Mountain Scene Renders

Important Note - due to Youtube compressing videos, some quality has been lost to my videos uploaded onto my blog.

The past few weeks have been quite hectic, drawing in each of the environments and rendering them out in After Effects. Here are two of the final renders of the Mountain Scene for my film. Due to encountering some problems with rendering and other issues with After Effects on my latptop, I have struggled to include some of the plug-in presets already installed on the University Computers, plus the rendering speed is a lot more effective and quicker.

With each of these renders, I have tried to focus on the simplicity of the environments, as well as drawing out subtle details in the backrgounds by way of simple alterations in After Effects. I will explain, thus:

Final Render

Overall, I am quite pleased with how this has turned out, although there is some room for improvement. I have toned down the opacity of the fog, allowing the foreground of the landscape to come into focus and the colours have a bit more contrast to them, so that it looks less "muddy." However, more detail needs to be added to the castle in the background, judging by the fact it focussed in the first shot of the render. Although too much detail would draw away from the detailed foreground. I intend to add some clouds with the Fractal Noise effect or simply drawing some in Photoshop, to glide across the moon however the effect will have to be subtle. The colour of the piece needs some variety, so including some "pinkish" elements i.e. the clouds will be relevant.




Test Render 1:

Due to the amazing quality of Youtube's video uploading system, it has enhanced the contrast in this render, as before the colour of the piece was a lot less saturated and "muddy" looking, especially the sky. The foreground was also drowned with fog as the camera pans out, so I will aim to tone down the opacity to reveal the detail of the stream. 

Fog Test and Tree Scene (After Effects)

Imported the fog into the tree scene and faded the opacity as the tree comes into focus, using a Fast Blur effect. Used the effect "light rays" for a dimly lit sun, which gives the clip some ambience and balance. Quite pleased with the outcome however I think the camera tracking should be a lot slower so more focus can be paid on the detail around the bottom of the tree.

Tree Render.




Rendered a fog test in After Effects using a combination of fractal noise and mask layers which have been feathered to enable the gradient effect. I hope to use this in some of the first scenes of my film, namely the mountainous scene with the castle. I am quite pleased how this turned out. This effect was loosely based on a tutorial from ae.tutsplus.com

Fog Test

City Scene (Camera Test)

Testing out how the camera will track through the first scene in my film. Getting used to the camera settings in After-Effects was rather tricky at the start, especially trying to focus the point-of-interest in the foreground before panning out from the house. I have included a Gaussian blur to the foreground layer and the city layer. Thus, the camera tracks outwards from the house, the city comes into focus and the house layer blurs outwards, enabling the city to become the focal point and main source of perspective.

 After rendering the camera sequence I imported the 26 second film into After Effects a second time and added an ellipse solid, which is feathered at the edges to add a sense of atmosphere and darkness to the mood. Trying to achieve a flickering light was particularly tricky as there was no opacity setting to fade away the brightness from the house, as the camera tracks out. So, I simply opted for a black solid layer and animated the opacity to make it appear like a flickering light.

 

Inside Cave Concept

Exploring/comparing different colour hues with an inside cave shot. Focusing mainly on lighting to create the impact of the piece. Naturally, I will be using the top image for my film as it follows on from the previous "outside cave shot." I quite like the limited use of light reflecting on the barren rock-faces and blurring the silhouettes of the stalactites. This creates a real mood to the piece.

I think I prefer the top image, as the colour scheme isn't too bold, and embodies the greenish hues from the third image and elements of brown from the second. It creates a nice blend. I intend to animate light rays shining behind the stalactites in After Effects to include more depth and variation, whilst including some particles rising from the ground.

I may create some brushes in photoshop to add some texture to the floor of the cave, to contrast with the the smooth rock formations inside the cave. Some extra plant-life may be added around the left-side of the piece to balance out the composition. however I don't want to lose the barren, desolate feel of the piece.

Underwater Cave Concept

A cave shot featured in the last half of my Third Year film, testing out different colour hues. I have decided to use the top image due to the complimentary colour scheme working better with the back/foregrounds. I created a brush on photoshop to texture the rock-face to give it a gritty, barren feel and the surrounding environment. I am aiming for simplicity in each layout I create; too much detail would stray away from the remoteness of each environment.

Essentially, the top image is more appealing colour-wise, as it maintains the "murkish", barren, underwater feel of the composition without embodying one singular colour. An array of greens and browns can be added to the painting to create more variation to the piece.

With each of my underwater scenes I intend to animate light rays shining through the water using After Effects and particles rising through the water. I will also create a lighting effect in After Effects to show the light reflecting off the rock faces.

Evangeline Lilly

Getting used to painting detailed portraits. This is kind of a starter piece inspired heavily from this image. My main aim was to achieve photo-realism, whilst getting used to painting the more intricate parts of the human face, i.e. the eyes and mouth.

Lighting Test/Flames

Important Note - due to Youtube compressing videos, some quality has been lost to my videos uploaded onto my blog. This was one of the first test renders for the start of my film. At the time I didn't have a vast knowledge of After Effects, so applying the effects and getting familiar with the programme took some getting used too. Compared to my later renders there is an obvious improvement. Anyway, in this clip, I am simply getting used to applying different effects to the image to achieve lighting. I have applied a Light Ray effect onto the house to make it flicker, and floating embers cascading from the ruined city using the Faded Sphere setting in Particle World.

However, both of these effects are much to sutble to seen in the clip and there is vast room for improvement. I also attempted to create mist floating infront of the city by creating a mask, feathering it out and turning down the opacity, however I did this a bit too much and the edge of the mask can be clearly seen drifting across the screen. I believe I should use a different approach at creating a much more effective mist in this piece.

Exploding Title Test

Playing and familiarising myself with the Particle World presets. The exploding title effect compliments the particle explosion, which is a series of Faded Spheres duplicated, and set at alternate angles. I have also animated when the explosion rate will be the most intense. The particles used in this clip would be quite effective in the underwater scenes of my film, however for now this would be better suited for the credits or the title of my film ... perhaps.

Tutorial taken from: videocopilot.net

Bubble/Lighting test in AE

Easing into the world of After Effects and setting the tone for the underwater scenes of my film. Here I have experimented with different lighting effects and particles rising in the water. I am satisfied with the colour variations, (although they unintentionally change quite rapidly in this clip), testing a palette of greens/blues/yellows and blending them together to achieve the right colour scheme for the underwater scenes.

In this clip I have used two Parallel lights for the light sources, a camera lens blur at different intervals whilst varying the amount of bubbles rising in the clip. The effect I used was CC Snow with the gravity set at -2.0 so that the particles rise the opposite way, however I don't think they are varied enough in this clip. I may consider using the Particle World Effect and adjusting the settings, however I still but a novice with this software but I am optimistic I will improve.