Month: December 2021

The Final Outcome

The Breakdown

Self-Reflection

This project had its ups and downs, and yet I came out a better and slightly more knowledgeable FX artist out of it.

It started with my typical grand ideas, which at the time it didn’t even come to my realisation that I won’t be able to do some. For instance, my original idea was around fluid simulation, yet that requires computer specification which neither do I or university computers have. After around two and a half weeks of trial and error, I managed to finalise the project outline. Familiar or potential office accessories, which included a particle simulation of some sorts, integrated with their target surroundings such as an office desk – that was what I have finally settled down. Due to some of the time wasted, I had to start the preparation before simulation in Houdini very quickly which included modelling of the objects, such as the glass case, the hourglass, and the statue around which particles will move in swirling motion. It was to my relief that the habits and mechanical memory kicked in very quickly as I was navigating through Maya, haven’t touched it for a couple of months.

After the intense week of pre-production, idea visualisation and modelling, I have finally managed to start the simulation process inside Houdini. For the four simulations that I came up with, the one that I haven’t tried before was sand, so I started with it the first. It took me a few days of getting acquainted with, learning, exploring the nodes necessary for the sand creation. I have found a good reference video shot of the hourglass, which eventually became my focus of study, as I tried to break down and understand how the sand itself acts and interacts within in this situation. There was an inner expectation that the final look had to be achieved via one system, as physically accurate as possible. Yet I couldn’t achieve the look I wanted with this approach. Christos helped me organise a session with Mehdi, which in turn was incredibly helpful and insightful. He made me understand that very often the realistic appearance of a simulation is not achieved by simple steps of one system treatment. Instead, taking the hourglass as an example, he suggested breaking it down into 3 different systems: the sand on top of the hourglass, the sand source in the narrow neck, and the sand piling up at the bottom. From that, I managed to build a script that gave me better control over the whole simulation and how the sand would fall.

Attending to the fire burning inside a glass case simulation, the particle swirling around the statue and the backflow incense burner, I have again faced the limitation of computer processing power and the inconvenience of the escaping time. Towards my final weeks, I have made the decision on which simulations I will focus more on to perfect them instead of rushing through all and having a generic outcome. Whilst working on the fire simulation, it became obvious to me, that the original idea was not thought through properly, so the simple fire burning inside the case appeared to be quite bland. Brainstorming, I decided that I wanted to make a crystal, which would be set on fire and also create the cracked surface on the base of the case. It would add a better grounding to the simulation and make it appear as if the fire is coming from a mechanism, based just below the cracks. The swirling particle, in turn, was not as easy a simulation to figure out, as I have found out. The hardest part was eventually directing the particles alongside trails, which had to be made either by hand or procedurally. After several of my own attempts and various tutorials I have found on YouTube and Vimeo, I came across a very nice tutorial from the channel Entagma. Eventually, they were creating a simulation of particles swirling in free space guided by the velocity made from volumetric cross-product of vectors. It was specifically the look of trails that appealed to me, as I figured out how to adjust their script to my network. Finally, I had all the simulations ready and it was the stage of render tests.

The rendering stage brought its own complications that I had yet to solve. The first thing was finalising my objects appearance, as originally, I had planned to place them in an office area and give the viewer a guided tour around. Yet, with upcoming deadlines and problems setting up render farm for Houdini, I decided to go with a safer choice of presenting the objects in a simple set-up. They would interchange with each other under a spotlight in a dark area. After that, setting up cameras and lights was quite straightforward. I had to merge all the scripts into one scene, as I wanted to see all of my objects side by side. The renderer used was Arnold, which, in turn, required its own unique set-up in Houdini, with a specific material application for each of the presented accessories. Once it was all done, I’ve spent a whole week rendering out the cameras, without being able to finish all the renders for all of the frames I’ve planned, as I ran out of time. During the wait for those, I have searched for sound effects and sound music tracks and prepared a project inside Premiere Pro, on which the final video was edited.

Overall, I really enjoyed this project! It made me realise how much I have yet to learn and practice in FX creation, but also strengthened my desire to work in this field. The fact that I had to go through every step of it by myself reminded me of how every phase is essential and serves as a good foundation for the final result. Coming across various problems and overcoming the obstacles served me as a good way to attain the new or old information with regards to specific techniques, processes, use, and general workflow of a project and software needed. It came to my realisation that I knew very little about the stage of material application and rendering, integration between various software’s, and export or import of files, so I now know better what I must pay attention to in any of my future personal projects.

I wanted to say thank you for all the help I’ve got: for my library weekly sessions with Jane and Giulia passing onto helpful criticism or suggestions to each other, for Christos guiding us throughout this tough period, for Mehdi for helping me discover and understand Houdini better as well as his experienced insight, for my family and friends who helped to power through the rollercoaster of experience that it was. Finally, I wanted to say thank you to my dearest friend Sasha, who helped to come up with the name for the project, as it actually gave me an idea of using the specific soundtrack, thus enhancing the experience of the final piece!

Approaching the deadline, I focused on adjusting the materials, light, and camera placements to get my final look right. As render time can often be unpredictable, it was only logical and reasonable to change my composition to be purely focused on the simulation. The way that object was to come into the frame would be a simple slide into the spot of light in a dark room. Other than visual focus, I could add the sound FX guidance in regards to the relative position of the object to the audience: in front, close-up, on the right, or left of them. Here are a few single renders:

Originally for the statue for swirling particles simulation, marble material was applied to the whole colliding geometry. But, the base kept sticking out for me, so I decided to use a different material with wooden tones for it. Here are comparisons, side by side: