Nuke Smoke Compositing – Stupid Problem.

Hey guys,

just wondering if anyone can help me with a stupid problem I am having, I am trying to comp smoke over my plate (see attached) and off the bat it seems really simple but I can’t seem to tint this smoke Black, so I essentially want this smoke to be blacker and darker whilst retaining its thickness and exact shape,

Everytime I try to effect the colour I can’t help seeming to effect the Alpha, I have tried copying its alpha to a black constant, using histograms and a few other little bits, even the invert doesn’t seem to visually invert this properly.

Excuse the colour of the smoke it was rendered out pink so it could be seen within a simulation I was just shuffling the alpha to make it white and start from there (plus they were tiff’s I just had to convert to JPEG to upload).

Im’ 99% sure this is such an easy fix and I am just doing something stupid but any help on this would be greatly appreciated,

Kind Regards

Dave

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Neill Blomkamp Talks District 9

div xmlns=http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtmla href=http://vfxworld.com/?atype=articlesid=4032Neill Blomkamp Talks District 9/a, at VFXWorld/div

CGW covers Transformers 2

Great CGW article on ILM and Digital Domain’s vfx for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

VFS and District 9

The Vancouver Film School’s website has a feature article about VFS alumni and their work for District 9.

Justin Weber/MAKE: “Juiced and Jazzed”

juiced

Justin Weber makes his directorial debut with “Juiced and Jazzed,” accompanied by the forces of Minnesota’s MAKE Visual, as they blast us back to a 1930’s-esque drunken rubber hose cartoon. The adventure follows Lulu, a seemingly innocent girl who happens upon a flask during the depths of the Prohibition Era. One drink is all it takes to get things fired up and out of control.

Justin began “Juiced and Jazzed” as his senior film at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Around the time he graduated in 2008, He had finished about 90% of the animation on paper. After being hired at MAKE, he opted to finished the cartoon there with the help of animation artists Andrew Chesworth, Aaron Quist, and Joe Kim.

juiced-cover

The cartoon screams with the energy of 1930’s jazz, with beautifully lit environments, highly expressive characters and memorably exaggerated movement. I was able to catch up with Justin for a little more info on his film:

We wanted to make a cartoon inspired by 1930s rubber-hose animation in the fashion of Max Fleicher’s Betty Boop, as well as having the polish and excitement of 1940s cartoons, à la Bob Clampett and Tex Avery.

I wanted fun, lively music to drive the story and the characters’ actions. As a result, “Juiced and Jazzed” begins with a bouncy, jazzy piece by Joe Venuti and moves into the wild and fast paced music of Spike Jones. 

Each artist really helped add a richness to the cartoon that made it even more fun to watch.

We firmly agree. For more info on “Juiced and Jazzed,” have a look at the official site and be sure to check out some of the process work above provided by Justin and the MAKE team.

Posted on Motionographer

Green screen information help

I was wondering if someone could give/tell me where I can get information about green screen.
I made one myself but I couldn´t find the green I needed so I used a green from a pool table, I´ve got some nice amator results but for an academic work I think it´s enough.
What I need is some information in how to use it correctly to prepare it to insert 3D.
Hope someone can help.
Thanks in advance

Bad Night Footage

Ok a little breakdown but I cant go into major details for certain reasons.

I work for a lawfirm currently, and was just handed some footage from a police dashcam. Its pretty late at night and its a very dark street. I need to correct this footage possibly degrain. I know I can’t make it perfect, but I really need to see what is going down when they step off into the shadows.

Gamma and Brightness blow it out too much, I was wondering if anyone had some nice tips. I am about to just work on possibly a single RGB channel, but the less I have to edit this footage the easier its gonna be to get the OK to use in court.

I wish i could show an example of the footage, but this is evidence after all and not sure if I can or not so I think i’m gonna play it safe Haha.

Eric Ku

Recent SVA grad Eric Ku shows off his “Mission Redefinition” project. Great concepts and very thoughtful execution.

Creating an effect dimmer than a lensflare

Now when you shine a bright light into the lens of a camera you get lensflares. But what happens when the light is not quite bright enough to create a flare, just a little dimmer? Do you get rings, or maybe just really bright glows? Has anyone had to create something like that?

I’ve got a light source here, but not quite sure it would create a lensflare in real life.

Asylum & Tarsem Move Beyond The Big Screen for Kia

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/forte_bumber_thumb.jpg”]21137[/NEWS]Asylum, in collaboration with @radical.media’s Tarsem create a memorable :60 via David & Goliath for the new Kia Forte. Basking in its own spotlight, the Kia Forte sits on a soundstage flanked by giant screens. From these screens historic images of man’s first space walk, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the mass production of the first gasoline engine play out. Soon these scenes take on a life of their own, moving beyond the screen and blending seamlessly onto the soundstage, courtesy of the inventive team at Asylum.

The message is clear. Kia may not be the first car company to offer class-leading horsepower, fuel efficiency, advanced technology, innovative safety equipment and attention to detail, but they are the first to offer it all, standard, in one incredibly affordable model: the stylish Forte.

“The greatest challenge with this spot was how to handle such massive screens while still turning the project around on deadline,” noted Asylum VFX Supervisor/Lead Inferno Artist Rob Moggach. “Our team improvised and composed the CG screens and their footage during post and integrated it with the live-action footage to make it appear as if it were projected on the screens. This way they were able to change composition, content and the overall aesthetic.”

About Asylum:
Asylum is a premier visual effects and design company, handling high-profile features, commercials, music videos, and emerging media content for web and mobile platforms. Asylum created the visual effects for such films as the upcoming Terminator Salvation, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Pirates Of The Caribbean ll & lll, Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World (Academy Award and BAFTA nominated), Moulin Rouge, Minority Report, Phantom Of The Opera, Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto, Tony Scott’s déjà vu, Man on Fire & Domino and Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down.

Asylum has done spot work for brands such as Hershey’s, Nike, Sony Playstation, Coke, BMW, Gatorade and Visa. In addition, Asylum Design has created award winning title and graphic design work for such films as Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Bedtime Stories, X-Men I & II, The Island, Bad Boys II and XXX.

The Creds:
Client: Kia Motors America, Inc.
Spots Title: Kia Forte “Pioneers”
Air Date: July 2009

Agency: David & Goliath
Chairman, Chief Creative Officer: David Angelo
ECD: Colin Jeffery
ACD: David Cuccinello
Art Director: Adam Nelson
Copywriter: Tim White
Senior Producer: Paul Albanese

Prod Company: @radical.media
Director: Tarsem
EP(s): Frank Scherma, Tommy Turtle
Head of Production: Cathy Dunn

Editorial: Whitehouse LA
Editor: Ben Stephens
Assistant Editor: Page Marsella
Producer: Justin Kumpata

Post/Effects: Asylum
Lead VFX/Inferno Artist: Rob Moggach
EP: Michael Pardee
Producer: Ryan Meredith
Bidding Producer: Michael Hanley
CG Producer: Jeff Werner
CG Supervisor: Jens Zalzala
Coordinator: Emily Hoovler
Inferno(s): Miles Essmiller, Jonathan Hicks
3D Modeler: Greg Stuhl
On Set Tracker: Eddie Offermann
Lead Lighter: Yurichiro Yamashita
3D Texture: John Hart

Related Links:
www.asylumfx.com
www.radicalmedia.com/Commercials/Tarsem