Several years ago I was asked to create a Movie Production Intro video for Darkstone Entertainment. The logo was to appear above the ocean and be struck by lightning as it came into view. I had a verbal description of the Darkstone Logo, but the final graphic was not yet available. I went as far as submitting a first pass video, but our schedules did not match up to see the concept through to completion. Now eventually the Darkstone Logo complete with shield was created. As you might expect, the interim logo I used for pre-visualizing the ocean scene was quite different from the final graphic. Still, I knew at some later time I could substitute the true logo for my temporary logo and this made my first animation setup a worthwhile effort.
Recently, having a small break between projects, I decided to revisit the animation and apply a few new techniques towards the final composition. This time, after remodeling the logo, I would render each part of the scene separately and each part would have multiple separate render passes. Darkstone wanted lightning in the shot and since I would be building the environment in layers, it would be much easier to place the lightning and blend it. The new logo had quite a bit more vertical height so in addition to my other process changes, I would need to modify the animation slightly.
First came the models of the logo. I decided to create models with subdivision surfaces because I like the way they render and I thought it would be good practice. Let me mention a great book [digital] Modeling by William Vaughan. William is an inspirational educator and I highly recommend his text for the aspiring 3D modeler. He has a chapter on Subdivision Surface Modeling and I pretty much just followed along. I started with the letters and by the time I had finished those and had to deal with the odd-shaped shield, I didn't have much trouble creating the corroded-metal look required.
Lightwave has greatly improved its ability to handle render passes. I found I was able to render each 3D element separately complete with multiple render buffers. I did have to render the scene three times. Once for the rain fog because I wanted it separate from the rest of the scene to allow it to be placed in multiple locations in the Z-plane. The second render set was just for the ocean. I could have rendered the ocean with the other 3D elements still visible to the render camera, but even though I just selected the ocean for the render pass, where the Darkstone logo lay in front of the ocean, you could see the cut out of the logo alpha channel. So, I rendered the ocean pass with the logo invisible to the render camera. With the ocean separated this way, I could use different layer blending techniques in After Effects including depth blur without risking issues with the alpha channel. The final render set included each of the Logo parts. Here I was able to keep each logo part separate but the actual render time was a single run through with each model rendered separately to separate folders. Although, each render buffer gives added flexibility, the buffer that came in most handy was the Z-depth buffer. The Z-depth buffer allowed Depth-of-Field blur in After Effects and the ability to create color correction that varied with distance from the camera.
I would be remiss to not mention another tool that is simply a lifesaver if you use After Effects, AE-Link. AE-Link allows you to export Cameras, NULLs, etc from Lightwave to After Effects. In my case, I needed to export the Lightwave camera to After Effects so that any added After Effects layers would move with the rest of the scene. Now, I hear Lightwave 11.5 will have an After Effects export tool, but in the meantime, I feel fortunate to have AE-Link in my toolset.
Hey, with a little luck maybe we'll see the new Darkstone Logo on some upcoming movies.
Recently, having a small break between projects, I decided to revisit the animation and apply a few new techniques towards the final composition. This time, after remodeling the logo, I would render each part of the scene separately and each part would have multiple separate render passes. Darkstone wanted lightning in the shot and since I would be building the environment in layers, it would be much easier to place the lightning and blend it. The new logo had quite a bit more vertical height so in addition to my other process changes, I would need to modify the animation slightly.
First came the models of the logo. I decided to create models with subdivision surfaces because I like the way they render and I thought it would be good practice. Let me mention a great book [digital] Modeling by William Vaughan. William is an inspirational educator and I highly recommend his text for the aspiring 3D modeler. He has a chapter on Subdivision Surface Modeling and I pretty much just followed along. I started with the letters and by the time I had finished those and had to deal with the odd-shaped shield, I didn't have much trouble creating the corroded-metal look required.
Lightwave has greatly improved its ability to handle render passes. I found I was able to render each 3D element separately complete with multiple render buffers. I did have to render the scene three times. Once for the rain fog because I wanted it separate from the rest of the scene to allow it to be placed in multiple locations in the Z-plane. The second render set was just for the ocean. I could have rendered the ocean with the other 3D elements still visible to the render camera, but even though I just selected the ocean for the render pass, where the Darkstone logo lay in front of the ocean, you could see the cut out of the logo alpha channel. So, I rendered the ocean pass with the logo invisible to the render camera. With the ocean separated this way, I could use different layer blending techniques in After Effects including depth blur without risking issues with the alpha channel. The final render set included each of the Logo parts. Here I was able to keep each logo part separate but the actual render time was a single run through with each model rendered separately to separate folders. Although, each render buffer gives added flexibility, the buffer that came in most handy was the Z-depth buffer. The Z-depth buffer allowed Depth-of-Field blur in After Effects and the ability to create color correction that varied with distance from the camera.
I would be remiss to not mention another tool that is simply a lifesaver if you use After Effects, AE-Link. AE-Link allows you to export Cameras, NULLs, etc from Lightwave to After Effects. In my case, I needed to export the Lightwave camera to After Effects so that any added After Effects layers would move with the rest of the scene. Now, I hear Lightwave 11.5 will have an After Effects export tool, but in the meantime, I feel fortunate to have AE-Link in my toolset.
Hey, with a little luck maybe we'll see the new Darkstone Logo on some upcoming movies.
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