VFXhack

The Animation Guild Local 839 has published a survey of salaries in the animation industry and I’ve broken out some of the data that pertains to VFX folks. The numbers in the survey are median weekly rates based on union jobs but the numbers are still interesting.

In other words modelers are at the low end of the scale bringing in about $82k per year and supes are hovering close to $130k per year down about 20% from ‘07. The string of blockbuster VFX flicks seems to be keeping demand for artists high enough to meet supply. Just remember this is a boom and bust biz folks so fill up those 401ks while ya can.

LINK to the full survey

These nuggets of godly wisdom from the book of Exodus have inspired many imitations from The Ten Commandments of the Mafia to The Ten Commandments of Couch Crashing here’s my entry into the fray

The Ten Commandments of Visual Effects

1. Thou shalt not covet thy cubicle buddy’s action figures.

2. Thou shalt not put thy greasy goddam fingers all over my monitor.

3. Thou shalt always use headphones.

4. Thou shalt not ship until first thou hast blurred and glowed.

5. Thou shalt not get overly excited about the latest Hollywood blockbuster based on a comic book or 80’s toy.

6. Thou shalt always pad thy hours.

7. Thou shalt not torture thy interns (they could be your boss some day).

8. Thou shalt not become too bitter too quickly.

9. Thou shalt not wear free t-shirts from Siggraph on the Sabbath.

10. If thou cannot do… thou shalt blog.

News flash from the no duh department. Sleep deprivation effects your ability to make sense of what you see. And that’s not just anecdotal ladies and germs, it’s from a study published in the Journal Of Neuroscience. Study author Dr. Michael Chee says,

Interestingly, the team found that a sleep-deprived brain can normally process simple visuals, like flashing checkerboards. But the ‘higher visual areas’ — those that are responsible for making sense of what we see — didn’t function well

That means, the person at your facility that is always saying “Dude I was here sooo late last night. But hey, you gotta do what it takes.” is actually doing a way worse job than the bright eyed and bushy tailed VFX artist who got a good nights sleep. Go figure.

via PixelVomit

Just finished this little write-up for the work that I did for the series finale of Jericho. The whole show was a blast to work on and many talented people poured a lot of hours and hard work into this baby. Hope you enjoy.

The Mission

Jericho tells story of small town struggling to survive in the landscape of a post apocalyptic America. In the final episode of the show’s second season, the creators wanted to give the fans something special. The VFX team worked with production to give the audience a glimpse at what the rebuilt capitol of drastically altered capital city would look like and a stunning climax that pitted the shows main character, Jake against the might of the Cheyenne air force in a dramatic aerial battle. The challenge to the VFX team was to make these important story points completely realistic. The VFX was not to detract from the story but enhance it by delivering seamless effects.

The Approach

The reveal of the capitol building under construction in the new Capitol of Cheyenne was not to be your run of the mill matte paining. The story called for a city under drastic expansion and rapid construction. Reference photography of the current city of Cheyenne could be used as a base, but new buildings as well as construction cranes, vehicles, pedestrians and construction workers would have to be added after the fact. The show’s most difficult sequence came in the form of the final aerial battle. Knowing that it would be impossible to tell the story through the use of stock or custom shot aerial photography, the visual effects team settled on a mostly CG approach. The scene called for a variety of different aircraft and many camera angles to cover the action. There was dialog between Jake and the pilots of both the Cheyenne and later the Texas planes, so plates of the actors would need to shot on green screen and combined with the CG planes and backgrounds. At one point in the battle, two of the planes are blown out of the sky by air-to-air missiles. Knowing that a photo-real explosion would be difficult to achieve by using CG alone, it was decided that scale models were to be built based on the CG planes and animatics and blown up using traditional special effects methods. Later these elements would be composited with the CG planes.

Shot Elements

Once the methodology was decided upon, the wheels were set in motion to gather all the practical elements that needed to be shot. These fell into several categories. First HDRI 360° photography of the first unit location for the reveal of the Cheyenne Capital. The HDRIs captured on set were used as a basis for the background buildings and were used as a lighting basis for the 3d elements in the matte painting. The raw photos for the panoramas composed of 38 different camera positions with nine exposures for each position.

The final shot was to be from the perspective of a hotel room 12 stories above the street so the HDRIs were taken from atop a 40 foot platform. Many elements were also gathered to create the feeling of activity in the scene. A camera was again placed on a platform to match the high vantage point of the final shot. Many passes of ground activities of civilians, military, construction workers and their vehicles were taken. To create the illusion of more extras costumes were changed multiple times and movement patterns were varied from take to take.

The aerial battle plates consisted of two main parts, the green screen photography of the actors for inside the plane cockpits and the explosion plates of the jets. The green screens were filmed on a high definition video camera with Jake (the main character) sitting inside a cut out portion of a real plane cockpit that was a close match to the model that was shot on first unit.

The glass on the cockpit windows was left in on most shots so any of the actors reflections could be lifted and used in the final composite. The pilots of the F-15 and F-16 fighter jets were also filmed against green with the intention of modeling a digital cockpit for those shots. Pivotal to the success of the green screen shoot was the animatic that was created by the VFX team and cut by Jericho editorial. This animatic was worked on with the creators of the show so that all the major action of the scene was represented in a rough 3d form. This gave the actors an excellent idea of what was happening in the scene and helped them achieve the proper eye-lines and emotional impact rather than just acting against a void.

When it came to shooting the plane explosions, great care was put into the planning and preparation of the shoot. The animatic was again used to determine the detail and placement of the plane models. A VFX shoot team was assembled consisting of a DP and his crew, a pyrotechnics team and few model makers and painters. The plane that was to be destroyed was an F-15 fighter and the fiberglass shell from a remote control plane kit was used as the base model. Four shells with a wingspan of a little over 5 feet were prepped and painted to match the markings and textures of the CG models exactly. On the day of the shoot the model planes were packed with explosive and lifted onto a 30 foot armature. Three cameras were placed at different heights that lined up to several shots in the animatic, a live switcher was used to line up the video feeds from the camera to the animatics. The three cameras rolled simultaneously on each explosion at 120 fps. The higher frame rate was used to compensate for the smaller scale of the models. All together 3 models were blown up for the shoot.

3d Techniques

Before any modeling or texturing of the 3d assets was started, an exhausting search for reference was begun. The new Capitol building under construction in Cheyenne began as model from a stock library. Pieces of the substructure and framing of the building were then created using the stock model as a guide. Then pieces of the original model were stripped away to reveal the unfinished skeleton. The construction cranes for the 3d matte painting were modeled using photo reference, along with other street props. The hero buildings were generic models that were placed in the scene with projected textures of the building matte paintings used to enhance the details.

The aerial battle sequence started with the creation of a detailed animatic which served as a master template for animation, camera movement and lighting. After editing, the stand-in planes were replaced with hi-resolution versions. Careful attention was taken to make sure that the planes were authentic. The Cessna Citation that Jake flies in the scene not only had to look real in the CG shots but be a perfect match to an aircraft shot by production taxiing on the runway in the previous scenes. Many photographs were taken of the markings and logos on the plane to make sure the match was seamless. The F-15s and F-16s also had to be extremely detailed as they were seen close-up from nearly every angle. The cockpit and pilot seat of each plane also had to be rendered and textured to accommodate the green screen footage of the pilots. A lot of photographic reference both still and moving was used ensure that the shading and behavior of light across the planes surface was highly realistic. The flags and markings of the new Air Force in the Jericho story line also had to be created and applied to the planes.

2d Techniques

Many of the compositing shots in this show made use of the tight integration between the 3d and 2d working environments. For the Cheyenne Capitol shot, a 3d track was created for the scene. 3d elements were rendered with basic lighting using the track data, then the same track data was used in the compositing software. This allowed the compositor to place elements in the scene on 3d cards and have them track perfectly with the rendered elements. It gave the artists the flexibility to paint detail directly onto the parts of the image that needed it without having to request another element to be rendered in 3d. This technique was used to great effect when building the sky environment for the aerial battle scene. The shot began with the camera created during the 3d animation process. A basic sky dome and rough 3d landscape was added to each shot and rendered. The compositors than painted over the rough landscape using stock aerial photography to add detail while maintaining the basic lighting and depth from the 3d render. The 3d camera move was also brought into compositing for the addition of photographic cloud elements placed at different distances from the camera to create the illusion of volume and depth.

To create the photographic look of the planes, a multi-pass pipeline was used. Each component of the 3d render (reflection, color, specularity, etc.) was rendered as a separate element and combined in composite to achieve the final look. Using this method, the compositors had an extreme amount of control in how the subtle lighting effects played across the surface of the ships. Perhaps the most convincing of composite effects done for the show was the explosion of the two F-15s. Since the line-up of the shot footage of the planes exploding from the VFX shoot lined up perfectly, a quick dissolve from the CG plane to model footage was all that was needed. In fact the explosion proved so effective that close-up shots of the explosion from the VFX shoot were added to the edit towards the end of the editing process. The clean-up of the explosions involved removing the rig from each shot and pulling keys from the sky behind the model.

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Conclusion

It is rare to get to work on a Visual Effects sequence for a television show that i so pivotal to the storytelling of the episode. In the case of Jericho Episode 207, the story and visual effects were intertwined in such a way that one could not have happened without the other. Because of the tight integration between story and effects, all of the work done on the show had to be seamless. Anything out of place would distract the viewer from the emotional impact of the action. An imaginative combination of techniques both old and new were used to create scenes with an amazing degree of authenticity. The VFX team for this show worked tirelessly to make sure that the fans of the Jericho series would not be disappointed.

Eric Alba has posted a Flickr feed of his spiffy new tracking markers. The best thing is the not-so-secret message printed on every one. Here, take a closer look.

Well played Alba.

LINK to Eric’s Website

We’ve all heard the overquoted story from about how it took Thomas Edison 10 million tries to get the lightbulb right or how Dyson went through thousands of prototypes before he settled on the perfect design for a vaccum. But, behind these cliches lies more than a nugget of truth, especially in regards to he world of Visual Effects. I have found that no two shows (or two shots for that matter) are exactly the same. And with the pace of innovation racing ahead so rapidly, what’s state of the art in VFX today won’t hold up tomorrow. Is there anything us work-a-day guys and gals of the VFX community can do to keep pace? Well, I’m happy to tell you that the answer is yes. One of the keys to creating a great visual effects sequence is to fail early and fail often. This is a hard pill to swallow for some of you out there. Getting a ahead in this business means always being the guy or gal with the answers. When a Director asks, “How the heck are we gonna do this?” nobody wants to answer “I don’t know. Lemme think about it”. Humility in the VFX world is in short supply and huge egos tend to be greatly rewarded. The fact is, failure is a big part of the VFX (or any artistic) process. And how you handle failure in a work environment is a far better test of your character than success.

Go Big or Go Home-

Fear of failure can lead to being overly cautious in shot design or worse indecision and inaction. If you fear failure, you will never learn anything. Sometimes starting a project can feel like standing on the edge of a giant, bottomless pit of sadness and despair. Although your doubts may not be unfounded, at a certain point ya’ gotta just say to your self “Screw it” and jump in head first. Nobody ever got the glory by sitting on the sidelines saying “See I told you it would be too hard”. So climb aboard that failboat and sail on with a smile on your face.

It Is, What It Is-

One of the things that defines a successful person is the ability to see things for what they are, not what you want them to be. The only way to make your failures work for you is being honest with yourself about what didn’t turn out right in your shot and how it went off course. Cast a critical eye to the work you’ve done. If you were the client, what would you have said about the work you put forward? Don’t get stuck making excuses or qualifying your work. Specifically, identify how you screwed up and what you are going to do differently the next time around.

A Glutton For Punishment-

To really learn from failure you must do it again and again. Just think of it this way, if every time you fail is opportunity to never step in the same pile of VFX doodoo again. Some of you may be afraid to walk around the office with canine poopy on your shoes. Admitting that you screwed up might feel a bit strange in this alpha dog eat alpha dog world. But look at it this way, artists that set themselves up as perfect run the risk of not knowing when something really bad is staring them right in the face (Jar-Jar Binks anyone?).

Basic Failure Safety-

It’s probably not a good idea to continuously fail at important stuff like making a delivery or remembering not to fish a burning bagel out the toaster with a metal fork while it’s still on. Try to create a safe failspace for yourself on each project. Animatics or concept sketches have great failure potential. What you need is sandbox where you can try out creative options without sinking the entire project. Starting out a job with many failures can result in the cream rising to the top early. Just make sure that you’re a quick study and turn your mound of crap into a diamond in short order. Otherwise, you won’t be the guy who learned from his failures and became great, you’ll just be a plain old failure.

LINK to some inspiring Fails over at Failblog

I’m always on the lookout for a new way to simultaneously do something productive and keep from getting bored while I’m on set waiting for a VFX shot to come up. My latest arts and crafts project involves creating the ultimate LED tracking marker. Now you may ask “Why LEDs? Why not a triangle inside a circle, or newspaper, or a tennis ball for god’s sake!” Well those methods are still valid but the in the right situation and LED tracking marker can really do the trick. Here are some reasons why you might want to go the LED route.

1. LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. As the name suggests you don’t need to light them because hey are a tiny light source onto themselves. This is perfect for areas of the frame that don’t have enough exposure for your common variety tracking marker.

2. LEDs hold up better when they are out of focus. When you shot a greenscreen with a long lens and an open F-stop, the background of your shot is gonna go way out of focus. Regular tracking markers turn to mush in this situation causing more a problem for clean-up than helping with the tracking process. The LED will bloom but tends to hold it’s intensity and not break-up as much.

3. The are small. LEDs are compact and light. A little bit of snot tape on the back and the can be affixed to anything from a patch of skin to a set wall. Ball up in some strong tape (sticky side out of course) and you can even throw them up on a wall that’s too high to reach. No more asking that grumpy grip if you can borrow his ladder.

4. Power is not an issue. A single battery can keep an LED running strong for days depending on the temperature. Battery life deteriorates rapidly in the cold so if you are shooting outside in the winter, make sure you grab a few packs of extra batteries for your kit bag.

There some things to watch out for with LEDs though. Their biggest strength (the fact that they emit light) is also their biggest weakness. LEDs can spill unwanted light all over the place if they are to close to (or on) the subject they are shooting. Fortunately, LEDs come in different flavors that include color variations and frosted plastic casings. The frosted casing cast a lot less spill but also need to be aligned to point at the lens for maximum effect. Try and find some samples and try out some color and casing combos before you head out. You never know how things could change on set, so it’s important to carry a bunch of LED options with you in your kit bag.

At this point you may be asking yourself “Wow, LEDs sound great. Where can I buy some?”. Well, the short answer is you can’t. You have to build LED tracking markers yourself. But never fear intrepid VFX explorer! Here’s a step by step on on how to create your very own set of LED tracking markers.

Step 1: Buy some LEDs

You can get these babies on-line or at your local electronics supply store. The come in different colors and you can also find them with frosted plastic. You can frost clear ones yourself with some dulling spray or spray mount. You can also file off the top of the plastic to expose the diode if you want them to be even brighter.

Step 2: Buy Some Heat Shrink Tubing

This is a great trick. Heat shrink tubing is a strip of vinyl that shrinks down to 1/2 it’s original size when exposed to heat. You can get it in all different kinds of colors including green which makes it almost invisible when affixed to green screen.

Step 3: Buy Some 3 Volt Batteries

These are the kinds of batteries that most cameras use. You can buy them from a store but it’s much cheeper to buy them in bulk on-lne.

Step 4: Cut the Tubing, Slide in the Battery Apply Heat

Cut the tubing so that is just a little bit larger than the battery, then just slip the battery inside the tubing. Apply heat with a heat gun and “Viola!”, the tubing makes a nice tight jacket around the battery. Make sure when you are applying heat that you hold the battery and tubing with a pair of pliers so you don’t burn yourself.

Step 5: Insert LED

All that’s left to do now is slip the wires of the LED between the battery and jacket and you’ve got yourself a tracking marker. You can stick these to surfaces using double sided tape, stick them to people with a Band-Aid or just rest them on flat surface. Happy shooting!

LINK to a del.icio.us tag with places to buy the stuff you need to make your own.

After working as both an Artist and Supervisor in the VFX industry for over a quite some time, I’ve found that in order for a shot or a show to turn out right, everybody involved must communicate. As simple as that sounds it can be quite hard to get right. Often times everything from schedules to egos seem to conspire to keep the people who really need to talk to eachother apart. The following are some hopefully helpful tips on how to keep the dialog moving.

Show and tell

As an Artist, part of your job is keeping up on the latest techniques and tricks in VFX. If you come across a cool little deal that saves time or makes stuff look a whole lot better (sometimes both) let someone know. Got a new traking marker setup that will make matchmoving a snap? Take your Supe aside for a few seconds to run by him or her. The same goes for when the best laid plans go astray. There are times that the plates that come back from set don’t quite match up to the original methodology. Instead of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, call the Supe over, go over the plates togther, regroup and think of a new stradegy.

Keep it civil

One inevitable consiquence of increased contact is increased friction. The time and money involved on creating VFX conspire to create pressures that can stymie the lines of communication. And nothing brings the process to a more abrupt halt than a good old fashioned blow up. I’ve seen my fair share of Artist/Supe throwdowns and they always turn out the same way (except for one extreme case where the authorities got involved). After the screaming match is over, everyone has to make nice and get back to work anyway, and aside from being a tremendous waste of time, blow-ups hamper communication for the duration of the process. If you check your ego at the door, keep the voice volume to a reasonable level and stay away from the blame game, you’ll help keep your show moving forward even under the most difficult circumstances.

Get on the bus

Nobody likes to hear comments at the end of a project like “Yeah, I knew that wasn’t gonna work”. You need to stay as involved as you can in the project from start to finish. Checking Out is not an option. If you do you will lose any sway that you ever had over the direction of the final project. If you are engaged with your Supe the whole time you will have a better chance of being listened to. Have strong opinions or concerns? Let them be heard (in a normal tone of voice of course). A good Supervisor will always listen carefully to an Artist that has the best interests of the show at heart. If they don’t, maybe your at the wrong facility.

Timing is everything

Just as you don’t want to yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater, you don’t want to yell “This shot looks like ass!” during a review session with a client. There is a time and place for every comment. If you want your thoughts to be taken seriously choose the best time to present your ideas and opinions to a Supe. Cornering someone and demanding action before they get to the coffee urn first thing in the morning will guarantee a negative result. Instead, wait for a relative clam in the daily storm and ask for a face to face when time permits. That way a Supe can come to you feeling much more receptive and a lot less defensive.

If you haven’t checked out the talks from TED (Technology Entertainment Design) do yourself a favor and head over post haste. You could waste hours of your employers valuable time listening to what some of the brightest minds have to say on a variety of subjects. J.J. Abrahms’ talk is of particular note for his praise of VFXhacks like the makers of 405:The Movie and Rustboy. The whole talk is quite good and shows that J.J. is one of the few guys out there who really gets it.

LINK to the TED website

Kevin Kouch over at SynchroLux has written a great post about how a lowly animator tasked with forgotten background characters can add that certain something to their work in spit of “shallow storytelling and empty, superficial characters”. It’s a great read and all of Kevin’s advice can be applied to VFX work as well. I love the idea of “doing more than your job”. Heck, if all I get to do on a shot is far-off smoke plumes, by golly I’m gonna make em the best far-off smoke plumes ever!

LINK to the full atricle (via Cartoon Brew)