Overview of Nuke
This week an overview of Nuke where introduced, the basics of the viewer window, time line including in and out points, the projects settings information’s in the viewer (Bottom), Gama and Gain control de exposure of the image (top viewer). Also, showing the Node Graphs and adding more nodes to the project.
Setting project directory
Each section, the projects will be at the desktop. A folder called Nuke_Overview where downloaded from blackboard to the desktop.
Now with my Nuke 13.0v1 open and before bring any Nuke Comp script, Press S in the Keyboard to set up the project settings. Pressing the `Script Directory` folder in project settings box and search to Nuke_Overview folder saved to the desktop and press open not going in to any of the folders. With the project directory set which is very similar to Maya, to have it all in specific folders, to be a where when to move files around, and then, go to Files, Insert Comp Nodes, navigates to the Nuke_Overview folder saved to the desktop once again, click in the nuke_scripts, and choose the folder, and click open.
To view the image on the viewer window click and press 1 in the keyboard.
Overview of Nuke
This week an overview of Nuke where introduced, the basics of the viewer window, time line including in and out points, the projects settings information’s in the viewer (Bottom), Gama and Gain control de exposure of the image (top viewer). Also, showing the Node Graphs and adding more nodes to the project.
Setting project directory
Each section, the projects will be at the desktop. A folder called Nuke_Overview where downloaded from blackboard to the desktop.
Now with my Nuke 13.0v1 open and before bring any Nuke Comp script, Press S in the Keyboard to set up the project settings. Pressing the `Script Directory` folder in project settings box and search to Nuke_Overview folder saved to the desktop and press open not going in to any of the folders. With the project directory set which is very similar to Maya, to have it all in specific folders, to be a where when to move files around, and then, go to Files, Insert Comp Nodes, navigates to the Nuke_Overview folder saved to the desktop once again, click in the nuke_scripts, and choose the folder, and click open.
To view the image on the viewer window click and press 1 in the keyboard.
Rodrigo Rodrigues
Week 1: The Age of the Image and the Trend of the Lens
With Mr. Florian Stephens MA, BA (Hons), PGCTAD FHEA
Senior Lecturer in Digital Media
Doctoral Researcher
Post one
What do think Dr James Fox means by his phrase 'The Age of the Image'
As James Fox speaks, presenting his show, BBC Age of Image 1 – New Reality (2020), with the intuit of `investigating our complex and changing relationship with the image in the modern age` as it says, the storyline of his program ( Internet Movie DataBase), I believe clearly that Age of Image means the transformation of the visual art over the years. The concept of his program seems to show to the audience, how the behaviour of humanity does have an effect in the visual arts. He mentioned many historic facts of different places and times, commonly used in TV shows, which works very well for the audience, but, as he connects all his investigations, the more complex it becomes as the show ends. The viewers with different opinions and backgrounds in the artist point of view, easily can twist the numbers of information and raised facts.
Going personal on my own investigation, Mr Fox's words delivers a valid way to approach the TV show for the BBC audience, and at the same time, it creates some doubts and or interest for those who may investigate it deeper.
Harvard Reference: The age of the image. (2020, March 2). IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11167878/
Harvard Reference: BBC iPlayer (2020) Age of the Image. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000fzmc/age-of-the-image (Accessed: 21 September 2020).
Harvard Reference: Hannah Hoch - 13 artworks - painting. (n.d.). www.wikiart.org. Retrieved November 29, 2021, from https://www.wikiart.org/en/hannah-hoch
Visual Effects, University of West London
Rodrigo Rodrigues
Visual Effects, University of West London
Rodrigo Rodrigues
Investigating
The Age of Image by James Fox shows the audience important moments throughout history, suggesting the title of his program. James' investigation mentions different historical facts that I was not too sure about before, but I try to take a small part of his script and make a consistent point description. I neither agree nor disagree but just make sense of my own understanding of the content, as the topic is very complex using different points of views.
Throughout human history, incredible innovations and theories appear constantly surprising us, having direct influence in the visual world, like when Albert Einstein’s `Theory of Relativity` was proved correct by a photography released worldwide, placing Mr Einstein in the `Hall of fame`, having his headshot photograph printed on millions of newspapers and Magazines. `Crucial innovation in the visual culture` as James Fox says. Rodrigo Rodrigues University of West London Student - VFX
A. Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung of Dec. 14, 1919 declared that Einstein’s achievements had “equaled those of Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton”.
B. The news of Einstein's theory being proven by the eclipse made international headlines. (Photo: Illustrated London News Group / Albert Einstein Archives)
C. One of Eddington's photographs of the total solar eclipse of 1919. It confirmed Einstein's theory that light bends. (Photo: Wikimedia)
D. Sobral, Brazil, during the total solar eclipse of 1919 May 29. The expedition organised by Sir Arthur Eddington of the Royal Greenwich Observatory
No different from today, our computer age mastered the model of the digital pixels, preliminary used as the tiny dots at the end of 19th Century, by the same newspapers that published Einstein’s pictures. At the time, this new photograph printing technique, `tiny dots technique`, made it easier to print and release photographs to millions of people, making the photo printing process cheaper as never before. As a consequence of this new technique, in 1919, newspapers and magazines where full of photographs, creating a bigger visual appetite into the public, from different tastes and genres preferences like the World League Against Alcoholism Dec 7 1919 or the Pettigrew's Girl 1919 newspaper and the 1919 NEWSPAPER MAGAZINES W ILLUSTRATED ADS SELLING RADIUM CREAM 4 WOMEN BEAUTY. or when `1919, people across the country opened sports pages that showed the Cincinnati Reds had taken a two-game lead in the World Series over Greenville’s own Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Chicago White Sox.`
Rodrigo Rodrigues University of West London Student - VFX
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Today easily using our phones, the public can release any digital content, a video, written content and or an image releasing to a vast number of online users, making it viral in a short period, thanks to the digital pixels. By consequence, a visual appetite takes over the internet today in many different forms, maybe the same way before, but in different time.
The popular German Newspaper who printed Einstein's face to for all the Berliners, which most impressed the young artist Hannah Hoch (German, November 1, 1889 – May 31, 1978), says James Fox.
Hannah, also best known for her work at the Weimar period, started to blend items of different photographs, taken by her from the press and other widely produced media, becoming one of the originators of photomontage or fotomontage. Rodrigo Rodrigues University of West London Student - VFX
Photomontage, it is a process commonly used in film and VFX and many other art processes until today and for sure many years ahead to go.
In 1919, Hanna Hoch was working in the largest publishing house in Berlin, the same that published the Einstein portrait first. This genius artist Hanna Hoch struggling to an abortion in the middle of Weimar Republic delivered to the world her activist and philosophic photomontages, distancing fragments of reality, questioning the bigger magazines and all the streams of her time.
(Dadaism, was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centers in Zürich, Switzerland at the Cabaret Voltaire (circa 1916), movement consisted of artists who rejected the logic, reason, and aestheticism of modern capitalist society, instead expressing nonsense, irrationality, and anti-bourgeois protest in their works.
Today we had Helen the TV presenter taking a selfie with the rich and famous, but it seems nothing wrong with that too.
The Age of Image! What happens when it keeps aging?
Visual Effects Student at University of West London
Rodrigo Rodrigues
Hannah Hoch - Self-portrait, c.1926
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photomontage
https://www.wikiart.org/en/hannah-hoch
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/4/30/1849671/-LIGHTS-ALL-ASKEW-IN-THE-HEAVENS
https://www.wikiart.org/en/hannah-hoch
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11167878/
https://lalouver.com/exhibition.cfm?tExhibition_id=118
https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.uwl.ac.uk/doi/10.1177/13505068211028977
Matching Harold Edgerton images each with a VFX shot
Looking at the work of Harold Edgerton at: http://edgerton-digital-collections.org/ , here below are shots from a visual effects, similar to Edgerton.
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Week 2: The Photographic Truth Claim: Can we believe what we see?
With Mr. Florian Stephens MA, BA (Hons), PGCTAD FHEA
Senior Lecturer in Digital Media
Doctoral Researcher
Tom Gunning and the `Truth claim theory`
Explaining a system of thinking of belief that, traditional photographs precisely represents the past, and that ‘Truth claim` depends of indexicality and preciseness of photographs both together.
`While I believe that the possibilities and realities of new media invite us to (in fact, demands that we) rethink the history of visual media…` (Gunning, 2008, p.38) says Tom Gunning, approving the fact that art in general, brings us to the past influences and inspirational common reaction in any art creation process and not different in visual media. `…I also fear it can produce the opposite` (Gunning, 2008, p.38), adds Tom Gunning, continuing his thoughts, stating his deception, meaning that an image of the older media produces a sense of purely reflection of reality, and that, today, visual media, regrettably achieved disappointments and unrealizable real world in some critics point of view.
Not ignoring the photography, cinema and the complexity of the process of all visual Medias, that captures lights and motion, here will be stated some facts mentioned by Tom Gunning. `Image on the photographic negative derives from the transformation of light…` (Gunning, 2008, p.40), and that `digital camera records through its numerical data the same intensities of light that a non-digital camera records` (p.40) as Tom Gunning explains the storage of both, also relays in the indexicality based on real facts .
Is the ‘Truth claim` depended of indexicality and preciseness of photographs both together?
Yes
What about you?
Harvard Reference: Gunning, T. (2008). What’s the point of an index? Or, faking photographs. Still Moving, 39-49. https://online.uwl.ac.uk/ultra/courses/_175140_1/cl/outline
Visual Effects, University of West London
Rodrigo Rodrigues
Post Two
Title page of the oldest complete manuscript: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Gr. 1807 (late 9th century)
P. Oxy. 3679, manuscript from the 3rd century AD, containing fragments of Plato's Republic.
Plato Republic manuscript
Week 3: Faking Photographs: Image manipulation and computer collage
With Mr. Florian Stephens MA, BA (Hons), PGCTAD FHEA
Senior Lecturer in Digital Media
Doctoral Researcher
Post three
VFX compositing, what it is and how does it work.
VFX compositing, what it is and how does it work.
Electronic Collage, Cutting and Pasting, Scaling, Combining Synthetic and Captured Images, are some of the techniques applied in most of the image of frame sequences, single shots, and or, in an entire VFX work, resulting in the final moving action sequences. Today, the junction of these techniques, which can be seen in most movies, broadcasting contents and or streaming websites, is an earlier allied of the visual arts, called Compositing.
Contemporary visual arts, are making an incredible usage of the junction of these techniques, combining it, creating a `Spectacular` achievement on digital screens, like a simple coping, cutting and pasting contiguous pixels values, to different locations of a moving and or static image, known as Cutting and pasting; Scaling the geometric values of objects and pictures keeping the shade right, combining it together as the real world would see it; or the usage of electronic collages of captured photographs, moving images, actors, Synthetic photographs, synthetic characters, real and synthetic environments all mixed together called `Combining Synthetic and Captured Images`, It`s all performed by trained professional artists through a wide range of software like Nuke, After effects, Blender and many more, as the years passed since Robert Patrick was transformed into a synthetic cyborg, playing in a live action shot, alongside real actors in `Terminator ll Judgement day`(1991).
Inside these software, VFX Compositing artists, operate infinite possibilities clicking and adjusting a junction of various options of layers, components, multiple plates to be associated with a single shot, presenting a final work that creates the impression of reality life like scenes.
Harvard References: BBC iPlayer (2020) Age of the Image. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000fzmc/age-of-the-image (Accessed: 21 September 2020).
Harvard Reference: Mitchell, W. J. (1998) The Reconfigured Eye. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Visual Effects, University of West London
Rodrigo Rodrigues
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Analogue famous fake/manipulated photographs
Joseph Stalin had no problem getting people he didn't like to “erase”—and he had them done even in his photos, and quite often. See a notorious example below, where a Soviet commissar named Nikolai Yezhov was removed from a portrait with Stalin after he alienated the dictator:
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Stalin was not the only dictator to have people erased from their portraits. Adolf Hitler also did this on several occasions—such as the one you can see below, in which Joseph Goebbels was removed from the original image. Look:
Abraham Lincoln, did you put the head of the American president on someone else's body? The original portrait was of John Calhoun, a South Carolina political philosopher and statesman who served as vice president during the administrations of John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson—but not Lincoln!
In the original version, the soldier helping the one holding the Soviet flag over the Reichstag apparently had a watch on each wrist. One of them is said to have actually been a compass—but both would have been erased so as not to convey the impression that the Soviet military was carrying out looting in the German capital.
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John Lennon apparently seems to be having a good time with Che Guevara? In fact, the original portrait shows the ex-Beatle playing alongside guitarist Wayne Gabriel, but someone came up with the idea to put the Cuban revolutionary's face in the picture.
Adolf Hitler, the following images were created by a team from the Strategic Services Agency — the Office of Strategic Services, the agency that later gave birth to the CIA — at the end of World War II. The idea was to imagine how the Nazi could alter his appearance if he managed to escape Germany.
Digital manipulated Photoshop photographs
Tourist photo moments before the tragedy at the World Trade Center
Iraq war
Baby foot during pregnancy
Pyramids on a National Geographic cover image
Bin laden dead
War in Lebanon in 2006
Starship Troopers (1997). Phil Tippett’s Tippett Studio orchestrated a raft of CG bugs for Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers, relying on keyframe animation and the use of a ‘digital input device’ armature, first devised for Jurassic Park, that replicated the idea of a stop-motion animation feel for the creatures. The film was also marked by impressive spaceship miniatures, matte paintings and other digital effects. (Photo copyright © 1997 Sony Pictures. All rights reserved.)
https://www.vfxvoice.com/the-ves-70-the-most-influential-visual-effects-films-of-all-time/
One of us delivered VFX for Netflix TV Series “The Crown” Season 2
http://www.animationboss.net/one-us-delivered-vfx-netflix-tv-series-crown-season-2/
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, his return to the franchise after many years, saw the worlds of stunts, special effects, visual effects and – in a more than prominent way, color grading – combine to give the film its hard-hitting result. These images sum up the general approach to the film’s visual effects, in which plate photography was often augmented with additional environments, crowds, effects and color grading. (Photo copyright © 2015 Warner Bros. Pictures. All rights reserved.
https://www.vfxvoice.com/the-ves-70-the-most-influential-visual-effects-films-of-all-time/
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). Delivering the first 3D character in a feature film with the Stained Glass Man for Young Sherlock Holmes, the Computer Division at Lucasfilm – working hand-in-hand with other visual effects created by Industrial Light & Magic for the film – brought CG to the forefront of modern day movies. (Photo copyright © 1985 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.)
https://www.vfxvoice.com/the-ves-70-the-most-influential-visual-effects-films-of-all-time/
The Mask (1994). Jim Carrey’s already ‘rubbery’ performance was taken even further by Industrial Light & Magic in The Mask, with the studio capitalizing on new techniques developed in CG animation and 3D morphing to give a cartoony, yet realistic, result. (Photo copyright © 1994 New Line Cinema. All rights reserved.)
https://www.vfxvoice.com/the-ves-70-the-most-influential-visual-effects-films-of-all-time/
Transformers (2007). The Decepticon Bonecrusher, a CG creation by Industrial Light & Magic, causes havoc during a freeway chase scene in Michael Bay’s Transformers. ILM solved major animation and physical interaction challenges to help bring the film to life, seamlessly integrating highly reflective metallic characters into what has been described as the director’s ‘Bayhem’ action. (Photo copyright © 2007 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.)
https://www.vfxvoice.com/the-ves-70-the-most-influential-visual-effects-films-of-all-time/
London based VFX studio One of us, delivered VFX for Netflix Tv Series “The Crown” Season 2. Visual Effects Supervisor Ben Turner lead the team at One of us Studios for this Series.
http://www.animationboss.net/one-us-delivered-vfx-netflix-tv-series-crown-season-2/
Notes and research from different sources.
Mitchell, W. J. (1998) The Reconfigured Eye. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Computer collage page 163-188
Collage-the transformation the combination of image fragments to yield new image ha traditionally been regarded as a subversion of the photograph because it destroys the normal photograph's strict Aristotelian unite of place and,time (figure 8.1). A photograph shows what can be seen from a single, fixed viewpoint, but a collage can combine multiple viewpoints or aspects of quite different scenes In a single image.
`Collage-the transformation the combination of image fragments to yield new image ha traditionally been regarded as a subversion of the photograph because it destroys the normal photograph's strict Aristotelian unite of place and,time (figure 8.1). A photograph shows what can be seen from a single, fixed viewpoint, but a collage can combine multiple viewpoints or aspects of quite different scenes In a single image.`
`The history of such photographs of doubtful repute goes back to the 1850s, when early photographers sought ways to overcome the limitations of their still-primitive medium through use of a technique known as combination printing. This was described by Henry Peach Robinson, one of its best-known practitioners, as a method which enable the photographer to represent object! in different planes in proper forms. to keep the true atmospheric and I linear relation of varying distances, and by which a picture can be divided into. separate portion for execution, the parts be afterwards printed together on one` paper, thus enabling the operator to devote all his attention to single figure or sub-group at a time, so that if any part be imperfect from any cause, it can be substituted by another without the loss of the whole picture,as would be the case if taken at one operation.`
`Combination print, a photographer first produced multiple negatives of objects
photographed against back ground or of
scenes with portions masked out by hand.
Some astonishingly complex and seamlessly executed combination prints were made within a few decades of the birth of photography, in particular Robinson's Fading Away (1853), and Oscar G. Reijlander· The Two Ways of Life (1857). which was made withthirty neg& ·v s (figure 8.2). Such prints
have frequently been reviled by modernist
photographers as the misbegotten offspring of photography and painting.`
`A related technique is photo-montage-cut- and-paste combination or image fragments to -produce new compositions.`
Combination prints
But physical collage of photographic fragments by cutting and pasting, masking, airbrushing, photographing multiple exposure, printing from multiple negative, and the Iike -is usually technically difficult time consuming and fairly easily detectable. So, although it has bad successful exponents, it has until now remaining marginal to the practice of photography` ...`This situation has changed dramatically with the emergence of the digital image: the tools for electronic collage of digital image fragments have become widely available, they are quick and easy to use, and their application can be almost impossible;e to detect.
Electronic collage can be allows ready combination of Synthesized images objects with captured ones. – To place synthesized objects in real scenes, or real objects in synthesized scenes. Just an execution of a brush stroke is a fundamental painting operation and exposure is a fundamental photographic operation.so selection, transformation, and assemblage of captured, synthesized, and drawn fragments to reconstitute the miseen image are the fundamental operations on the digital image.
Cutting and pasting – Of a digital and painting image fragment displayed on computer screen is by picking out a set of contiguous pixels (using any selection techniques Chapter 4) and coping their values at some new location in the raster grid. This new location This new location can be specified by placing a cursor somewhere in the selected area and clicking to establish a reference point and then by moving the cursor across he surface of the image and clicking again to specify the destination point.
Rotating and reflecting - These elementary techniques of cutting and pasting can readily be extended to provide not only for translation of selected fragments to new locations, but also for additional geometric transformations that alter the orientation. Handedness, size, and shape of those fragments.
`Scaling To match one of the basic operations of photography, the repertoire of geometric transformations provided by image-processing software may be extended a step further to encompass enlargement and reduction.
The result compelling. since this operation preserves the consistency of shading and cast shadows.`
Displacement Mapping - We are not limited to linear transformations of images. More complex distortions can be produced by software that simulates the effect of reflecting a scene in a distorting mirror or of projecting an image onto a curved surface.
Stretching and Shearing
Foreshortening
Blends, mattes, and masks
Retouching and painting
`Combining Synthetic and Captures Image the images used in electronic collages can come from any source: photographs may be combined with photographs, synthesized images with synthesized images. or photograph with synthesized images.`
Week 4: Defining Trends of Photorealism
With Mr. Florian Stephens MA, BA (Hons), PGCTAD FHEA
Senior Lecturer in Digital Media
Doctoral Researcher
Post four
Photorealism in VFX.
Capturing images from a camera, or working with `CGI` artefacts, is the starting point of a professional Photo-realist artist, to extract and perform years of training and experience out of their creative mind, to a new image, all together in one believable piece of art. According to the common characteristic of previous `Analogue artefacts`, the CGI and captured images are classified systematically in two different stylistic ways.
`Between a computer-generated image and an image captured with a digital camera, there is a fundamental difference with regards to their technical and epistemological foundations and aesthetics. `Flueckiger, B`. Following the thoughts of Mr Flueckiger in his book/essay `Special effects – New histories/theories/contexts`, the analogue antecede in similarity to digital photography, differently to CGI, that uses 3D artefact/modelling represented in three dimensional of any moving and or static objects surfaces look alike, created/manipulated with the usage of vertices, faces, edges and polygons.
` Often CGI is perceived as too ‘perfect’, but instead of labelling it as perfect, ` adds Mr Flueckiger. The captured image is as close gets to the analogue artefacts, in the way the similarity of the tools used to perform a photorealism, today not just as a coincidence in VFX shots, blended with the CGI models, portraying a realistic life similarity. Today films like `The Lion King` (2019), or like Terminator 2 Judgment day (1991), With the `Uncanny Valley` feeling in the audience, I can see it as the new era of photorealism in VFX.
Harvard References:
Flueckiger , B. (2015) 'Photorealism, Nostalgia and Style. Material Properties of Film in Digital Effects', North et al. Special effects: new histories/theories/contexts. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 78-98.
Lister, M. et al., 2009. New Medi: a critical introduction. 2nd Edition ed. s.l.:Routledge.
Smells_Like_Cheese. (1991, July 3). Terminator 2: Judgment day. IMDb: Ratings, Reviews, and Where to Watch the Best Movies & TV Shows. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/
Fightsense. (2019, July 19). The lion King. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6105098/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
Visual Effects, University of West London
Rodrigo Rodrigues
Week 5: Digital Index: Bringing truth into VFX via the Capture of Movement
With Mr. Florian Stephens MA, BA (Hons), PGCTAD FHEA
Senior Lecturer in Digital Media
Doctoral Researcher
Post five
Motion Capture and Key Frame Animation
All of us have seen pictures, somewhere in the internet, of an actor wearing a full body suit containing lots of dots or sensors, all over it. It`s called Mo-Cap suit, used to measure the movements a person that is wearing it, to collect the data, matching to a CGI made creature and or any digital drawn character movements in a computer software. There is also other common way to simulate movements, which is frame by frame called Frame Animation.
A Motion-Capture, tracks the movements, as the Key Frame Animation, key each frame of a motion to generate the movement, both in a computer software. Key Frame Animation, is an advanced method that’s share the principles and knowledge of the old technique of making an animation, page-by-page 2D hand-drawn character, to get an impression of a movement, using the twelve principals of animation of Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson, of the Disney`s `The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation (1981). Disney Studios also brought to life the first Motion Capture full-length animation (feature film), celluloid-animated, `Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs` (1937), that used Max Fleischers`s Rotoscoping. `The Jungle Book` (1916), differently of the 1967 original movie that was made solo with Frame Animation, was shot in Motion Capture for the animal characters and Key Frame, with the purpose to archive the animals footage, unlike the movie original version.
As the Original version of `The Jungle Book` (1967 ) was an hand-drawn Key frame animation, represented by a sign of an `Icon` like the character `Baloo` to a Bear, the second version was an indexical prints of the characters, data tracked by the Mo-cap suits, directing it to a software.
Harvard Reference: Johnson, O. and Thomas, F. (1981) The Illusion of Life. New York: Disney Editions.
Visual Effects, University of West London
Rodrigo Rodrigues
Week 6: Reality Capture (LIDAR) and VFX
With Mr. Florian Stephens MA, BA (Hons), PGCTAD FHEA
Senior Lecturer in Digital Media
Doctoral Researcher
Post six
Trends of VFX`s tech workflow in pandemic times.
The year of 2021 is ending, as the Visual Effects (VFX) never stops presenting new trends continuously, at the same time the world is facing the pandemic situation that I will name in this post as Covid times. In few years’ time, I am wondering how the next generation will see our current situation and how the blog posts will be written about our revolutionary trends of the moment, related to our current situation. Millions of people stayed confined at home, and I guess, somehow, it collaborated to the evolution and arise of new techs in the film/TV industry, specially, related to Visual effects.
`5,220,255 people have died so far from the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak as of November 29, 2021, 12:20 GMT.` released by Worldometers. In the middle of this chaotic state, in December 07, 2020, Foundry releases a post on their website titled `Top trends of 2020: what now, and what`s next?, It means that working remotely adapted the upcoming technology from the idea in how it will be created, shared and delivered, like Foundry`s Remote work Cloud`, Machine Learning, `working in real-time with interactive workflows`, it is all part of the new USD drive as an industry format, released by Foundry.
Foundry states that 2020, was not a good year in the growth development, that the VFX industry would like to see in the data format interchange, so the new USD came to adapt simultaneous, a collaboration in 3D projects remotely. No matter what happens creativity will not stop, the film industry departments, like the VFX, keep stepping forward towards the tech evolution, to give the world the entertainment its deserves after all the hardship its went through .
Harvard References:
Coronavirus death toll. (0005, July). Worldometer - real time world statistics. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-toll/
Top trends of 2020: What now, and what’s next? (2020, August 5). Foundry. https://www.foundry.com/insights/film-tv/top-vfx-trends-2020
Visual Effects, University of West London
Rodrigo Rodrigues
Compositing breakdown of random T&S shots... - Alex Roman
|Music| Humming Chorus. Giacomo Puccini.
Kahn’s Exeter Short Film - Alex Roman
CG Shortfilm about Louis Kahn's Phillips Exeter Academy Library
Footage from "The Third & The Seventh" project for illustrating Mundos Digitales 2009 conference.
Exeter Shot — Making Of
https://mattescapestudios.com/project/the-crown
To check it out...
Week 9: Reality Capture (Photogrammetry) and VFX
With Mr. Florian Stephens MA, BA (Hons), PGCTAD FHEA
Senior Lecturer in Digital Media
Doctoral Researcher
The Digital Michelangelo Projec
Marc Levoy
Computer Science Department
Stanford University
May 28, 2003
revised November, 2003 for inclusion in the book
Exploring David, Giunti Press, March 2004
Figure 1: Our motorized gantry positioned in front of Michelangelo's David. From the ground to the top of the scanner head is 7.5 meters.
Figure 2: The red stripe generated by our laser triangulation scanner sweeps across the face of the David. By analyzing these sweeps, we digitized the David with a spatial resolution of 0.29mm.
Figure 3: A computer-generated rendering of a triangle mesh produced by sweeping our laser stripe once across the face of St. Matthew. A cross-sectional plot through the cheek is shown below the image. At this scale, Michelangelo's chisel marks can be seen.
Figure 4: A rendering of our full-resolution, merged model of St. Matthew. The original dataset contained 104 scans and 800,000,000 polygons. The model shown here contains 386,488,573 polygons.
Figure 5: A rendering with coloring derived from photographs of the statue as described in the text, but the lighting is artificial, having been chosen in the computer.
Figure 6: A non-photorealistic, accessibility-shaded coloring of the same mesh. To us, it seems to show the structure of Michelangelo's chisel marks more clearly than figure 3.
Figure 7: Computer renderings from a 2.0 mm, 8-million polygon model of David. The veining and reflectance are artificial. The renderings include physically correct subsurface scattering, but with arbitrary parameters.
Figure 9: The image at left depicts the David as it might be seen in the Galleria dell'Accademia - lit from above. However, if we artificially light the statue from below, you can easily see that the famous furrowed brow is actually an anatomically impossible protrusion of marble.
Figure 8: The image at left depicts the classic three-quarter frontal view. The image at right shows the head in strict profile, a view never seen in art books, because it would require placing the camera with a telephoto lens outside the museum walls. Doesn't he look like a Roman coin?
Photogrammetry
THE VERONICA CHOROGRAPHIC SCANNER
Vera = true, from the Latin
Eikōn = icon or image, from the Greek
What Chorography means and what Veronica does.
Chorography (from χῶρος khōros, "place" and γράφειν graphein, "to write"), Terms used from the writings of the earliest Roman geographer Pomponius Mela (AD 43) and the mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist Claudius Ptolomy c. 100 – c. 170 AD. Term meaning geographical description of regions, a form of art that describes and map a region and or district.
Richard Helgerson said that Chorography defines itself by opposition to chronicle. It`s also defined as `the representation of space or place` in a different time by Darrell Rohl. Years later Manuel Franquelo Jr designed the bespoke 3D Scanner naming it as `Veronica Chorographic Scanner`, in my observation, made a good use of the term `Chorography as it is an accurate representation of Pomponius and Ptolomy term description (geographical description of regions, a form of art that to describe and map a region and or district), but this time describing the map of a human head and or objects.
Veronica Vera = true, from the Latin Eikōn = icon or image, from the Greek, as the name says, is a true high-resolution 3D recording system, built by Factum art in Spain, containing a 50x50x50 cm range, firstly directed for the anti-aging industry, as `Veronica is specifically designed to capture the fine surface detail of the human face` states Factum art.
But not limited to faces, and, containing eight cameras to capture 96 high resolution photographs, the technology, or better, `Veronica`, is able to scan a representation of a human head and or an object that fits in the range focus, from every angle.
Rodrigo Rodrigues
London, 07 of December of 2021
Visual Effects, University of West London
Harvard References:
Arte, F., & S.L. (n.d.). Factum Arte :: The Veronica chorographic scanner. Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://www.factum-arte.com/pag/714/the-veronica-chorographic-scanner
The Veronica scanner. (n.d.). Royal Academy of Arts. Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/projects-the-veronica-scanner
Chorography. (2006, March 2). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorography
Chorography. (2006, March 2). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy
Chorography. (2006, March 2). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomponius_Mela
extra Post - seven
The video shows the Veronica scanner in action
https://www.factum-arte.com/pag/714/the-veronica-chorographic-scanner
Drawing of the Veronica scanner design
https://www.factum-arte.com/pag/714/the-veronica-chorographic-scanner
The Veronica Chorographic Scanner designed by Manuel Franquelo Jr in Factum Arte's photogrammetry section
https://www.factum-arte.com/pag/714/the-veronica-chorographic-scanner
The Veronica Scanner at Royal Academy of Arts
Live 3D Portraiture
2 September — 11 September 2016
Demonstration of Live (3D Scanned) Portraiture at the Royal Academy of the Arts
Five 3D models of different views of the head of Elisabeth Lalouschek, Artistic Director of the October Gallery. Elisabeth’s hair caused some confusion in the scanner and it was retouched in ZBrush, an organic modeling software, to make a coherent form.
Matthew
Martin
© Waddesdon Manor/Factum Foundation
The scan
Royal Academy of Arts Exibition
When you arrive in the Weston Rooms having booked a scan, we’ll ask you to confirm that you’re happy with the terms and conditions related to this Project. A hair and makeup technician will be on hand to provide assistance in preparing you for your scan. The scan itself takes only a few seconds, after which the process of amalgamating the photographs taken into a 3D portrait will begin.
Photogrammetry has difficulty capturing the data of shiny surfaces and flyaway hairs. Operators will therefore attempt to mitigate these issues by applying a thin layer of translucent powder to the skin and/or matte wax to the hair. Long hair will be tied back. These actions will help achieve the most accurate results possible during the scan. However, there are no guarantees, and data might still be lost, particularly in the area of the hair. In the history of portrait busts, accurately representing hair has always been problematic; digital technology makes way for new advancements in the field, but in the trajectory of portraiture some things never change.
Due to the nature of the scanner, participation will not be suitable for those with medical conditions such as claustrophobia or photo-sensitive epilepsy. Due to the specific dimensions of the scanner it should be noted that at this time in its design we can’t accommodate wheelchair using participants`.
The portrait
Royal Academy of Arts Exibition
The images are expertly processed to create a 3D portrait, which will be sent to you via email in the days following your scan. The file can then be rematerialised as a physical bust through 3D printing, or used in its digital form online.
A 3D scan is the foundation of a 3D model, which is in turn the foundation of a 3D printed object. A 3D model must be completely closed if it is to be sent to a 3D printer. If you receive a file with holes, 3D modelling software and modelers can close the holes, digitally sculpt the hair and enhance features. Factum Foundation is inviting participants to be part of a highly experimental process, in the most rapidly growing field of 3D scanning, and the technology is being improved every day.
Please note that Factum Foundation will retain the licence to reproduce your 3D image.
Padre Justo Gallego was scanned with the Veronica Chorographic Scanner – the result is a face of extraordinary honesty and character. Justo Gallego is known for.
The model
Royal Academy of Arts Exibition
Once you’ve received your file, you can choose to keep it as it is, or take it to a 3D printer to create your own bust. The images on this page show just some of the options: previous scans have been used to create busts in alabaster, plaster, lead glass or gilded bronze. The miniature above was created through using a 3D printer to create a wax model of the scan, so that it could be cast in silver.
Veronica’s data can be used by a whole host of output devices that print in layers, harden liquids, carve or use other methods to materialise a tangible object from a cloud of points. The data can be printed in in any size and in an array of materials. It is even possible to print in chocolate, ice, salt and sugar or many other edible or transient materials.
Once you have received your digital 3D model, you can contact Factum Arte to produce a commissioned portrait bust in any of the materials listed above.
Padre Justo Gallego A miniature version of Padre Justo Gallego in sterling silver. This model was 3D printed in wax and cast in silver using the lost wax process.
Padre Justo Gallego preparing to be scanned with the prototype Veronica Scanner, designed by contemporary artist Manuel Franquelo Giner and built by Factum Arte.
Reality Capture (3D Scanning)
1. Depth-based scanning
Projected or laser-based structured patterns of light are used to assess the shape of objects, the patterns are recorded with cameras and processed in software creating facsimile 3D geometry
2. Laser scanning (LIDAR)
Light detection and ranging, abbreviated to LIDAR, is the use of multiple laser measurements taken of an environment from 360-degree viewpoint, a 3D point data cloud is built from the measurements collected.
3. Photogrammetry
A process by which 3D models are built from photographs. A subject is photographed many times from multiple angles, after which the photos are then processed by software which calculates the positions of the cameras in space in relation to points on the object. These points are formed into a set of X,Y,Z coordinates as a point cloud, from which 3D geometry may ultimately be generated.
Source from Week 9: Reality Capture (Photogrammetry) and VFX - Reality Capture Photogrammetry Digital Copies v2.pptx
IPhone 3D scanning – Using my own IPhone to scan a friend with only photogrammetry and not LIDAR.
For this test a natural light source was used for the front face and sides, and then a weak house lamp for the back head scanning. The front was perfectly scanned, even with an IPhone, but the back and the top of the head did not work properly.
My conclusion is that in a few seconds using an IPhone SE, it was possible to get a result but not too satisfactory. With an updated IPhone version, it would be possible to scan in LIDAR getting better results.
Iphone 3D scanning by Rodrigo Rodrigues
Iphone 3D scanning by Rodrigo Rodrigues
1. Photogrammetry and laser scanning combined. At least for one room. My RC license states I can use 18 laserscans but that is a bluff as it converts every scan to six photos and count those individually. I therrefore only have the scans for one of the rooms. Can you see which one?
The scans and the photos are aquired at different occations so there are some ghost furniture that were moved.
The mesh as a whole is a lot better with the laserdata but some parts got worse. The chandelier reflekted the beams and created a pattern in the ceiling for example.
Created in RealityCapture by Capturing Reality from 678 images in 00h:01m:48s. Leica RTC360 + Olympus OMD 10 MkII, zoomlens.
2. iPhone - Stumbled upon this cute little scene in Yerevan, Armenia
Captured with an iPhone and processed with Reality Capture. 80k poly w/ 2 8k textures
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/yeznik-koghbatsi-st-armenia-d0b73a557b214ab3af52448575706719
3. Train Tunnel Scan - Photogrammetry model of a train tunnel. Perfect for your game scenes, simulations or vfx compositions.
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/train-tunnel-scan-65c081806bd44c97b8190f05300ceab0
4. Fireplace by Florian Stephens
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/fireplace-2239f9bfe04f47eda63604a3be502fe0
5. The Trevi Fountain (Italian: Fontana di Trevi) is a fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, Italy, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini and several others. Standing 26.3 metres (86 ft) high and 49.15 metres (161.3 ft) wide it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world. The fountain has appeared in several notable films, including Roman Holiday, Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, the eponymous Three Coins in the Fountain, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, and Sabrina Goes to Rome
Source video: https://youtu.be/3-TP6KrgWjA from Nil Astrologo Processed with Reality Capture
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/fontana-di-trevi-rome-italy-1732-36bea7ec68844e0f94f2e2effa7e05eb
6. Laser rangefinder Technology - The Sig Sauer KILO1800BDX 6x22mm Monocular is an advanced laser rangefinder that utilizes advanced technology to send ballistic drop data via Bluetooth directly to a the reticle of a SIERRA3BDX riflescope to provide you with an illuminated holdover dot and wind hold.
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/kilo1800bdx-6x22-mm-06-73b81c81877341ccac36417b755b0810
Week 10: Simulacra, Simulation and the Hyperreal
With Mr. Florian Stephens MA, BA (Hons), PGCTAD FHEA
Senior Lecturer in Digital Media
Doctoral Researcher
All Videos
Illustration by Miles Johnston
Embark on a visionary journey through the fragmented unconscious of our modern times, and with courage face the Shadow. Through Shadow into Light.
Illustration by Heni
Essay Presentation
Rodrigo Rodrigues