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SynthOrange posted:
loving awesome. Me and a friend are trying to soak up as much knowledge about graphics and game making as we can over the summer. We were both impressed by quixel's stuff. Getting to play with it the whole summer is nice, and you can use it commercially, which is crazy. Met two of the quixel guys at the Epic Games meetup in Sweden back in May, one of them making that sci fi hallway in ue4, they were great. Now if I could get off this train quicker I would download the poo poo out of that. Boar It fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Jun 13, 2014 |
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Jun 13, 2014 13:49
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Quixel Suite is in OPEN BETA
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Does anyone know of a decent tutorial for the Quixel suite? I understand 3d well but have never used NDO or DDO etc. I did find this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BboBgjGARc but it says legacy, so is this for the old one?
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Jun 13, 2014 14:14
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Big K of Justice posted:Method is hilarious because its the only VFX studio in LA if not California that drug checks all employees and does a full blown criminal background check. The drug check thing is significant since I've seen enough heavy drugs and full functioning alcoholics at the various places over the years, enough that it would probably eliminate at least half the talent from working there.. Did some work for Encore a little while ago (another Deluxe subsidary, aimed at low-budget / mediocre TV post work), and had to get a background check as well. As an off-site, two-week contractor. In Canada. Thanks, Deluxe!
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Jun 13, 2014 14:39
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Not sure if it's been mentioned before, but Grant Warwick's Mastering V-Ray series is pretty awesome. Lots of in-depth & easy to understand discussion of sample optimization and material development. He's got a couple lessons you can check out for free, as well. Highly recommended.
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Jun 13, 2014 15:11
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will second that, they're great tuts. Something to remember is that he does not care about rendertime whatsoever, it's never a concern for him. he optimises to perfection but it's no big deal to have a little noise. few people here went through them then suddenly started sending renders that took 10x as long. all his materials are procedural too. if anyone here finds them going a little over their head then the material tutorials from viscorbel are well worth it. it's a good start to start learning how much control you can get before grant goes crazy - http://viscorbel.com/product-category/premium-tutorials/ cubicle gangster fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Jun 13, 2014 |
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Jun 13, 2014 15:52
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Big K of Justice posted:
My favourite item is the ET bike.
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Jun 13, 2014 18:05
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Big K of Justice posted:
They've gotta up their Atrium game. Pixar Atrium for the win. Oh and also Dreamworks free Canteen = best canteen. ImplicitAssembler posted:My favourite item is the ET bike. My favourite bits of kit are the Optical printer, scanner and Motion control computer. It reminds me why I'm so glad everything went fully digital. gently caress dust.
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Jun 13, 2014 19:54
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Travakian posted:Did some work for Encore a little while ago (another Deluxe subsidary, aimed at low-budget / mediocre TV post work), and had to get a background check as well. As an off-site, two-week contractor. In Canada. Is this new? I worked at Deluxe a while back and never had any of that. If they drug checked they would have had to fire pretty much everyone at the studio.
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Jun 14, 2014 03:42
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The place I work at was bought by deluxe a few years back, no drug tests yet, maybe the regulations are different in Australia though.
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Jun 14, 2014 04:09
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concerned mom posted:Does anyone know of a decent tutorial for the Quixel suite? I understand 3d well but have never used NDO or DDO etc. I did find this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BboBgjGARc I'm sure you've seen http://quixel.se/usermanual/quixelsuite/doku.php but I'll post it anyways.
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Jun 14, 2014 04:22
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It started to make sense when I realized it took all the maps to get the most out of DDO and NDO. The normals, gradient maps, etc all provide information for the software to build the detail and wear off. You could start from just a mesh then build a normal map with NDO, then throw that into DDO for extra detailing. The videos are kind of hilarious because everytime the guy says "enn-duu", "dee-duu" and "three-duu" it cracks me up. 
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Jun 14, 2014 04:44
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So I'm an old fashioned 2D animator and illustrator, and I'm interested in getting into 3D at least for animation. I have the student edition of Maya 2014 and a subscription to Lynda.com through work, but I'm particularly looking for resources on character modeling and rigging. What are the best resources (books, tutorial videos, things you pay for, whatever) for a person with an arts background as opposed to a bleep-bloop computer background?
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Jun 14, 2014 20:53
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neonnoodle posted:So I'm an old fashioned 2D animator and illustrator, and I'm interested in getting into 3D at least for animation. I have the student edition of Maya 2014 and a subscription to Lynda.com through work, but I'm particularly looking for resources on character modeling and rigging. As far as 3D goes, Lynda.com won't take you much past the basics. Personally, I've had a Digital Tutors account for about a year now and have thoroughly enjoyed their courses. While character modeling and rigging are not really my areas of expertise, they have a ton of courses on those and other subjects. As far as coming from a traditional arts background... there's a certain amount of technical concerns that are just unavoidable when working with 3D, but most of the animation principles translate pretty directly, so if you're competent with a computer and capable of learning new software, I think you'll be fine.
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Jun 14, 2014 22:26
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I have run into a wall. Went to render the guitar model today and after using Kerkythea a bunch at work I decided to download and run the same program. Slight problem, to do that I have to install the Kerkythea Sketchup plugin folder in my plugins folder for Sketchup in Application Support (using a Mac here). The problem? No Sketchup folder in Application Support directory for me. I ran a command in Ruby to locate the folder and strangely, Ruby seems to think there is a Sketchup 2014 folder in my Application Support... not one I can see. Any advice?
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Jun 14, 2014 22:27
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Oscar Romeo Romeo posted:I have run into a wall. Went to render the guitar model today and after using Kerkythea a bunch at work I decided to download and run the same program. Slight problem, to do that I have to install the Kerkythea Sketchup plugin folder in my plugins folder for Sketchup in Application Support (using a Mac here). The problem? No Sketchup folder in Application Support directory for me. I ran a command in Ruby to locate the folder and strangely, Ruby seems to think there is a Sketchup 2014 folder in my Application Support... not one I can see. Any advice? Sounds like a hidden folder. You can confirm it's actually there by opening Terminal and typing 'open [path to folder]'. It will open a Finder window inside the folder if it exists. You can also use Terminal to reveal hidden folders: http://www.wikihow.com/Show-Hidden-Files-and-Folders-on-Mac-OS-X
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Jun 14, 2014 22:37
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Cyne posted:Sounds like a hidden folder. You can confirm it's actually there by opening Terminal and typing 'open [path to folder]'. It will open a Finder window inside the folder if it exists. Thankyou for your suggestions. Unfortunately neither have worked. The open path option in Terminal gave a "No such directory" error. I made necessary changes to reveal hidden folders, yet no joy. Normally for plugins I use the extension warehouse in Sketchup, but for Kerkythea its a manual install, making it a tad challenging.
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Jun 14, 2014 23:49
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Christ, why is it so hard for tutorial makers to use the slate material editor? The compact editor is hard to follow.
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Jun 15, 2014 00:00
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Oscar Romeo Romeo posted:Thankyou for your suggestions. Unfortunately neither have worked. The open path option in Terminal gave a "No such directory" error. I made necessary changes to reveal hidden folders, yet no joy. Normally for plugins I use the extension warehouse in Sketchup, but for Kerkythea its a manual install, making it a tad challenging. One other thing to note is that there are two Application Support folders, one system-wide and one user-specific, in /Library/Application Support and /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support, respectively. My guess is that your plugins folder exists in one of those and that's the one your Ruby script detected - check both locations and I believe you'll probably find it.
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Jun 15, 2014 19:40
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The Royal Scrub posted:I'm sure you've seen http://quixel.se/usermanual/quixelsuite/doku.php but I'll post it anyways. Thanks man going to check this out this week and post some results 
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Jun 16, 2014 12:17
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Cyne posted:One other thing to note is that there are two Application Support folders, one system-wide and one user-specific, in /Library/Application Support and /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support, respectively. My guess is that your plugins folder exists in one of those and that's the one your Ruby script detected - check both locations and I believe you'll probably find it. Ah so there is! Thankyou kindly for your help Cyne, much appreciated!
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Jun 16, 2014 21:38
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Glad I could help. After following your progress on the model I'm curious to see your renders.
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Jun 16, 2014 22:58
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Hey guys, so I'm working on a model and face rig (after the model) for Madame Medusa from The Rescuers. I've trying to make a rig that will be able to hit he same poses that Milt Kahl could draw. I was wondering if I could get feedback on the model, and what stuff could be done to make it look more like her (though it's gotta be an expressionless her, which is difficult because the character is always expressing...)    Here's my reference: 
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Jun 18, 2014 19:15
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Cyne posted:Glad I could help. Thanks, so far I just have a quick test render of the model so far. Followed by a few more in Sketchup updates.  I rebuilt the body in a less stupid way and now have much cleaner geometry, here's a comparison of a before and after. Even though the first one rendered ok, cleaner geometry will make the rendering easier, stop bugging me, and make image mapping for a potential swirl (If I'm nuts enough) render.   Why yes I do have CDO. (OCD spelled alphabetically, as it should be.)    I realised after taking these screenshots the pickguard isn't quite right. The pickup cavities on the guard should be smaller and hug the pickups a little more, and screw holes for the pickups need cutting. So that's the first job for tomorrow, followed by Lion's claw routing for the bridge cavity. Embarrassing note: I totally ****ed up the bridge!  See that earlier picture of my Edge Pro II (real one) in pieces on my desk with a variety of tools beside it? The extra not so necessary tool, a glass of Whiskey, makes for very interesting micrometer readings. Always read from the left. Don't read from the left for half the model, then start reading from the right after drinking too much, it evidently results in squidgy faced string saddles and a ridiculously huge trem block that's too big for the cavity. I had to do some emergency scaling to get the drat thing to fit in the body, and the cavity needed widening just to get it to look right. Learning experience for next time I guess. Or better yet, buy a digital micrometer so I can still enjoy a dram and get precise measurements!
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Jun 18, 2014 21:47
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Pooped out a render today, 2,5 hrs to render, bit of noise but eh: Want to do an animation of this building now, probably shouldn't use rendertime DOF then?
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Jun 18, 2014 22:30
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International Log posted:Pooped out a render today, 2,5 hrs to render, bit of noise but eh: $200 for a Lenscare license is the best money you'll ever spend on an After Effects plugin. Honestly, I like to use in-camera depth of field whenever possible, as it's always going to look the most natural, but Frischluft DOF is a fantastic piece of kit to have. A few renders I posted a while back. The clock shot is in-camera, the other two are Frischluft. Nice shot by the way!
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Jun 18, 2014 23:31
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How are you guys getting on with the Quixel Suite? Synthorange I've seen a few of your posts on Polycount, are you liking it? I've made a weapon at home and fired it up for the first time the other day. Some of it looks amazing but I had two big problems that I couldn't work out how to get around. The first was that although when importing a mesh and colour map it asked me for all my colours and to pick materials for them, when I then went to export that all in to a DDO file to view it only seemed to bring in about 4 or 5 of those colours and then stop. That meant that I had to build the rest by hand which took ages. Was I doing something wrong? Do I need to separate out my colours a bit better? The next problem was that randomly after making quite a few materials the albedo layer stack seemed to minimise or hide or something and I could only view new materials I made in it even though they were still showing on the model. They all showed up in the stack on the normal/other layers. I couldn't seem to unhide my existing albedo materials at all. Thanks for any help. I'll post some screens later hopefully.
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Jun 20, 2014 12:06
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Cyne posted:$200 for a Lenscare license is the best money you'll ever spend on an After Effects plugin. Honestly, I like to use in-camera depth of field whenever possible, as it's always going to look the most natural, but Frischluft DOF is a fantastic piece of kit to have. Thanks! Those look good too. What I'm worried about is, is by using the ZDepth map which can't be smoothed, you always get aliasing around the focal point. You can even see this in Alex Roman's vids. Is there a solution for this, when using Post-DOF?
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Jun 20, 2014 13:25
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most tools have features for edge detection and smooth those out. Frischluft does a great job of this - I think alex roman just used the built in tools. If you want to send me a render and z-depth i'll run it through it for you if you like.
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Jun 20, 2014 16:41
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I'm in the process of teaching myself 3DS Max, and I'm having some trouble figuring out VRay. I think I'm using the wrong lighting system or I haven't checked something properly, because everything tends to cast a strange, noisy shadow that looks bad. (Example image)  You can see it especially on the underside of the teapot and its shadow. What am I doing wrong here?
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Jun 20, 2014 16:54
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increase the subdivisions of the light. https://vimeo.com/85982809 now his settings are HIGH, and they render far too slow, but he goes over how to find noise and remove it. just don't use the numbers he puts in - you're watching for the approach only.
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Jun 20, 2014 17:29
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cubicle gangster posted:increase the subdivisions of the light. That, and pick up some nice (free too!) HDRI maps here. Add them to the environment light and reflection slots and all of your renders will look great. Also you'll have to instance link them to a couple material editor slots so you can actually mess with them.
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Jun 20, 2014 18:38
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Many thanks to both of you. It absolutely destroys my render time so I'll rewatch that video when my thing is closer to done. I'm basically throwing everything I think I'll need to do in larger projects at a wall and seeing if I can make it all function. It's simultaneously fun and soul-destroyingly slow-paced. I am sure one day I will be an employable 3D person, but that day might be long after the collapse of civilisation at this rate.
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Jun 20, 2014 22:50
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We're getting Showcase at work. Don't suppose anyone has any advice/recommendations for tutorials etc?
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Jun 20, 2014 22:58
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Hbomberguy posted:Many thanks to both of you. It absolutely destroys my render time so I'll rewatch that video when my thing is closer to done. it destroys everyone's render time, when he posted that video some people on the vray forum called him out on the times and got that scene to way under 1/10th his. like I said - don't do what he does, but the way he uses the elements to find noise and target it with precision is very important.
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Jun 21, 2014 04:44
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Whelp some big industry news.. unfortunately from one of the industries biggest zeros... http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/prime-focus-double-negative-merge-1201246452/ Prime Focus takes over/buys out Double Negative. PF is .. well staying alive somehow with investors, but never with any real assets. They got kicked out of the R+H bankruptcy auction since they couldn't prove they had sufficient assets and cash flow to the judge, but here they are buying out one of the Majors, Double Negative. Kinda scary, I guess the rumors were true that Dneg was having financial problems.. they've been losing about 4-5 million pounds a year going deeper in the red, so I guess this was a way for the owners to keep things running. So what does PF's head honcho say about all this? http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/prime-focus-will-continue-to-hold-80new-co-founder_1111912.html?utm_source=ref_article  I love how he dodges the valuations of the merged companies. Sorry having a quarter of a billion dollar loan isn't an asset.. its a liability.  So basically we got a company with no assets and poo poo cash flow, taking out a huge loan to buy Dneg, a company with 60-80M pound yearly revenues but continues to lose 4-5 million pounds a year pushing the company ever further underwater. This will work out well.. and seems somehow familiar.... This will blow up and it's the VFX artists that will pay the price on this. And... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-24/dreamworks-seen-posting-loss-for-2014-on-dragon-sequel.html Welp.. looks like I'm not going back to dreamworks anytime soon. Same thing happened which triggered cancelled projects and mass layoffs I hope they're not as bad this time around. Big K of Justice fucked around with this message at 06:58 on Jun 26, 2014 |
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Jun 26, 2014 06:56
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How does a company that seem to be on the ropes get all that investment? The CG industry seems in such a weird place right now! I've been teaching myself the new Quixel Suite and really enjoying it. Here's my model so far: http://imgur.com/a/LXU6K 
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Jun 26, 2014 11:55
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Looks cool! Tell Carl to take a nap. Anyone know if there's a similar program for mac to DDO? All this talk has got me wanting to try it, just downloaded the legacy version and realised it was for PC only  Spent a fun afternoon on this: 
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Jun 26, 2014 20:32
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concerned mom posted:How does a company that seem to be on the ropes get all that investment? The CG industry seems in such a weird place right now! Un-sophisticated investors. http://www.cartoonbrew.com/business/legends-of-oz-investors-who-each-paid-100000-believe-hollywood-conspiracy-destroyed-film-99641.html Actually a lot of Indian and Chinese funds/groups are trying to buy themselves into Hollywood by buying out VFX firms in trouble. Makes no sense, since the big 6 studios calls all the shots. But the investors who have no hollywood experience doesn't know that. The only way you get to invest in one of their projects if its high risk and it will lose money.. ie Enders Game / Legends of Oz and .. maybe Sin City 2. If the movie is calculated to be profitable, there won't be any profit participation. Studios keep all the money. Back to VFX firms.... you buy them out for millions or usually pick up all of their millions in debt.. congrats.. you own a patent if you are lucky.. if not, you got a bunch of swell desks, computers and phones. The people usually jump ship to competitors and you aren't guaranteed to retain the talent or the culture of the firm you picked up. It was like Sony when they were trying to sell Imageworks for 500M+ dollars. Everyone in LA laughed over that.. there was nothing there that was worth 500M especially if you looked at the books. Big K of Justice fucked around with this message at 15:31 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Jun 27, 2014 07:32
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Yeah, not sure what to make of it the Dneg/PF deal. Dneg was the last company I worked for in London and I really enjoyed my 3.5years there and it's probably the only UK company I would work for again. I had heard rumours that Dneg was coming to Vancouver, but any attempt to get any kind of confirmation out of senior people at Dneg got no response whatsoever...I guess this is why. This does give Dneg access to the BC tax credits. the question is what are they going to do with the existing PF staff? (I would not work for the current incarnation of PF unless I was really desperate).
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Jun 27, 2014 18:07
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Sup bambinos, no I didn't forget about this project. Here's a Kerkythea render of the project so far. Using all available sixteen threads for rendering to speed up the process and then deciding to play FarCry 3 at the same time turned out to be a really dumb idea... :/
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Jun 27, 2014 20:19
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