I’ve been working opn a show that requires tons of futuristic housing so I’ve scouring the inter-webs for reference over the last few weeks. I came across this photo gallery of the San-Zhr Pod Village, a futuristic collection of abandoned building in Taiwan. The coolest thing is that they are also supposedly haunted.
LINKto the gallery at File Magazine (via io9)
There are certain stock visual effects that I’m asked to create over and over again for multiple projects. Creating realistic lightning seems to be one of those things that never goes out of style. If you ever need a shove in the right direction here is some of the reference footage I use most often when starting a project like this
The Real Deal
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY-AS13fl30&NR=1[/youtube]
To get lightning right, you have to look at the subtleties. A good charge has just the right amount of randomness and flow. My favorite reference of the real thing is this big-ass Tesla coil in Oklahoma. Yee-haw!
The Prestige
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOdtR_s9Yjw[/youtube]
Speaking of Tesla, this shot of Bowie walking under the coil is the best example of lightning I’ve come across in recent years. It looks organic and has a great sense of depth to it. That is hard to achieve since the bots themselves have no shading. Subtle differences in the thickness and amount of glow in the bolts realy help this shot out. Interactive lighting at the contact points is key.
Big Trouble In Little China
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2qyeZw9KaM[/youtube]
Now I’m a sucker for hand drawn lightning. In fact I’ve never seen a software solution that looks as good as an animator creating it the old fashioned way, painting it frame by frame. In this clip from the John Carpenter classic, check out the way the bolts contour around body. You just can’t do that with a plug-in. One major drawback to the hand drawn method is that if the client comes up with changes, the frames need to be painted all over again.
Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsl7bVmLnMw[/youtube]
In my opinion this is the granddaddy of all lighting VFX shots. The lightning looks hella-angry and the smaller discharges on Luke between burst really make you feel the charcge. The illuminated Vader skeleton is just icing on this delicious electric cake. One thing still bothers me though. Would it have killed Yoda to say “Oh, yeah and watch out the emperor shoots lightning out of his fingers so don’t put down your light saber or anything.” before he kicked the bucket?
