Biggest Shot to Date
Working on one of the most complex shots we've created so far
Tales of an Ancient Empire
While we've been cranking out shots for "Tales of an Ancient Empire", starring Kevin Sorbo and featuring Val Kilmer, each of the shots has presented its own unique challenges. In fact, most of the shots on this gig have forced me to try something completely new, and come up with a solution that I wouldn't have even thought about only a few months ago. The next shot on the roster is already promising to be one of the biggest challenges that I'll have to face to date.
The whole shot is supposed to take place on violently stormy seas. That's the first challenge. Water Effects are one of the most difficult to pull off. Fortunately, Maya's advanced fluid effects have proven themselves to be valuable assets on this shoot. The stormy sea is no exception! The second challenge was the ship. While we were originally hoping to use the ship model from the Reading Ahoy Shoot because of a difference in Maya versions there was an error with the cloth simulations that caused the file not to open any more. Furthermore, the Reading Ahoy model was never built to be seen from the back side. The challenge for creating the new ship was simply one of time. I was able to build a completely new model for Tales of an Ancient empire in just under three days.
This shot has a bunch of other challenges facing it. Realistic looking rain and splashes dashing of the hull of the ship. Stormy clouds and ocean spray. And last, but not least, the ship must get blasted with lightning, sucked into a whirl pool and dragged to the bottom of the sea. Fortunately, I think I've finally got a system that should pull it off and make the shots a success. Now, I'm just waiting for the storyboards which should be coming to me soon.
Here's a sample of the tests that I've done for this particular ship shot. In this sample the ship has already been hit with the bolt of lightning. I will remind you that this is an early test and is not necessarily indicative of the final animation.
