VFX Pipeline

VFX Pipeline

1) Research and Development - this plays a key role in the vfx pipeline because the R & D team can be crucial for being able to manipulate the newer more advanced tools to make a movie stand out, there is also a saying you can never have to much information. 

2) Tests - These are vital to get funding for a film. They usually require a team of skilled artists to get the tests done on short notice to show the client that their vision can become a reality and give them confidence

3) Pre-Vis - This is where you do a rough layout of your scene in software (such as Maya) to plan out and get a grasp of what your going for and where everything should be. A good example is the Lord of the Rings Pre-Vis for the Mines of Moria scene.

4) Modelling - this is needed to turn clients sketches and real life models into fully functional high res CG characters. Another role of modeling is to have each asset modeled at different quality levels high for final render, medium for animation and low for Pre-Vis.

5) LIDAR (Light and Radar) - A Lidar is a laser based 3D scanning device that can make some really realistic looking models for environments and buildings smaller models will use a similar machine as well.

6) Film Scans - This is the function of getting footage from a film reel, many movies use this Each frame is scanned as a separate high dynamic range image to preserve as much detail as possible.

7) Grading - The purpose of grading is to make sure all the shots look the same and have the same "feel" so there are no sudden jumps in brightness or colour. This is done using colour and exposure changes.

8) Plate Preparation - in filming it is almost impossible to get a 100% clean film, so there are dust spots and chemical patches on the scans. because of this a team of compositors go through and paint out any scratches or dust that appears in the scans this has been referred to as "Dust Busting".

9) Rigging - Rigging is used to create a skeleton for a model or character. This makes it a lot easier to animate as you can move the bone structure in a more natural way rather than moving the faces frame by frame. We haven’t delved into this topic and it most likely will not be applied to our scene, however I would like to learn how to do it for when it comes to games design.

10) Look Development - This is where you take the time to get the shot exactly how you want it and to make sure that it fits the rest of the scene. For the most part we got the right angles that we could get for our shots in the time given, however if we had more time it would be improved.

11) Lighting and Rendering - Lighting and Rendering is where you make sure that the light in the scene is in the right position and is hitting the right objects. For example you would prefer to have the light shining on a more focused area of the scene than anywhere else.

12) Texturing - Texturing is the process of making sure that all of your models in your scene look like they belong there and look high quality. In films like the Avengers all of the destructible wall will have to be well textured and nicely rendered. This can be done in a software such as 3DS Max.

13) Tracking - Tracking is used in various kinds of shots, for example it is used on faces if they are going to be later replaced by a CGI face such as Colossus out of Deadpool. However it can also be used to make an object still in a shot.

14) Effects Animation - Is used to create various kinds of effects ranging from dust to water, etc. I think that this would really fit the scene as the runner speeds past the screen. This would also give the viewer a more immersive experience.

15) Rotoscoping -  unlike in animation, VFX rotoscoping used to create a  mask for an element so it can be extracted out to be placed on a different background. i have not yet got round to trying this, however it would fit our scene very much so if we were to change the story a bit to suit it.

16) Elemental Shoot - An Elemental shoot is where you record various elements that can be used in your scene, for example fire. Fire is used loads throughout films whether its on the end of a torch or a car engine on fire. We haven’t applied this thus far as it is our first shoot and we went quite strict on the risk assessment because of this.

17) composition - compositing is the last process that the the VFX pipeline goes through it is adding all the CG, elements and scanned plates as well as matte paintings. The compositer will use a variety of techniques to intergrate everything together.

use in the production of actual sequences on the film. Tests are done as proof-of-concept pieces to give the client confidence that what they want to achieve is possible. Tests are generally done by very experienced artists as they are often highly experimental and complicated with tools needing to be written on the fly by the team doing the test. Once the work is won the process of building the models can begin