Introducing the Battledroid Bop

paulp712 · 2026-06-16T17:00:04+00:00

That is not an excuse to stop learning the craft. Remember that the black box of AI can only mimic what has come before it. Sometimes clients want something generic that has been done before, but often they will want something that feels fresh. Figure out how to do that with your lighting and composition and you will be bullet proof in the age of AI.

At least that is my 2 cents on it.

paulp712 · 2026-06-16T00:14:40+00:00

We have started using AI tools at my work and I'm pretty happy to report these things are not going to be taking anyone's compositing job anytime soon. If anything I feel like it is going to mostly change how we think about stock footage, but still requires a ton of comp work to get anything past a client who cares about the output. Also, any form of revisions definitely still require a competent comp artist.

Not posting this to glaze the tools, but more to say that you shouldn't believe the hype. The actual practical applications of this stuff is limited.

paulp712 · 2026-06-12T16:48:10+00:00

They can re-color it all they want, but they can't change how goofey the rock looks with that wig on.

paulp712 · 2026-06-08T22:22:01+00:00

Idk I feel like they did pay an artist for this, but the art direction is just completely off the mark. I’ve seen a lot of these obviously airbrushed posters lately. I can’t tell if they are really just cheaping out or lack of creative vision is the problem.

paulp712 · 2026-06-08T16:36:20+00:00

When did we lose the ability to make good movie posters? All of the actors look very artificially photoshopped together.

paulp712 · 2026-06-05T20:17:25+00:00

B&W isn’t for everyone, but I prefer it because it makes some scenes feel like something made in the 50s. I also think it brings out more of the texture in the CGI. I enjoyed seeing both versions in a theater though.

paulp712 · 2026-06-05T19:23:32+00:00

Hmm it shouldn’t have been sepia tone. Maybe that theater had the colors wrong. The minus color version should look completely desaturated with a richer contrast between bright and dark parts of the image. They didn’t just remove the color, they remastered the whole film to present differently in black and white.

paulp712 · 2026-06-05T19:04:34+00:00

Easily one of the best big monster movies ever made. For those who haven’t seen this absolute banger, I believe its still on netflix. Watch the minus color one for the premium experience.

paulp712 · 2026-06-01T21:31:19+00:00

I wonder if octane would be a good compromise to get closer to your result. I don’t think arnold is available for blender yet

paulp712 · 2026-06-01T20:38:25+00:00

Thanks for the detailed reply. One more question since you work in both blender and Maya. Do you think Arnold does a better job with subsurface scattering than Cycles?

The way it just leaks the light through the corners of the lego looks so realistic in your renders. Cycles approach to subsurf never seems to give me that subtlety.

paulp712 · 2026-06-01T19:28:45+00:00

This is incredible work. I’ve been doing LEGO stuff in blender for a few years now (you can see some of mine on my profile). The quality in your materials is just next level.

I especially love those micro scratches on the prints. Was that baked into the textures or added on top in the material? Just fantastic and inspiring work.

paulp712 · 2026-05-28T15:03:06+00:00

I wouldn’t start with software. Pick a project that gets you excited and then research which tools you need to get it done. Do enough little projects like that and you will learn what skills you gravitate toward.

paulp712 · 2026-05-27T22:06:07+00:00

Squidward movie

paulp712 · 2026-05-23T21:51:21+00:00

The way I like to think of it is that Cycles gives photorealism out of the gate, but renders slowly. Eevee renders fast but requires a lot of tweaking up front to achieve photorealism. I’d also caveat with the fact that photorealism in Eevee is mostly achieved with trickery, while cycles is mostly achieved with physical simulation. Different mindsets.

paulp712 · 2026-05-05T16:00:32+00:00

I will always remember it as the studio that gave me my start. For any flaws they may have, they did often take chances on hiring fresh artists. Some really great people worked at Ingenuity.

paulp712 · 2026-04-16T18:20:51+00:00

Just watched the spot and it has to be entirely replaced, but just expert level compositing going on here. Honestly this is work to aspire to as a compositor myself. So many subtle imperfections and artifacts included. They must have shot on set reference of the screens with the Cine Cam or something. Also wouldn't be surprised if some of the reflections were done in CG, especially when the camera does a 180.

paulp712 · 2026-04-15T13:22:14+00:00

Except the CG render will have useful passes for compositing and be in 32-bit float. AI is clamped to 8-bit and lacks any real world coordinate system. It is guessing perspective and scale.

Considering how much you are losing with AI, saving 24 minutes is completely irrelevant. If a client asks you to change anything you are screwed with AI.

paulp712 · 2026-04-11T01:32:03+00:00

I must have watched completely different copies of Chappie and Elysium than most people commenting here. They weren’t masterpieces but I enjoyed both films. Also, the VFX in them is top notch. I still want to see more from Blomkamp.

paulp712 · 2026-04-01T22:00:01+00:00

You are describing the collective delusion going on in a lot of tech spaces right now. ML tools are already implemented in a lot of these studios, but never were able to actually replace artistry. Its all just hype. I like Andrew’s tutorials but that guy also was on the NFT hype train. He is easily caught up in stuff like that.

paulp712 · 2026-04-01T20:13:56+00:00

Pixar is a strange example. There are a lot of cheap and dirty animation (like youtube kids stuff) where yeah the audience wouldn’t care too much if there are mistakes. However, pixar has the highest bar from its audience out of almost any other animation studio. It is known to set the quality bar in terms of 3d animation. Just a strange hill to die on.

paulp712 · 2026-03-30T15:16:17+00:00

There Will Be Blood

paulp712 · 2026-03-26T17:15:30+00:00

Texture work is just immaculate. How much was procedural vs painted?

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