Very nice work and professional writeup Andy. Thanks for sharing the information. Doing comprehensive recaps like that really help build the community and encourage positive mind-share about these workflows and tool choices.
On Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 1:47 PM, Rob Chapman <tekano....@gmail.com> wrote: > "Royale has been kind enough to agree to share the system out to the > community, through Leonard, some time after the final project wraps" > > bravo! I dont think Royale are a maya only studio anymore after this > and congrats to thier team for embracing pretty radical changes to an > existing pipeline. hopefully other studios will see the swift & > advantageous moves of Softimage joining the party. Its a really good > idea giving this stuff out afterwards as > > a) someone could come up with something even more creative with it > b) it forces you to evolve the next level as everyone has the same > capabilities now :) > > in my opinion, strands and threading effects are enjoying a bit of a > 'lens flare' or 'morph' stage right now and seem pretty popular in > advertising gimmick. but I also think that Softimage strands > implementation have (thus far) only just scratched the surface of what > is possible visually, we are only let down by the so called > advertising *creatives* imagination.. so yes, am looking forward to > seeing the rest of the spots and seeing how the LKfabric turned out > and how this latest fad will evolve. > > cue > > Rhythim Is Rhythim's 'Strings of Life' > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiCEGXGm-z0 > > have a great weekend y'all > > > > On 2 August 2013 19:10, Meng-Yang Lu <ntmon...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Nice one Andy! > > > > I really do feel Soft's strengths are these type of jobs requiring > creative > > ways to build various objects. Just wanted to point out the mark of a > great > > supe is one who graciously credits the team for their hard work. Again, > > pretty stellar work considering the time and the budget. > > > > -Lu > > > > > > On Thu, Aug 1, 2013 at 9:05 PM, Andy Moorer <andymoo...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> > >> Hi gang. I wanted to give a shout out to the folks who worked on Nike > >> Evolution, it just posted. Those who weren't involved, this is a pretty > nice > >> story... > >> > >> A young studio, Royale, got interested in this ICE buzz and invited a > >> number of us from the list to visit the studio and work on a commercial. > >> Their designers had been watching cool stuff on ICE for a while, > admiring > >> Tim Borgmanns work and the tools Eric was writing, and had tried > Exocortex's > >> tools for maya. They decided this was pretty neat and when they got a > chance > >> to reach out, they took it. > >> > >> The brief was to take what Digital Domain had accomplished (about a year > >> ago?) with "Biomorph" and introduce a new product with an effect > similar to > >> the Biomorph knitting sequence... But with a small team, for a very > short > >> produvtion duration and a fraction of the budget. > >> > >> Oh and three commercials, not 1. > >> > >> These are the times we live in. > >> > >> Given this challenge, Royale turned to the ICE community they had been > >> eyeing... names were passed around and folks talked to and consulted. > In the > >> end I wound up CG sup, leaning heavily on Ciaran Moloney as lighting > lead > >> and Leonard Kotch as a tool builder. Steven Caron took a short break > from > >> Whiskytree to lend a hand with some pipeline tools and general > expertise, > >> Billy Morrison dove in with me on VFX, and aside from that we had the > help > >> and assistance of Royale's maya artists and designers. And not a few of > you > >> on the list helped by offering the studio names and advice when > contacted. > >> > >> So the job was greenlit and we started the clock - about three weeks, > from > >> installing Softimage to delivery. > >> > >> http://youtu.be/932FiLPe4kc > >> > >> We rented a farm and populated it with 25 Arnold nodes, the folks at > >> SolidAngle were awesome, plugged everything in and made the spot. Our > >> principal tool was ICE, specifically a very cool and robust system > Leonard > >> Kotch put many hard hours in to create which we called "LKFabric" and > >> inspired by the example Psyop's Jonah Froedman has set earlier, Anto's > "knit > >> the strands," and earlier work Polynoid did with their "carbon" spot. > >> > >> Leonard went all the way with LKFabric... it let us manage some of the > >> complexity of trying to get the major components of the shoe to weave > >> themselves procedurally, from fibers, to threads, to cloth. Because the > next > >> spot, which we're wrapping up right now, required us to get in on > individual > >> fibers in extreme macro shots, Leonard built the system in an > abstracted out > >> manner, unsimulated, and supporting motion blur etc. I would send him > pages > >> and pages of feedback and requests, and he chewed away at it like a > trouper. > >> Pretty outstanding Leonard, I owe you many beers. > >> > >> Royale has been kind enough to agree to share the system out to the > >> community, through Leonard, some time after the final project wraps. > >> > >> Ciaran, Billy and Steven worked similarly hard and with the same good > >> cheer we see so often here on the list. This is why I like Softimage so > >> much, it attracts artists of this calibre and can do mindset. I should > add > >> that emTools, emTopo and polygonizer were used as well, though largely > in > >> the design phase and for an effect that was later cut (no fault of the > tools > >> lol the idea just didn't gel with the client.) Thanks Eric! > >> > >> It's very rare for a small studio with literally no staff using > Softimage > >> to get excited over ICE and have the courage to jump in with it no hold > >> barred, for multiple spots, like Royale did. I can't express more > admiration > >> for their willingness to try something new and embrace ICE the way they > did > >> for these jobs. > >> > >> The results may not be earth shattering but the client and the studio > are > >> happy and the other ice-heavy spot is looking cool too. In a time where > we > >> are all concerned with where Softimage may be headed it was really > >> gratifying having a maya studio step out of their comfort zone and > place all > >> their chips on Softimage with one of their major clients like that. > >> > >> So I wanted to take a minute to share the story and thank the people on > >> this list who contributed, both those of us who worked on the project > >> directly and the guys who extended advice and friendship to the studio > >> willing to take a chance on softimage like Todd Akita, Rob Chapman, the > gang > >> over at Whiskytree and many others. Thanks guys. > > > > >
