Tell me about modelling for film
polycounter lvl 9
Hey, I know this is a game board, but I know some of you guys have worked in this field, and well, its the general discussion forum so....
In an attempt to broaden my horizons, I am having a look at how modelling is used in film. After a few days research I get the basic idea, but have a few questions that cant be easily answered by searching.
First and most important, is working as a modeller in the film industry any fun, or are you a rat in a wheel? Not having to pay attention to polycounts and baking etc sounds great, but Ive also seen a few comments that working in vfx is hell. Any stories or experiences here would be welcomed!
Secondly, youve got a matchmoved camera scene in your 3d software, youve got a model. How is it lit and rendered so both match? What is the most common method? Vray? And should it come out of maya looking perfect, or is there a ton of work to do later on to get them to blend well.
Thirdly, I can model, I can texture. With no budgets to consider this sounds like an easy job for a 3d artist. With only game experience what is stopping me applying to work in the film industry?
In short, I understand how to model and texture, what else do i need to know about to start putting things together for film? And is it even a road worth going down?
Cheers dudes
In an attempt to broaden my horizons, I am having a look at how modelling is used in film. After a few days research I get the basic idea, but have a few questions that cant be easily answered by searching.
First and most important, is working as a modeller in the film industry any fun, or are you a rat in a wheel? Not having to pay attention to polycounts and baking etc sounds great, but Ive also seen a few comments that working in vfx is hell. Any stories or experiences here would be welcomed!
Secondly, youve got a matchmoved camera scene in your 3d software, youve got a model. How is it lit and rendered so both match? What is the most common method? Vray? And should it come out of maya looking perfect, or is there a ton of work to do later on to get them to blend well.
Thirdly, I can model, I can texture. With no budgets to consider this sounds like an easy job for a 3d artist. With only game experience what is stopping me applying to work in the film industry?
In short, I understand how to model and texture, what else do i need to know about to start putting things together for film? And is it even a road worth going down?
Cheers dudes
Replies
[ame]
Simple but super cool!
He spent 3 months painting fur on the lion. Everyday for months, just to have his texture completely covered with fur simulation. They essentially needed the textures for caustic effects of hair translucency and reflectivity.
He was also one of 3 artists working on those textures.
So, scope for film is MUCH MUCH MUCH different than games.
Well... you still have to depending on what you do. I rarely have to count single polygons but two weeks ago I was one of the lucky sods who had to figure out how to make a few square kilometers of higly detailed forest (trees modeled down to the shapes of single leafs and everything moving in the wind) render on a farm with not that much RAM per blade - in a case like that you'd better know what you use your polys for.
Again I cannot comment on feature films but we are sometimes on very tight time budgets. Certain animations have to be done in a few days - including designing stuff, modeling, texturing, building shaders, lighting, animating & rendering and then doing color correction, grading, effects, cutting and adding audio.
This varies though.
Your tools don't matter as long as the result loks good. We're currently using Vray, others prefer mental ray, Vue, finalRender, PRMan or even their own software. Whatever the choice is - you will most likely be expected to know or at least learn a certain renderer.
When rendering your stuff you try to come close to what it should look like but trying to make colors match perfectly in your 3D software isn't worth the trouble to begin with. Every image and every animation we create recieves color correction and grading.
Most movies have there colors played anyways. It's just that you don't always recognize it as much as in Matrix or 300.
What you do have to care for though is not to screw up colors and contrasts too much. Pure white and black easily make it hard to color correct things.
Nothing?
The part about it being 'easy' is debatable though i guess.
Thanks for the helps guys, the blizzard video was very helpful too....
Awesome! I had never seen the behind the scenes. That's a really good breakdown.