Week 6
Team Members
Mia Esparragoza (3D/Look Development)
Zane Kidwell (Lighting/MP)
Yilin Zhao (FX)
Soi Park (FX)
Veronica Ramirez (Compositing)
Feedback From Mentors
1. Camera + Visual Flow + Composition
- Fix the camera hitch in Shot 1 animation
- Smooth Shot 2 camera animation
- Fix pause in FX in Shot 1
- Start framed in closer on the ring in Shot 2
- Delete rack focus for Shot 1
2. Look Development + Lighting + Color
- Light linking for Diamonds to accentuate reflections
- Reflections for the ring
- Light inside the Ring's geometry
- Ring looks too cool toned in Shot 3, should be warm Gold not greenish
Week 6 Tasks
1. Camera Animations for Shot 1 and Shot 2
2. Improve quality of Jade, Wood, and Gold shaders
1. Cameras
For Shot 1, I had lots of trouble smoothing out the simple hitch in the camera movement. I spent lots of time playing with the curves in the animation graph editor and moving keyframes around to try to smoothen it, but this framing and motion was limiting, the result for this week definitely needs a lot of improvement. In the next coming week fixing this camera animation is one of my top priorities, and possibly considering changing the composition/animation entirely.
First Pass: Shot 1 Camera Animation Fix
(Scale Effect by Yilin Zhao, Disintegration Effect by Soi Park)
Lastest Pass: Shot 1 Camera Animation Fix
(Scale Effect by Yilin Zhao, Disintegration Effect by Soi Park)
Shot 2’s camera animation fixes went more smoothly, and I was able to get a version that I was happy with that the team also liked. The video on the right is after lots of great feedback from my team and our professors.
First Pass: Shot 2 Camera Animation Fix
(Particle Effect by Yilin Zhao, Morphing Effect by Soi Park)
Latest Pass: Shot 2 Camera Animation Fix
(Particle Effect by Yilin Zhao, Morphing Effect by Soi Park)
2. Shaders + Look Development
Jade Shader Improvements
Wood Shader Improvements
The improvements I made to the Wood texture were minimal but I think made a difference in the quality of the branch. I tweaked things like the displacement and normal maps to achieve more detail.
Dragon Gold Shader
I added the dragon's normal map onto the Gold shader specifically in Shot 1. After great feedback from my teammate Soi Park, I increased the roughness value to clarify the composition and details of the dragon.
