(Vote 4) Zap Blowing Stuff Up

Whoua, Congratulation to your work Zap ! (Master Zap !)
Very good composites !
Just something concerning breaks in the ground.. The broken ground seems to be too "soft". I would see it more cracked. (If you see what I mean).
But I know, in a contest, Time is limited and we can't do exactly what we want to do !

Paving stone in the window! What a beautiful effect! It looks real.
All the camera shakes give an impression of panic ! Great work too!
The 3D car, whaou ! animation (I don't find it looks like a toy >> It is a smart! It is almost a toy ^^.), renderer and compositing it's a awesome

Reflexion of the last BOOM! in the floor make is own effect !


Cool Job Zap!

 

Liked everything but the manhole thing flying through the air (trajectory just dun like right) and the car.
The phsyics simulation just makes it look like it's as light as a toy.
If you still want to do work on it then I'd suggest making it look more like a heavy piece machinery than a plastic toy.

But seriously dude, this is meant to be constructive critisism, your work is great, always is.

 

I am completely aware of all these faults, including also the trajectory of some of those stones in that big "volcano throws out flaming bouldrs" shot.

This was kinda a test for myself to see how quickly can I slap soething together without sitting down and anally tweaking every detail.

So I intentionally did quite a lot of "that'll do" to myself in it.

Had this been more "for real" and not with a 4-day deadline, everything would have been tweaked and twoken much more.

So comments are appreciated even when you dont like someting

The reflection of the boom was tricky and is still not done right, because there is already a reflection in the floor of the backlit door opening, which would really need to be "subtracted out" soehow to make this look "correct", which was way to complicated to figure out quickly. (Probably one would re-render a CG floor)

Also many explosions are lit wrong, although I did try to let explosions on the ground cast shadows on the ground when applicable.

/Z

 

Zap, that was fantastic! Great job on everything, but... (and this is just my opinion, mind you), but the only thing I didn't like was the camera positioning during the sidewalk cracking sequences. It follows the cracks, like a documentary filmmaker would follow a snake across the ground, very obviously hand-held. IMHO, what you should have down for those sequences is a static camera POS with a simple pan down to the sidewalk. For the other shot, I would have started positioned the camera lower to the ground with maybe a slight pan up t get the cracks receding into the distance. Other than that, a first rate effort, you should be very proud!

 

It follows the cracks, like a documentary filmmaker would follow a snake across the ground, very obviously hand-held.

I'm not going to speak for Zap obviously, but I though that was the look he was going for. I certainly could be wrong.
But I watched it as though it was 'spose to be a "home video" type shot.

 

Zap, that was fantastic! Great job on everything, but... (and this is just my opinion, mind you), but the only thing I didn't like was the camera positioning during the sidewalk cracking sequences. It follows the cracks, like a documentary filmmaker would follow a snake across the ground, very obviously hand-held.

Well, yes, that's the whole point of the sequence.. very obviously handheld, documentary style. I even tried to think in my mind the action as I shot it, and follow it... AND when I animated the action into the plate to let it "lead" ever so slightly such as if the cameraman wasn't quite quick enough to follow it.

It doesn't work always, for example, mr cameraman seems to know where the cracks are going before they go there, but in general it seemd to work fine....

IMHO, what you should have down for those sequences is a static camera POS with a simple pan down to the sidewalk.

Booorrriiiing. Plus EASY. I hate easy.

For the other shot, I would have started positioned the camera lower to the ground with maybe a slight pan up t get the cracks receding into the distance.

That could have worked, sure.

One problem with all this was that I was actually goign to the shop to buy a new battery for my camera, since it was only running for about 30 secs at a time and then died. These are the shots I picked up on my way to get a new battery

Other than that, a first rate effort, you should be very proud

Glad it amuses at least one person

/Z

 

Oooooooooooooo Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh....I can't really add any more than what's been mentioned already. So I'll leave it at "ooo aaah" Very spiffy Zap

 

Well, yes, that's the whole point of the sequence.. very obviously handheld, documentary style. I even tried to think in my mind the action as I shot it, and follow it... AND when I animated the action into the plate to let it "lead" ever so slightly such as if the cameraman wasn't quite quick enough to follow it.

Fair enough, just not the way I would have done it, but that's fine. IMO, I found the sequence a little jarring, because of the camera movements. They were what you wanted, so that's okay.

Booorrriiiing. Plus EASY. I hate easy. happy

Maybe, I guess I'm a firm believer in the 'less is more' concept of film making. No biggie, just different ideas.

One problem with all this was that I was actually goign to the shop to buy a new battery for my camera, since it was only running for about 30 secs at a time and then died. These are the shots I picked up on my way to get a new battery

I hate that. I'm seriously considering these modified DeWalt battery packs. They use a 7.2 volt cordless drill battery that locks into a DeWalt power tool handle that leads out to a camera power plug. I have two regular battery packs for my GL-2, and if I don't go that route, I'm just going to get the big 955 packs and a double charger.

Glad it amuses at least one person

Amused? No, didn't really find it funny, but there were sequences that made me say "Oh, wow!", because, as I said, I love fireballs raining down from the sky and blowing stuff up!

As for the car that gets tossed around, I liked the gag even though it, as you said, didn't work right. It was so unexpected, that I just accpeted it when it happened. So, again, first rate job!

Where do you live? It was like watching it all happen on the Nicolet mall here in Minneapolis or Sparks St. in Ottawa.

 

Very cool. I liked the whole cracking floor.

 

Amused? No, didn't really find it funny, but there were sequences that made me say "Oh, wow!", because, as I said, I love fireballs raining down from the sky and blowing stuff up!

Amuse, v. To occupy in an agreeable, pleasing, or entertaining fashion.

 

Fair enough, just not the way I would have done it, but that's fine. IMO, I found the sequence a little jarring, because of the camera movements.

Well I agree that the edited-together footage and the *compound* camera work through the edit wasn't always what I wanted, but reffer that 30 second battery issue

I did have some trouble to cut together those middle segments where I follow the plume going up, and it's still not quite as "good" as I would have liked it, editing wise, for the camera movement thingy.

Maybe, I guess I'm a firm believer in the 'less is more' concept of film making. No biggie, just different ideas.

Look at it this way. This was a competition, and the idea is to stand out here. Stand out against of people quite probably 90% of them using the supplied footage for the competition (all shot on a locked off tripod) or people unable to do tracking, and if shooting their own footage, also doing it locked off and boring.

Hence, mayhem ensued in Zappies brain

I hate that. I'm seriously considering these modified DeWalt battery packs. They use a 7.2 volt cordless drill battery that locks into a DeWalt power tool handle that leads out to a camera power plug.

Interesting!

As for the car that gets tossed around, I liked the gag even though it, as you said, didn't work right.

Yeah the trick was to get the simulation to toss the car in a way which made the camera move make sens. I have oodlez of versions of teh simulation where the car flies off frame or doesn't fly far enough, or whatnot....

It was so unexpected, that I just accpeted it when it happened. So, again, first rate job!

Thanks!

Where do you live? It was like watching it all happen on the Nicolet mall here in Minneapolis or Sparks St. in Ottawa.

Eskilstuna, Sweden. Thats why you can't read the signs, LOL

/Z

 

*jaw dropped* gaahh daamn wow, holy *bad word*...
first off WOW. secondly even if that had taken you 4 months... WOW.

thirdly, if you ever wanna blow up anything else how about Gotland? would LOVE to see that. meteor shower *hint hint* lol

about the car.. now I dont have anything to complain about that because frankly... it flew past the camera too fast LOL.

I thought the cracks looked good enough for me to believe the ground WAS coming apart.

tummen upp!

 

Zap, as always your stuff looks fantastic. I love how you take ideas and just run with, always doing way more than what is expected. I can see why Mental Ray hired you.

Still, I'm bothered by the cracks. They don't look dark enough to me. If you look at the shadows from the brick work, they look darker than the shadows caused by the cracks. Did you hand keyframe the cracks or were they smoe fractal pattern/design that max could do?

The still manhole cover too looks weird, because it was blasted straight up, but somewhere along the line picked up a horizontal velocity to slam through the window (which was cool, just looked weird to my physics eye).

I hope you win and become world famous.

--Jamball

 

I hate that. I'm seriously considering these modified DeWalt battery packs. They use a 7.2 volt cordless drill battery that locks into a DeWalt power tool handle that leads out to a camera power plug.

I'll see if I can dig up the link to this page- they aren't cheap, about $150 or so, BUT since the amperage of the battery is higher than what the camera requires, the batteries last longer even though the voltage is the same.

Yeah the trick was to get the simulation to toss the car in a way which made the camera move make sens. I have oodlez of versions of teh simulation where the car flies off frame or doesn't fly far enough, or whatnot....

I find there is a fine line between working right and looking good. I know that when they were using materials simulations for the pod race in Ep 1, often the ones that looked great were the ones that didn't work right. As I said, I liked the gag and I wasn't thrown out of the moment by it.

Eskilstuna, Sweden. Thats why you can't read the signs, LOL

I didn't read the street signs, so there! LOL!