Case Studies
KungFu HD
Next Limit: “So, tell us about the spot. What was RealFlow used on exactly? Who was the client?”
Phiphat Pinyosophon: “RealFlow was used to create two shots in the spot where the actor creates a splash of water based on the impact of his kick and elbow punch. Our client was Rainbow Media. KungFu HD is part of an HDTV package from their VOOM HD Networks.”
NL: “Why did you decide on using RealFlow for these particular simulations?”
PP: “RealFlow was chosen to be our fluid particle system because it's a software that I am very familiar with, and because of the controls I can have with RealFlow. The footage was shot with a phantom HD camera, so it was about 1000fps or something like that. In RealFlow it was very easy to change frame-rate without really affecting any other setting. We were on a tight schedule, and we needed to get every single spot done quickly. When I was told how the water had to behave and what it had to be like, I knew that it could be achieved quickly in RealFlow. RealFlow gave me full control over how my fluids would look. We were just dropping a ball of water and setting a collider onto it, and it was very easy to change things if I had to. RealFlow seemed like the perfect software to be used on this project. It was very easy to set up, and the results are amazing.”
NL: “How did you go about creating these impressive simulations? How did you use RealFlow?”
PP: “We tracked the arm and leg of the actor with a low poly Poser model, just to get their rough shapes to use as colliders, and then we dropped a ball of water as he hit it. Then I experimented with different settings for internal and external pressure to see the effects of various types of splashes. It was a trial and error process until I got the look that I wanted. Meanwhile we were waiting for the edit to be finalized. So after the edit was locked, I tweaked the timing and the placement of the ball a little bit, and set it up for simulating. Then I created a mesh, imported it to XSI, and used the footage as a back plate to get a nice refraction for the water. Finally we composited the RF water with some real water sprays and we did some color correction.”
NL: “What was the most challenging part of the project and how did you overcome that challenge?”
PP: “The most challenging was the tight schedule. We had to create 4 spots (earth, water, wind, fire) within 3 weeks, and all of them required different simulations (I was responsible for creating CG water and CG fire). However, creating the water simulations with RealFlow was very easy. Once we got the fluid to look exactly as we wanted, and when the edit was locked, the simulation part ran pretty smoothly.”
NL: “So you were on a very tight schedule!”
PP: “Yes, we were creating four spots within three weeks and I spent around four to five days on RealFlow. RealFlow made everything pretty easy and I got through the water spot without experiencing any stress at all. I had a very hard time with the fire spot instead!!”
NL: “What part of the creative process did you enjoy most? Why?”
PP: “Seeing the final product! It makes me feel like the hours and hours of work creating simulations are all worth it.”
NL: “How big was the team working on this spot?”
PP: “We were four people for this water spot: Designer David Vial, Compositor Luke Allen, Director Dade Orgeron, and me as CG Artist.”
NL: “For how long have you been using RealFlow? How easy/ difficult was it to learn how to use RealFlow? Did you make use of any external help or other learning resources?”
PP: “I have been using RealFlow for around a year and a half. It was pretty difficult to start at first, but when I got a hang of it, it became easy to use, and a lot of things started to make sense. I got the "Introduction to Sculpting Fluid Dynamics" DVD by Wayne England, and it helped me understand the concept behind RealFlow much better. I also often go to www.realflowforum.com to read about people's problems and their solutions. I also visited RealFlow's scripting website every once in a while whenever I had Python questions.”
NL: “How easy/difficult was it to integrate RealFlow in your pipeline?”
PP: “It was very easy to integrate RF into our XSI pipeline. I had pretty much no problem at all getting a RF mesh into XSI. Everything just kind of worked without us having to do much at all.”
NL: “How do you think RealFlow could be improved or what would you like to see implemented into the program?”
PP: “First, of the top of my head, is camera import into RealFlow. For this project, I would often optimize my mesh to decrease its poly-count, and then I would look through my camera in RF and my cam setting wouldn't be there anymore. If I set up my camera as a 16/9 aspect ratio, I would like it to remain at 16/9 when I look through it in RF. That way I can lower my poly-count as much as I need to, without problems. Also, I like FlowTracer and FlowParticler a lot and it would be great if these systems could have integration with MentalRay too. And I think it will improve my workflow a lot if RF could display particles with a user's specified value. For example, I have 300k particles but I only want RealFlow to display 10% of that so that I can move back and forth effortlessly on my timeline. Lastly, if the meshing process could use all the processing power of a workstation instead of just one processor, that would be great.”
NL: “Do you plan to use RealFlow on any future projects?”
PP: “Yes, definitely.”
Credits:
Designer: David Viau
Director: Dade Orgeron
Compositor: Luke Allen
RealFlow and 3D Artist: Phiphat Pinysophon
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