Case Studies
Nickelodeon (Picture Mill)
Next Limit: What was RealFlow used on exactly?
Jonathan Block: “RealFlow was used on a majority of the piece - in fact, you'd need look carefully to find things that weren't created entirely in RealFlow!
NL: Why did you decide on using RealFlow?
JB: “We knew that we needed to create a large scale splash of viscous liquid, but still have the ability to art direct and move the camera wherever we needed. We had originally anticipated using more live action elements, but the complexity of the fluids meant that everything needed to be simulated. The only remaining shot elements are some ripples on the surface of the logo at the resolve.”
NL: The visualization and rendering of the video is of very high quality. How did you achieve such high quality rendering?
JB: “Part of the challenge was managing large particle counts to get meshes that looked like what we were after. Careful tuning of the mesh was one of the most important steps in the process, especially since the liquid had to go from flying through space to hitting an invisible barrier. We upgraded to 64 bit machines, with 8 procs and 8 Gb ram, just so we could maximize what we could get out of RealFlow. Thanks goodness there was a 64 bit version!.”
NL: What was the most challenging part of the project and how did you overcome that challenge?
JB: “The biggest challenge was slow turnaround of detailed simulations. I was able to get a good idea of the shape of the sim by lowering the frame rate to 2 or 3 frames per second and judging the shape that way.”
NL: What kind of time schedule were you on for the creation of this video? Was it a tight deadline or did you have enough time to finish all the simulations without stress?
JB: “We were on a moderately tight schedule that became more and more tense as the deadline approached. When you are given a 6 week schedule at the start, that doesn't mean you get 6 weeks to explore the possibilities. You need to get something in front of the client as soon as possible so you don't go down the wrong path. We initially did tests of several techniques, including a pouring liquid down a chute, and creating a sort of paint comet, as well as a splat against an invisible wall. Those first tests drive the look of the production going forward, since you don't usually want to surprise a client when a specific look has been approved. We were able to use the multiproc version of RealFlow, as well as a script that can break up the meshing to get the most out of the time allowed.”
NL: How long have you been using RealFlow? How easy/ difficult was it to integrate RealFlow in your workflow?
JB: “I have been using RealFlow for quite a while, usually in a smaller role. This was by far the most ambitious use of it that I have been involved with. I have found that once one is familiar with the RealFlow workflow, it is easy to build on that knowledge to try new techniques. Knowing precisely what each attribute of a fluid is used for is helpful in refining a look.”
NL: How do you think RealFlow could be improved or what would you like to see implemented into the program?
JB: “Continued optimization of the solver is always good. I would love to see an improved graph editor and savable presets for everything from fluids to meshes and daemons. Also, even though I was able to use scripting to run meshing on multiple procs simultaneously, it would be nice if this was a standard feature.”
NL: Could you please detail what other software programs you used and what hardware you used?
JB: “We used Maya for animation and Mental Ray for rendering. It was helpful to export the camera from Maya for visualization within RealFlow. Mental Ray allowed use of blurry reflections and a slight subsurface scattering effect. After Effects was used for compositing."
About The Mill
NL: How big was the team working on this video?
JB: “It was a small production team, made up of two 3d animators and a compositor. Jon Block did the simulation and Bryan Thombs handled the camera animation and shading/lighting, Nelson Yu was our compositor, and we had our creative director and art director, William Lebeda and David Clayton respectively, overseeing things.”
NL: Could you tell us a bit about Picture Mill?
JB: “Picture Mill is an award-winning, full-service creative design company, specializing in motion design and live-action production.
Located in the heart of Hollywood, Picture Mill’s work encompasses projects for motion pictures and television, from titles for Max Payne, Deathrace and Hotel for Dogs, to the Emmy-nominated Pushing Daisies, as well as commercial work for CitiBank and branding for Groundswell Pictures.”
NL: Do you plan to use RealFlow on any future projects?
AG: “I enjoy the look of things that can only come out of a robust fluid simulator like RealFlow. It's not often that this type of job comes along, but I'm always looking for possible ways to use RealFlow to make things feel complex and dynamic. I recently used it as an easy way to fill an object with bubbles for an animation.”
Copyright:
Picture Mill – www.picturemill.com
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