Our department recently had the luxury of touring NASA Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL).
They showed us several state-of-the-art applications and stunning imagery.
The highlight of the tour was new timelapse 3D stereo footage of the sun. Forget anything in visual effects the past 20 years, the footage was stunning. Solar flares, broiling surface, and the fact it was stereo made it even more immersive. If you weren't sold on stereo being a viable viewing method, you would be now. At least for documentary style footage or events. The footage was captured with new high end filters on large telescopes. When the scientists got the footage back they stared at it for 3 hours. We wish we had the much time in the tour to do the same. The footage should be available on Blu-Ray and/or HDVD at some point.
We also saw an incredible amount of imagery of our solar system. Most notably the crater on Mars the rover is exploring. The big canyon the size of the United States, the dark side of the moon, and other planets / moons.
Especially amazing was a small room with a 4K projector taking up the entire wall. They showed us new software, that is self explanatory to navigate our solar system, using all the latest high resolution images from a variety of missions.
Sadly, the budget of NASA is roughly equilavent to 3 days in IRAQ.
NASA has a presence in SecondLife. Take your avatar their and check it out. It looks more like a trade show booth, than a destination, but may be interesting to kids wanting to learn a thing or two about NASA.
-Louis Katz
www.louiskatz.com
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
The Making of The Visual Effects for The Strokes "YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE"
I met the Director, Warren Fu at George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic (also known as ILM) working on Star Wars : Episode I several years ago. Back then I taught Warren how to do laser blaster shots in After Effects. A few years later Warren Directed a piece for Alliyah and I helped him with the visual effects.
I hadn't heard from Warren in a while, but Warren called me just in time for The Strokes music video. I had recently finished work at SONY Pictures Imageworks on Superman Returns. After wrapping up a few independent projects in the San Francisco bay area the Holidays were approaching and I wasn't exactly sure what I'd be doing next. A little serendipitous I'd say.
Warren showed me an animatic, or essentially a rough cut of his ideas with drawings, music, 2D animation, rough graphic screens, all done and cut together by him. It was one of the most comprehensive animatics I'd seen. Warren asked if we should do miniatures or computer generated (CG) scenes for the final shots. Although I love miniatures, I needed the work so of course I said we could do everything CG.
We began by blocking in rough shapes of the shots in Maya together. 39 shots. Primarily there was a ship exterior, crater, and ship interior. Once we had rough shapes to scale and proportions Warren was happy with we did 3D animatics with camera moves. With a new cut of the 2D and 3D animatics we recruited artists to help us out. I brought together a team of industry talent in the bay area and Warren called artists in Los Angeles.
Warren spent most of December in San Francisco. In January Warren convinced me to come down to Southern California and work with him. Unfortunately, his Venice studio was not large enough to accommodate the two of us, so his parents offered their home to use as a temporary work studio. We coined the place FuWalker Ranch...
I had Brian Lanier, a hard surface modeler building the ship exterior. Warren had his buddy Jakeeli in LA do the radar and doors for the same ship.
We had Cosku, a friend of mine, originally from Turkey providing effects work consisting of smoke, steam, and nuclear blasts. All done in Maya.
Another artist on my team, Magnus Hollmo from Sweden did a beautiful job painting three phases of textures consisting of bump, color, and specular for our ship.
Warren contracted out a company in LA, Laundry that did beautiful particle and space travel work for our stargate sequence, as well as a few other shots.
We did a displacement map and texture for the crater.
Warren did an incredible amount of work in addition to providing constant feedback to me and our teams.
We wanted a company in Canada, founded by a friend of mine from ILM, Mathieu Raynault and his compositing buddy Sebastian with Nina Fallon Producing, called Rodeo FX help us with matte paintings. We were over budget at that point so hopefully we can utilize them on our next project. They can be found at www.rodeofx.com
While Warren was busy with all kinds of tasks I primarily focused on the ship interior, model, shaders, and lighting. All the shots were rendered in Mental Ray with ambient occlusion, a myriad of lights, and raytracing. With only a few computers at our disposal we faced a major challenge. RENDERING...
I had some resources in the bay area for rendering, but it wasn't nearly enough with an average render time of 45 minutes per frame, 960x540 resolution X 5 minutes of animation at 24 frames per second, and an average of 7 render passes per shot. You do the math.
Warren jumped on instant message, asked around and his good buddy Nick at Technicolor in Burbank came through for us! We brought all our master maya scenes and reference render pass files along with 7 gigs of textures with lots of animated graphic screens rendered in the shots, so we see them in blurred reflections. They copied the needed files to their servers, changed the texture path with a script so all the render nodes in their render farm would find the textures. After a few days we had renders!
Josh Madison rendered our massive teaser shot up in the bay area with his personal render farm.
When the rendering budget ran out we also rendered on the Fu family computers for nearly 2 weeks.
Compositing was our next challenge. Warren to my knowledge hadn't really composited CG render passes prior. I explained and showed him how to deal with alphas, premult vs mult issues, when to apply color corrections, and dealing with 8bit. Over the course of the project I educated Warren on what floating point, various color spaces, and bit depths provide. If we were doing a film project, floating point would have been essential. The overhead of pipeline setup, rendering and compositing in floating point was not an option for us on this project however. Fortunately the new After Effects has a lens blur tool allowing us to achieve a more realistic blur for our depth of field shots. At the completion of this project Warren could easily teach compositing if he wanted to.
We hope you enjoy the cinematic experience when it hits the big screen, or little one for that matter.
To learn more about The Strokes please visit:
www.thestrokes.com
I hadn't heard from Warren in a while, but Warren called me just in time for The Strokes music video. I had recently finished work at SONY Pictures Imageworks on Superman Returns. After wrapping up a few independent projects in the San Francisco bay area the Holidays were approaching and I wasn't exactly sure what I'd be doing next. A little serendipitous I'd say.
Warren showed me an animatic, or essentially a rough cut of his ideas with drawings, music, 2D animation, rough graphic screens, all done and cut together by him. It was one of the most comprehensive animatics I'd seen. Warren asked if we should do miniatures or computer generated (CG) scenes for the final shots. Although I love miniatures, I needed the work so of course I said we could do everything CG.
We began by blocking in rough shapes of the shots in Maya together. 39 shots. Primarily there was a ship exterior, crater, and ship interior. Once we had rough shapes to scale and proportions Warren was happy with we did 3D animatics with camera moves. With a new cut of the 2D and 3D animatics we recruited artists to help us out. I brought together a team of industry talent in the bay area and Warren called artists in Los Angeles.
Warren spent most of December in San Francisco. In January Warren convinced me to come down to Southern California and work with him. Unfortunately, his Venice studio was not large enough to accommodate the two of us, so his parents offered their home to use as a temporary work studio. We coined the place FuWalker Ranch...
I had Brian Lanier, a hard surface modeler building the ship exterior. Warren had his buddy Jakeeli in LA do the radar and doors for the same ship.
We had Cosku, a friend of mine, originally from Turkey providing effects work consisting of smoke, steam, and nuclear blasts. All done in Maya.
Another artist on my team, Magnus Hollmo from Sweden did a beautiful job painting three phases of textures consisting of bump, color, and specular for our ship.
Warren contracted out a company in LA, Laundry that did beautiful particle and space travel work for our stargate sequence, as well as a few other shots.
We did a displacement map and texture for the crater.
Warren did an incredible amount of work in addition to providing constant feedback to me and our teams.
We wanted a company in Canada, founded by a friend of mine from ILM, Mathieu Raynault and his compositing buddy Sebastian with Nina Fallon Producing, called Rodeo FX help us with matte paintings. We were over budget at that point so hopefully we can utilize them on our next project. They can be found at www.rodeofx.com
While Warren was busy with all kinds of tasks I primarily focused on the ship interior, model, shaders, and lighting. All the shots were rendered in Mental Ray with ambient occlusion, a myriad of lights, and raytracing. With only a few computers at our disposal we faced a major challenge. RENDERING...
I had some resources in the bay area for rendering, but it wasn't nearly enough with an average render time of 45 minutes per frame, 960x540 resolution X 5 minutes of animation at 24 frames per second, and an average of 7 render passes per shot. You do the math.
Warren jumped on instant message, asked around and his good buddy Nick at Technicolor in Burbank came through for us! We brought all our master maya scenes and reference render pass files along with 7 gigs of textures with lots of animated graphic screens rendered in the shots, so we see them in blurred reflections. They copied the needed files to their servers, changed the texture path with a script so all the render nodes in their render farm would find the textures. After a few days we had renders!
Josh Madison rendered our massive teaser shot up in the bay area with his personal render farm.
When the rendering budget ran out we also rendered on the Fu family computers for nearly 2 weeks.
Compositing was our next challenge. Warren to my knowledge hadn't really composited CG render passes prior. I explained and showed him how to deal with alphas, premult vs mult issues, when to apply color corrections, and dealing with 8bit. Over the course of the project I educated Warren on what floating point, various color spaces, and bit depths provide. If we were doing a film project, floating point would have been essential. The overhead of pipeline setup, rendering and compositing in floating point was not an option for us on this project however. Fortunately the new After Effects has a lens blur tool allowing us to achieve a more realistic blur for our depth of field shots. At the completion of this project Warren could easily teach compositing if he wanted to.
We hope you enjoy the cinematic experience when it hits the big screen, or little one for that matter.
To learn more about The Strokes please visit:
www.thestrokes.com
Friday, June 01, 2007
The Strokes "YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE" Premiere
I am pleased to announce the world premiere of a cinematic interpretation of The Strokes "YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE" and tribute to Stanley Kubrick's "2001, A Space Odyssey." This is my first Visual Effects Supervisor project I can honestly say I am proud of. It has roughly 40 all CG shots. Directed by Warren Fu.http://www.vimeo.com/2523140
- Watch the video.
www.thestrokes.com
- New site for The Strokes designed by Warren Fu.
- Higher quality compression will be there after 2 week exclusive on imeem.
Best viewed in a dark room, maximized website, sound cranked up, and no distractions. Feel free to e-mail me your comments and I'll forward to the Director.
Credits:
http://thestrokes.com/sections/CREDITS/YOLO.html
Enjoy,
Louis Katz
www.louiskatz.com
Press:
http://obtusity.blogspot.com/2007/05/danger-stranger-strokes-you-only-live.html
http://blog.muchmusic.com/thenewmusic/archives/2007/05/lasting_impress.php
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/forkcast/43180-the-strokes-you-only-live-once
http://www.videostatic.com/vs/2007/week22/index.html#entry-34686384
http://www.shotsringout.com/?p=359
The Making of the Visual Effects:
http://katzfx.blogspot.com/2007/06/making-of-strokes-you-only-live-once.html
Saturday, May 26, 2007
The Strokes New Music Video Teaser Trailer
I am pleased to announce the new music video for The Strokes. It has 39 all CG shots. This is my first Visual Effects Supervisor gig I am proud of. Directed by Warren Fu.
Feel free to view the teaser trailer at:
www.thestrokes.com
www.thestrokes.imeem.com
Feel free to view the teaser trailer at:
www.thestrokes.com
www.thestrokes.imeem.com
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
ITunes is all 'That' to indie producers
I knew it wouldn't take too long for a company with vision to do this:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960257.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Go Apple and Independent Filmmakers!
The music industry should've done this a long time ago. Instead of charging 20 bucks for a useless CD with one 1/2 way decent song they should've charged $1.99 and I'd still buy CDs. Then maybe Tower Records would still be in business. DVDs should now be $5.99 and they'd still sell as well.
-Louis Katz
www.louiskatz.com
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960257.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Go Apple and Independent Filmmakers!
The music industry should've done this a long time ago. Instead of charging 20 bucks for a useless CD with one 1/2 way decent song they should've charged $1.99 and I'd still buy CDs. Then maybe Tower Records would still be in business. DVDs should now be $5.99 and they'd still sell as well.
-Louis Katz
www.louiskatz.com
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
DAYDREAM Music Video
Please take a few minutes and enjoy this little music video I threw together last year. Add a positive comment and a 5 star rating to keep things fair. No don't, it's not fair to ask for that. Fair enough, do as you wish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1CWXx6MBvg
DAYDREAM
Directed by Louis Katz
Music by Paul Oakenfold
Clips by Artbeats
Stay tuned for a new music video for The Strokes in a few weeks. We're almost done!
Enjoy,
Louis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1CWXx6MBvg
DAYDREAM
Directed by Louis Katz
Music by Paul Oakenfold
Clips by Artbeats
Stay tuned for a new music video for The Strokes in a few weeks. We're almost done!
Enjoy,
Louis
Monday, February 26, 2007
MacBook Pro 17"
I just bought a mac for the first time in years. For the simple reason the new macs will allow one to install and boot Windows. I haven't used a mac since working in the Rebel Unit of Industrial Light and Magic years ago. I won't be using formZ or Electric Image this time however. Maya and After Effects in Windows XP. Truly, a dream come true.
-Louis
-Louis
Congratulations to John Knoll and Industrial Light and Magic
ILM wins the Best Visual Effects Oscar for Pirates of the Caribbean II. No surprise there.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Music Video Update
Hello-
About two weeks left. 39 shots. Zero finals... Lots to composite starting Sunday. Technicolor in LA ended up rendering for us on this project. They're saving our a**. Warren Fu (Director) and I ended up bringing on more people recently. We have been working at what we call FuWalker Ranch in LA, a large house in Diamond Bar with everything we need for the production.
I wish I could tell you for what band. Stay tuned for debut soon.
-Louis
About two weeks left. 39 shots. Zero finals... Lots to composite starting Sunday. Technicolor in LA ended up rendering for us on this project. They're saving our a**. Warren Fu (Director) and I ended up bringing on more people recently. We have been working at what we call FuWalker Ranch in LA, a large house in Diamond Bar with everything we need for the production.
I wish I could tell you for what band. Stay tuned for debut soon.
-Louis
Production Pipeline Wisdom
File Naming Conventions
General Rule (what, when, who, why):
what_version_user_comment.ext
What?
What that means is exactly how it sounds. When you have to decide 'what to name a file' always answer the following:
What it is. Version. User. Optional comment after the version. File Extension (Even if you're on a mac)
The key is to describe what it is accurately, keep that consistent, start version with v01, and add a username and comment 'after version' if necessary. A comment can be any number of things. Such as what you did to the file, who worked on the file, notes, info, resolution, color space, format, etc. Comments track history to what was done to a file, who worked on it, and gives anyone else picking it up a clue into what's next perhaps.
Let's say we have a project with 50 visual effects shots. If we have 50 shots, 10 artists working on the show in different cities using FTP, using their own naming conventions, times hundreds of files per shot, imagine organizing those files and making the deadline.
I'll elaborate. We'll call the show 'Cats and Dogs', and it has 50 visual effects shots. It has a cat being chased by a dog outside a house. It has a house with a yard and a computer generated cat and dog.
Some examples:
cats_and_dogs_contacts_v01_joe_created.xls
cats_and_dogs_contacts_v02_louis_updated.xls
cats_and_dogs_contacts_v03_louis_tweaked.xls
cats_and_dogs_contacts.xls (What is this? Latest published copy of ~v03_louis_tweaked.xls file for everyone on crew to view. Maybe keep updated on-line)
cats_and_dogs_bid_v01_standard_bid.doc
cats_and_dogs_bid_v02_revised_because_client_freaked_out.doc
cats_and_dogs_bid_v03.doc
cats_and_dogs_bid_v04_producer_updated.doc
cats_and_dogs_bid_v05_ready_to_send.doc
cats_and_dogs_bid_v06_for_client.doc
Notice the prefix before the version is consistent. That's key. This will keep the files organized through the entire production. Just grab the latest version, make your changes, save new version, add a name and comment if needed. You might be saying, "Just use Google Docs and Spreadsheets?" That assumes everyone has a Google account or you'll be able to force everyone
to sign up and use a Google account. Good luck there.
Why v01? You might be thinking, "why not v1". Make 11 files with 1, 2, through 11, and look at them in Windows Explorer. See how they're not organized? You might be thinking, "I might go higher than 99, so why not just use 001?" That's the exception to most cases. If you reach 100 just move 01-99 into an old sub folder and name your 100th files v100. At SONY I had a comp at version 1004. No joke. Not because I did 1004 actual versions, but the shot was so much work, I just kept saving the comp script every 5 minutes to a new version to track history. Comp scripts, text documents, and referenced files are small. Don't be scared to just keep saving up. At Design Reactor our animator got to version 150. He couldn't believe it. On the music video I worked on the main master scene for ship interior is at version 250. But most files will never go to 99. Keep that in mind...
NEVER use the words final or new in any filenames. Except in comment(s). I can't tell you how many times I've received a file called whatever_final.psd or even final.psd WTF? You know there will be a final2.mb Then which one will be final? The first one, or 2nd? New2, New3. Which one is actually new? Anyone's guess. It would be fine in a comment for a file such as, cats_and_dogs_contacts_v07_louis_new_artists_added.xls
Visual Effects Production Pipeline Examples:
Modeling:
cat_model_v01_joe_imported_drawings.mb
cat_model_v02_joe_rough.mb
cat_model_v03_added_detail.mb
cat_model_v04.mb (See, no comment necessary...)
cat_model_v05_jane_deleted_history.mb
cat_model_v06_jane_checked_for_all_quads.mb
cat_model_v07_louis_organized_layers.mb
cat_model_v08_louis_optimized_scene.mb
cat_model_v09_louis_shaders.mb
cat_model_v10_louis_made_basic_rig.mb
cat_model_v11_louis_rigged.mb
cat_model_v12_louis_ready_for_animation.mb
cat_model.mb (Copy of latest file with version this time so in the animation file we know what rig is referenced)
cat_rig_v13_louis_rig_updated.mb
cat_rig_v14_louis_rig_updated.mb
cat_rig.mb (Animator will need to swap to this rig when ready).
dog_model_v01_louis.mb (Maybe your modeler is so good only one version is ever needed. Doubt it.)
house_model_v01_louis_rough.mb
house_model_v02_louis_more_detail.mb
house_model_v03_louis_pre_smooth.mb
Textures:
Photoshop working files:
house_facade_front_bump_v01_louis_4K.psd
house_facade_front_bump_v02_jane_4K_log.psd (log color space if working in film)
house_facade_front_color_v01_louis_4K.psd
house_facade_front_spec_v01_louis_4K.psd
Published Textures for Maya (rle lossless compression on):
house_facade_front_bump_4K.tga (MAP for latest linked version in Maya)
house_facade_front_bump_2K.tga (Good to have representations. Various resolutions)
house_facade_front_bump_1K.tga
house_facade_front_color_4K.tga
house_facade_front_color_2K.tga
house_facade_front_color_1K.tga
house_facade_front_spec_4K.tga
house_facade_front_spec_2K.tga
house_facade_front_spec_1K.tga
If you have a whole team of artists, modeler, rigger, texture artist, previz, supervisor, animator, and compositor all working separately simultaneously, I suggest this:
cat_model_v00_brian_test.mb (Use 000 for test files so it's never considered the latest)
cat_model_v01_rough.mb
cat_model_v02_david.mb
cat_model_v03_for_Rigger.mb
cat_model_v04_for_Rigger.mb
cat_rig_v01.mb
cat_rig_v02_tim.mb
cat_rig_v03.mb
cat_shaders_v01_louis.mb
cat_shaders_v02_added_sss.mb
cat_shaders_v03_hair.mb
cat_shaders_v04_beauty_shaders.mb
cat_turntable_v01.mb
cat_turntable_v01.0001-0120.tif
Animation:
shot_anim_version_user_comment.mb
aa01_anim_v01_louis_previz.mb (Might have rough rig referenced in maya)
aa01_anim_v02_louis_director_changes.mb
aa01_anim_v03_joe_added_new_rig.mb (Swap to better rig with updated shaders...)
aa01_anim.mb
Rendering:
C.L.A.S.S. (Cameras, Lights, Animation, Settings, Save...)
"Use some class when setting up renders..." -Louis Katz
The word 'class' has saved my a** so many times.
When setting up maya renders check the following:
Camera:
Does persp camera have output settings in attributes turned off?
Is only the camera you want in the scene set for output? Are the clipping planes setup so it will render your scene. This will bite you in the a** if you don't check.
Lights :
Are the lights you want visible (fill or sun) turned off and on? Are they the right values?
Animation:
Is the timeline set right? Handles? Is what you want visible in layers, groups, and when you scrub, what is supposed to be rendered? Is there anything you can hide to save render time? Is the frame range set in render globals?
Settings:
Render globals setup? name.#.ext, padding 4, .tif, frame range, mental ray, production raytracing 2 0 4.
Save...
If you've checked the Camera, Lights, Animation, and Settings, you're ready to Save and render. Are you saving with the proper file naming conventions? Such as aa01_cat_004_ambo.mb?
Render Passes (Good to keep consistent with animation version referenced in file):
aa01_house_v04_fill.mb (fill = fill lights)
aa01_house_v04_ambo.mb (ambo = ambient occlusion)
aa01_house_v04_sun.mb (sun = directional raytraced key light)
aa01_house_v04_mat_fence_ground_doghouse.mb (RGB mat of 3 separate objects)
aa01_cat_v04_fill.mb
aa01_cat_v04_ambo.mb
aa01_cat_v04_sun.mb
aa01_cat_v04_mat_body_eyes_claws.mb
aa01_cat_v04_ground_shadow.mb
aa01_dog_v04_fill.mb
aa01_dog_v04_ambo.mb
aa01_dog_v04_sun.mb
aa01_dog_v04_mat_body_eyes_claws.mb
aa01_dog_v04_ground_shadow.mb
aa01_fx_dust_v04.mb
Output Example (Use name.#.ext padding 4, .tif in maya):
aa01_yard_v04_fill.0001-0120.tif
aa01_dog_v04_fill.0001-0120.tif
aa01_cat_v04_fill.0001-0120.tif
aa01_fx_dust_v04.0001-0120.tif
etc.
After Effects Composite Example:
aa01_comp_v01.aep
aa01_comp_v02.aep
aa01_comp_v03_color_corrected.aep
After Effects Output Module Render Example (Composition / Add Output Module in Render Queue):
aa01_comp_v03.[####].tif (High quality output)
aa01_comp_v03.[####].jpg (For lots of screen graphics textures)
aa01_comp_v03_960x540_anim_half.mov (If you have the diskspace)
aa01_comp_v03_480x270_web_h264.mov
After Effects tips:
* File / Project Settings... Starting Frame Number 1. Frames. 24 fps.
* Edit / Preferences... Label defaults all none. Then make hidden layers red. Animated green.
* Turn on 'Show Rendering in info palette'. Handy...
* Select all layers in a comp and hit U (Uber) key to show all animated channels.
* Work, Setup Output Module, Save... Then Render. Reopen without save to the same file so you don't lose the output module setup.
* Skip existing frames for image sequences so you can render on multiple computers on the network.
Project Folders:
General Project:
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\models
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\models\cat
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\models\dog
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\models\house
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\textures
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\textures\cat
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\textures\dog
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\textures\house
z:\cats_and_dogs\docs
z:\cats_and_dogs\movies
z:\cats_and_dogs\reference
Shots:
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa00 (Keep this with default folders as a template to copy/paste)
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\afx
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\images
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\maya
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\maya\scenes
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\renders\
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\renders\aa01_yard_v04_fill\
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\renders\ aa01_dog_v04_fill
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\renders\aa01_cat_v04_fill
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\renders\aa01_fx_dust_v04
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\reference
to...
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa02
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa03
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa04
to...
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa50
Or c:\ drive if you work local...
Backups:
Always keep your most important files, or all if possible, in two locations updated. Buy an extra firewire drive. They're inexpensive these days. Archive to DVD when possible.
Wisdom:
"A little time at the head saves time at the tail." -Louis Katz
In other words spend the time at the beginning of a project to make sure you and anyone else on your team follows these conventions to keep everything organized. When it's 4am and you've got 10 shots to composite before you're ready to show the client coming in at 8am you'll be glad everything is organized.
E-mails:
When sending e-mail ALWAYS use capitalization, proper grammar, and punctuation. There's no excuse for laziness. It takes the reader(s) longer to read your poorly written dribble than for you to get used to actually doing what you learned in grade school. Don't think you're too powerful, too busy, or too lazy to properly format your words.
Work Habits:
Don't eat at your desk. Take lunch. And take it at the appropriate time. You need the hour away. You'll be more productive if you get outside and take a walk with your coworkers. The best ideas come to mind when you're not sitting at the desk dropping food into your keyboard.
Instant Messaging:
I suggest you not use Instant Message for work. You'll spend all day on that thing waiting for someone to type a reply instead of making your shot(s) look better. If necessary, use it to get in touch with somebody and then transfer to e-mail for official communication.
Text Messaging:
Do not text message while driving. Even though I do.
RSI:
The most common reason you will develop RSI is a cheap desk with keyboards high up on the desk, and a chair that doesn't go high enough to keep your arms level. Your shoulders will also develop pain in this situation. Solution? Ask HR (Assuming there is one) for a keyboard tray and find a chair that keeps your arms level and at 90 degrees. Ideally adjustable desks that raise and lower the entire desk, adjustable keyboard tray, and herman miller chair will save your life. And again, if you sit all day on IM, that's not helping either. I'll write more on ergonomics in another blog.
Feel free to e-mail me any production pipeline questions and I'll add to the blog.
Comments?
Enjoy,
Louis Katz
Visual Effects Supervisor
www.louiskatz.com
General Rule (what, when, who, why):
what_version_user_comment.ext
What?
What that means is exactly how it sounds. When you have to decide 'what to name a file' always answer the following:
What it is. Version. User. Optional comment after the version. File Extension (Even if you're on a mac)
The key is to describe what it is accurately, keep that consistent, start version with v01, and add a username and comment 'after version' if necessary. A comment can be any number of things. Such as what you did to the file, who worked on the file, notes, info, resolution, color space, format, etc. Comments track history to what was done to a file, who worked on it, and gives anyone else picking it up a clue into what's next perhaps.
Let's say we have a project with 50 visual effects shots. If we have 50 shots, 10 artists working on the show in different cities using FTP, using their own naming conventions, times hundreds of files per shot, imagine organizing those files and making the deadline.
I'll elaborate. We'll call the show 'Cats and Dogs', and it has 50 visual effects shots. It has a cat being chased by a dog outside a house. It has a house with a yard and a computer generated cat and dog.
Some examples:
cats_and_dogs_contacts_v01_joe_created.xls
cats_and_dogs_contacts_v02_louis_updated.xls
cats_and_dogs_contacts_v03_louis_tweaked.xls
cats_and_dogs_contacts.xls (What is this? Latest published copy of ~v03_louis_tweaked.xls file for everyone on crew to view. Maybe keep updated on-line)
cats_and_dogs_bid_v01_standard_bid.doc
cats_and_dogs_bid_v02_revised_because_client_freaked_out.doc
cats_and_dogs_bid_v03.doc
cats_and_dogs_bid_v04_producer_updated.doc
cats_and_dogs_bid_v05_ready_to_send.doc
cats_and_dogs_bid_v06_for_client.doc
Notice the prefix before the version is consistent. That's key. This will keep the files organized through the entire production. Just grab the latest version, make your changes, save new version, add a name and comment if needed. You might be saying, "Just use Google Docs and Spreadsheets?" That assumes everyone has a Google account or you'll be able to force everyone
to sign up and use a Google account. Good luck there.
Why v01? You might be thinking, "why not v1". Make 11 files with 1, 2, through 11, and look at them in Windows Explorer. See how they're not organized? You might be thinking, "I might go higher than 99, so why not just use 001?" That's the exception to most cases. If you reach 100 just move 01-99 into an old sub folder and name your 100th files v100. At SONY I had a comp at version 1004. No joke. Not because I did 1004 actual versions, but the shot was so much work, I just kept saving the comp script every 5 minutes to a new version to track history. Comp scripts, text documents, and referenced files are small. Don't be scared to just keep saving up. At Design Reactor our animator got to version 150. He couldn't believe it. On the music video I worked on the main master scene for ship interior is at version 250. But most files will never go to 99. Keep that in mind...
NEVER use the words final or new in any filenames. Except in comment(s). I can't tell you how many times I've received a file called whatever_final.psd or even final.psd WTF? You know there will be a final2.mb Then which one will be final? The first one, or 2nd? New2, New3. Which one is actually new? Anyone's guess. It would be fine in a comment for a file such as, cats_and_dogs_contacts_v07_louis_new_artists_added.xls
Visual Effects Production Pipeline Examples:
Modeling:
cat_model_v01_joe_imported_drawings.mb
cat_model_v02_joe_rough.mb
cat_model_v03_added_detail.mb
cat_model_v04.mb (See, no comment necessary...)
cat_model_v05_jane_deleted_history.mb
cat_model_v06_jane_checked_for_all_quads.mb
cat_model_v07_louis_organized_layers.mb
cat_model_v08_louis_optimized_scene.mb
cat_model_v09_louis_shaders.mb
cat_model_v10_louis_made_basic_rig.mb
cat_model_v11_louis_rigged.mb
cat_model_v12_louis_ready_for_animation.mb
cat_model.mb (Copy of latest file with version this time so in the animation file we know what rig is referenced)
cat_rig_v13_louis_rig_updated.mb
cat_rig_v14_louis_rig_updated.mb
cat_rig.mb (Animator will need to swap to this rig when ready).
dog_model_v01_louis.mb (Maybe your modeler is so good only one version is ever needed. Doubt it.)
house_model_v01_louis_rough.mb
house_model_v02_louis_more_detail.mb
house_model_v03_louis_pre_smooth.mb
Textures:
Photoshop working files:
house_facade_front_bump_v01_louis_4K.psd
house_facade_front_bump_v02_jane_4K_log.psd (log color space if working in film)
house_facade_front_color_v01_louis_4K.psd
house_facade_front_spec_v01_louis_4K.psd
Published Textures for Maya (rle lossless compression on):
house_facade_front_bump_4K.tga (MAP for latest linked version in Maya)
house_facade_front_bump_2K.tga (Good to have representations. Various resolutions)
house_facade_front_bump_1K.tga
house_facade_front_color_4K.tga
house_facade_front_color_2K.tga
house_facade_front_color_1K.tga
house_facade_front_spec_4K.tga
house_facade_front_spec_2K.tga
house_facade_front_spec_1K.tga
If you have a whole team of artists, modeler, rigger, texture artist, previz, supervisor, animator, and compositor all working separately simultaneously, I suggest this:
cat_model_v00_brian_test.mb (Use 000 for test files so it's never considered the latest)
cat_model_v01_rough.mb
cat_model_v02_david.mb
cat_model_v03_for_Rigger.mb
cat_model_v04_for_Rigger.mb
cat_rig_v01.mb
cat_rig_v02_tim.mb
cat_rig_v03.mb
cat_shaders_v01_louis.mb
cat_shaders_v02_added_sss.mb
cat_shaders_v03_hair.mb
cat_shaders_v04_beauty_shaders.mb
cat_turntable_v01.mb
cat_turntable_v01.0001-0120.tif
Animation:
shot_anim_version_user_comment.mb
aa01_anim_v01_louis_previz.mb (Might have rough rig referenced in maya)
aa01_anim_v02_louis_director_changes.mb
aa01_anim_v03_joe_added_new_rig.mb (Swap to better rig with updated shaders...)
aa01_anim.mb
Rendering:
C.L.A.S.S. (Cameras, Lights, Animation, Settings, Save...)
"Use some class when setting up renders..." -Louis Katz
The word 'class' has saved my a** so many times.
When setting up maya renders check the following:
Camera:
Does persp camera have output settings in attributes turned off?
Is only the camera you want in the scene set for output? Are the clipping planes setup so it will render your scene. This will bite you in the a** if you don't check.
Lights :
Are the lights you want visible (fill or sun) turned off and on? Are they the right values?
Animation:
Is the timeline set right? Handles? Is what you want visible in layers, groups, and when you scrub, what is supposed to be rendered? Is there anything you can hide to save render time? Is the frame range set in render globals?
Settings:
Render globals setup? name.#.ext, padding 4, .tif, frame range, mental ray, production raytracing 2 0 4.
Save...
If you've checked the Camera, Lights, Animation, and Settings, you're ready to Save and render. Are you saving with the proper file naming conventions? Such as aa01_cat_004_ambo.mb?
Render Passes (Good to keep consistent with animation version referenced in file):
aa01_house_v04_fill.mb (fill = fill lights)
aa01_house_v04_ambo.mb (ambo = ambient occlusion)
aa01_house_v04_sun.mb (sun = directional raytraced key light)
aa01_house_v04_mat_fence_ground_doghouse.mb (RGB mat of 3 separate objects)
aa01_cat_v04_fill.mb
aa01_cat_v04_ambo.mb
aa01_cat_v04_sun.mb
aa01_cat_v04_mat_body_eyes_claws.mb
aa01_cat_v04_ground_shadow.mb
aa01_dog_v04_fill.mb
aa01_dog_v04_ambo.mb
aa01_dog_v04_sun.mb
aa01_dog_v04_mat_body_eyes_claws.mb
aa01_dog_v04_ground_shadow.mb
aa01_fx_dust_v04.mb
Output Example (Use name.#.ext padding 4, .tif in maya):
aa01_yard_v04_fill.0001-0120.tif
aa01_dog_v04_fill.0001-0120.tif
aa01_cat_v04_fill.0001-0120.tif
aa01_fx_dust_v04.0001-0120.tif
etc.
After Effects Composite Example:
aa01_comp_v01.aep
aa01_comp_v02.aep
aa01_comp_v03_color_corrected.aep
After Effects Output Module Render Example (Composition / Add Output Module in Render Queue):
aa01_comp_v03.[####].tif (High quality output)
aa01_comp_v03.[####].jpg (For lots of screen graphics textures)
aa01_comp_v03_960x540_anim_half.mov (If you have the diskspace)
aa01_comp_v03_480x270_web_h264.mov
After Effects tips:
* File / Project Settings... Starting Frame Number 1. Frames. 24 fps.
* Edit / Preferences... Label defaults all none. Then make hidden layers red. Animated green.
* Turn on 'Show Rendering in info palette'. Handy...
* Select all layers in a comp and hit U (Uber) key to show all animated channels.
* Work, Setup Output Module, Save... Then Render. Reopen without save to the same file so you don't lose the output module setup.
* Skip existing frames for image sequences so you can render on multiple computers on the network.
Project Folders:
General Project:
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\models
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\models\cat
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\models\dog
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\models\house
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\textures
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\textures\cat
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\textures\dog
z:\cats_and_dogs\assets\textures\house
z:\cats_and_dogs\docs
z:\cats_and_dogs\movies
z:\cats_and_dogs\reference
Shots:
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa00 (Keep this with default folders as a template to copy/paste)
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\afx
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\images
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\maya
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\maya\scenes
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\renders\
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\renders\aa01_yard_v04_fill\
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\renders\ aa01_dog_v04_fill
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\renders\aa01_cat_v04_fill
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\renders\aa01_fx_dust_v04
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa01\reference
to...
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa02
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa03
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa04
to...
z:\cats_and_dogs\shots\aa50
Or c:\ drive if you work local...
Backups:
Always keep your most important files, or all if possible, in two locations updated. Buy an extra firewire drive. They're inexpensive these days. Archive to DVD when possible.
Wisdom:
"A little time at the head saves time at the tail." -Louis Katz
In other words spend the time at the beginning of a project to make sure you and anyone else on your team follows these conventions to keep everything organized. When it's 4am and you've got 10 shots to composite before you're ready to show the client coming in at 8am you'll be glad everything is organized.
E-mails:
When sending e-mail ALWAYS use capitalization, proper grammar, and punctuation. There's no excuse for laziness. It takes the reader(s) longer to read your poorly written dribble than for you to get used to actually doing what you learned in grade school. Don't think you're too powerful, too busy, or too lazy to properly format your words.
Work Habits:
Don't eat at your desk. Take lunch. And take it at the appropriate time. You need the hour away. You'll be more productive if you get outside and take a walk with your coworkers. The best ideas come to mind when you're not sitting at the desk dropping food into your keyboard.
Instant Messaging:
I suggest you not use Instant Message for work. You'll spend all day on that thing waiting for someone to type a reply instead of making your shot(s) look better. If necessary, use it to get in touch with somebody and then transfer to e-mail for official communication.
Text Messaging:
Do not text message while driving. Even though I do.
RSI:
The most common reason you will develop RSI is a cheap desk with keyboards high up on the desk, and a chair that doesn't go high enough to keep your arms level. Your shoulders will also develop pain in this situation. Solution? Ask HR (Assuming there is one) for a keyboard tray and find a chair that keeps your arms level and at 90 degrees. Ideally adjustable desks that raise and lower the entire desk, adjustable keyboard tray, and herman miller chair will save your life. And again, if you sit all day on IM, that's not helping either. I'll write more on ergonomics in another blog.
Feel free to e-mail me any production pipeline questions and I'll add to the blog.
Comments?
Enjoy,
Louis Katz
Visual Effects Supervisor
www.louiskatz.com
Recent work on www.louiskatz.com
Shots I contributed a fair amount of work for Superman Returns and Fantastic Four are uploaded on my site.
Find links at www.louiskatz.com
Enjoy,
Louis
Find links at www.louiskatz.com
Enjoy,
Louis
Founder of The Visual Effects Society
I met up with Tom Atkin, founder of The Visual Effects Society (VES) this week. Tom is an extremely knowledgeable source of wisdom and knows what makes a story work in Hollywood.
Without Tom, we wouldn't have a Visual Effects Society.
The industry is busy preparing for this weekends VES Award Ceremony. I went on-line to vote for my favorite visual effects shots literally the morning after I was hanging out with Tom, and the deadline had passed... UH OH. Maybe they'll kick me out? Would that be ironic? If there is a visual effects shot in 2nd place because it needed just one more vote. Blame me.
-Louis
Without Tom, we wouldn't have a Visual Effects Society.
The industry is busy preparing for this weekends VES Award Ceremony. I went on-line to vote for my favorite visual effects shots literally the morning after I was hanging out with Tom, and the deadline had passed... UH OH. Maybe they'll kick me out? Would that be ironic? If there is a visual effects shot in 2nd place because it needed just one more vote. Blame me.
-Louis
Charlotte's Web Visual Effects Supervisor
I had the pleasure of meeting up with John Andrew Berton Jr., Visual Effects Supervisor of Charlotte's Web this week. I am writing this after just viewing Charlotte's Web with my 9 year old son.
The visual effects work was simply beautiful. Everything from modeling, texturing, shaders, lighting, animation, use of depth-of-field, and compositing was extremely well done.
John taught me a lot about what it means to be an Independent Visual Effects Supervisor. It's not just sitting in dailies and providing feedback.
I remember on a flight to LA not too long ago I ran into John and we sat next to each other on the plane. John's ability to explain the sheer joy of simple things in life, such as playing games with his son or the details of NASCAR, is unmatched. He and Tom Atkin convinced me to take my son to a NASCAR event someday. Something I never imagined taking an interest in.
I regret not going to work in Australia at Rising Sun Pictures the last few months to help in the visual effects effort on Charlotte's Web. However, by not ultimately going to Australia I had the pleasure of having more time with my son in the bay area.
My hat is off to John for the incredible work he supervised at various vendors around the world. Not only does the movie Charlotte's Web teach us what's important to value in life, John does, whether it's whether it's games, NASCAR, or visual effects work.
-Louis
The visual effects work was simply beautiful. Everything from modeling, texturing, shaders, lighting, animation, use of depth-of-field, and compositing was extremely well done.
John taught me a lot about what it means to be an Independent Visual Effects Supervisor. It's not just sitting in dailies and providing feedback.
I remember on a flight to LA not too long ago I ran into John and we sat next to each other on the plane. John's ability to explain the sheer joy of simple things in life, such as playing games with his son or the details of NASCAR, is unmatched. He and Tom Atkin convinced me to take my son to a NASCAR event someday. Something I never imagined taking an interest in.
I regret not going to work in Australia at Rising Sun Pictures the last few months to help in the visual effects effort on Charlotte's Web. However, by not ultimately going to Australia I had the pleasure of having more time with my son in the bay area.
My hat is off to John for the incredible work he supervised at various vendors around the world. Not only does the movie Charlotte's Web teach us what's important to value in life, John does, whether it's whether it's games, NASCAR, or visual effects work.
-Louis
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