FX & PIPELINE ARTIST
FUR AND CROWDS
LHABITANT ADRIEN 13 March 2024
INTRODUCTION
The organization of the groom processing has been the cornerstone of our project. In collaboration with Heloise OGEZ, we had to find multiple ways to automate and optimize the grooming of our numerous Dodos.
We will also discuss how to shade the Dodos to achieve a fully procedural shader based on paint masks and attributes.
Finally, we will delve into the creation of the Dodo crowds to complement the main animations.
FUR AUTOMATION & OPTIMISATION
To begin with, we established three Houdini scenes that contain the entirety of our grooming system with different qualities (number of control vertices, groom density reduced by 2), which translates to FG, MG, BG.
furmla_FG,MG and BG are execute by the interface with Hython script
Due to the large quantity of Alembics, I developed a tool to process multiple Dodos in Alembic format. This tool allows them to pass through the grooming system and export as USD sequences. With this optimization, we can enhance each frame rendered by Renderman.
I use Python , Hython and Tkinter module for the UI , this will create a JSON file containing the list of all Dodos that will be processed by the script and will have their fur written.
"Furm" script is equipped with a user interface containing a list of different shots in the sequences along with the number of Alembics contained in each shot.
This also allowed us to frustum (Culling) the Dodo's fur; anything not visible to the camera is not calculated. Additionally, we reuse the USD layers of the Dodos to create a frustum between them, significantly reducing the overall weight of the groom.
This has also helped us reduce our rendering times.
SHADER OPTIMISATION
This also allowed us to frustum the Dodo's fur; anything not visible to the camera is not calculated. Additionally, we reuse the USD layers of the Dodos to create a frustum between them, significantly reducing the overall weight of the groom. This has also helped us reduce our rendering times.
We opted for a fully procedural shader with no texture loading, generating procedural masks during the grooming process. We then inject these maps into the shader to create colors using PxrPrimvar.
MODELING AND TEXTURING BY TALHIA BROM
GROOM AND SHADER GROOM BY HELOISE OGEZ
CROWD SYSTEM
We have established a clear distinction between the various Alembics provided by the animators and the multitude of dodo populations within the movie, addressing both the creative and technical aspects of the project.
To generate quantity while preserving the groom, Héloise and I devised a system for instancing various dodo animations in Solaris. Leveraging the instance node, we replicate multiple dodo animations, typically three, and apply a triple retiming to each animation. Subsequently, we employ a retime animation node to introduce even more variation and break the sense of repetition.
Additionally, we've developed a system to customize the quantity of instanced dodos, their directions, and various scaling options, allowing for diverse crowd formations and dynamics.
FINAL RESULT
SET DRESS ON SOLARIS
In the next section, we will explore how I organized the set dressing for all the shots in the film, whether it's for creating our environment in USD or using scripts to set up each shot automatically, quickly, and efficiently.