Production Logs

I started finally doing actually shading work for Heist. For a start I did shading for Einar's pipe wrench and spanner props to figure out/get used to the proper shading pipeline I will use. I also started preparing the geometry of Einar's robot arm for shading which I will start with the coming week.

This week I gave the first sequence a second pass on animation trying to define it more, also I made a hand animation test to check the deformation of the mesh

I went further in retopologizing the key body objects and reprojecting sculpted details onto them.

This week I did a quick test groom using the new hair tools. I also started modeling the security door that Einar pries open with the car jack and also the outside fence of the factory that appears in two shots. The robotic arm is now finally part of the Einar character file.

I took Rik's blinking test animation and made it ready for rendering using the shading test and Andy's groom from a while ago.

this week i finished the first pass on the opening scene, after that I'm helping with the alarm scene

This week I mainly focused on wrapping up the lowest detail outfit sculpting necessary for a retopology. Some details still need to be worked out but it's overall done.

This week was about creating candles for Einar's hut to be scattered around. Also continuing on the ceiling and walls, thinking about the construction and how Einar could have built this using various materials.

This week I worked on Einar's eyes.

This week was about experimenting with photogrammetry workflow and working on the roof and interior of Einar's hut. Setting up an improvised photo studio in the recording room to scan props. The initial idea was to add a turntable setup for efficient and consistent results. For this technique you need to mask the background so that the algorithm can reconstruct the 3D model better. Or walk around the subject, which can be tricky due to the lack of space and variance in light/shadow. The turntable method requires a tweak in the metadata exported from Blender to possibly work. I chose the "walking around the subject with a tripod" technique to create a data set which worked, as seen in the images.

This week I implemented the system I prepared for the displacement of Einar's face to blend the right shapes according to the shapekey system. So now it's actually being used by the rig and functional.

There have been a few additions and adjustments to the retopology. This called for an update to the facial shapes and UV map as well.

The week was about reworking Einar's Hut workbench and started to add assets from the scrapyard library. For the blow dart pipe I experimented with photogrammetry, wrapped gaffer tape around the bicycle pump and took 32 pictures for a simple scan to illustrate the idea. Next week the modeling pass for the interior walls of Einar's Hut will begin.

This week we did video reference for the first scene of the movie. Apart of being useful for animation we also wanted to see if we could sync up with the timing of the previz edit. It turned out we had to speed up some reference in order to match the edit. We need to figure out if we need more frames per shot, or to cheat it in animation. We'll find out by trying out.

This week I started to block some animation on the opening sequence

There have been a few updates to the head sculpt to increase the realism and make the facial shapes more believable in the long run.