Ben's Comp Newsletter: Issue 045
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Hey,
This week's newsletter includes a
fascinating interview, a quick
tutorial on a technique to help you
integrate CG into live-action
plates, an awesome Python script
that could speed up the way you work
inside Nuke, and a really cool
website that intelligently blends
characteristics from multiple images
together to create a new one.
Enjoy!
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Freddy Chávez Olmos //
VFX Supervisor.
This week,
I'm excited to share an interview
with Freddy
Chávez Olmos, a
friend who has achieved great things
in both his life & his career. I
hope this interview is as inspiring
for you as it is for me!
Here is Freddy's bio:
“My name is Freddy Chávez Olmos.
I’m a Visual Effects Supervisor
currently working at Barnstorm
VFX in Vancouver. I also write
and direct short films mostly in
the horror and sci-fi
genre.”
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Create your own Ambient Occlusion using
RayRender.
When
integrating CG characters into a
plate and something seems
not-quite-right, the first solution
I look towards is adding more
occlusion shadows, often referred to
as "Ambient Occlusion". Occlusion
shadows help ground our CG
characters and connect them with the
environment & live-action
characters around them.
Most physically-based render engines
are capable of rendering occlusion
shadow AOVs, which are quite
accurate when given photometric
lights, but sometimes
mathematically real and
visually real isn't the
same thing...
Thankfully, we can create our own AO
passes in Nuke! I wrote a quick
tutorial to show you how.
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Stamps: a new way of working inside
Nuke.
Stamps,
created by Adrian
Pueyo and Alexey
Kuchinski, aims
to change the way we work inside of
Nuke. Instead of duplicating
multiple copies of renders, cameras,
etc. around your Nuke script,
Stamps intelligently
"links" to the original node in your
script using a custom node with a
hidden input.
Working
this way certainly isn't an original
idea -- I have made my
own light-weight version,
and have shared
Falk
Hofmann's Node
Linker in a past issue
of this newsletter, but I truly
believe Stamps solves all
the issues that become apparent when
working with hidden inputs.
This is important to bring up, as
I've met a handful of decent
Compositors who despise hidden
inputs. For example, they can be a
challenge when picking up an
unfamiliar Nuke script from
another artist. Although, by clearly
labelling the original source &
individual connections, providing
solutions for automatically
reconnecting accidentally-broken
links, and most importantly being
able to easily access any asset from
a panel with a single shortcut,
Stamps offers speedy
flexibility and transparency to any
Compositor in any Nuke
script.
If
you would like to see Stamps in
action, Adrian has created 6 short
videos that demonstrate its
potential:
Part 1: Introduction
to Stamps
Part 2: Basic
workflow with Stamps
Part 3: Production
workflows
Part 4: Advanced
reconnections
Part 5: Creating
smart templates
Part 6: Pipeline
customization
There is also a comprehensive user
guide to help you get the
most out of this
tool.
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Cross-breed images with Artbreeder.
Have
you ever wondered what a Baboon and
a Pineapple would look like if they
had a baby? Yep, it keeps me up at
night too...
Artbreeder allows you to
"mix genes" of certain animals and
objects (once you've signed up
for a free account), or mix
images of different people to
artificially create brand new
images! Depending on what you're
trying to mix, the results can be
far from perfect, but equally
hilarious.
The Portraits mode is
incredibly powerful, allowing you to
manipulate specific expressions and
characteristics on a face! Although,
don't push it too far or you'll end
up with terrifying results, like
this...
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In
its current iteration, this tool
could already be utilized as a
starting point for rapidly
prototyping visual ideas. It will be
fascinating to pay attention to the
future development of
Artbreeder, to see if the
developers will be able to get
higher fidelity in their
uniquely-generated
imagery.
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Did you find this
newsletter informative?
Have
you created, or do
you know of any
outstanding
Gizmos, Python
Scripts or Tutorials
that you would like
to share with the
global Compositing
community?
Please reply
to
this email, and I
will do my best to
include it in a
future issue of this
newsletter.
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Support on Patreon
Thankyou
to the following
supporters
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Adam Kelway
Adrian Winter
Gary Kelly
Hugo's Desk
Julien Laperdrix
Lee Watson
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Kim
Michael Loithaler
Tiscar Coig
Vincent Desgrippes
William Towle
+ 2
others...
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