Fusion Macro for using V-Ray RenderID and Coverage passes

Here is a macro for Fusion that uses the RenderID and Coverage passes from V-Ray and combine them using color pickers for easy use. There is a default of 20 color pickers for 20 masks. I am quite happy and proud of it and use it in production myself.

Disclaimer: There are so many awesome tech guys out there and I am not one of them. So if you have any problems with them I am not sure how much I can help. I am also sure that it can be optimized quite a lot but I am not that good.

Please do me a favour, if you like the macro I would love to hear it on a quick email: thomas@thomasbanner.dk


Download *UPDATED* versions of the macro here:

http://www.thomasban...rIDs_v01_tb.zip (contains all four below)

http://www.thomasban...t_02_tb.setting (contains two color ID's)
http://www.thomasban...t_05_tb.setting (contains five color ID's)
http://www.thomasban...t_10_tb.setting (contains ten color ID's)
http://www.thomasban...t_20_tb.setting (contains twenty color ID's)         


Download OLD VERSION here: http://www.thomasbanner.dk/download/fusion/macro/MultiColorIDs_v03_tb.zip

If you are using Digital Fusion for making VFX and quickly need some god rays, fake volume light etc. I have made a macro to do the trick for you instead of having to spend way too much on buying a plugin. It has some nice features like flickering and noise but also a couple of bugs when trying to make an instance copy of it. So I advice not to do that until I make a new version.

It has been used in production at Gungho VFX and at Wil Film for LEGO Ninjago.

Download here God Rays Macro for Fusion v11

If you make something cool with it I would love to see it! :-) thomas@thomasbanner.dk

A framegrab from youtube shows the use of the macro on top of several layers of particles for the Lord Garmaddon FX.

Mikisoq developement

Often when working on developement of films and shows you don't always get to show what you have done but for once I can show a set I built for the film Mikisoq which is currently awaiting financing. I had less than a month to build it and make a render which was a challenge. The result is seen here. I did not touch anything on the characters since someone else added those after I finished.

I made the set based on the designer Bjarne Hansen's artwork who did some great images for the film.
See the picture below borrowed from his blog: http://bjarne-h.blogspot.com/

You can also take a look at his cool stuff at his website: http://www.bjarne-h.dk/

If you want to see more from the Mikisoq film which hopefully gets to the big screen some day you can take a look at the official website: www.mikisoq.com

Highway

Here are some images from one of those projects that I will never finish and was started for no serious reason. You know, the type of personal projects that doesn't have a deadline.

I made a highway with a lot of props (moving cars, junk piles etc) in Maya and have rendered some WIP stills (composited). The set is not finished and it will never be but fun to show what could have been. Maybe some day I will finish it. It was done in Mental Ray and I hope to convert it VRay so I can work with it more easily. Did I mention that I love VRay? Hehe..

Making of Bionicle Vakhi printed in 3D World

I found this scan of an article posted by 3D World a while back about the making of the LEGO Bionicle Vakhi TV commercial I worked on whilst employed by VFX house Ghost (Copenhagen). Good memories. I worked on the look and compositing of the whole project but also did some misc 3D (modelling, shading, lighting).

My favourite shot was the last one where they all appear through the fog. Later on I graded the shot for a Bionicle music video (which was great fun too). Unfortunately for unknown reasons the music video was uploaded ungraded and made officiel even though I had graded the whole thing. What a shame.

Toyota RAV4 in Free Format

Here is a video from a CGI project I had a major role in at Storm Productions. The end result was fantastic to experience in real life. There was a stand in the Copenhagen Airport in 2006 where the company Vizoo had an installation with a real life size car projected onto a "transparant" screen. I had never worked with Free Format before. I don't think a lot of people had at that time.

It was tricky to do the video because the car had to drive somewhere but it couldn't be in another environment because it was inside the installation box at the airport. So I came up with the idea of making animated HDR images showing the environment more clearly as it the car moves along. I think it works very well. It also needed to align perfectly compared to the viewing angle of the people passing by. It was very interesting to work with. I hope they had uploaded a better quality video by I guess we have to make to with what we have.

Just to mention again, this video was to be experienced in real life, and it was a fantastic pay off to get to the airport and see the final result. I hope the video shows the idea of how it was to see.

Crowd Control in french VFX showreel

Here is a showreel by a friend of mine from France, Manuel Souillac. I had great fun working with him on The Ugly Duckling and ME. He surprised me recently by adding one of Crowd Control's tracks to his new reel. I think it kicks ass! Well done, Manu'!