ISSUE 07 AUGUST 2006

CGArena
Get Attention in Computer Graphics Community

GALLERY INTERVIEW
Showcase of latest 3d inspiring art Sushant Dholakia
PHOTOSHOP 3DSMAX
Aqua Viva Ragdoll and Reactor Water
AFTER EFFECTS MATCHMOVING
Bleach Bypass My First Tracking
 contents

05 Interview 10 3d Challenge
Sushant Dholakia Haunted

12 Photoshop 16 Matchmoving
Aqua Viva My First Tracking

20 After Effects 26 3ds Max

Bleach Bypass Ragdoll and Reactor Water

30 Gallery
Showcase of latest 3d inspiring art

Magazine Designed, Written & Edited: Ashish Rastogi, India

Magazine Cover Image: Piotr Fox Wysocki, Poland
Challenge Sponsors: Vertus, Duber Studio, Di-o-matic, ambientLight

Page  Issue 07 Aug 2006

 industry news

modo Wins Prestigious Apple Design Award Mudbox - 3d Sculpting software

at WWDC 2006 launched new website

Luxology® LLC, an independent technol-
ogy company developing next-generation
3D content creation software, announced its
flagship product modo™ earned “Best OS
X Graphics” accolades at the 11th Annual
Apple Design Awards at Apple’s Worldwide Developer
Conference (WWDC) held in San Francisco.
The Mac OS X version of modo enables Apple users to
create 3D models and images for uses including graphic
design, game and film production, education, and design
visualization. The modo content creation experience is
enhanced by realistic graphics viewports that provide
real-time feedback and impressive manipulation speed
in a flexible user interface that invites experimentation
and artistic expression.
Mudbox is the first advanced, high resolu-
tion brush-based 3D sculpting software that
is built from the ground up to address the
needs of the professional digital sculptor.
Designed by production artists for production artists,
Mudbox introduces new ideas and combines familiar
concepts in fresh ways to offer a unique solution for
high-end commercial modeling and design.
With its friendly interface, consistent structure, respect
for industry convention, and a “get it done” focus, Mud-
box is quick to learn and easy to use, integrating seam-
lessly with existing pipelines. Digital artists with previous
3D experience are quickly productive in Mudbox with
minimal or even no orientation.

Source: www.luxology.com Source: www.mudbox3d.com

Buzzword of the Month

Pyrotechniques - Pyrotechnics are special effects that deal with incendiary devices such
as fire or explosives. Great Care must be taken in setting up this type of special effects, which
can be quite elaborate.

To create explosions, pyrotechnics experts mix various types of combustible substances. The
most common is black powder, which is a mixture of potassium nitrate, sulfur and charcoal
that can be handmade or purchased commercially in granular or finely powdered form.
Gasoline is also frequently used to fuel an explosion. Naphthalene can create a huge blast
when ignited: it is the primary ingredient in mothballs.

Pyrotechnical experts are skilled at creating whatever type of explosion is needed for a scene, but digital artists have
also become experts in pyrotechnics as they try to re-create explosions using computer graphics. But despite advances
in computer pyrotechnics, large-scale on-set pyrotechnics are still being used.

Page  Issue 07 Aug 2006

 A 2D Toon Takes A 3D Ride
Blur Studio turns SpongeBob SquarePants as an animated 3D character with Morph-O-Matic

When you’re one of the best visual effects shops in town, you usually get some
big clients knocking at your door. Blur Studios, based in Venice California, has
definitely earned its reputation from the quality of its work and the dedication of
its artists, and the knock on the door came last year from Paramount Parks and
Nickelodeon when they approached Blur with the idea of producing “a stereo-
scopic, computer-animated ride film based on the wildly popular Nickelodeon
cartoon series SpongeBob SquarePants” according to Sherry Wallace, Blur’s Pro-
ducer for the project. The 4 and a half minute ride make its debut at Paramount
Parks Theme Parks across North America two years ago and is now projected
across globe at many Theme Parks.

Of course, on a job this big, there were significant hurdles to overcome. First and foremost, Blur was given the daunt-
ing task of taking the original 2D elements and converting them into 3D while not losing the originals’ quality. Add
to that the fact that they had 15 unique characters to model and animate, including six who had speaking parts. Blur’s
CG Supervisor Paul Taylor recalls, “For the characters who had dialogue, we had to use morph targets for all the facial
lip-syncing.”

Blur immediately began to look at tools that could help increase their produc-
tivity, and Morph-O-Matic soon came to their attention. As Sze Chan, one of
Blur’s modelers and character riggers who worked on the project knew, “Without
a tool like Morph-O-Matic, we would have had to transfer animation for each
channel inside of Track View.” Instead, Blur was able to do things not previously
possible with the built-in tools and in far less time. And on such a massive proj-
ect, time was critical. Fortunately, both Chan and Taylor agreed that the product
had “No learning curve”, and that they were up and running in less than a day.
That was also especially important for Blur’s Lead Character Animator, Marlon
Now. “Morph-O-Matic provided a faster solution with more possibilities, a bet-
ter interface, and nice floaters with sliders,” he said, “You need smooth playback while animating facial animation and
Morph-O-Matic provided it.”

And Chan echoed his workmate’s sentiments on the ease of use, “Beyond the number of channels that Morph-O-
Matic could display at once, the other nice feature was its capability to open multiple floaters for different characters
and animate them all at once.” This saved the Blur team lots of unneeded aggravation and let them focus on the task of
producing stunning character output for Paramount Parks.

Now summed up his experiences with Morph-O-Matic on the SpongeBob SquarePants ride pretty simply, “It’s faster
and smoother than any other existing morphing solution for 3ds max.” concludes Marlon Now.

Download link

Watch a clip from the 4D Spongebob Ride created by Blur Studios:

www.blur.com/html_quicktime/spongebob.html

Morph-O-Matic, the award winning progressive morphing plugin for 3ds max :
www.di-o-matic.com/products/Plugins/MorphOMatic/
 interview

AN INTERVIEW WITH
Sushant Dholakia
Q. Hello Sushant, could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Hi there! Everything in nature including animals, the kaleidoscopic forms and

wondrous hues around me, the marvel and beauty that life occasions for me, greatly
fascinates my impressionable young mind and fires my imagination. It is this love
for creativity which led me to pursue my lifelong ambition. CG, I found, was the
perfect blend of all that encompassed my creative side along with my love for com-
puters, and animation is what enabled me to put life into those thoughts and ideas

I am currently living in Canada, working at SOHO VFX on a live action feature

film. I am originally from India and moved to Canada in September 2005 for Digi-
tal Character Animation Program at Sheridan College. Before coming here, I was
working at Moving Picture Company India Ltd, New Delhi as a CG Artist. I was
multi-tasking there on ‘Jungle Tales’, the first animated series from India, broadcast
on Cartoon Network, Asia.

Q. You recently completed your Animation Program from Sheridan College, so what’s the reason of choosing
Sheridan over others and how do you rate the overall teaching atmosphere?

I chose Sheridan mainly because

of two reasons. Firstly, Sheridan
is one of the most reputed insti-
tutes across the globe. Secondly,
my very close friend who did
the same course in 2005 spoke
highly of its curriculum and the
instructors. And now that I’ve
graduated, I realize this was one
of the wisest decisions I ever took
in my life.

Page  Issue 07 Aug 2006

 interview

AN INTERVIEW WITH
Sushant Dholakia
Q. Your animation film ‘Lolly Poo Lee’ has been selected for the TELETOON Canadian Student Animation
Scholarship ‘06 and is going to be screened at the Ottawa Internation Animation Festival in the ‘Most Promising
Student Category’. So how do you feel and what’s the future plans?

I don’t think there is more joy to life than to see your hard work pay off. Ottawa International Animation Festival is
providing me the platform to showcase my film to the CG community. What a great opportunity to share all that work
with people! I wanted to send my film to other film festivals too, but my new work is keeping me too busy. Hopefully
after September, when I am done with this project, I shall be able to send it to other festivals.

Q. From where you get the idea of creating a ‘Lolly Poo Lee’ and how much drawing skills is essential for any 3d
artists?

Lolly Poo Lee is based on a poem by Bruce Burrow. Many students have benefited from the huge reservoir of his po-
ems. Even though my film is based on his poem, what’s actually happening in the film differs from the actual narration.
This was done to add twist and gags to the whole short.

Page  Issue 07 Aug 2006

 interview

AN INTERVIEW WITH
Sushant Dholakia

As far as drawing skills are concerned, I think they are a great foundation and are very essential for every 3D artist.
Although I regret not to have any formal training in 2D, I also think that its never too late to do something in life that
is of vital importance.

Q. What software program(s) do you use for your CG and why?

I used Maya, Digital Fusion, After Effects, Photoshop and Premier. I was working on 3Ds MAX before I came to
Sheridan, but switched to Maya because its in their curriculum. Digital Fusion is a powerful post-production tool and
definitely enhanced the look and feel of my film.

Q. If you could invent your dream job, where would you work & what would be your job title?

Hmm, interesting! Ideal job?...I guess would be to get paid for making your own short films. ;) I would like to do ev-
erything from pre to post production, focusing the most on story-telling and animation.

Page  Issue 07 Aug 2006

 interview

AN INTERVIEW WITH
Sushant Dholakia
Q. What’s the most useful thing you have learnt in 3d?

To be humble. There’s so much to learn and that you can never

reach a stage that you can learn no more.

Q. What have been your major influences over the years?

Colleagues; friends; inspirational stuff online on CG portals etc;

animated movies from the likes of PIXAR, Dreamworks, Blue
Sky, Sony and others. I get inspired and influenced by almost
every piece of art around me.

Q. Are you working on any projects currently? If so, what are

they?

I am currently working on the live action feature film, The

Chronicles of Narnia, as a character animator. We are working
on the battle sequence for the extended version (Director’s cut)
of the film. I can’t really talk in detail about my current project,
but will soon share with everyone all the details once I am given
the green signal. :)

Q. What is one piece of advice you would give to any artist looking to get into 3D?

Every form of art is complex, but not so complex that it cannot be achieved. As Marc Chagall aptly puts it - ‘Great art
begins where the nature ends’. Give your heart and soul to everything you do and the success will be all yours.

Q. What are your hobbies and please describe your free time, and do you get anytime for your girlfriend?

Did you say Free time? hehe...what’s that? Lately I have been putting in long working hours for this feature film. Apart
from animation, I love to travel, hang out with my friends and watch movies. Unfortunately, I am away from my girl-
friend who is in India, so most of the time that I am not animating I am talking to her on the phone. :) She keeps me
motivated and determined. Being an animator herself, I get all the valuable comments and critiques I need.

Page  Issue 07 Aug 2006

 interview

AN INTERVIEW WITH
Sushant Dholakia
Q. Anything you like to add? It is your chance now to state your opinion about anything

Don’t get into 3D or 2D because you think it is cool and pays you lot of money. Unless you enjoy doing what you do,
you will never be able to achieve greater heights. Make animation your way of life, not just a career.

Thanks a lot Sushant for taking out sometime for us from your busy schedule.

The pleasure is entirely mine. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to reach out to people.

Page  Issue 07 Aug 2006

 Already Running
challenge
CGArena is proud to present “Haunted” Challenge (3D Challenge), 29 July - 15 Sep 2006, sponsored
by Vertus, Di-o-matic, ambientLight and Duber Studio. We want different ideas and approaches in
a more creative way.

Your Mission

Create an image which shows Haunted look. This Challenge is a Work-In-Progress Challenge -- all contestants are
required to post their work-in-progress images for community to critique/comment in order to qualify.

How the Challenge will be Run

This challenge will be a WIP (Work in Progress) Challenge. Each challenger is required to submit Work In Progress
(WIP) images, from the initial concept sketch to the final render. The purpose is that everyone can learn from each
other, offer feedback and critiques.

1. Enter the Challenge by registering yourself on CGArena forum.

2. Submit your work in progress images in forum on a regular basis.
3. Participate in the community by critiquing other challengers works in the respective forums.
4. Submit your final entry till 15th September 2006, midnight 00:00 GMT.
5. There will be 3 winners in this 3D Challenge and CGArena, Sponsers and Judges decision will be final.

Note: You are required to submit work in progress images, obtain feedback and give feedback to other challengers.
Final Image Size
- Your final image dimensions should be print resolution. Do
not send in a low-resolution.

- A guideline is 1200 pixels wide and/or 1024 high, JPG, 300

DPI.

- Send your final image in zip format with your complete ship-
ping address and telephone number on email address ezine@
cgarena.com

First Prize

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ambietLight Multibay Texture Bundle - $130USD

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Third Prize

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Consolation Prize (Qualified Entries will receive)

Duber Head Rigging Modeling Video Tutorial - $5USD

The entire process needed in order to create a fairly flexible, usable and fast head/face rig, that you can either further
enhance or build on, or actually use as is in your character workflow. This one hour, fully narrated, videotutorial covers
the head/neck rigging, operational jaw bone rigging and a bit more complex eyes and eye lids rigging.
 photoshop

Aqua Viva
Everyone knows the cool Macintosh Aqua effect. You can create your own Aqua text effects in a few minutes using
Photoshop. Always remember the secret of the Aqua effect is in the highlighting. Now this simple tutorial will guide
you through the steps of creating Aqua Text.

Page 12 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 photoshop
Step One

Use Type Tool [T] to create text, we will later create aqua effect using layer blending modes. The color of the text
doesnt matter, choose any color you want.

Step Two

Right click on the text layer and select Blending Options. (or go: Layer >> Layer Style >> Blending Options ). Layer
Style window will open, click on Gradient Overlay and change the gradient color from dark to light of any color you
want. I choose sky blue here. Also change the Angle to -90, so dark color on top and light on bottom.

Page 13 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 photoshop

Step Three

In the Layer Style window select Inner Shadow checkbox on the left and change the Angle - 90, increase the distance
and size values according to your image and text size because all these settings worked according to the size of the
image. Reduce the opacity to around 65. Now text looking punched in the surface, because Inner shadow main job is
this.

Step Four

Now select the Drop Shadow checkbox on the left and change the same settings as in Inner shadow window.

Page 14 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 photoshop
Step Five

Now check the Outer Glow and change the Mode to black, color to black, reduce the opacity and increase the size little
bit. Outer Glow required where the aqua effect sits.

Final Step

Now check the Bevel and Emboss checkbox and voila effect is there but need to fix few things like change the Altitude
to 75, this decides how much high the light is. Increase the Highlight Mode Opacity to 100 and reduce the Shadow
Mode Opacity to 0 because we dont require any more shadows. If you want then also change the Contour and in Pat-
tern Overlay apply the pattern for some transparency in the aqua effect.

Page 15 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 matchmoving

My First Tracking
Matchmoving programs are arguably the most important tools in a matchmover’s arsenal. They give the matchmover
the ability to take nearly any image sequence and generate a “solution” for the camera’s movement and the positions of
features seen in the images.

Boujou makes it easier to add 3D objects to live camera footage in your 3D animation package by creating a virtual
camera that matches the physical one that took the shot. It does this by automatically identifying features in the scene
over the entire length of the shot.

Click on above Image to Play the Video

Page 16 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 matchmoving
Step 1: Click on the Import Sequence button in the toolbox. Browse for the image sequence/movie
of your choice and click on the filename and then click on the Open button.

Step 2: The Import Sequence... properties dialog will now appear. Change the Mode Type to Free Move or Nodal Pan.
Set the Start and End Frame of image sequence you want to track and Accept the default values for others and select
OK.

Free Move - Shots in which movement is not restricted. With these camera moves, the objects that are closer to the
camera move faster than those far away, and that means they’ll exhibit more parallax. You’ll often see these referred to
in the various matchmoving programs as Free Move or Free cameras.

Nodal Pan - Nodal Pan shots are pure rotation and so they contain no parallex (read june issue). Foreground objects
do not appear to move relative to background objects and so there is no way of knowing the positions of these objects
in 3d space.

Step 3: If you know the correct Camera settings

then double click on the camera in the artifact tree
view of taskview and enter the correct settings oth-
erwise leave default. Same for the focal length.

Page 17 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 matchmoving

Step 4: Click on the Track Features button in the toolbox. Accept the defaults and press Start in
the Feature Tracking Properties.

Feature tracking progess is shown in the Status bar just below the main image window.

Step 5: Now click on the Camera Tracking button in the toolbox and press start with default settings. Camera Track-
ing progess is also shown in the Status bar just below the main image window

Save the project when tracking is complete.

Step 6: You can check the status/location of the prediction points in the 3d view of the boujou by pressing 3d button in
the top toolbar.

Page 18 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 matchmoving

Red line in the above images is the camera movement in your image sequences. And others are the prediction points in
your image sequence. Yellow color predictions are available in whole image sequence and blue color ones not available
in full sequence. If you select them then selected one change to green color.

Step 7: Now add the Test Objects in the scene for veifying the quality of matchmove. Select some predictions on the
ground in front of the house - they will turn green when selected.

Click on the Add Test Object shortcut in the Toolbox. In the Test Objects dialog make sure that Ladybird is the se-
lected Type. Select Orient and Move from the Alignment drop-down list. Choose Plane through selected predictions
from the Align to box.

When you click the OK button the dialog will close and the Ladybird test object will move to the area of ground. Play
through the sequence – the Ladybird will appear to be stuck to the ground

Export the camera points by pressing Export Camera button in the toolbox and select the package in which you add
3D. For 3ds Max the file has the extension *.ms. To run the script go to [MAXScripts->Run Script] in 3D Studio Max.
In Maya file has the extension *.ma. To run the script go to [File->Import->mayaAscii] in Maya. For now That’s all
folks.

Page 19 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 after effects

Bleach Bypass

Page 20 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 after effects

Most videographers don’t have the luxury of spending money on film to achieve this look, they usually turn to mim-
icking the look in post. The bleach bypass process (also called skip bleach) is a process during film processing where
silver is not removed from the negative. Essentially you end up with a black and white image superimposed on a color
image. The end result is increased contrast and reduced saturation.

Step 1: Import and place your footage in your composition.

Step 2: Apply Effect > Color Correction > Levels on the footage layer.

Step 3: Increase the Input Black setting and Decrease the Input White setting for higher contrast and brightness. You
can also achieve the same effect by apply Brightness and Contrast Filter and increasing the values.

Page 21 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 after effects

Step 4: Duplicate the footage layer and delete the effects from this layer. Change the mode of the duplicate layer to
Color and voila... you achieve the effect that we are looking.

If you want you can achieve same effect in one layer too. Just Apply Effect > Channel > CC Composite and change
the composite original to Color.

In Hollywood film Saving Private Ryan, the bleach bypass method of treating film gives a very unique look to a proj-
ect.

Page 22 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 www.cgarena.com
CGArena brings you latest news and happenings 24 hours a day.

Plus, join in our interactive forums to showcase your work, and get
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 your mission

In June, your mission was to create a image on “Love” theme and sponsored by Realviz,Vertus, Corel,
Duber Studio and Daz3D. These are the winning images...
...........................................................................................................................

Francisco Morales Aviles, Mexico

paco_morales01@yahoo.com
 Floroiu Claudiu, Romania
floclau@yahoo.com

Shane Higgins, South Africa

shane@therefinery.co.za

SPONSERS
 3ds max

Ragdoll and Reactor Water

In this tutorial will teach you how to use Ragdoll and Reactor Water for floating above water effect.

Step 1: Create a water object from the reactor toolbar in the top viewport and make the sub-
divisions to 50 x 50. Increase the Min ripple and Max ripple values to higher number, I choose
30 and 500 respectively. Turning on depth is not necessary for this tutorial but if you creating a
wakes from a moving boat then its good that you enable the depth.

Now if you render water then you can’t see anything in the render because this is a space warp and space warp can’t
render. So create a plane in the top viewport, increase the number of width and length segments and bind with the
reactor water.

Step 2: Create a ragdoll. In the utilities panel, click the maxscript button and then
click Run script button. Now search for the ragdoll script (rctRagdollScript) in the
3dsmax/scripts folder and click open.

Page 26 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 3ds max
Step 3: Now Ragdoll dialog box will open. Click the Create Humanoid button and a piped shaped character will create
in the viewport. Now click the Constrain Humanoid button in the dialog box and this will create constraints between
the parts of the character.

Step 4: Now click the reactor button in the utilities panel and increase the number of end frame to around 200 and
done same for the timeline. Now press Preview in Window button and play the animation in the reactor window. If
you like then you can give a different mass to the parts of the body. For fun remove the RagdollCsolver and play the
animation in the reactor window. Now parts of the ragdoll are not connected so some of them will go down in the water
and some starting to float like boxes.

Page 27 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 3ds max

Step 5: That’s all. Click on Create Animation in the reactor toolbar or button in the utilities panel.

Reactor will ponder your animation for awhile. Sometimes the only problem is, the ripples are barely visible. Select the
WSM Binding, and increase the Scale Strength until you get the effect you’re looking for.

For fun, you can add a Displace modifier and use the Waves procedural map. Make some materials, and voíla!

Page 28 Issue 07 Aug 2006

3D Objects, Textures, E-books, Free digital Art Magazines,
you will always find a way to be inspired in the :
IT’S ART STORE

Gizelle for Miki by ExpressImage

Buy, sell, affiliate, there are so many ways

to earn money with our Store

http://www.itsartmag.com
 gallery

The Last Elf

Piotr Fox Wysocki, Poland
piotrwysocki@op.pl
Maya, Zbrush, Photoshop
Page 30 Issue 07 Aug 2006
 gallery

The Last Knight

Carsten Holtmann, Germany
choltmann@gmx.de
3ds Max 6, Photoshop, Zbrush
Page 31 Issue 07 Aug 2006
 gallery

Thinker
Christopher G, Poland
manowarek@gmail.com
3ds Max, Photoshop
Page 32 Issue 07 Aug 2006
 gallery

The Guardian
Avinash Hegde, India
avinash3ds@yahoo.com
3ds Max, Zbrush, Photoshop
Page 33 Issue 07 Aug 2006
 gallery

The Unknown Living Space

Michal Konwicki, Poland Roland Cruz, UAE
cha1ek@poczta.onet.pl rolandmcruz@yahoo.com
3ds Max 8, Vray, Photoshop 3ds Max

Page 34 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 gallery

Alone
7thAve, Hungry
7thAve@fpn.hu
3ds Max 8, Photoshop

Living Room
Chien, China
caixiaoliu1057@yahoo.co.cn
3ds Max, Vray

Page 35 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 gallery

Street Blues
The Psicosonic Team - Manuel Gascó, Spain
info@psicosonic.net
3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop

Page 36 Issue 07 Aug 2006

 gallery

White Teeth
Jonathan Simard
capitaine_star@hotmail.com
3ds Max, Photoshop
Page 37 Issue 07 Aug 2006
 submission

How to send
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