shouldn't edit the stars again. They're good enough as they are, just small player shows them with too little glow.

Last edited by SilverFeather; 13-12-2011 at 07:47 PM.

Quote

# 13 14-12-2011 , 01:02 AM

Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011

Posts: 520

I can't find anything about the location of cosmic dust in the solar system, only their location outside of it. The most I can see in maps is the Kuyper Belt. The problem is that this is the most I can insert in the scene without it messing up the rendering. There's a ring of these going around the sun, but they're visible only when camera's close to them.

Attached Thumbnails

Click image for larger version

Name: ScreenShot340.png
Views: 445
Size: 58.6 KB
ID: 49816

Quote

# 14 14-12-2011 , 01:48 PM

Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011

Posts: 520

I think I figured where the space dust might work: around the solar system, on the outside.
Now I have an idea of how to place it... but how can I make a giant torus emit fine particles from its surface, while not overloading the scene? Just how do particles get computed? As meshes or as something else? Will it lag?
Is there another way of making cloudy effects while the clouds would not be material, but generated as an effect? (such as glow)

Quote