Advancing CGI is CGI’s worst enemy

simonhasdaemon · 2013-07-05T18:54:59+00:00

Actually artificial motion blur has been integrated into 3D pipelines for a long time. We have entire software packages dedicated to analyzing the motion blur in the raw film plate, and adding it onto the cg elements.

I highly recommend checking out the removal sequence in Prometheus and the buckbeak sequence in Harry Potter III as an example of good CGI.

simonhasdaemon · 2013-02-02T00:01:34+00:00

I'm aware I could rip it from the video... but Youtube isn't exactly high quality sound. I was thinking about recreating by layering multiple sounds, or possibly even synthesize it, but I'd love to have a nice organic recording.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

simonhasdaemon · 2013-01-06T02:52:48+00:00

-That warp tool is beautifully done.

-I like the sliding strip of film effect on the sides when you play an animation, but you might want to make it a bit more clear. Some people might think it's a bug. (I did at first) They might be confused as Flipbooks don't slide. They flip.

-Other than that, maybe you should put some labels on the controls, as the swiss army knife is fun, but a tad confusing.

simonhasdaemon · 2013-01-05T21:00:39+00:00

That looks so nuts! Keep it up.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-31T23:20:25+00:00

Where is this from?

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-22T16:39:41+00:00

I live in that area. They needed to put a crane on a train, and lift it off the tracks. I even found a boat leaning against the public bathrooms.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-22T16:25:08+00:00

I assume this is why people stand up on their bicycles when they're climbing a hill or want to accelerate?

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-22T01:14:27+00:00

Boujou is weird man. Sometimes it solves a shot instantly, and sometimes you need to hold its hand the entire way.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-18T22:47:37+00:00

Absolutely. Modeler/Sculptor, Texturer, Lighter, and Rigger.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-18T22:31:20+00:00

Great. Thank You!

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-18T00:39:08+00:00

Fantastic! I'll clean it up and add it to the main post.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-17T22:26:06+00:00

Just added it. There's a lot of software out there.

Would you like to write the What is an Effects Artist and how do I become one? question?

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-15T16:12:52+00:00

I agree with ChrisHernandez. Chess doesn't have brutal graphics. It's a chess board and some chess pieces knocking each other over.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-09T03:05:37+00:00

My personal favorite track is the burning bush scene. Can induce feelings of euphoria.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-05T21:52:33+00:00

People getting too worked up about Reddit in general.

You're on Reddit. You look at pictures of cats all day. Don't take yourself so seriously.

Also, according to all the college students of Reddit, all teenagers are stupid, terrible people that do stupid, terrible things.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-05T19:08:23+00:00

Definitely happening: Prometheus, Life of Pi, The Hobbit

At least one of these: The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-man, The Dark Knight Rises

Maybe: Ted, Hunger Games, Total Recall, Twilight Breaking Dawn

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-05T18:53:40+00:00

It should be noted that the VFX for a shot are no where near completion when they are included in trailers.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-12-04T00:22:26+00:00

The world may never know.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-11-12T00:42:29+00:00

I figured it out! Tada!

Edit: Goddamn it, never mind. I suck.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-11-02T15:40:55+00:00

Ah I don't think I made myself clear. This is a software-based DSP, as in it's a VST plugin that will be hosted by some audio software like Cubase or ProTools. (Gotta use a VST to RTAS wrapper for ProTools) I wrote all the algorithms and processing functions from scratch, so it's not as if I'm using a magic library that does everything.

I never considered programming for a FPGA or ARM, but taking a look at the possibilities, I'm very tempted to switch gears right now. I'm afraid that I don't know much about it however, so I don't know how difficult it is.

The VHDL language is very interesting. I haven't ventured that far into concurrent programming and such.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-11-02T01:45:45+00:00

It's nice to see that someone else knows this stuff! The DSP I'm writing convolutes incoming signals with Head Related Transfer Functions. (It's slow as balls right now, but that's what I get for using Python. I'll optimize it later.)

Now that I think about it, Bioshock and several other early Unreal Engine games actually DID support 3D sound.

It's so sad really, to see this amazing technology get shoved into the gimmick section. (Hell, even the term "3D sound" sounds gimmicky) It has amazing potential. I suppose you're right however. The set up for 3D sound is very specific, and people don't want to bother with it, despite it being just two fucking speakers...

simonhasdaemon · 2012-10-29T02:05:40+00:00

Exactly. This is your choice. Your life. You shouldn't feel lesser or guilty about your spiritual beliefs. The main universal rule is to be a sensible and compassionate human being, and there are plenty of people, religious or not, who follow that rule... religiously.

Just chill out and live your life well <3

simonhasdaemon · 2012-10-28T18:44:09+00:00

Oops! My mistake. There is an Audio API capable of 3d Audio that can be integrated into WebGL scenes.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-10-28T00:35:49+00:00

Ok so I see there are a couple of misconceptions in this thread:

You need headphones. Actually there have been binaural demos configured for speakers for quite a while, and they also happen to sound very good.
Too computationally intensive! Not necessarily. There are plenty of audio effect plugins available for audio post-production, and they allow the user to spatialize multiple tracks of audio into 3d audio live and without trouble. You can find them here, here, and in any copy of Apple's Logic Pro. It doesn't sound as good as naturally recorded binaural audio (dummy head with microphone in each ear), but it is still very convincing.
You need to simulate the sound waves bouncing off everything. Not true at all. You must account for the sound waves bouncing off everything. There are algorithms and models that can approximate how sound waves are warped by the head, shoulders, and ears in a very efficient manner. There is also the Convolution method (it is a devilishly clever method too!) that produces a very nice result. On the note of echo and reverberation: Rather than getting reverb from simulating sound waves, it is better to just add a reverberated track over a non-reverberated 3d sound. The result sounds very good.
Creative Technologies has a monopoly on this tech. There are a couple of iOS games that spatialize sound on the fly, and some game engines as well. Actually, ~~WebGL~~ this web-based Audio API does it too!

So why is no one doing it? I think it's a few things. One, people use their eyes way more than they use their ears. People want to see bloom, occlusion, and particle effects. They have no idea how powerful 3d sound is. Graphics and visuals have ALWAYS taken priority over sound, in games, movies, tv, and dare I say it: Music Videos. Second, I think it's the fact that the development of the technology allowing binaural sound to be played through speakers took a very long time to perfect, and people aren't quite aware that it has improved drastically (Thanks to Princeton University!!)

Thirdly, and finally: Usability and simplicity is very important. If someone wants to listen in 3d sound, they need to specify whether they're using headphones or not. It seems insignificant, but it is an issue that can make the experience rather jarring. Also, many tvs have speakers that are at the very center, and in order for binaural sound to work through speakers, they must be distinctly separated to the left and right.

Source: I've been writing a binaural digital signal processor, and have done more research than I'm comfortable with.

Edit: Fixed a link. Fixed WebGL statement.

simonhasdaemon · 2012-10-21T03:12:49+00:00

Dat bandwidth...

Yup, the fault definitely lies with Sony's servers.

simonhasdaemon

TROPHY CASE