VR Dreamscape - Finishing up

I've nearly finished all three scenes now. I managed to fix the star seams issue rather easily. It turns out there was just a simple checkbox when converting the 3D scene to a 2D output in which you can state if you are using any 3D assets or elements so that the output can account for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob9lgyeMjas

Making the scenes transition into each other has been interesting. I have tried to make this very gradual and slow as to keep with the mood of dreams and calming visuals. I rendered a low res version to show Grace and she really likes it. I was concerned about the simplicity of the visuals but when I asked her she said it worked better simple. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsC0yYUgRgI

Rendering has been a long process with many errors. The composition is nearly a 6k file with many 3D layers, which has been causing many crashes and slow performance.




Now I'm just doing final checks and fixes, and maybe some changes when I send a final render to Grace. The installation itself will be on the 16th of February in Hartlepool. I will be looking over the VR part, making sure it keeps working as well as taking photo and video of the event for Grace and myself to evidence.

VR Dreamscape - Technical Problem Solving

As I've been continuing to work on the VR project, I have kept running into more and more issues. I tried one more test using a flat composition which made me realise that it was not going to be possible to achieve what I was thinking of doing using that method.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEQG2N_Swz8

After some further research, I discovered the VR environment features within After Effects. This consists of a three dimensional composition which is then rendered from 6 angles and merged into a map that can be read and wrapped by YouTube for seamless 360 video.

While this makes better results, it is still very fiddly to work with. I have been struggling to make the scene work as some effects aren't compatible with the VR systems in After Effects. This has caused many stitching issues like you can see below. I used particle world to create the shooting stars, however my first test didn't work well. The 6 sections of the world are visible as the 3D space of the particle generator doesn't seem compatible with VR. This will take further experimentation and problem solving in order to figure out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCMqNppQlYU

 

Production Crate VFX Contest - Card Throw Effect

The website ProductionCrate.com run a monthly visual effects competition, with this month's theme being time ramp effects. I've had an idea to do a card throwing bullet time effect for a while now so this is a good opportunity to do that.

I started by filming footage of Alex pretending to throw a card into an apple. The card already had an apple placed into it. I filmed in 60 fps so that I could slow down the footage a good amount. I moved the camera in a whip pan to the apple so it wouldn't be obvious that the card was already there.

I then worked with the time remapping to accentuate both of these, speeding up the throw and impact, and slowing down the middle section. Doing this adds a greater contrast between the movements.

I ran the 3D camera tracker on the footage to create a 3D scene. This proved a bit tricky as there wasn't enough to track throughout the second half of the shot. I had to manually move the 3D camera for some frames as the tracker couldn't work it out. 

The card was made using a pre-composed solid, this allowed me to go inside the pre-comp to edit the face of the card at will. 

I realised after filming that the card in the apple was the wrong way round. To fix this I had to use MochaAE to track the plane and corner pin the image of the CG card to that tracking data. I wouldn't have had to do this if I had thought about the card more when filming the footage.

The conditions for the competition wanted at least one effect asset from their website to be used in the shot. I attempted to add small puffs of smoke and other semi realistic elements, however they had to be so subtle that they were more or less useless. I instead then made the piece more supernatural, theming the effect of the powers of the superhero Gambit. This let me use many effects from production crate. 

I personally still prefer the more 'realistic' version without any effects, however I am still pretty happy with the Gambit effects. The most satisfying thing for me is the switch when the card slows down. I am really proud of how simple the effect is but also think it looks convincing enough. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wearbkSXmk

Major Project 3- Eye Effect Test

The character in my film has an eye implant giving him a heads up display. Here I've done some tests to experiment with what this element could look like. 

I tried a few different approaches with the design. The first starting from the centre of the eye, the second being a screen coming down over the eyeball and the third loading from the side. 

Of the actual graphics themselves, I prefer the third version as it is similar to where I started going with the HUD graphics themselves. I do really like the idea of the screen coming down over the eyeball, though this is the harder of the three effects because I have to create a very fine mask around the eyeball itself. 

I also want to make sure I have the effect emit a light of sorts, as I like the image of the character having one eye glowing in wide shots.

I will finish developing the aesthetic of this element once I am in production of the actual shots.

Major Project 2 - Starting the HUD graphics

My film requires a heads up display (HUD) effect for multiple shots. This is used to convey information to the audience about the workings of the credit system within the world.


I have worked from many references of heads up displays from games and film 

In 'The Visual Effects of Iron Man' there is a section where they talk about how they created the HUD for the first iron man film. This was very interesting and useful as to how I could create a HUD that felt useful and real. (HUD section starts at 7:30)

https://youtu.be/WUBXmEWudnA?t=450 

I have made an easily editable Photoshop file which will automatically update into AfterEffects. This file can be used as a template for any shot where the HUD is needed. This is just a start on this process, I will be finalising the design when I create it for the actual shots. When doing so, I can also experiment with more animation in the HUD.

VR Dreamscape - 360 Video Project

From the social meetup with students from Leeds College of Music, I have taken on a task for one of my live briefs. The student, Grace is working on an art installation about dreams. She is wanting a VR section to the event.

VR is something that I've not tried before but am excited to have a go at and learn how to do it. It will not be an interactive VR experience, but rather a 360 video to create atmospheric and dreamy imagery. Here are some inspirations I suggested to Grace, which I will be going forward with.







Experimenting with the technicalities of making a 360 video, I did this test. This was done as one flat 16:9 composition with basic solids and imagery from google images, just to play with how to do the effect. 



https://youtu.be/fAld1rKAbT0


Since this is just a flat video, I have had to try to manually make the edges of the screen match up with the other edge. YouTube's 360 video stretches the top and bottom of the image to a point. The main issues with this method is how I can create a seamless transition off one side over onto the other. I will continue to experiment with methods of creating this type of video to see what works best.