I normally don't use mentalraytips.com to post "funny" things, but I had to make an exception for this, because, well... you'll see.
When I received this little video, it literally made my day. It's the "Behind The Scenes" video for Freddie Wong's "Epic VFX Time". Freddie does little funny visual effects experiments and tutorials on his youtube channel - well worth a watch.
However, when this came across my screen, well, I couldn't help but laugh:
I've been mentioned in VFX behind-the-scenes documentaries before - but never like this.
Thanks guys. :)
However, I'd like to massively correct that I am not "the guy who programs mental ray", I am *a* guy who programs mental ray *shaders*. That's different. We are a whole team behind the software, not just me...
But still - thanks!
/Z
Showing posts with label vfx. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vfx. Show all posts
2011-02-26
2009-02-25
Benjamin Buttons Beautiful Bytes
Sorry for not posting for so long, I've been busy. Me being busy is often a good thing for all of you reading, although it tends to take a while from me being busy until you notice. Since what I'm doing isn't out there yet, lets ramble about something else instead:
Recently, a movie went up in theaters called "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" starring some guy named Brad Pitt ... Hmm, that sounds familiar somehow... :)
Anyway, I have a special relationship with the effects in this film, because all the pretty stuff you see is done in mental ray, which makes me happy. (Yeah, I'm easy to please that way, LOL).
There is an almost ridiculously pretty website dedicated to The Visual Effects of Benjamin Button that I suggest you visit, if not only for the beautiful design of the site itself.
A lot of the "old benjamin" work was done by Digital Domain, and I suggest you check out their very cool breakdown of the process. Brad Pitt's digital head replacement was rendered in mental ray and is, I must say, probably one of the best skin shadings put to film to date.
Hydraulx, and their sister company Lola did a lot of the "youthenizing" effects both on Pitt and Blanchett. I actually had the pleasure to see first hand the de-aging work on Pitt when I visited Hydraulx (which can be witnessed earlier in this very blog), and I had no idea at the time of the significance of the de-aged Brad Pitt I was being shown.
What was truly interesting about the Lola de-aging process is how manual it is. Its as far from "push a button and the computer does the work" that it can possibly be. Quite the opposite, it's nearly a matter of pulling every pixel manually from one place to another, the computer just helps with doing it over multiple frames, but even that requires TLC to look nice. I applaud the work here.
And Hydraulx/Lola also did digital head replacements of Kate Blanchett onto a professional ballerinas body, again using mental ray, and good 'ole misss_fast_skin shaders.
Its fun for me, as the father of the good o'le mental ray skin shader, to see my little baby all grown up.
When I was in Singapore (see earlier in this blog) I met with Paul Hellard and friends from Ballistic Publishing and flipped through almost every one of their various computer art books (which I suggest y'all go and buy because they are exquisitly printed), I couldn't help but notice (to my poorly hidden personal glee) the amount of character renderings that were done in mental ray and with my o'le honey misss_fast_skin shader.
If you havn't checked out the mental ray skin shader, I suggest you try it, there are some posts in this very blog about it (searching for "skin" is a good start).
I close off this post with a video from TED.COM (if you are not a TED nut, I invite you to be one from today) about giving Benjamin Button his face.
I hope to be posting more again Real Soon. Meanwhile, follow me on twitter for shorter bursts of randomness that doesn't go into this blog.
Thank you for your time!
/Z
Recently, a movie went up in theaters called "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" starring some guy named Brad Pitt ... Hmm, that sounds familiar somehow... :)
Anyway, I have a special relationship with the effects in this film, because all the pretty stuff you see is done in mental ray, which makes me happy. (Yeah, I'm easy to please that way, LOL).
There is an almost ridiculously pretty website dedicated to The Visual Effects of Benjamin Button that I suggest you visit, if not only for the beautiful design of the site itself.
Digital Age
A lot of the "old benjamin" work was done by Digital Domain, and I suggest you check out their very cool breakdown of the process. Brad Pitt's digital head replacement was rendered in mental ray and is, I must say, probably one of the best skin shadings put to film to date.
Digital Youth
Hydraulx, and their sister company Lola did a lot of the "youthenizing" effects both on Pitt and Blanchett. I actually had the pleasure to see first hand the de-aging work on Pitt when I visited Hydraulx (which can be witnessed earlier in this very blog), and I had no idea at the time of the significance of the de-aged Brad Pitt I was being shown.
What was truly interesting about the Lola de-aging process is how manual it is. Its as far from "push a button and the computer does the work" that it can possibly be. Quite the opposite, it's nearly a matter of pulling every pixel manually from one place to another, the computer just helps with doing it over multiple frames, but even that requires TLC to look nice. I applaud the work here.
And Hydraulx/Lola also did digital head replacements of Kate Blanchett onto a professional ballerinas body, again using mental ray, and good 'ole misss_fast_skin shaders.
The Digital Skinny
Its fun for me, as the father of the good o'le mental ray skin shader, to see my little baby all grown up.
When I was in Singapore (see earlier in this blog) I met with Paul Hellard and friends from Ballistic Publishing and flipped through almost every one of their various computer art books (which I suggest y'all go and buy because they are exquisitly printed), I couldn't help but notice (to my poorly hidden personal glee) the amount of character renderings that were done in mental ray and with my o'le honey misss_fast_skin shader.
If you havn't checked out the mental ray skin shader, I suggest you try it, there are some posts in this very blog about it (searching for "skin" is a good start).
I close off this post with a video from TED.COM (if you are not a TED nut, I invite you to be one from today) about giving Benjamin Button his face.
I hope to be posting more again Real Soon. Meanwhile, follow me on twitter for shorter bursts of randomness that doesn't go into this blog.
Thank you for your time!
/Z
2008-08-24
Blur goes "mental"
Check out this new "Warhammer: Age of Reckoning" cinematic the insanely talanted guys at Blur Studios did:
It's done in mental ray (except some certain passes like particle work done in 3ds Max Scanline renderer (& maybe other renderers as well*)), and I even had the opportunity to render some of these characters myself, which was fun.
It's a suitably epic piece of work, I'd say.
What may interest people is that this is largely lit by physical sun&sky, and is using final gathering for indirect light. Clearly, the era of "fake everything" and "you can't use GI in production" is coming to a much needed close.
/Z
* = A ton of Particle work was done in FumeFX, which isn't available for mental ray quite yet. But a little bird has told me that this isn't too far into the future....
It's done in mental ray (except some certain passes like particle work done in 3ds Max Scanline renderer (& maybe other renderers as well*)), and I even had the opportunity to render some of these characters myself, which was fun.
It's a suitably epic piece of work, I'd say.
What may interest people is that this is largely lit by physical sun&sky, and is using final gathering for indirect light. Clearly, the era of "fake everything" and "you can't use GI in production" is coming to a much needed close.
/Z
* = A ton of Particle work was done in FumeFX, which isn't available for mental ray quite yet. But a little bird has told me that this isn't too far into the future....
2008-04-04
Visual F/X tip: Blowin' Stuff Up
I just had to post this, coz' it's so useful. It's got nuttin' to do with mental ray, but hey, I like it, so I post it.... and you, dear reader, may very well be into visual effects, so....
Here's the thing:
My very good friend and certified "madman" Bob Forward has a site dedicated to downloadable stock pyro footage called Detonation Films.
I've used Bobs stuff in the past, I stumbled there recently and saw that not only has Bob upgraded to HD for a lot of his effects, he has lots more than I ever saw before!
There's explosions, explosions, bullet hits and explosions. There's blood, sweat, and tears. There's debris, theres smoke, there's fire.... there's perdy much anything you'd need, and all available for electronic purchase (w. a lot of cool freebies too)!
And there's also Kabumei, and Bob's other films....
Yes, this man is insane; he lives to blow stuff up, but he is sane enough to keep a camera nearby every time he does it...
So.... I just thought I'd throw Bob a plug, "just coz". And no, he ain't paying me for saying this (although that's an idea... ;) )
/Z
Here's the thing:
My very good friend and certified "madman" Bob Forward has a site dedicated to downloadable stock pyro footage called Detonation Films.
I've used Bobs stuff in the past, I stumbled there recently and saw that not only has Bob upgraded to HD for a lot of his effects, he has lots more than I ever saw before!
There's explosions, explosions, bullet hits and explosions. There's blood, sweat, and tears. There's debris, theres smoke, there's fire.... there's perdy much anything you'd need, and all available for electronic purchase (w. a lot of cool freebies too)!
And there's also Kabumei, and Bob's other films....
Yes, this man is insane; he lives to blow stuff up, but he is sane enough to keep a camera nearby every time he does it...
So.... I just thought I'd throw Bob a plug, "just coz". And no, he ain't paying me for saying this (although that's an idea... ;) )
/Z
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