Attached Link: http://www.3dknockouts.com/videos/openshot01.wmv

Just thought I'd post this little clip here and see what you guys think. This is just a 30+ second clip of the opening sequence to a sci-fi adventure movie I'm working on. I currently have about 15 min worth of footage animated (not yet rendered for final output), and I think about 10 min of that will be usable in the final edit. The editing/cuts/transitions you see here are NOT final, and I've re-rendered a couple shots since this, but it's about the same as far as what the final renders will contain. No sound yet (I have someone else to produce the soundFX and music when the initial animation is complete). This clip has been reduced in size, of course, from the original renders for posting on the web. Any input or comments on this sequence so far are appreciated. I can still change most things as far as animation/movement is concerned, but I want to try to stay within a reasonable time frame, since this is a "side" thing I'm working on. ;-)

Very nice video. I really dig the woman's animation. There is only one thing that bothers me: when she bends the neck it looks like it stretches (for some reason Vicky has this problem). The unlit sides of the buildings look a little plain, though. I think you could use ambient shadows for that... However if you painted the shadows directly onto the texture it would save you A LOT of rendertime :) And I am really keen to see the finished animation ;)

Thanks, nemirc. That sequence where she rubs her neck and then cracks it side to side did give me a bit of a problem at first. Was a minor challenge to get the timing down. I see what you mean about the stretching; however, the model isn't Vicki. ;-) Good point about the ambient shadows on the unlit areas. GI, of course, is usually too slow for animation, and I have only just recently discovered how to bake the GI to texture maps, so I'll be doing that a lot for the environments in the later parts of the movie. Baking the GI really does make a huge difference in the appearance, and is extremely fast. I used a light dome for some of the shots in this opening sequence, but due to the extremely large scale of the environment, it didn't work very well for the ambient shadow effects.

Wow. This is really nice work, Maxxx. I like how the cityscape looks witht he sun and the rays and all. I also think the camera motion is very good, and the character moves realistic. I was slightly disappointed with how some of the ships flying by seemed a little low-poly. not enough detail. But that is minor since you only see them briefly. Can you post more of this? I'd love to see how it continues! Also what programs are you using to make this? The rendering seem highend with all the lighting effects.

Well, she looked like Vicky, specially with that stretching neck ;)

Actually, I've fitted her with Vicki's hair, which probably adds to that assumption. ;-D

It's the dancing girl! I was wondering if she was part of something bigger. Nice to see what you're up to. Was this rendered in vue? I just got a copy of that finally and haven't even had time to install it yet. Now that you've teased us, when do we get to see more? :)

Thanks, tufif. I'm working on the additional opening scenes now. I'll definitely post some additional footage soon.

"Was this rendered in vue?"

No, this movie is being animated and rendered entirely in 3dsmax. I needed some pretty heavy FX - some that required lots of particles, which Vue doesn't have. Here's a test animation of an explosion that will be used in the movie. It's created entirely in 3dsmax using Pflow, which is an advanced particle system. Since it's volumetric, the camera can pan around the scene, and view it from any angle, etc. Thanks must go to Andy Murdock for his awesome tutorial on how to do this - I wouldn't have figured it out without him. ;-) Sorry if it's a little dark, but it's a test render without color correction:

Mushroom Cloud Explosion

So instead of splitting the workflow between apps (like Poser for characters, Vue for environments, and something else for FX), I decided to do all the modeling, animating, and rendering directly in 3dsMax, using FinalRender Stage-1 for rendering most of the shots. Although Vue certainly would have been much faster to produce the environments, I found that I'm saving myself a lot of work by keeping everything centralized until post production. I also have a lot more control over the character animation than I would with Poser, so it helps things along in that aspect too. I am, however, using some Poser props and models where I can. It saves time, without sacrificing quality.

I had originally intended to do the animation in Poser itself, and then use BodyStudio plugin to export the PZ3 to Max for final FX and rendering, but that turned out not to be very efficient for a project like this. There's nothing like having the character rigged natively in the rendering app when it comes to control and speed.

Impressive explosion. How about an expansive wave running across the city? :D

Great idea, nemirc! I thought about a "shockwave" early on, but scrapped the idea when I realized I'd have to also 'explode' the buildings in it's path to make it look proper. This can be done, of course, but the problem here is the buildings I'm using are pre-fab, and the polygons on them are rather unorthodox. I haven't figured out a way to make them crumble realistically when the shockwave hits them, without some seriously increased rendertimes (which I can't really afford at this point). I suppose this is one of the downfalls of using Poser props instead of modeling from scratch. :-(

Attached Link: http://www.3dknockouts.com/videos/shockwave.wmv

Here's a simple test example of what I originally wanted to do to the buildings as the "shockwave" from the explosion ripped through them. In this test clip, I'm just using a rectangular primitive object to represent a building. The effect works nicely, but unfortunately, there's several major problems applying this technique to the Poser props I'm using in the movie.

Your effects are great! I think maybe taking the rendering plunge on at least a couple blocks around the explosion. They need to have a 'shockwave' destruction go through them. Not the whole city, but a few blocks at least... then a big dustcloud can rip through the rest. Just my 2 cents. It's looking awesome! Any possibility of sharing a link to the tutorial you mentioned? :D

Attached Link: http://www.lotsofrobots.com/

***"Any possibility of sharing a link to the tutorial you mentioned? :D"*** Sure thing. It's on the "Lots of Robots" DVD #2. Lots Of Robots is an independant film project that Andy Murdock has been working on for a few years now. Andy is doing all the animation, FX, and rendering for the project in 3dsmax, and it's looking really good so far. He has 2 DVD's out now that contain finished parts of the movie, as well as some great 3dsmax scene files and scripts, showcasing different techniques and effects that he utilized. It's not a step-by-step tutorial like you'd find here on Rosity, but if you know Max and Pflow at all, it's not difficult to recreate once you see the scene file. You have to purchase the DVD in order to get the .max scene file that shows you how the particle explosion is set up, and there's also other scene files featuring various particle FX . Most of them make use of standard 3dsmax tools and scripting in version 7 and up, and may not be usable in versions earlier than 5 or 6. I've also found that Andy is very friendly, and willing to answer any questions you might have via email.

Ah yes. I remember that project... hadn't heard anything new for some time. Unfortunatly, I don't use 3dMax. :( (To pricey!) But I'm sure there's a little something for everyone in there, and I'd love to see how's he's progressing. Thanx for the link! :D

This is very good so far, Maxxx. I like the environment and atmosphere/lighting you're using here, and the effects are convincing. Your camera work is also quite good, and really adds character to the whole clip. Now for a few crits, if you don't mind: The girl's movements are ok, but not great. Granted, she isn't doing much in this clip, but the part where she rubs the back of her neck is particularly weak. Although most people would find it acceptable, I think the timing is a bit slow and the motion is floaty at certain parts. Her neck also doesn't bend like it's jointed correctly. Might want to review your rig in that area. It's not horrible, but it's not realistic either. The brief shot of her throwing that object over the side of the building at the end is probably the most realistic movement in the clip. It looked spot-on from what I can see. Her torso looks a little stiff in the parts where she's just standing still. Perhaps a little breathing movement on her chest/stomach during those shots would solve that. She seems apprehensive or perhaps a bit nervous, so visible breathing that would add to the emotion of the shot as well. The nuke-like explosion looks very good. Best I've seen in 3dsmax. However, without a shockwave and some destruction to the buildings, as you have shown is possible, I don't think the shot will be as impressive as it can be. I'd recommend adding it in for the final render. That's about it. Good luck with this, and I'll be looking forward to more preview clips!

This is lookin very good so far. That mushroom cloud is really kickass! I think the character movements are excellent personally, but some extra tweaking never hurts. Please continue!

beautiful lighting Max..especially the light playing on her skin,very nice & a cool camera move to..I'm expecting her to jump off the building now also agree about the figure animation..while it's certainly good it still needs tweaking....that's why I'll never be animator..too much bloody work,lol "Lots of Robots" is on my to-get list,I've seen all the free videos recently & must get the dvd..uit has a very surreal quality about it,& looks very dreamy drop us a line if want any props or environments for the movie :) Cheers Stefan btw,that last particle shot looks awesome would you recommend pflow over reactor for a shot like that?

Hi, Stefan! "drop us a line if want any props or environments for the movie" I definitely will. As soon as I get to those parts, I'll be in touch! Thanks! ;-) "btw,that last particle shot looks awesome would you recommend pflow over reactor for a shot like that?" Which one did you mean, Stefan? The mushroom cloud explosion, or the shockwave destruction? Assuming you mean the shockwave thing: I used a simple PBomb space warp (comes default under space warps/forces) to smash the rectangle shape into tiny bits. :-) It's much easier than using Reactor's Fracture dynamics. However, if you needed something ultra-realistic, where the bits were to bounce off of each other and other objects along the way, etc., then I'd say definitely use Reactor for that. PBomb is great for an impressive effect that's relatively simple, but not truly physically correct. It uses the object's own polygons as the "particles", while Reactor can use pre-defined groups of the mesh. Pflow can work with Reactor if you need to control where the pieces should go specifically.

What are you doing your camera shake, camera motion with? It looks very good. PS - I believe Vray Free can bake GI

Thanks, jeffg3. The 'camera shake' effect was created by assigning a noise controller to the camera track, then it's just a matter of tweeking the noise to taste. :-)

Just wanted to put in my two cents and say it's looking good...very good!

Thank you, DarkSkills!