Hype's blood

Well, I can't remember the last time I had something in the factory here! (have I ever?! hahaha)

Anyway, doing an effect for a friend of mine. I really didn't want to, since I've kinda swore off freelance effects so I could concentrate on my own short movies, but whatever. You know how friends are.

So, he made a horror short movie, and there's this final shot in it where the dead guy has to be lying on the ground, the camera does a slow pull back, and there's supposed to be blood pouring from a huge gash wound in the guys stomach. It's suppsed to spill out and at the end of the shot, form a very subliminal, rough angel-wing shape. I couldn't be on set that day, so I gave him some track markers to drop around the shot, which he did. Here's a still:


So, first I tracked the shot in Boujou. Here's my result.
http://www.mackdadd.com/CG/Blood/Hype_b ... boujou.mov

I always seem to have trouble getting a 100% perfect track out of boujou. I mean, it tracks awesome, but it's never lined up in XYZ sapce like it has to be, and when I stick in test objects, they tend to drift sometimes. I don't know enough about boujou to really tweak it.

So I came up with an idea to try a 3d track in AE. First I tried the technique described in Mark Christiansen's amazing book, and while that is an astounding technique, It's based off of a 2 point track, and here, because of the camera move, all four points are neccessary. The track using his technique didn't work, then. Then I got it in my head that it might be possible to pull it off with a corner pin and a precomp. Here's the result of that.
http://www.mackdadd.com/CG/Blood/Hype_b ... ack_AE.mov

Better, I think. Yes, it drifts, but that's because I altered the scale of the precomp once the track was done and applied. Before I altered the scale, it was rock solid. Unfortunately, because of the way corner pinning works, the precomp cannot extend past the imaginary rectangle made by the tracking markers.

I'm still working on that. I think there might be a way using the "grow bounds" effect in AE, or maybe by using another precomp. I'm not sure yet, but I'd REALLY love to be able to do simple 3d planar tracking in AE.

So, I did some tests. My first was just for fun, to see how a Glu3d sim would spill out liquid. Looks like crap, but its funny.
http://www.mackdadd.com/CG/Blood/Hype_blood_test_03.mov

The second is much better. Animated splines. I obviously didn't spend much time on lighting, textures, or compositing.
http://www.mackdadd.com/CG/Blood/Hype_blood_test_04.mov

So, he wants this done by the end of the month, but I've got my own things going on, so I'll get to it when I get to it. But it will be done at some point.

I may shoot practical elements tomorrow.

AUSOM!

The Glu3d test was great! Really looking forward to updates. Looks a little dark though, which may make difficult to see the 'angel wings'

Wow.... that looks really cool! Both your tracks looked great. I'll be interested to see what the final product looks like!
~Mechis

Yeah man, excellent stuff so far! Those tracks kicked ass! Very nice! I'm never ever able to rack correctly.

Looking forward seeing how this turns out! Keep up posted!

the track looks pretty good.

Would be cool do something like that for an upcoming mini challenge (track+vfx)!?

Hey man, that looks great. I think your Boujou track is a bit more solid to be honest, there is shimmying in the AE one, but you said it was perfect before you scaled it, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

The spline blood looks nice, I can't wait to see an update on this. Looks like a cool, simple fun project man. Keep us updated bro!!

-Z

Hey hype that looking great man!!

A couple of things I'd mention:

-your track seems a bit slidey....was't too noticeable in the actual renders though so it probably won't be a problem

-the gurgling blood is cool but isn't a little too "fountain"-esque at the moment? I'm not sure if the human heart could pump it out at such high pressure ...anywho...I realize it's a stylized piece so ignore this comment! (edit...oh nm I just read your glu3d thing was just for fun hehe)

-might be nice for the blood in the wingspan to pic up some more reflections in the scene....it was pretty dark atm

yeah, both the tracks are bad. I mean, they're okay starts, but not usable. Maybe the boujou one is, if i stabilize and 2d track it back on in AE. Maybe I just need to actually work through come boujou tutorials, though. Or try syntheyes.

yeah, it definitely need some relfections. I had them take pics standing where the body is lying, turning in a 360 degree circle, and directly overhead, so I have full environment pics. I'll work those in eventually, when I actually spend some time on a texture beyond making a transparent shiny red material.

i think i'm going to give up on my dreams of 3d tracking in AE for now, just because if the blood is CG, i'll do it in 3d anyway, so i might as well concentrate on that part of it. I may go back to the glu3d if my friend wants gurgling blood to actually be seen, or I may shoot an element. I'm going to be shooting actualy blood elements, to see if that works.

At some point, I think I'll be doing a little matte painting for his stomach, so you can maybe see the wound. i think that's what my friend wanted. I have to talk to him again.

ok, me is at that last one... looks good as far as tracking is concerned.. ( to me, but I'm a tracking virgin).

dunno if it helps, but I have two advices for "blood realism":

keep in mind that a normal human has about 5,5 liters of blood.. (I have no idea how much is that in OZ but it's about a gallon and a 1/4)

no matter how big that hole is, if wound entry point is frontal one there wont be so much blood there.. if entry point is on the back, front is likely to be blown away and with pieces of intestines (I know this first hand as I've spent my youth in a Bosnian war zone)..

the splines version has that reality in sense that when the body is on back, all blood comes from there... hardly anything will be at the stomach..


good thing would be to spill some fake blood (I make it with water, water colors and flour or chocolate syrup for thickness) on a well lit white plastic and see how it moves and all... and than composite that over the footage using blending modes like multiply or so.. I think it would help with getting the sense of how the liquid behaves..


I hope this is worth something.. I'm really looking forward to seeing more..

Hype never seems to cease being a source of inspiration..

thanks artflame! holy crap, man, i can't imagine growing up in a war zone!

as for realism, it's out the window. i'm doing whatever my friend wants. if he said have unicorns flying out of the guys ears, that's what i'd try to put in. After working in this industry for years, I've given up on trying to influence others' visions. That's why I make my own short movies. so if my friend wants gallons and gallons of blood in an angel wing shape, all spilling from a tiny wound on the front, that's what he's gonna get. But i do agree with you.
And the whole short revolves around this guy's stomach, in a way, so that's definitely where all the mess will be coming from. Basically, the make-up artist screwed up, so I'm fixing things.

And I will be spilling some fake blood. I did creature and make-up fx on movies for years, and we've always used the corn syrup blood recipes (with a little soap, so it doesn't stain anything).
I'll be shooting elements this week for compositing. I'll be using white coated paper layered over cardboard that has the rough angel wing shape cut into it, so it flows into a controlled shape.

I'm going to light it like the shot is lit, and then will have to cheat on relfections, but that shouldn't be too hard.

hype i cant think you enough for posting each video as you progress, it really helps me to see workflow of other people to help improve my own! lookin really cool so far, i wanna see it finished.

thanx rides!

i'm not gonna be able to get back on this project until May, cuz i'm slammed at work, 7 days a week, usually til around 10 at night.

when i get back on this though, i will know MUCH more about matchmoving (i hope), since I'm gonna bug some people here at work (absolute MASTER matchmovers!) and read that matchmoving book.

looks great. Wonder why they filmed it with those weird cones in there...

-Z

DAMN now THAT's steady... great Hype..

ok, I shot elements this morning, but it just didn't go like I wanted. So I'm back to doing CG blood. Only this time, I'll really be putting forth a bit of effort. Here's a couple in progress stills of the geometry.

cool man, I want to see how it animates!

-Z

here's more WIP pics.

The first one shows the matte I made. See the keyframes? the bottom layer has tons (well, not TONS, but more than the rest) cuz I was animating it the normal way. The other ones have WAY less cuz I used tracking to make it a million times easier.

The second image shows the blood element render and how much reflection is showing up.

the last one shows the composite so far, with grain turned off. You can see I added the guy's shadows over the blood, although I haven't yet held out the shadow area from the reflection, which i will do eventually.

I'm thinking about maybe another render, making the blood a little thinner. some of the edges look thick to me. Or maybe it's just the reflection doubliung up on those edge speculars. Not sure. will figure it out.

Also still need to figure out something for the stomach, which I started on yesterday.

hey this loks good, my only crit would be that the glossinees on the blood should be turned up, to make it look like real blood... right now i have the feeling it looks like plastic if you know what i mean...

but don't get me wrong, cause this is looking really nice, me likey!!!

I agree with rich, but also, I'd make it quite a bit darker. I've seen lots of blood like this once or twice, and it's a LOT darker than that. In fact, in a lighting situation like that, it would almost be black. But definitely more gloss.

-Z

cool, thanx, I'll crank up the glossiness and see what it looks like!
and darker. I actually had it darker at one point, but there's some red on his shirt, and I was thinking my friend (the director) would probably ask me to make it more red, make it match the stuff on his shirt (even though it wouldn't be realistic).

I'll give it a shot! thanx!

I think those highlights on the edge of the blood make it look fake... I don't think blood would have that much reflection in it. It's cool seeing this shot progress!!! Keep it up!
~Mechis

oops, i've been forgetting to update!

yeah, i've changed the highlights. there's now MUCH less highlights overall, and the director swung by last night and approved the red color and where it is right now. It's much flatter now, less reflection, and WAY darker. I'll try to remember to post some updates tonight!

andyburm, no, didn't switch to manual. the version of boujou i'm using has horrendous manual features, and they do nothing but fail. I made a version of the plate where I rotoed out the specular hits from the lights on the floor. As the camera moves, the specular on the floor tiles was moving, and that was probably throwing off the solution.

Okay, here's where the blood was approved at. There's a few specular highlights on the lower left that wouldn't really be there, and I'm gonna remove them, but the blood is mainly done. Now just have to do the stuff on his shirt.

* I just previewed this post, and the specular hits on the lower left aren't really showing up, but trust me, they're there. And will be gone.

That's looking pretty good man. I like the look of the blood. It's a bit stylish, but still looks real-ish. Curious to see what it ends up looking like in the end. Is there going to be stuff shooting up out of his stomach ala Alien?

-Z

nope, nothing shooting up, just stains everywhere.
here's a screenshot of how many things I had to track to have enough to pin all the little still frames of blood onto his shirt. (layers 1-24)
You can also see the blood on his shirt here.
I based what I did off of the shots directly preceding this one, so I'd know where the blood would be and what sort of pattern it might have fallen in.

Ok, so here's the final of this. The director wanted it as red as it is. I kinda prefered it a touch darker, but, he's the boss. He's happy, that's all that matters.

http://mackdadd.com/CG/Blood/Hideous_Ma ... s_480p.mov

Also, tonight I broke down and bought Syntheyes. As a first test run, I ran this BG plate through it. Remember all the trouble I was having in Boujou 2.1? Syntheyes nailed it on full automatic on the first try.
(I'm not dissing Boujou! well, version 2.1 I am. Newer versions, I have no idea. Zach makes it work great!)

http://mackdadd.com/CG/Blood/Hideous_synth-track_01.mov

I got to try one of those, use to do camera track by keyframing

I've heard so many good things about syntheyes... And the support is really good too. The main developer shows up on the forums to answer lots of questions.... it's too bad they don't offer a student version.. heh.
~Mechis

i think this looks very good, a shame you have no reflections in there... it's the only thing missing, to me.

but you did an really good job there, i really enjoyed watching your progress, and seeing you changing thigs after the feedback we gave you....
thank you!

Wow did did turn out nice.


Great job man

Man, I love syntheyes, 90% of the time, when something won't track right in another program, syntheyes automatic trackers will solve it. Though it's quite a bit more "techie" than anything else out there. But that's the nice part about it I suppose, is that if something isn't working out for you, then it's possible to do some serious tweaking.

Programs aside, this shot turned out really well man. I know you have an "artist" to please, so I won't crit the look, but you nailed all the technical stuff man. Looks great!

-Z

Wow hype love the final looks really nice man

wish i knew more about doing that stuff