brian alvarez : fx : lighting : compositing

Rally driver misses a corner, rolls down a mountain

Vimeo, Quicktime, and Youtube versions available:

http://www.brianalvarez.tv/2013-reel/

Here is small hobby site I run and update on occasions:

http://www.thefilmframes.com

http://www.brianalvarez.tv/2010-reel/

Check out this video of Richard Kerris and Chris Horvath from Lucasfilm/ILM discussing how Nvidia’s GPU power is speeding up simulation and render time:

Updated 02/12/2010: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTQ1MzQyODk2.html

P.S. Sony employed a similar setup for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1254203383473.html

Very interesting and true article at IFC.com about the animation of the camera in today’s heavy visual effects movies. Here’s an excerpt:

What’s behind the craze for photographic “realism” in unreal stories? I suspect it’s not just the industry’s adoption of a cynical posture along the lines of: “Viewers today all have Attention Deficit Disorder, and they won’t sit still for anything, so the movies can’t afford to sit still, either.” I think there’s a kind of ass-backwards nostalgia operating as well — a nostalgia for cinema’s aesthetic and technical roots, roots that are all but invisible now that the analog production processes that once sustained the medium are going the way of jalopies with rumble seats.

Read the full article here: http://www.ifc.com/news/2009/09/mundane-fantastic.php

Found out there is a way to emit fluids from a texture without the use of particles. It’s a lot like emitting particles from a texture, but with fluids. Very handy for something like a match burning.

The problem is, it doesn’t work right out of the box. The Maya SDK comes with the source files to compile the simpleFluidEmitter plugin. But fortunately, I came across one’s that are already compiled for Windows and Linux:

Windows: simpleFluidEmitter.mll (Tested in Vista 32-bit, Maya 2009, author unknown)
Linux: simpleFluidEmitter.so (Compiled and tested in 64 bit Centos/RHEL Linux, Maya 2009, author Brian Krusic)

Place the plugin file in the /bin/plug-ins folder located in your Maya folder. Open Maya and load the plugin in the Settings/Preferences/Plug-in Manager.

1) Create the emitter: createNode simpleFluidEmitter;
2) Plug it into your surface: addDynamic fluidEmitter1 “Your Object” (no quotations)
3) Create a ramp and hook that up to the emitter by using the connection editor: ramp outColor > simpleFluidEmitter texture rate (fluid emits from white)
4) Connect the emitter to the fluid using the dynamic relationship editor and make sure the emitter emits from “Surface”.

Good luck!

Interesting website for peeps in the industry.

From their press release:

VFXWages.com is a global tool that will help job-seekers see how they rate among other artists with similar skills and experiences in a particular location. Using the special Wages system, users can graphically compare wages and salaries around the world by typing in a city, state or zip code. Registrants can also obtain information about employment based on job title, company, start date and length of time the position will last.

The site just started a few weeks back, so it is still missing some wages. I’m sure with time, it will have lots of information.

http://www.vfxwages.com

Interesting article at VFXWorld about the economic downturn and the visual effects industry (mainly film).

Rough Times for VFX: But is it the Recession?