Beer glass scene creation
This course contains a little bit of everything with modeling, UVing, texturing and dynamics in Maya, as well as compositing multilayered EXR's in Photoshop.
# 1 19-05-2005 , 12:25 PM
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STAR WARS EPISODE III (Contains spoilers!!!)

Saw the 12:01 showing last night!

After standing in line for almost half an hour (the line was all the way around to the back of the building!) we're finally in and getting our seats. But due to our position in the line we were only able to secure front row seats. Blech!

"A long time ago..." fades in from black and the theater erupts into applause and revered shouting. It fades again and then BAM! STAR WARS opening title and story line scroll the screen. Tilt down to a lone republic battle cruiser over Courascant and in fly the two Jedi fighters. The camera follows their flight right into an all out full scale space battle. Awesome opening imagery!

This movie is non-stop action from the get go.

The battle on Kashyyk was kewl but brief. Not enough action for the Wookies. (oh yeah, they bring back the Tarzan yell for them... you'll see. user added image )

I never knew Jimmy Smitts was playing Senator Organa (Leia's assumed father).

A lot was left open at the end. I feel the need for an Episode III 1/2. Would have liked to see more of the new Vader in action suited up.

PROS: Action scenes are better. Light sabre duels are more choreographed, less 'corny' dialogue, NO JAR JAR! (except at the end but he doesn't speak user added image ), I actually like Haden's role this time, General Grievous is a badass, R2D2 kicks ass in this one

CONS: Not enough of the Wookie battle, Chewbaka has a very short introduction and Yoda is kinda corny when he says he will miss them, Darth Vader's dialogue is kinda corny (when he gets suited up and asks about Padme), General Grievous's special guards are weaker than what is portrayed in the Republic Commando game, R2D2 kicks ass in this one (yeah I know, but he doesn't seem the type), in the final duel between Obiwan and Anakin they skim the surface of a lava river and never catch fire but when Obiwan defeats him Anakin suddenly becomes vulnerable to the heat (?), too much is still left open - I feel the need for an Episode III 1/2.

I think I'm going to have to see it again, this time from the middle of the theater. I don't think my viewing experience was all that informative due to having to scan the screen so much because of being in the very front row.

Lucas pulled a whammy out of his ass for this one. He definitley came through on it. Out of the first three episodes I would have to say that this one actually feels like a STAR WARS movie in the sense of the original three.

BTW: The movie's title Revenge of the Sith is a play off of Return of the Jedi's original title which was supposed to be Revenge of the Jedi.

I'll post more thoughts when I can think of them. Too sleepy right now. Must rest. user added image


Dave Baer
Professor of Digital Arts
Digital Media Arts College
Boca Raton, Florida
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# 2 19-05-2005 , 12:35 PM
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Can't wait till it comes out on DVD and then I'll watch it on my big screen.

Thanks for the mini review.

Cheers
Paul

# 3 20-05-2005 , 06:29 AM
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Haven't read it user added image

But I'm going tonights so.... I'm looking forward to it user added image


-- Maya --
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# 4 20-05-2005 , 12:01 PM
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ive just seen it again for the second time. I think it is by FAR the best of the new three episode, i like the feel of the movie i guess is cant really bring out any surprises but i enjoyed it.
--
How do they do the lightsaber effect ? i've never really wondred till now, i know they do it in post but how and by what program?


Thanks for wasting your time reading this line.
# 5 20-05-2005 , 01:24 PM
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Originally posted by mumbojumbo_13
How do they do the lightsaber effect ? i've never really wondred till now, i know they do it in post but how and by what program?

Not sure what program they use but in Maya you can use Maya Live to place digital effects into film. You load the film into the software and then start to include (compisite?) the digital elements.


Yeah, but no but yeah but no....
# 6 20-05-2005 , 01:31 PM
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The lightsabers are done by rotoscoping the blades. It's easy to do...just kind of tedious and can be done in any compositing package...even photoshop if you have the patience to go one frame at a time. You can find a good tutorial for AE here . or the video version here (theres one video for photoshop and one for AE). Other cool DIY star wars type of stuff here:

https://theforce.net/fanfilms/tutorials.asp


"Terminat Bora Diem, Terminal Auctor opus."
# 7 20-05-2005 , 01:38 PM
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Originally posted by NitroLiq
rotoscoping

Thats the word i was looking for user added image


Yeah, but no but yeah but no....
# 8 20-05-2005 , 05:22 PM
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Danny Ngan
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# 9 20-05-2005 , 05:36 PM
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i go to the movcie right NOW so byebye

# 10 20-05-2005 , 07:17 PM
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I stood in line for almost 3 hours, got really good seats in the center of the theater. The down side of my screening was that I had been up for 24 hours, and watching it was a challenge since the movie was over 2 hours long. I caught my self trying to doze off a couple of times. I'm going to have to see it again to catch alot that I missed. but anyway, my over all impression is mixed for the moment. I don't know weather to call it good or bad at this time. I really felt the movie had too much going on for what it was worth, and the pacing of the most important parts felt really rushed. I agree with dave_baer, Episode 3 should have been in 2 parts. By biggest problem with the movie is Padme's death, it just didn't compute for me, even on a dramatic level. It would have been better if Padme was in serious peril ( during child berth ) very much like Miles Dyson's death was in T2. Intercut her breathing into Anakins Vader transformation, and vice versa raising the dramatics. How can some one just be medically fine, and then die because they lost the will to live. Lucas should have explained that better, and when the names are given to Luke and Leia, did the robot give the names or did Padme? Anyway, thats my biggest complaint so far.


Last edited by THX1138; 20-05-2005 at 07:19 PM.
# 11 20-05-2005 , 11:03 PM
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I also felt it was very rushed. The transition of Anakin going from good to bad felt far too fast. And of course, Anakin/Padme scenes were pretty stilted, although admittedly, the dialogue they had to say was rough. Not Lucas' strong suite, obviously.

One of the big rushes was the supposedly 9 months that pass from the beginning of the film to the end... there was literally no way of knowing that much time had passed except for the obvious swelling of Padme's stomach.

Light saber fights were pretty cool, and of course, everything sure looked nice.

I also didn't like the explanation given for Padme's death. No will to live? Doesn't she have, like, TWO KIDS to take care of? Pffsh. If she had just died in childbirth, that I could have accepted.

But also, I distinctly remember Leia mentioning how she remembered her mother was sad and such in that RotJ scene... she was remembering her adoptive mother, I suppose. That sucks.

The whole Darth Vader Frankenstien moment was also laughably bad. Unfortunately, it's right at the end of the movie, so it's ultimate in your mind.

Although 99% of the CG work was super-fantastic, that 1% was just HORRIBLE. The drop in quality for one scene in particular just stood out in my mind so strongly, that I could barely pay attention to the next minute or so of the movie, as I was just appalled.

I give it a 6.

In comparrison, I give AotC a 5 and TPM a 2. So, best out of the prequals. But that doesn't say much. Yes, seeing the (few) tie-ins to Ep. IV were fun, and I did like 2 of the 3 Vader scenes... but still a bit of a disapointment for me. Oh well. Still have the originals (oh wait! No I dont'... stupid Special Edition crap...) :p

Oh, and was Padme still "with child" in her funeral procession? Sure looked like it. I found that to be odd.

# 12 21-05-2005 , 12:02 AM
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Well from reading what other people had thought about this in CGTALK, the ones who saw the screening that is, I already had a bad feeling for the acting, though I came in expecting it to be better than what they had said it would be. I knew the graphics were gonna be awesome so I made sure I payed attention to every little thing (or tried hehehe).

So much details in this movie omg, in the night city scenes in the capital, I noticed even the really not so tall buildings had their own decorations on their top roof, like one of a dancing pink lady, I guess that building was for eh you know what LOL. Yoda's details were just ahhh so amazing except I felt that in some parts that added detail was overdid.

- Love scenes between Padme and Anakin, my god.. I just learned to ignore Anakins acting.. Really nice face though for that evil look. Especially those eyes. What I notice about his acting is how he says his sentences, like he's trying TOO hard to follow a certain way of speaking, like a dialect I guess and I dont think its working out for him.

- The fight when the Chancellor was getting arrested by Mace Windu I thought was weak. He just did a barrel roll towards 4 Jedis and all they did was stand there and the 1 gets killed in an instant.. So much for their training of evading.. They knew he was a Sith and yet they didnt even dodge or circle him, they stayed in one corner with all their lightsabers that if the Sith hit, couldve probably made them kill each other accidentally..ahh so stupid.

- "NOoOOOOoooo" Says Vader, HAHAHA oh man. One part that bothered me is when they put on his mask even when his face was still all burned looking, not even healed. That wouldve made Vaders face in the end of Return of the Jedi a bit wayy more scarred all over than what it showed.. Unless somewhere later on, in a galaxy far far away, he got a extreme makeover plastic surgery.


TO MIKE:
Padmes Funeral with her "twins". I think they did that to keep Luke and Lea safe from the Empire. Darth Sidious told Vader that his "anger" killed Padme and not the child birthing process. So in some way, that scene where Vader finds out about Padme, the scene where Yoda says they must separate the twins to protect them, is connected to the scene where they showed the funeral of Padme as pregnant.

TO THX:
Medically fine, but losing the will to live? I call that depression and the person is not medically fine in the head in the case of their brain chemicals. user added image That couldve been the reason for her death, since the scene between her and Anakin when she got choked "showed" how much she was "really disappointed" about her husband joining the dark side.

-- ill come back later, im still drooling over graphics so I gotta teach myself some more Maya.


<a href="https://forums.simplymaya.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16675">May/June 2005 Challenge Entry</a>
# 13 21-05-2005 , 12:04 AM
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After seeing the scene in AotC towards the end where padme falls out of transport ship or whatever and is laying out cold in the sand...and the clone trooper asks if she's ok and she just pops up...ugh...worse acting ever...well, next to the love scene, that is....my standards are so low for star wars at this point, I don't think I can be disappointed with the new one...more of just...."here we go again."

It's a shame Lucas doesn't put as much effort into writing a decent script (dialogue) as he does merchandising sw products...if he did he'd create another epic. user added image

I just go for the matte paintings...heh. Supposed to go tomorrow night.


"Terminat Bora Diem, Terminal Auctor opus."
# 14 21-05-2005 , 12:05 AM
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Hello Star Wars Fans!
I'm right back from the movie and have a question.

can someone help me?
I dont understand where order 66 comes from...
It playes one of the CENTRAL roles o getting the bad power stronger....i just want to know when they got listening to such an order 66 and why and how....this order wasnt explained in that film...

thx a lot in advance...

# 15 21-05-2005 , 12:39 AM
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DRAGONHAWK
i think if you remember back in the clone wars, it was made to protect the republic, so i guess the chancellor maybe involved in the creation of those droids, he had them programmed.


<a href="https://forums.simplymaya.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16675">May/June 2005 Challenge Entry</a>
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