Introduction to Maya - Rendering in Arnold
This course will look at the fundamentals of rendering in Arnold. We'll go through the different light types available, cameras, shaders, Arnold's render settings and finally how to split an image into render passes (AOV's), before we then reassemble it i
# 1 06-06-2012 , 07:31 PM
Nyratas's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 8

Robots can be happy too...

Hi everyone,

I'm new here, I am student in a CG school in Belgium, and this is my first 3D animation using maya. It's actually a project for my exams, and I had the wish to try some new stuff we didn't learn yet in our 3D class.
Here is a quick preview of the last version I rendered (some things have changed since this batchrender, like the motion path of the robot when he flies away, the shine in their glasses is softer, and some animations are changed) :


Robots - YouTube


So, as you can see, I wanted to add a smoke tail behind my flying robot, using nDynamics. But the result you can see in the video above is not really wat I wanted to get. So I looked for a better way to simulate the smoke tail, and this is what I got :


user added image
user added image
user added image


But there is one problem... I really can't fix, and it's quite annoying. Let me explain.
The image above is a normal render of a frame in the global animation (not using the batch render) and it looks quite good. But when I use the batch render, (or when I save the file, close it and reopen it later), my particles don't behave anymore like before, and the result is the same as in the video, like this :


user added image

I use 2 emitters to create the nParticles (clouds, omni). I saw lots of videos where simple Dynamics were used, and they use a container, which and don't have with my nParticles, is it the problem ?
Can anybody please explain what I'm doing wrong ?

Please ? user added image

Thanks ! user added image

Attached Thumbnails

Last edited by Nyratas; 06-06-2012 at 07:33 PM.
# 2 06-06-2012 , 08:57 PM
daverave's Avatar
The thin red line
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: England
Posts: 4,472
I have not done much of this in a long while but I think one of your problems is your particals are to big so make them smaller and emitt more also change some of the life time setting to be a little random, with this stuff its a lot of trial and error..............dave




Avatar Challenge Winner 2010
# 3 07-06-2012 , 04:43 AM
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 229
Yeah, could be a size thing. Another thing you might wanna do is cache/bake the simulation. That's often been the cause of discrepencies between normal renders and batch renders.

Also, you didn't ask for this, but the landing sequence looks a little weightless. Dunno if there's time to change anything, but giving their animations more weight could add a bit of polish. Smoke's rightfully more important to get right at the moment user added image


--
Peter Srinivasan
Producer
# 4 07-06-2012 , 08:52 AM
Nyratas's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 8
Thank you for your replies, it has been usefull. I changed the size of the particles, their speed and their rate, and also set my emitters in directional instead of omni, it's much better.
I tried to give a little more weight to my landing sequence by droping the robot more off.

It's rendering right now, I'll post the masterLayer render when it's done. And then I'll be ready for the ambiant occlusion layer user added image

# 5 07-06-2012 , 08:56 AM
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 229
Can't wait. Luck!


--
Peter Srinivasan
Producer
# 6 07-06-2012 , 08:33 PM
Nyratas's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 8
My Batch is done, finally. Here is the preview of my animation :

Robots can be happy too - masterLayer - YouTube
*watch in HD !*

Keep in mind, it's my first complex animation ever, and it's only the masterLayer. I'll render the ambiant occlusion layer this week end.

Actually, I'm not that satisfied with it... some parts are too quick, and I don't know how to add frames to the specific sequences (the landing for example) without making a mess of the rest of the animation... Is there an easy solution ?


Last edited by Nyratas; 07-06-2012 at 08:36 PM.
# 7 07-06-2012 , 08:46 PM
daverave's Avatar
The thin red line
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: England
Posts: 4,472
The smoke could still do with a little work increase the amount emitted then decrease the copacity of the shader, carn't you just comp a longer scene in.............dave




Avatar Challenge Winner 2010
# 8 07-06-2012 , 08:53 PM
Nyratas's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 8
Well, the whole animation is one scene. The different sequences are just camera "jumps". So, if I try to make a sequence longer, I have to move all my keys... or is there a better way to solve it ?
Thanks for your answer user added image

# 9 07-06-2012 , 09:35 PM
daverave's Avatar
The thin red line
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: England
Posts: 4,472




Avatar Challenge Winner 2010
# 10 08-06-2012 , 08:43 AM
Nyratas's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 8
Great, thanks ! Exactly what I was looking for user added image
I should learn to search in english instead of french user added image

# 11 11-06-2012 , 08:23 AM
Nyratas's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 8

# 12 12-06-2012 , 09:43 PM
Nyratas's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 8

# 13 12-06-2012 , 09:52 PM
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 229
Very nice! I'd like to have seen some motion blur, but I really liked the robot's textures and glows. Plus the animation up until the jump at the end was reasonably believable. Great work user added image


--
Peter Srinivasan
Producer
# 14 12-06-2012 , 10:45 PM
Subscriber
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 496
the animations for the robots themselves look very stiff, like they're in dire need of some WD-40 in their joints.

# 15 14-06-2012 , 02:16 AM
oxygenfish's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 28
The robots are interesting.Funny animation.


Posting Rules Forum Rules
You may not post new threads | You may not post replies | You may not post attachments | You may not edit your posts | BB code is On | Smilies are On | [IMG] code is On | HTML code is Off

Similar Threads