Final Submission
VFX Breakdown
CG Character in a Real Environment.
For this project I decided to try and model a simple CG character as the CG element in this project and film live footage in my flat. I decided I wanted to model a character since this is something I struggle with so I thought this would be an interesting challenege to overcome. The first thing I worked on was gathering references for my character and to start modelling it in Maya.
I created a mood board with the items that will be the main things used in the project, I had a replica of thor’s hammer which I measured first so that I can model my CG character to scale.
Character Modelling
The modelling of this character was a learning journey for me, I had to remodel it multiple times until I reached the final product. All the videos attached will be showcasing the different stages in creating this character. (Many of the vidoes show the original form of the character before reaching the final version) I didnt end up recording the process of fixing and remodelling since it followed the same principals.
When I started rigging this original form of the model I realized that I had issues with the elbows of the character as it was modelled incorrectly, it was in the wrong position. I then had to fix that by remodelling the elbows and retexturing the character.
I actually had rigged my character completely and fixed the skin weights, but then I decided to use animations from Mixamo instead of animating myself (since animation isnt really my focus).
Animation using Mixamo motions.
I uploaded my character on Mixamo to check out how the animations would play out before downloading any of the FBXs of the animation to use in Maya.
Using the Timeline Editor in maya I layered the different animation movements of the character making it transition from one movement to another I built the sequence and rendered out the frames. I added an HDRI and lights to try and match the lighting of the Original plates.
Nuke Compositing
For this project I had four different plates to work on, When I was filming I tried my best to keep in mind the angles of the shots in relation to the vfx work I wanted to do. After getting the main shots I was in, I kept the camera in the same position without moving it and added markers on the table and the hammer so that I could track them in Nuke for the placement of my character when animating
For some reason the final shot, I didnt have a version of it without the markers so I had to clean it up in Nuke with projections, which was a very tedious thing to do especially the text on the comic book. But this gave me a chance to practice the rotopaint and projection of clean plates that needed focus on details.
Introduction Plate
For this shot it was all the addition of effects including lightning and shadows hitting the hammer and lasers coming out of my eyes. For some of the effects I had to rotoscope some details of the table and chairs back onto the original plate so that it isnt hidden behind any of the effects.
CG Plates
The first thing that needed to be done with all the CG plates was camera tracking since all the shots had markers for the CG character to follow.
I had some issues with rendering in Maya which is why three different node sections are seen for the CG character in the bottom shot. Each one of them was a section of the rendered animation from Maya.
For the ending shot after the cleaned plate was rendered out, I connected the CG character to that node.
This was the structure of the cleaning the plated and projecting them back onto the original plate.
The Initial Storyline
A girl is seen sitting on the floor in their living room reading a comic book, she is smiling and laughing at the content. A wide angle of the living space is shown as a tiny CG character is seen hiding behind something peaking to look at the character and the book with interest. The CG character sneaks around to get closer to the area the girl is sitting in, we hear a phone ringing off screen which makes the girl place the comic onto the floor and she places Thor’s hammer on top of the books as a paperweight and exits the room to pick up the phone. The CG character runs up to the comic books and tries to push the hammer off the books, a sequence of the CG character struggling to move the hammer is seen. After many failed attempts the CG character looks defeated resting it’s back on the hammer, it starts looking around the room hoping to find something that could help. It spots a self cleaning vacuum and get’s an idea, they quickly run to the vacuum and hop onto it pressing the button on top to turn it on, The CG character is seen on top of the vacuum pointing towards where the hammer is located. Eventually the vacuum gets to the location the Hammer is in and pushes it off the stack of comics. The CG character jumps off and starts reading the comic smiling.
After reconsidering what needed to be made I decided to change how the events of the story unfold, I made it simpler and included more supernatural elements that needed to be comped onto the original plates instead of only having a CG character that is comped onto real footage.
Critical Reflection
Working on this project was really eye opening for me, It made me realize what I actually like to do in visual effects. Modelling the character was probably the hardest thing for me to do since I have figured that I struggle with organic modelling, it was quite a challenge to get done. I had many obstacles that I had to overcome and solve. Because of that I had to redo parts multiple times in the process of making the character which was not ideal since that wasted time. Filming and editing this project was easy for me since my background is filmmaking, the new element was taking in consideration what was needed for CG when in production. Since I was filming alone it was sometimes challenging not getting feedback of how the shots I was in looked like behind the camera. I planned including markers with some gaffer tape to have that as a reference in Nuke for camera tracking which helped me place the cards in 3D for projections and animating my CG character. For the final shot I seemed to forget to get a shot without the markers, so I had to go through the process of cleaning the markers which was a really long process since the markers were huge and the design of the comic book was intricate. That was a learning point for me, for next time to make sure that any shots I have markers on if I can get another shot without markers to use as plates that would make the process a lot smoother in post.
Overall I think I was able to achieve what I had in mind for this project. I changed the plot to be able to include other elements in the story such as the lightning and the lasers. I tried to make everything look as good as possible while also making it look fun with the CG character. The sound design for the project was an interesting part since it was the part that made it come to life, without the sound design it looked quite flat. I was looking for different sounds to layer them on top of each other to add depth to the project.
If I had a chance to redo one thing in this project it would be the animation of the CG character and the renders, since I am still learning I believe I can get better renders and realism of the CG character making it look more in place with the real footage.