Hanging Woman VFX Shot

I have been working on a VFX shot in my spare time so far the versions below is the progress I have made so far. I had already built the assets before starting the shot but I had to modify them to work with the genre. I chopped off her arm and made a sack for her head as well as the dress and guts. Still needs work but the next version should be closer :)

Maya Pie Maker

I have made a little script for Maya that creates slices of a pie-chart. Not sure what use it is to anyone but here it is:
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// SCRIPT TO CREATE PIE CHARTS :)

///////////////////////////////////////////////

global proc mkPie(){

float $percent = `floatField -q -value itemPercent`;

$name = `textField -q -text item`;

$sections = `intField -q -value itemSections`;

//setAttr textForBevel1.text -type "string" ($percent+"%");

$deg = ($percent/100);

$degree = (360 * $deg);

cylinder -ch on -o on -ax 0 1 0 -r 3 -s $sections -hr 0 -n $name -ssw 0deg -esw ($degree+"deg");

nurbsPrimitiveCap 3 1 1;

parent -w bottomCap1 ;

delete $name;

nurbsToPoly -mnd 1 -ch 1 -f 2 -pt 1 -pc 200 -chr 0.1 -ft 0.01 -mel 0.001 -d 0.1 -ut 1 -un 10 -vt 1 -vn ($sections*3) -uch 0 -ucr 0 -cht 0.2 -es 0 -ntr 0 -mrt 0 -uss 1 "bottomCap1";

delete bottomCap1;

string $polyName = ($name+"_mesh");

rename "nurbsToPoly1" $polyName;

setAttr ($polyName+".translateY") 3;

makeIdentity -apply true -t 1 -r 1 -s 1 -n 0 $polyName;

polyExtrudeFacet -constructionHistory 1 -keepFacesTogether 1 -pvx 1.239527732 -pvy 0 -pvz 1.499420881 -divisions 10 -twist 0 -taper 1 -off 0 -thickness 0 -smoothingAngle 30 $polyName;

setAttr "polyExtrudeFace1.localTranslate" -type double3 0 0 -1.940407 ;

select -r $polyName; DeleteHistory;

displaySmoothness -divisionsU 3 -divisionsV 3 -pointsWire 16 -pointsShaded 4 -polygonObject 3;

subdivDisplaySmoothness -smoothness 3;

select -cl;

}

global proc mkEnv(){

polyPlane -n myPlane -sx 10 -sy 10 -h 50 -w 50 ;

displaySmoothness -divisionsU 3 -divisionsV 3 -pointsWire 16 -pointsShaded 4 -polygonObject 3;

subdivDisplaySmoothness -smoothness 3;

setAttr "myPlane.overrideEnabled" 1;

setAttr "myPlane.overrideShading" 1;

setAttr "myPlane.overrideDisplayType" 2;

nonLinear -type bend -lowBound 0 -highBound 1 -curvature 1.6;

setAttr "bend1Handle.rotateZ" 90;

select "bend1Handle" myPlane; group -n "environment";

setAttr "environment.translateX" -5;

}

global proc mkPieWindow(){

if (`window -exists pieUI`){

deleteUI pieUI;

}

string $window = `window -title "PIE MAKER :)" -widthHeight 200 300 pieUI`;



columnLayout -adjustableColumn true;

text -label "Percent";

string $itemPercent = `floatField -value 10 itemPercent`;

text -label "Item Name";

string $item = `textField -text "Piece_0" item`;

text -label "Item Sections";

string $sections = `intField -v 4 itemSections`;

button -label "Make Me - go on do it :)" -command "mkPie";

button -label "Environment" -command "mkEnv";

setParent ..;

showWindow $window;

}

Latest Nightmare Hunters Trailer is out!

A new version of the Nightmare Hunters Feature Film by Ewan Gorman is now out. Check it out below. ICM Studios helped with producing the stun Gun and the Beast tracker!
We will put up breakdowns of a couple of the shots soon.

Credits:
Stun Gun - Iskander Mellakh - http://www.iskandermellakh.co.uk
Beast Tracker - Adam Fenwick - http://www.adamfenwick.co.uk

Tikis and Mikis - Fund this project

Salvador Simo (www.salvadorsimo.com) is a great Director and Animator that I worked with at MPC. He is currently producing a new animated children's Web series.

If you like good children's animation and want to see more of the project below help by making a donation to Tikis and Mikis on Kickstarter

Check out the video below :)

Nightmare Hunters

ICM Studios is currently helping on the VFX production of the feature film Nightmare Hunters, by Ewan Gorman. Check out the trailer below, also visit their website:http://www.blackrockfilms.co.uk/

Great talk about the state of the VFX industry

The State of the VFX Industry and where do we go from here from Rick Young on Vimeo.

Handsome VFX - Amaizing Visual Effects

My good friends in Stratford upon Avon have set up this great vfx company - check out their website :)

http://www.handsomevfx.com/Showreel_Corporate.html

Handsome Vfx Showreel from Handsome VFX on Vimeo.

Ocean Maker - Support the Animators

Director and animator Michael Cawood is helping Lucas Martell produce his latest short animation - Ocean Maker. If you want to help them finish off the rest of the short animation please support them on indiegogo :)

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-oceanmaker-animated-short-film

FX Tools - Dynamics Tool for Maya

The latest release has just had an edit to where the help guide can be found. I will have time soon update the tool soon - iron out a few of the bugs!

Latest version of the tool

I have uploaded the latest version of the tool - 03/10/13. I will eventually make a dedicated site so it is easier to bug track and fix.

ICM Studios FX Tools 0.3.3. it is not completely done but it works :)
This build includes a fix for the bug that stopped the tool working if there was already a locator named locator1.

Previous build

• ICM Studios FX Tools 0.3.2.
• ICM Studios FX Tools 0.3.1.
• ICM Studios FX Tools 0.3.
• ICM Studios FX Tools 0.2.

Right click and save this file. then put it in your scripts directory. This file is for the latest version 0.3 userSetup.mel

How to install FX Tools

Below is a quick video tutorial showing you how to install FX Tools :)

I also got a chance to make some updates to the tool, here is a video of some of these updates in action:

It is free to download and use - all we ask is that you credit ICM Studios if you use the tool. All you need to do is add a userSetup.mel file in the maya scripts directory and source the FX_Tools_EffectsMenu.mel I will update this blog every time there is a new release of the tool. I hope you enjoy it :)

ICM Studios Demolishes Building!

I hope you enjoy our latest addition to the library of destruction! Yet again, we have used Fracture-FX to simulate the demolition. I can't recommend a better plug-in for Maya to fracture and destroy your assets. you can get the software at http://www.fracture-fx.com/. The shot was rendered with Mental Ray and comped in Nuke. I used motion vectors to add the motion blur as well as adding a little depth of filed using Mental Ray's depth pass. A little bit of colour correction and lens distortion was added too.

New ICM Studios Idents coming soon!

I have started working with Jonathan Hearn on some new ideas for some Idents for ICM Studios. We are in the early stages of production but we should have something in the next couple of weeks :)

Below is a previous test Ident I created using Maya, Fracture-FX and Renderman Studio.

It should be fun :)