NUKE 7.0 Relighting Workflows

In the sixth, and second to last, installment of our NUKE 7.0 new feature and upgrade videos we showcase the improvements made to NUKE's Relighting workflows.

The Shadows now seem that they work. I think there is a real misconception that relighting in Nuke doesn't work. I hear a lot "Why would you do this in Nuke". It's not because you can it's because you have to. Comp and lighting go hand in hand.

Dave Sosalla:

You have to sculpt the light Michael. Come on, this is just not working.

He would be blown away.

Demo

I went to a Mari/Modo demo tonight.

It was good to get out and see the others in our world.

While waiting for the demo to start. I looked around. On my left were 3 guys talking. It seemed they haven't seen each other in a long time. One guy was talking about VIFX and Titanic. The other two guys laughed and commented on how long it has been. To my right was Jeremy an up and coming Mari artist, looking for work.

It was a good day to be a visual effects artist.

LEAVE VFX?

It doesn't matter that they aren't happening to me. I see them happening though, and to not give voice to the voiceless when I am afforded the opportunity to do so would be irresponsible on my part.

You should always vote to help the people who aren't doing as well as you. This will make your life better as well, not just theirs. I agree with David on this one.

I have lost that cushy job and had to reinvent myself. Its a really scary process. I am now, I feel in a better place than I was 8 years ago. I am glad that PT closed. I am a better compositor because of it.

I still think that telling people just getting started to "get out while you can" is not the right thing to be saying. Giving them facts and things to watch out for is good but no need to run them into the hills.

Far to many people travel the road in life hating their jobs. This is always sad.

Dynamics v1.1

F. Munch:

Rigid and soft body simulation

Another set of tools for Nuke. This time he uses forces. Inspiration for sure.

Geometry Tools v1.3

F. Munch:

A suite of plugins for creating and manipulating geometry.

A really cool set of tools to modify geometry in Nuke.

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Thriving in VFX: Up Close and Personal with Luma Pictures

Peter Plantec writing for studiodaily.com:

“Just because things have been done a certain way by others in the past does not mean that is the correct way," he says. "As a matter of fact, there's a chance that the longer something has been done a certain way, the more likely it's due for an improvement in processes.

Its always good to read positive stories about visual effects companies. Luma you have the right idea. Be great, do good work and everything else will fall into place.

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#2.70 - Leave VFX, Please

Sent from: London, UK. destination: San Rafael, California, USA

Posted on blog.juanluis.com

What can be done?

1. Leave. Go back to school. Choose another career.

2. After you leave, don't teach VFX. You may think you're doing the world a service by educating younglings - but if they have minimum wage to look forward to, you are not helping. Stop it.

3. Put the glory myth to bed. When a talented young kid asks you for advice on how to get into the business, tell them "don't" and hang up the phone. Stop giving talks about your work - or if you do, be sure to spend at least half your time talking about how poorly you are paid, how you have to move often, how you don't meet anyone famous, you will never get to direct, and you have lower back and wrist ailments that will probably never go away. Make it as unappealing as possible.

Telling younger "kids" to not get into a profession is a horrible thing to do. What should be said is "find a profession you love".

That way when you do start to burn out, or even better when it gets hard. You can make it thru. All professions have people who say this. The take away from all of this is, its really sad how many people hate their jobs.

Because something is hard is not a valid reason not to do it.

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Mike Seymour writing for fxguide.com:

Post is slowly starting to return to SoHo in Manhattan, even with the power still out generally.

Good to see everyone getting back to normal. Kinda. Love the photo for the story.

Manipulating the pupil of an eye →

Dumpduck post on forums.thefoundry.co.uk:

Hi, I'm working with footage of an eye and I'm trying to dilate the pupil ever so slightly. The challenge for me is getting the iris to look as it is contracting accordingly. By rendering out a normal shader from Maya (one channel from top to bottom, one from right to left and one with facing ratio) and using it with an IDistort (same method as this guy fakes refraction in Nuke: vimeo.com, I've managed to push the pixels around the pupil. It works to some extent, but doesn't seem like a good way of achieving this.

Good problem solving.

Tent-Pole

Did Disney pick up Lucas Arts for ILM? Nope.

I'm still thinking Disney sees and knows buying huge(Star Wars) story concepts are the way of the future. Many of the big studios are making huge 200 million and above films hoping they clean up at the box office. Most of these are rehashes of older stories that are remade with todays technology.They will then buy smaller movies hoping for a huge payout base on production costs. Many of these smaller movies are targeted at the older demographic. The huge tent pole VFX movies are targeted at the younger generation.

Bases covered? Maybe.

Have a look at whats happening with World War Z and R.I.P.D. Even comedy productions are having the same trouble as the big VFX movies.

A birdie tells me that an up coming comedy is in reshoots and is struggling with the VFX shots that are already on the books. These are not game changing shots these are the regular car comps and production fixes that are more and more becoming part of the film process. The schedules have become so compressed and the films release dates decided even before production starts. No time to move that production van. The scary thing is most of the people working on these films have experience. This is not there first BBQ.

Visual effects is slowly becoming as big a part of making a movie as editing or set design. I would argue sometimes more important than talent. There is a reason ILM gets a title card all to itself. There are saying we are very important.

It's not a mistake Disney just picked up one of the best companies at doing this. John Knoll talked more at last years VFX bake off about how difficult the rig removals were in the last "Mission Impossible" than than anything else. I remember a question "how did you do that". " oh we shot that practically". The shots weren't about amazement but getting that BMW back on the road. Get the story told.

I am hoping Disney sees that you need a good visual effects house to tell the stories they want to make. Along with franchises, you also need people who can execute. Lucas Arts has proven they can.

I hope others take notice.

I wonder what they are going to do with the Indiana Jones Franchise?