Effects Shot: The X-Wing and the Cool Old Building

Okay, I'm not going to set this up too much, but basically, I went out and shot this really cool, old building here in Franklin, Tennessee, without anything in mind, really. Upon loading it into my computer, I decided to track it, and add some CG to it as an experiment. Due to it's sucess (IMHO), me and a friend are greatly expanding on this shot. So, here you are, in two flavors:

Quicktime On2 VP3 3.2 format

DIVX 5.0.2 format

(Right-click and select "Save As" from the menu, if you're having trouble viewing the files.)

--t.toe
--co-creator of Mind Gypsy Productions
--like that means anything, hehe.

P.S. I would recommend watching the DIVX version if at all possible, as it is encoded at a slightly higher resolution.

 

Not to bad. Only two things are bugging me

1)the shadow seems to be too dark in the shade

2)there should be some decrease in the how lit up the rocket boosters are between shade and sun.

Other than those two things I liked it a lot.

 

that looks pretty sweet. Now right a tutorial!

What programs did you use?

 

Actually, believe it or not, that was almost all 3DS MAX. You're right about the shadow being too dark in the shade. Oh, and btw, I can't take credit for the X-Wing model. That was thanks to Sci-Fi 3D.

--t.toe

 

the scale seemed a little off compared to the vehicles on the side of the road... other than that, i was most impressed!

 

looks ok a few suggestions

1) the lighting really bothers me it seems to dark compared to the other objects in the scene

2) the X-Wing looks way to small, to me it looks like its smaller than those cars where in the films its way bigger

3) The shadow. It doesn't interact with the enviroment, it doesn't go up the side if the building or the side of the car, it just sorta dissapears. To fix this create the basic shape in your 3d application with basic primatives no need to texture. Align these up in the same spot as the building and that one car, render it out with just shadows and in a file format that keeps the alpha intact, You can stop but to make it look more real(you need after effects), copy the oringal layer, then put in that shadow you rendered have the alpha cut a hole in the the copied layer with a transfer mode or track mask(i dont remember) render fill the copied section of the layer with black and lower the opacity.

 

Thank you all soo much for your creative criticism. This is going to help me a lot for the final version of this shot. For a sample of what I'm planning on doing to the building in the shot, check this link:

rebel base on naboo.jpg

--t.toe
--co-creator of Mind Gypsy Productions
--like that means anything, hehe.

 

Your scale and speed are off unfortunatly. The X-Wing flies up and turns around the pole. But at that point you have a reference for the distance to the pole which is on the other side of the X-Wing and the car on the other side of the pole. based on that information the X-Wing might fit a 5 year old VERY cramped =P And then as it moves away from the camera and you can see the shadow traveling across the ground, it gets to the tree line and based on where the shadow is and the size of the X-Wing compared to the building and relative surroundings its HUGE, were talkin party in the cock pit baby. Aside from that and the lighting it looked good, nice motion tracking.

 

That was pretty cool.


Kyle

 

Haha, hilarious post Shawn. Yeah, I realize that this shot is far from complete. I just felt like posting something of my own for a change.

The main thing that happened with the shadow (which I only noticed after the two hour render), is that in order to get it to show up in the correct location, I had to cheat and make a light that ONLY cast shadow and position it behind the X-Wing. I have no idea why, seeing as the sun is in front of the X-Wing and to the left, but the only way for you to see the shadow was if I put the light behind it. And then I had to animate the light to follow it, so the shadow would stay where I wanted it. So, basically, I guess I got the position of the light wrong for the last few moments of the shot.

I'm going to take more time to get things perfect for the next version of this shot.

--t.toe
--co-creator of Mind Gypsy Productions
--like that means anything, hehe.

 

It's a great clip (aside from the previously mentioned size issues) I like when the ship goes over the building at the end.

Plus that is a very nice building, what actually is it?

 

Another White SCreen of death! NO!

 

darth-dom, that's an old abadoned building. I don't think it's in use anymore... But there's a trailer sitting right in front of it, and when we shot, the air conditioning was cranking full-blast, but there was no one home...

--t.toe

 

OK we need to stop using On2 and start using the new mpeg4 cause some of us can't read the on2 now in QT for some stupid idiotic retarted looser of a reason.

 

Thats pretty cool. Nice motion tracking.

Want to help me on the music video I'm making?

 

Ok....I have quicktime...but why does it say that the required compressor cannot be found? What do I have to do to watch it? Thanks

Dave

 

You need to download the ON2 codec. But the URL escapes me... can someone else help me out here?

And ExFilms, while I would LOVE to help, I don't exactly have the most free time on my hands, what with my full-time job, and my gearing up to move into a new house with some friends of mine... not to mention I'm working intensley on the final version of this shot (which I'm hoping will actually look pretty decent). So, sorry man.

--t.toe
--co-creator of Mind Gypsy Productions
--like that means anything, hehe.

 

Actually the On2 problem is very easy to fix. Go to the QuickTime menu in your programs list, (this is in Windows btw, not sure if this is possible on a Mac) or where ever QuickTime is located and open the QuickTime Updater.

Ok, now when it opens it should say taht all of your QuickTime is up to date, if not get it there. Then click the Custom button. A large list should appear, some items may not have been updated, including On2, simply check the boxes off the things you want to update and then the Update Now button. Hope this helps.

 

it says in the custom tab that on2 is not avaliable for an update

 

You have to make a complete uninstall of QuickTime and then reinstall QuickTime and On2. It works.