jim c Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 (edited) I started this for a competition on cgfx back in april/june, but I want to come back to it and redo things. I had to learn a bunch of stuff, zbrush, learning the auto-rig(a nightmare), character animation (which didn't come out well), compositing it (I used houdini for this). All the designs are mine, based on a variations of old and new (tron legacy) concepts. Here's a link to some of the animations for it. Light cycle test: Light cycle rez test: Recognizer test: Character, after modeling with modo, zbrush, and then rigging in Houdini (using Autorig): The video as far as I got, before the competition deadline: Finally, a few weeks ago, I got a bit of spare time, and re-rendered a scene with the lightcycle, made a bit of a better shot with, and added motion blur. I am working on a project for my wife, using modo, and was completely blown away at how fast mantra's rendering of the MB is compared to modo. Edited January 23, 2011 by jim c Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c Posted July 8, 2011 Author Share Posted July 8, 2011 (edited) Finally some updates to put on here. First off a quick story outline of what I have in mind that I'd like to try and attempt to animate to. The character's name is SIERRA (Search, Investigate and Execute Rapid Recovery of Archives). SIERRA is the last program Kevin Flynn wrote, tucked away deep in the system so that CLU wouldn't find her and kept in "sleep" mode. SIERRA was intended to wake up in the case of a catastrophic failure and make sure that certain bits of the system were properly stored away for later use. Flynn's act of re-integration with CLU triggers her awakening, and she begins the process of fulfilling her programming, making a last dash effort to back up these critical parts and get these and herself back in the IO stream that Sam has activated by backing up the system. The idea is to use Moi/Modo for bike/prop/env modeling, ZBrush for the character, Messiah for character animation, Modo for Hair control, and Houdini for vfx, lighting and rendering. So first a couple of quickie shots of the bike. The bike was redesigned using Moi ( a 3D NURBS modeling tool ), rendered in Modo, and then remodeled in modo to cut the poly count way down. The export from Moi was around 1.5 million polys, the redesign is going to weigh in at around 250-300K polys. This will be brought into Houdini for animation, VFX and rendering. The shots for now, are in Modo, please note that this is the hi-poly model, exported straight from Moi: The character is based on concept art by Neville Page and Phil Saunders. Done in Zbrush and rendered in Houdini. Zbrush shots: Houdini 1st attempt at bad polygon strip based hair Eyelashes and bad polygon strip based hair Now, finally got some of the hair issues sorted out. This uses Modo to create and control the hair guides, which are then exported out and brought into Houdini. The hair guides are applied to the Fur Asset. These shots are rendered with 400K hair strands. First ones use the default hair shader, then I tried ssh's Marschner hair model shader as well. Dynamics include gravity and a wind force. The bust is rendered with no displacement to make things a little faster while I sort out the kinks. Experimented with frizz. I tried clumping but really didn't like what it did. I'd be curious to know how to get more "chunky" bunches of hair, but I'm happy with long straight hair Default hair shader: ssh's shader: Any C&C would be MOST appreciated. I'd really like to hear any suggestions on what I can do better with the hair, etc. I'm still rigging in Messiah but will hopefully have some posed shots soon. Edited July 8, 2011 by jim c Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c Posted July 24, 2011 Author Share Posted July 24, 2011 Another update - 1st pose using the custom rig in messiah. Exported into houdini via MDD files. Any C&C would be most welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c Posted July 24, 2011 Author Share Posted July 24, 2011 Similar pose, but shot from different angles and slightly different lighting, plus I added a GI light as well. Any C&C would be most appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c Posted August 11, 2011 Author Share Posted August 11, 2011 More updates Couple more character poses Bad guy - Sentry Guard's Light cycle (not meant to be super detailed, just enough to look cool when animated) wires in Modo: rendered with Motion blur and PBR (materials aren't so hot yet) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share Posted August 18, 2011 Quickie test render of the Sierra's light cycle (after being completely remodeled and optimized - final poly count is around 400K polys down from 1.5 million) in mantra, motion blur on, micro-poly renderer. *Any* C&C on how to make it look better would be most appreciated, particularly on how to make the MB more effective. I'm not using DOF, and I'm wondering if that's something that would help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 First cut with the Sierra character riding the bike. More to follow soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smaugthewyrm Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 (edited) i've been following this project on your blog. very nice. i am wondering why you used messiah to rig if you intended to bring it into houdini anyway. for me, it is always extra work to export / import, so if i do it, there is a very good reason. i've never tried out messiah, so now my interest is peaked. does the rig follow fully? or just the posed mesh? cheers! Edited August 23, 2011 by smaugthewyrm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikarus Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 i like the clean trails from the bike a lot more than the noisy one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c Posted August 23, 2011 Author Share Posted August 23, 2011 @smaugthewyrm I used messiah because it's substantially easier and faster to rig and animate in, compared to Houdini. Or at least my prior character animation experience with Houdini left me really frustrated. The import/export isn't too bad. I just use MDD from messiah to go into Houdini. I wanted to used Houdini because it's got a kick ass render engine, compared to anything else I have access to (Maya, modo, or messiah). The rig doesn't follow - I have a somewhat complex rig in messiah which doesn't seem to export correctly when using FBX. @ikarus I agree. I've redone the trail again, hopefully it's a little better. I'm trying to get that glassy ripple effect like they had in the movie. Last night I put together a shader using the ice cube material as a start and added ramps (in U or V) for the diffuse color, diffuse amount, and a color multiplier to fake light emission like the Glow material does. If anyone has suggestions on a better way to do that, please fire away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Slightly off topic, but in case you haven't seen this yet, someone made a real-life light cycle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 @edward Yeah I saw that a while back - somehow what they came up with loses all the speed and grace that's in the Tron version Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share Posted August 26, 2011 Further work on trying to get the metal look for the bike. Still have a ways to go, especially with the lighting setup which I'm quite sure is very poor at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Are you rendering this with PBR? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share Posted August 26, 2011 (edited) No this is with the micro-poly renderer. The scene has a vex GI light plus two other lights. Motion blur is turned on as well. I don't think I'll be able to use PBR because it's pretty slow on my computer. Edited August 26, 2011 by jim c Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 I would have thought that this scene would actually render a lot faster with PBR than micropolygon rendering -- and give you a better shot at the illumination too. Are you using the Mantra Surface material? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share Posted August 26, 2011 (edited) I'm still using H10. I'm using the reflective material (http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini10.0/gallery/shop/material/reflective). I was meaning to ask you guys - is the Mantra Surface material that you've mentioned new in H11? Because I couldn't find it in H10. I'll try PBR tonight with the new settings and see how it goes. Edited August 26, 2011 by jim c Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Oh yeah -- PBR in 10 is not a great idea. If there is anyway to hop up to the latest and greatest 11, you'll have much more luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim c Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share Posted August 26, 2011 Yeah I've been kind of waiting for 12. If I go to 11 I have to pay $70 to upgrade to Apprentice HD (OK not much) and then *another* $70 (or something like that) to upgrade to 12. We're trying to be a little conservative with cash so I'd rather wait if I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Ah, that makes sense:) It'll only limit your render resolution dropping back to regular apprentice, I believe? Then wait and get 12 with the HD deal and bump back up? Just an idea; 11's PBR is much better and will help you out and if you're going to wait till 12 till doing your HD renders, you may as well get a head start on the port. Anyhow, it's still looking good and it's all coming along great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.