CG Water Splashes

This afternoon I played around with creating large scale CG water splashes using compositing tricks. The results are below...

Background Plate

Click To Enlarge

CG Splash Element

Click To Enlarge

Final Composite

Click To Enlarge

For a more in depth rundown of how I created this effect, head over to the CGTalk Particle Flow Discussion Thread

As a side note, today is my 3rd wedding anniversary to my wonderful wife Sarah. I love her very much, and I look forward to the many more years we will spend together.

VFX Tip #2 - Lightwrap: Less is More

Light wrapping is a useful technique for making a blue/greenscreen subject or CG object really set in the background it is being composited into. It creates the illusion of the light from the background plate appear to bleed over the foreground, which helps the element blend naturally with its background.

However, this technique should be used subtly. A common mistake I see often in composites is using too much lightwrap. If you just leave the lightwrap effects at 100% opacity, most of the time, it will be too much. In fact, I try not to go above about 50% opacity. Look at the example below to see what I mean.

Click to Enlarge

Clearly, the default 100% is far too much lightwrap, which looks unnatural, and gives away the composite. However, on the right, the lightwrap is only at 25% and feels far more natural.

BMW Spec Commercial - Directed By Me.

Click for HD Size

Click for HD Size

Some of you may know, about 3 weeks ago I purchased a Canon HV20 HD Camcorder. I wanted to test it's full video quality, so Jonathan and I set out to film some footage of his BMW M3. I shot the video at a full 1080p at 24fps and edited together a little spec commercial for fun. It was not my original intention to make a commercial out of it, but I thought I might as well turn the footage into something useful. Take a look, and let me know that you think.

I hope you enjoy my choice of music. *wink*

You can view the YouTube Version here...



And the Vimeo HD version here (Better Quality...Click Link Below Video to watch in HD)...


BMW Spec Commerical - Directed By Daniel Broadway from Daniel Broadway on Vimeo.

VFX Tip #1 - Hunk Of Burning Love

No, I'm not the hunk of burning love. However, you may love me after this easy tip. In addition, you'll most certainly love the power of blending fire elements using 1.0 gamma.

This is the first of what I hope to be a continued series of visual effects tips. Sometimes they will be quick tips, and sometimes a bit more involved.

For my first tip, I thought I would share the benefits of compositing using a gamma blending of 1.0 in Adobe After Effects. Without going into a detailed explanation, blending with a gamma of 1.0 allows a more natural looking blend of light inside of a composite. This is especially true of elements shot against black such as fire or explosions.

In After Effects, you can enable 1.0 gamma blending by going to File>Project Settings and put a check mark next to "Blend Colors Using 1.0 Gamma." Below is an image example. All settings are identical, except for the gamma blending change. Both fire elements are composited using the "Add" transfer mode.

Click to Enlarge

Notice how the fire on the left is quite blown out, and has lost much of it's orange color, which was in the original plate. After enabling blending, you can see on the right that it sets in the in the image much nicer, and looks far more natural. Well, as natural as burning stone can look, anyway. There is also a noticeable difference in the cast lighting that I faked on the ground under the fire.

Also keep in mind, that this can also be useful for energy effects, such as sparks, lightning, lasers, or even lightsaber blades.

I hope this little tip was helpful. Stay tuned for more.

My "Star Trek" Fake Footage Entry [UPDATED: April 11, 2008]

UPDATE: I won the contest.

Click to Enlarge to HD size

Click to Enlarge To HD Size

Well, I just finished up my latest visual effects shot. It is for IO9's and Trekmovie's joint Star Trek fake footage contest. Because of the amount of time required for modeling the saucer and shuttles, I actually finished this shot in under 24 hours from animation, rendering, to compositing.

For those not familiar with visual effects, that is a breakneck pace to finish a shot like that. It's not my best work, because of the severe time limit, I didn't have time to tweak it to perfection. I like it nonetheless, so I thought I'd post it. The winners of the contest will be announced Monday, April 7th. Wish me luck.

Here is my entry at YouTube...



and in HD at Vimeo (better quality)...


"Star Trek" Fake Footage from Daniel Broadway on Vimeo.

My Top 5 Favorite Movies

Below are my top 5 favorite movies of all time. Please feel free to share you thoughts on these films in the comments section.

5. The Count of Monte Cristo(2002)


The Count of Monte Cristo is a 2002 film based upon the book The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. This movie is very well crafted and very well directed. It has multiple subplots, that all tie up very nicely at the end of the film. There is great adventure, great love story, but most importantly, a fantastic revenge story.

4. Armageddon (1998)



Ok, this is the point where I will lose the Bay haters. I love Armageddon. Yes, it's riddled with scientific inaccuracies, but so what? People who say that Michael Bay can't direct good performances don't know what they are talking about. The scene in which Harry Stamper says goodbye to his daughter at the end brings me to tears almost every time, and I never cry during a movie. The movie has great adventure, and has beautiful cinematography. It's a very throughly enjoyable film about saving mankind from a force of nature.

3. Transformers (2007)


Gasp, not another Michael Bay film! Yep. I love this movie. This movie is epic. It starts you off on the edge of your seat, and doesn't let down until the end. Yes, it's an action movie, but it has some great humor worked into it subtly. Aside from that, is has some of the most fantastic CGI I've ever seen. I love Optimus Prime. He's an all CGI character, but seems as real as the human actors. This movie also contains my favorite film score of all time. Absolutely brilliant work from Steve Jablonsky (also my favorite composer). Above all other things that are important about a movie to me, is that it's fun. Transformers is great fun.

2. Star Trek: First Contact(1996)


Here, my inner Trekkie throws its bias. I've been a Trekkie since age 8, when my dad introduced me to Star Trek: The Next Generation. It's the Star Trek I grew up with. This movie loosely continues with a story set up in TNG's third and fourth seasons. First Contact deals with Captain Jean-Luc Picard being faced with his mortal enemy again after they stripped him of his humanity six years prior, while at the same time saving earth from them. This movie has also been known to entertain audiences who aren't even Star Trek fans, and that says alot. Star Trek carries with it a negative stigma with some people who assume it's only for nerds. Watch this movie, and they might change their mind.

1. Back To The Future Trilogy (1985-1990)

Ok, I'm going cheat a little bit with this one. Technically, its 3 movies. However, I cannot pick one movie out of this, and not have the other two in my list. Also, the last two movies are a continuous story arc anyway. The BTTF trilogy is bar none, my favorite movie trilogy of all time. I cannot see another movie franchise ever topping it. I feel in love with these movies as a kid, and that has never changed. In fact, I hope to buy a DeLorean one day, just because of how much I love them.

These movies have fantastically fun characters, my favorite being "Doc." I love how the same actors play different relatives at various time periods, it's very cleverly done. This trilogy also shows the potential pitfalls of messing with the time line. These movies are just plain fun. And as I mentioned previously, that is the number one most important thing to me about a movie.

If I had to list these in order of favorites, it would go as follows.

1. Back to the Future Part II
2. Back to the Future Part III
3. Back to the Future

So there you have it, my top 5 favorite films. I'm sure the Bay haters will gasp in unbelief that two of my favorite movies are by Michael Bay. Oh well. Maybe I will redeem myself in their eyes that Back To The Future is number 1.

5 Years At WAFF 48

Today is 5 years since I started working at WAFF 48. Hard to believe. Although, at the same time, not so hard to believe.

I started out running teleprompter. I was so excited to be working at a TV station. The thrill of working with live news, and working with all the neat equipment.

After a few weeks, I was offered a position to be a studio floor camera operator. This took a bit more training, but I had the hang of it in about 3 weeks. Back then, we used very large and heavy cameras with counterbalance weights and pulley systems in their base. Today, WAFF uses much smaller, and much lighter weight free rolling camera systems in the studio. I was still a camera man when the cameras were upgraded, so I got to use both systems.

Then in August 2005, I got my first full-time job at WAFF as news graphics director. I am very thankful to management for giving me the opportunity, as I've advanced my graphics skills greatly in the last two and a half years, in part because of my job. It has taught me essential skills, that I would undoubtedly use for years to come.

Anyway, I also want to thank all of my co-workers for their hard work, and for their patience with me. Sometimes there are tight deadlines, and things get crazy, but we always pull through. I've also made some wonderful friends because of my career at WAFF. They are great people to know, and to work with. They make my time there fun.