We’re in the States over here, so 30fps is the frame rate, at 1280x720…
the light wall is modeled after a low-energy “green” system composed of (i believe) fluorescent circle bulbs (although i’m not sure how they achieve the colors using that technology) here’s the manufacturer’s site:
the rig that represents the system in the video is an array of toruses (tori?) grouped into three meshes - one per side - each with their own UV map. then it was just a matter of applying an individual light material to each mesh and using an animated image sequence in the color map slot to modulate the light intensity on each bulb. a simple UV planar map does the trick since the maps match each bulb on a pixel-per-pixel basis. in my previous post, in one of the images, you can see the rig in detail - the torus-shaped bulbs are a singe mesh, then the hardware immediately around it (ballasts, wiring, sockets, spider connections, pv’s, etc.) are vray meshes. here are links to the image sequences used to modulate the emission of the bulbs:
note: the compression and enlargement made them a bit fuzzy - the image sequences are actually tiny - 19 x 16 pixels - to correspond 1 pixel to 1 bulb; they are not anti-aliased in order to accurately simulate the modulation of each bulb individually. i blew them up to 190x160 for clarity’s sake (and to meet vimeo’s minimum upload requirements)
and finally, here’s a new draft with more studies slowly becoming a legitimate draft…and some background audio we’re considering…
just two of us on the project - me and a rotating schedule of interns
since the project is an internal one, progress has been very slow - we’re also seeing some ridiculous render times on the frames using dynamic lighting, which is bogging things down even further…
Super Dooper ! The lighting is great. I really like the shadows and lighting on the first set of images, 2nd image across (exterior). Can you share any information on your lighting setup ? Did you do much correction in post…it looks like you did some at least.
thanks for the kind words - yeah, we’re tricking it out big in post; gotta love those red giant products. the image you singled out has some serious diffusion happening in order to “feel” the sunlight coming over that brick wall…the lighting setups for all images are as follows:
set 1:
images 1-3: strictly vray sun n sky
image 4: one of peter guthrie’s cloudy HDRI’s partnered with 2 vray area lights behind the structural brace and 1 along the ceiling to wash the brace
image 5: just vray sun n sky shooting through walls using the vray 2-sided material; the object lights in the scene are vraylight material, but they contribute very little to the illumination in the scene and are amped up in post
set 2:
image 1: p guthrie’s HDRI again; the lighting wall is the array i think i described earlier in this thread - toruses lit using a video clip mapped to a vraylight material; i had to use pure BF on this one to get the definition i needed from the object lights and to get the sweet silhouette of the brace behind the translucent facade panel
images 2-4: just the vray sun n sky combo
image 5: this is vray sun n sky again, but sun is off to get nice dusk diffuse light; then ive got three vray lights accenting the stairwell and the obvious object lights (renderable splines for the neon and toruses again for the ceiling mounted units) for accents, and in this case they do contribute significantly to the scene, although i got by ok using LC/IRMAP combo for GI (usually object lights force a BF calc)
Thats cool ! Thanks for the info. Why did you choose to use a vray sun sky system for some and a HDRI for others. I tend to use HDRIS for most stuff these days..id be interested to know the reason for your choices. Also, what red-giant products do you use ? Im currently using Alien Skin Exposure 3 for color correction and vignetting.
steve’sideas - sorry to take so long to reply - in the tests i’ve run, HDRI can take significantly longer to render; i suspect it has a lot to do with the subtle quality of the light it can provide; i used them when we needed a moody look, otherwise the vray sun/sky map is preferred for its speed
title says it all. we’ve got that array of toruses just behind a transparent box w/ high glossy refraction going. render times are through the roof as a result.
would be great to get some input if anyone has some serious experience dealing with object lights. 9 hrs/frame seems nuts, but as far as i can tell it’s not the glossy refractions that are killing us so much as the need for powerful object lights to give an accurate portrait of the room when the exterior signage is on.
Could you maybe take a elevation view still shot of the walls and then use that to animate the desired lighting effect in AfterFX and then use that animation, maybe in a blend texture, to create your wall? In short fake it instead of it being 100% physically correct?
I really like it John.
One thing that is hard to follow/understand is the text that is being written. The piece almost needs subtitles so you can understand the message.
thanks for the kind words! i’m glad you brought the “titles” up - it was a *VERY* involved discussion as you can imagine.
in this case, we worked very hard to strike a balance between the need for titles and the desire to keep the hand-style work at a distance so it remained “painterly”. in the end, we decided that a bit of obscurity helped this (cropping phrases, quick cuts, etc.). those that really want to know more can study the work, while others will just see the beauty of the letterforms and the splashing of the ink.
we’ll probably take some heat for that decision, but we find solace in the notion that we did it for serious creative reasons…
