The Great Gatsby VFX

I haven’t watched the movie or worked on it or something like that.
but i just saw this reel from Chris Godfrey on Vimeo…and..its just awesome :)

0 2013/06/28

Siggraph 2013 Tech Preview

seams like a lot of good papers at the next Siggraph, especially the Hair-Stuff looks impressiv..

0 2013/05/24

R.I.P. Ray Harryhausen

I am probably too young to talk about the amazing and pioneering work of Ray Harryhausen.. but.. damn it will never forget the moment when i saw the Sceleton-Sequence from "Jason and the Argonauts" as a small boy for the first time. It was just astonishing. It was probably around '93 when a saw Jason for the first time and even back then, most people werent able to explain this technique... so Ray Harryhausen was a true magician, someone who just changed a lot and paved the way for so many things in the movie/vfx industry. Thanks Mr Harryhausen.
0 2013/05/08
VFX on set DataSheet

VFX on set DataSheet

the next freebie took longer then planned. i am currently a little bit busy with the planning of  a music video i am going to shot with some friends in 2 weeks.
i am going to write some more about it, inclusive a detailed making of, when the project is done.

for now you can download my Vfx Data sheet. I am using it on set to write down all necessary data for VFX Shots and keep track of the assets, like hdris, i created on set.

i Hope that it will be useful for you and i am open for any suggestions and feedback.

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0 0 2013/04/23

BASSAWARDS – Bronze – “A Thing Called Love”

Dyrdee just recived the Bronze Bassaward for their Channel Ident of Viva called "Thing Called Love".

"These days every teenager should know how propagation works. But for those who are still clueless we tell the story of birds and bees in a totally different way. Large airplanes turn the laws of physics upside down by acting like small insects, making out heavily with a group of big winged windmills. As the sun sets the technical orgy climaxes in a cloud of metal seeds flying into the sunset. The footage was shot on a red epic and stuffed with state of the art CG VFX to achieve the stylized retro realism."

I worked on this project as a freelancer and was responsible for the whole 3d pipline and the on-set vfx supervision. It was a really short and challenging project, around 2 weeks for postproduction, but was a good experience and the work with Jochen Weidner was a pleasure (as usual). He did all the 2d work.
0 2013/03/11
Vray Set reflectionSamples

Vray Set reflectionSamples

here we go with the first free download. a script for Maya and Vray to controll the Reflection Samples.

a lot of people know this problem, the deadline is near, the renderings are slow and the 2d-people are using the whole farm (because they are more important). so first step, reduce the rendertime. and the struggle to keep the balance between noise free and fast is always hard to find with vray. i mean, its odd that increasing some samples can speed up the whole render process. samples like the reflection samples. that’s why i wrote this small script.  when i am setting up my materials, i am often just using the default samples and then tweak it for the final scene. so all this small script does  is changing the amount of reflectionSamples for multiple vray Materials depending on the glossiness.

you can download it here or visit creative crash for some more information.

will post a small tutorial/ collection of informations about sampling in vray soon. stay alert

0 2013/02/26

“An Open Letter to Ang Lee”

just a repost, but its so important. Its time to change somethings, its always sad to say realy brilliant companys closing, talented artists loosing their jobs and nobody caring or reading the names of all the vfx artists after catering and drivers in the credits. true vfx is just a "tool" its not making a movie on its own, but this tool is necessary to tell a few storys (like benjamin button or life of pi)... so its time to stand up for a change. a big thank you to Phillip Brostel and the guy behind VFX SoldierReposted with permission: "Dear Mr. Lee, When asked about the bankruptcy of Rhythm + Hues, the visual effects house largely responsible for making your film “life of Pi” as incredible as it was, you said: “I would like it to be cheaper and not a tough business [for VFX vendors]. It’s easy for me to say, but it’s very tough. It’s very hard for them to make money. The research and development is so expensive; that is a big burden for every house. They all have good times and hard times, and in the tough times, some may not [survive].”
0 2013/02/25

new website is online

most important thing “Hello World!”, i realy start to hate this phrase, but its a tradition (way older then i am) and we have to take care of it.

probably a little bit early for the first post, but it will maybe help myself to post more often. so thats the new site, portfolio, my own small digital realm. and it will take some time till this side is done, most important step is a new reel, but anyway… there will be more content soon.

the plan for the blog:

  • information about  my work
  • software reviews
  • other interesting cgi-related stuff like short films, news or showreels
  • freebies! 1 thing every month (hopefully). so things like small tutorials, free hdrs, free models and so on, we will see

 

so in short, a place to share some my knowledge and help some people.. probaly the most important thing in this cruel buisness. thats at least the plan and i will force myself to fulfill it!

 

daniel

0 2013/02/11