3D-Pangel

Welcome! Glad to have you as part of the community. Dave

Stefano, A hearty welcome to Core4D. I just checked out your portfolio of work at 3D Render and Beyond and am completely amazed at the quality. Just outstanding. Dave

Relative to simulations, I am sure that you have heard of X-Particles by Insydium. As an Octane user, I would also imagine you are aware of Embergen from JangaFX. What you may not have heard of is Pixel Lab which sells pre-made libraries of VDB files fire, smoke, and clouds (both animated and still). Dave

Welcome Rafael! How long have you been using C4D? Your work shows very well, so I would imagine that you have been using it for quite some time. I love the red roses animation and I expected that the wind simulation was from using Forestor but I did not see it listed. I did see "Synthwave" listed, but Google search shows only music plugins by that name. So how was the wind animation done? Dave

Thank you very much for those insights. They are changing how I am thinking towards my next GPU. Dave

Very happy to welcome someone of your experience/knowledge to Core4D. Also very excited about your YouTube page (I just subscribed). I am always on the hunt for good hardware tutorials and good rendering tutorials -- Redshift especially but even Physical Renderer as well. Question: I noticed your review of the RTX 3090 Surpim X. The cost of that GPU in the US is around $3500 (today's prices --- past sales did have it lower). What attracted you to that card over the RTX-A6000: A bit more money (around $700 more if you purchase it with a workstation from Lenovo), but twice the memory. Thanks, Dave

You modeled the wing panels? How do you even approach something like that? I just can't get my head wrapped around it so I am just impressed. That is why I am just so impressed by you, Jay and people like Ansel Hsiao. You all have the mental toughness and discipline to put together massively complex models. I know that for sci-fi, kit bashing greebles is good way to shorten the process, but you still need to make the greebles and you need at least 50 sets of unique greebles to insure some level of uniqueness across the whole model. I think I found an approach for the bay ceiling. It actually came from a fan film made with UE5. Very impressive and can be found here. The first few opening shots show a close up of the ISD bay ceiling which has the right elements of detail and scale (note the catwalks) that I am looking for: Dave

Thank you Vector. From you that is high praise indeed. Use your Interceptor model!!! OH BOY!!!! YES! (did I just shriek that out loud?). Let me finish working on the ceiling first as that will give some idea of how to incorporate it in the scene. I would hate to have you send it to me and then not be able to figure out how it fits into the overall model. I think they hang from the ceiling --- not sure -- as that has never been shown in the movies but rather in video games. So not sure if it is "cannon" or not....but really who cares. I probably need to re-visit Ansel Hsiao's work to figure all this out. Everything is modeled in real world scale so I will work with a proxy as I work on the ceiling. Once I am done, I will send you the docking bay. Thank you so much, Dave P.S, In the interest of full disclosure, there are two areas in my modeling where I had to use triangles (the kitbashed parts from Alexander Ivanov on the back wall are all Max to FBX to C4D so they are full of triangles). I am ashamed to admit it as I needed to just keep going. They will be fixed before I ever send anything to the "Quad Father"

Christian, Welcome to Core4D! Your work looks interesting, but the images are rather small so is there a website that you could post that shows this work? Also, relative to photo realistic rendering, that is a worthy (albeit huge) goal. I strongly recommend the work of Pwnisher (Clinton Jones) on YouTube as some of his work is amazing (just look at this video break down to get an idea) and he posts some very good C4D tutorials that go deep into all the creative decisions and techniques behind his work. Welcome and happy rendering! Dave

Given that is the final day of the regular NFL season, I was only able to model the crane today. For some reason, I really enjoyed adding that piece of detail...not sure why. Interestingly enough, it was also very dark in the original movie as well as determined from this grainy reference photo....a 720P video on YouTube was all I could find for reference Dave

Mike, Absolutely will I be making an animation. Once the ceiling is finished, I will be duplicating the shot of the Millenium Falcon entering the bay in "A New Hope". When I saw the movie for the first time, I just loved how the airlock white lights illuminated the Falcon as it entered which was a nice subtle touch for 1977. Amazing that I picked up on that detail. I came to find out that when the filmed that scene, they modeled just the airlock lighting and anchored it to the motion control system. The Falcon was locked off and did not move. As the scene was fairly simple, the Falcon just had to appear to move forward, it was pretty easy. That become more of a problem in a later shot when the Falcon was leaving the landing bay because it had to do a 180 degree turn with a slight tilt to the left. Once the whole bay is done, I would then like to link it to an outside model of a section of the equatorial trench so that I can also replicate the approaching shots as well....but that is far off in the future at this point. Again, need to find the time. I cannot wait until I retire, and this becomes my "day job"!!!! Dave

Nothing like positive feedback from people I hold in very high regard (Igor, Vector, Mike, Jay) given that they are way more talented than I am to keep you going. So I am very thankful for your feedback. I think I am now going to move on AWAY from the front wall. I tossed out the previous approach of just random geometric shapes to actually using some kitbashed parts (courtesy of Alexandar Ivanov mentioned above) that I converted, textured and partially remodeled to account for FBX conversion issues and/or fit the needs of the scene. Honestly, kitbashing is not as easy as it sounds as the goal is to make them look like they belong. So, the thinking with each one was to think about its purpose in a docking bay: providing and recycling air, heat, decontamination, fire suppression, redundant power to keep the airlock always operational, etc. Once I thought along those lines, stuff started to look okay to me. I was also using images from Aircraft carriers for inspiration, especially for how they paint everything the same color (pipes, machinery, structural supports, etc). These images will definitely come in handy as I now approach working on the ceiling. Also, all along I have been playing with the lighting, reflections and GI illumination. I think I now have that at a level I am happy with. Dave

Interesting. No discussion though of how procedural textures are handled within the USD file format. Everything appears to be mapped based. Also, not really sure how C4D exports to .usda or .usdc as any scene, whether it has mapped or procedural based textures, is the same file size (e.g., same size as the file without any materials at all). While I am not well versed in all that is in Pixar's USD format, I still think Omniverse will have trouble keeping up with (at a minimum) the output of any DCC app or 3rd party renderer that uses procedurally generated textures. Not sure if MatX plugs that hole or not. Again, not saying that it won't be (or is currently) handled by Omniverse but just that I have yet to hear it being addressed. Dave

Getting there....but all I see are changes I need to make rather than things I still need to do. The discipline to just keep going forward rather than stop and fix what has already been done is definitely something I struggle with. The Millenium Falcon model is one that I converted from an original LW model available for free at SciFi3D. I rigged it (landing gear) and added lighting and reuploaded back to SciFi3D. Back to modeling. Dave

Life has taught me that what was once old can become new again. Therefore, as we move to the ultimate in cross-platform standardization in 3D rendering, remember that solution has already been with us for quite some time: Pretty good hard surface NPR image if you ask me. Dave

In theory, there is something here that is worth paying attention to. Essentially, Omniverse wants to be the backbone of pipeline by linking in all the outputs from every mainstream DCC app out there. Ultimately, as all apps are written to take advantage of GPU acceleration via nVidia hardware and the growth of the Alembic standards across all apps, this does seem like the logical next step for nVidia to take. What I am not hearing is what is at the core of Omniverse rendering and/or if Omniverse rendering is able to accept support from 3rd party render engines like Redshift or Octane. I would suspect that it is using Unreal Lumen as you hear more about gaming in the video presentations than film production. But here is where Omniverse will collapse. I do see Substance Materials, but do all DCC apps support spsm and/or sbsar file formats? So, what is the common material format for Omniverse to work? I am not sure if Material X is as much of a standard yet as Alembic and based on my understanding of Alembic (found here), very little is said about material baking along with motion baking. Also, if you have to model in one DCC app and texture in Substance Designer, then exactly what is Omniverse giving you that you don't already have? So again, not too sure how this all plays into materials and rendering and should Omniverse try to keep up with how each DCC apps manages their own materials natively (e.g., without an industry standard), Omniverse cross platform compatibility to the latest version of each DCC app will go out of date very quickly. But...I like the idea and it is a good start. Overtime, particularly with nVidia backing as they are huge, it will evolve into something worthwhile. Dave

Thank you all. The toughest part was figuring out the dimensions which was done mostly by eyeball by looking at photo's from the movies and placing the "Figure" primitive in the scene to get the scale correct. I "hope" to not only finish the bay but to then carry it forward to an exterior view of the bay as shown in the scenes when the Falcon was approaching the landing bay. Originally, I just wanted to do the bay but believe it or not, I found this site: Death Star Dimensions which is going to be a huge help in modeling those exterior views. Someone actually went through each frame of the movie and counted pixels and then compared those counts to those of the Falcon. He/she used the scene of the Falcon passing through the air-lock portal to the bay as both objects where together and at the same position relative to the camera. Knowing the Falcons height, he then calculated the bays dimensions and then worked backwards from there. I am sure there is some fan-zine book out there that has all this information, but this site is free and he did all the work...sooo..... BTW: What prompted this WIP was tripping over the work of Alexander Ivanov at Artstation. He is a Max modeler who has modeled some impressive SW models and sci-fi greeble packs. I would rate his work right up there with my personal favorite: Ansel Hsiao -- the difference being that Alexander sells his models and at a really low price (especially when you can capture a 30% discount at Artstation). The models are all in FBX format and do require some conversion work to get them into C4D (rigging, lighting, and some additional modeling around the back engine interiors which are left oddly bare given all the detail he puts into his models). I have always loved sci-fi modeling, so this is the sweet spot for me. Dave

At the end of every year, my company makes us shut down and take PTO. During this time, I start a new WIP because it is the only real time when I have any time to focus at all. Here is render of the completed first phase: If you can figure out what it is from, then I have been successful. Hopefully, I will finish this one. Dave

Outstanding. I also love the DOF on the pipe and the warm lighting. I think some more burn marks and bigger dents on the edge (from banging the pipe on an ashtray to get out the used tobacco) as well as dark smudges on the pipe cleaning tools would really add to what is already great modeling/texture work. Though you won't see it due to the DOF in this shot, should you ever change to the composition to show the other end of the pipe, you will need to add some bite/chew marks to it. You have mad skills Igor! BTW: What is the significance of "James Jones 1865"? Is that a pipe maker? Dave

Belated Happy New Year everyone. May everyone enjoy health and a full return to a pre-pandemic normal life this year (finally). May your polygons always be 4 sided, your edge-flows well defined and your poles never exceed 4. Finally, may you boldly push your talents in 2022 farther than they have ever been pushed before with the confidence that your DCC application will never let you down. Dave

Welcome Larsen. Your music on Soundcloud is AMAZING! Houdini, C4D and music. You might find this interesting but that is NOT a unique combination within this forum. You will fit in very well here!!! 👍 Welcome to Core4D! Dave

It is amazing how VFX houses that specialize in digital environments are doing amazing work but are largely unknown. They are not big names because their work essentially goes unnoticed. They are not creating the big "wow" moments that audiences remember walking out of the theater. They are not creating the "money shots". But because they fool us so well, their talents and skills are just as amazing as what comes out of the big-name FX houses (IMHO). Recently, I came to find out that there is one such VFX house near me in Boston, MA called Zero VFX. While they do more than digital environments, see their reel here), digital environments are probably the best place to find their work in main-stream movies. Now, what is really interesting is how I came to find out that they even existed at all (remember, their work is hidden after all). It turns out that one of their VFX supervisor's children is in my wife's math class at a local high school. She found out during a parent-teacher conference. He has an impressive lineage too having worked at Tippet Studios and Blue Sky before coming to Zero VFX. I immediately petitioned for that student to get an automatic "A" in her class but was voted down. 🤨 Dave

Over the years, I have collected art books to be used for inspiration, ideas, etc. Now, my love for science fiction and VFX "behind the scenes" topics have therefore filled my bookcase with tons of "Making of...." or the "The Art of...." type of coffee table books published over the last 40 years. Books such as these are always at the top of my Christmas wish list. Last Christmas my kids both chipped in an got me this book which interestingly enough was published in November, 2020 but was back ordered and so I did not get it until May 4th, 2021....which is kind of ironic. This book is numbered in terms of its printing, so not sure if that makes it a collector's item. I did not think anything would ever beat that present, but my wife absolutely stunned me this Christmas with this gift: Star Wars Art: Ralph McQuarrie She was not looking for it....rather she just found it. Normally, $250 from Amazon but reduced to $166, she found it (brand new and still shrink wrapped) for $50 at Homesense --- a furniture store!!!!. She did not know who Ralph Mcquarrie was or the influence he has had on sci-fi art, but instinctively knew that it would not be there for long. So, she bought it thinking that it could always be returned later if it was a complete miss. Not!!! Morale of the story: Next time your significant other wants you to go furniture shopping with her, it may not be all that bad of an idea!!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas filled with warm memories and a few unexpected surprises. Dave

These are NOT animation tools developed with the serious animator in mind. People who use full-fledged DCC tools are NOT their target market. Rather, these tools are made for the Tik-Tok, Twitter crowd hoping to create a viral video by adding some 3D character animation to their dance challenges or funny dog videos with minimal to no effort. Dave

If you are on vacation and have Netflix, then I highly encourage you to watch Arcane - the series being promoted by this music video. Great steam punk aesthetic in that series built with amazing detail. You just don't see enough well executed steam punk world building in an animated series these days -- IMHO. I would love to see a really deep behind the scenes making of video on Arcane. So far, most videos go into the story points and background of League of Legends rather than the technical aspects of how they achieved that look - a fusion of 3D, 2D/anime styles. On top of all that you have a great story and great characters. So be sure to watch the series on Netflix. Just be warned that Season 1 ends with the mother of all cliff hangers. Netflix is renewing it for Season 2 (no brainer as it is the top Netflix show) but all Season 2 is planned for some time after 2022. So a bit of a wait. Dave