IanHubert posts
Posts: 303
Files: 339
A Fairly Painless Environment Transformation!
As part of my current goal of not disappearing into 3 months of post every time we shoot a scene (and in the pursuit of having things feel more, y'know, "real"), we're trying to go to more real-world locations- but I still want to be able to incorporate a layer of worldbuilding/post! This video covers me tackling the first shot from a scene we just filmed.
Making Stuff "Cinematic" (shot design & grading)
I'm talking all over the place, so please use the chapter markers! Just my own take on it: quickly touching on grading, film emulation, and how to make impactful compositions! Hopefully a useful thought or two!Also thanks, Sai, for the question!
Talking about Art in the Woods
Going off to the mountains so I can finally Finish My Script! And talk about life and art and AI and setting the spark timing on an engine. I should have another blender-centric video finished tomorrow, with any luck! But I wanted to get this one out there.
Modeling/Rigging a Signal Lamp
As often happens, this isn't the video I thought I was making when I started, but it's been a while since I've done just a basic modeling video! Love you all! I've got lots more I'm excited to upload (I feel like I finally got my groove back, post-London)- I think September is my favorite month.
Designing a Coin
We've been making a bunch of little props like this for the next episode, so I've been doing a lot of stuff like this! I think it's a blast, but I'm starting to realize I could very happily do this for years instead of actually getting around to filming anything...
Setting up a Physics-Powered Crane
Alright! I'm back from a (somewhat) unexpected London return! For good this time(?) Thank you so much again for your patience...Just to get the ball rolling, I finished up a video I recorded a couple months ago, another foray into physics: setting up rigid body simulations so you can kind of "puppeteer" them in real time for use in a shot. I feel like I keep talking about physics, but over the past few months it's totally changed the way I think about setting up my VFX scenes (or at the very least, I'm constantly wondering &...
Chasing Realism via Details
A few "how can I make this shot better" techniques I've been using lately. Some new stuff, and some old!
Back to Boat Stuff!
I'm back!!!!! Damn, sorry it was a minute, there! This videos' a bit all over the place, but I just want to get some momentum up :D For more digital project/extension stuff, check out this video https://www.patreon.com/posts/one-environment-109158496 For modeling the Big Boat: https://www.patreon.com/posts/modeling-big-106116809 Oh and here's how to actually make fried rice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPd6outE5z4
Creating a Spaceship Simulator
HOHO! Yes! It's been a minute- I'm sorry about that (and sorry if the audio is horrible! I only have the laptop speakers)- but I'm excited about this video. It's a combination of a few things I put off learning for years because they seemed technical or complicated, but like a lot of things, they aren't actually that bad once you take a couple minutes to wrap your head around them. Also huge thanks to Austin of AKA Studiosfor pointing me towards linear motors! If you want to play around or use the project file for anything, ...
The Spaceship Plan
(many pictures below)Hello! It’s been a minute! I’m sorry about that- I overestimated my ability to record videos in hotel rooms! Actually- I recorded a whole video today before realizing my face was literally covering half the blender interface (that almost neverhappens), and I’ve tried re-recording a couple times to minimal success, so- I'll get it next weekend instead, and for now, I'm switching gears! Let’s talk about the spaceship project! Because it’s the result of a lot of long term plans all finally coming together, an...
An Emphasis on Modeling Quickly
Kind of an all-over-the-place modeling video, but I try to cover some efficiency tips (probably especially useful for beginners, though I like a lot of the techniques at the end), and we make a storefront!Also here's the refraction tut I mentioned: https://www.patreon.com/posts/refraction-tut-57007748
"The Unifier"- Making Stuff Dusty/Consistent
A few folks have asked about how to get image textures to gel a bit better, and these are a few simple tricks I've been using a lotlately (a bit brute force, but effective! And seems to go a long way towards avoiding that sterile CG feeling) I'll be out for a couple weeks (unless if I can figure out how to post from my laptop??? Going to give it a shot! Maybe it could be a series where we do stuff without a big honkin' GPU)- but then I'm back!
World Building: Designing Your Town
I have no idea if this video will be fun to watch, but it was fun to record :P Hope there's something useful in here! Anyways- life is crazy for a second! I'll have to tell you about it soon!
VFX Breakdown - Prepare for Execution
Big old mix of BTS, tutorials, explanations, and breakdowns; hopefully this addresses anything you might have been curious about! A few related videos:Rigid Body Rigging(Bulldozer)Rigid Body Constraints(Windchimes)CompifyMaking the Boardwalk ShotAlign Camera Track(for tracking and reprojecting)Can Dumping ShotDigital Extension ExperimentsAnimating the Singing BowlMaking the CityLens FlaresDriving through the Market pt 1Driving through the Market pt 2Taxi Interior TutorialModeling a Slot Machine
Asset: Tatters and Blowing Plastic
Been using these guys in everything!! Really easy way to add some quick life to a shot. DOWNLOADNote: As mentioned in the video, you'll have to link the material to the image sequence on your end, since Blender doesn't let you pack videos/sequences- it should be easy! ALSO: You may have to make sure the color space is set to sRGB.First:IMAGE SEQUENCE(1 gig)And:BLEND FILE (different versions because blender changed how it handles transparency)Blender 3.0Blender 4.0And shout out again to Photobash.cofor having some cool libraries.
EPISODE RELEASE: "Prepare for Execution" Dynamo Dream ep1 pt2
It's out!! As always THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING HERE! You've allowed me to go so much harder on these things than I ever hoped! The 4k YouTube version is actually pretty good, but if you want, here's a 6 gig download. If you specifically have any questions or shots you'd like seeing broken down, comment them here and I'll try to include them in a little video here in the next week! Also I want to do a full-on BTS at some point. There are a few assets that I need to get off my butt and finally optimize for upload. WOW. This week...
My Resolve & Blender Workflow
Check out the YouTube description for the chapters. Let's linearize some footage! This is what I've been doing on every shot, these days. There's other ways to go about it, but I think there's enough info in so you can understand why I do it the way I do. Thanks as always to Nathan Vegdahl for explaining so much back in the day, and Zeke Faust for letting me pepper him with occasional questions. Here's a link to the color tools I mention in the video!At some point I should make another video about these things. (Also- totall...
Doing Better Greenscreens (Creatively & Technically)
Getting into reasons our greenscreen shots might not look as good as we'd like (along with some technical stuff you should know!) I'm hoping I didn't botch the technical stuff too much :PAlso! As I mention in the video, I'll be releasing a more tutorial-oriented breakdown of a linear workflow (the biggest exciting thing that's changed my work in the past 6 years, probably!) hopefully before the end of the month. Also Also! New Dynamo Dream episode coming on the 1st! "Prepare for Execution"I'm thinking of listing ...
One Environment in a Lot of Scenes
More boat stuff! Didn't really know what to call this one- but this is what I've been doing most of the past month. Specifically- using one blender file to power a lot of other shots, so you can update one thing and have it automatically propagate everywhere. It's handy! And then I work through actually implementing it into a shot, cause the original video was too short. Here are the downloads for the tools I mention (go to Code, "Download Zip"): The HDRI merge (and the other color tools)https://github.com/EatTheFuture/image...
Asset: Candles
I always find myself doing mediocre candles for set dressing, so I decided to try to do it a bit better; the 3 video textures include 28 independently moving candle flames at any given moment and self randomize, so you can easily add a bit of extra life to a scene. It's a large asset- the sequences range from about a minute to a minute and 45 seconds, but since it's an image sequence feel free to delete a bunch of the frames if you don't think you'll ever use that many- I just wanted to give you the option. DOWNLOAD:You can DOWN...
Pt1 - Making a Shot - Boardwalk
Will this part 1 get a part 2?? Who knows! No no yes- it will. It absolutely will. But yeah, just working through the Final Shot! In theory Brendan is finishing up the audio mix in the next few days, meaning... hot damn we could release this thing next week?? I'm excited. For more info on things I talked about in this video:Align Camera TrackQuickly Animating Complex Neon Signs(using the Flicker Controller Image (below))Creating Auto-Randomizing Signs(contains a decent intro to randomization, from what I recall)Modeling a Slot Machine(a mor...
Modeling A Big Boat
Been wanting to start this project for the past year and a half, and a few folks have said they wanted an old fashioned modeling video, so here we go! There's the adage that a film is written three times, once in the script, once on set, and once in the edit, and honestly, knowing how much cg we're planning on, there's a lotwe can do to recontextualize the footage into something- I think- significantly better than I ever expected when we were shooting all of this in 2022, and modeling the boat is the first stage of that.(Also- I thi...
"Align Camera Track" feature - Compify
A quick explanation of the Align Camera Track feature of Compify, along with experimenting with some other steps (aligning HDRIs, sunlight, and separating the actor from the background) to get a shot ready for a digital extension! DOWNLOAD COMPIFY(Align Track comes in included)Goto CODE, then DOWNLOAD ZIPFor a better breakdown of Compify, see this other post.
Making the Aurora (it's pretty easy!)
And at the end- diving into a mystery that will take us on an adventure through time and space.
Clothesline Asset (and Making-Of)
Let me know if it behaves unexpectedly! I've been sitting on this one for months because I couldn't figure out a rotation method that worked in every version of blender. WHICH MEANS- this version is for Blender 4.1 and later (a version for earlier releases pending). DOWNLOAD BLEND FILE(includes still image)DOWNLOAD IMAGE SEQUENCE(1 gig)(also weird- I made a version of the image sequence that was batch processed to start at frame 1, but blender refused to load more than one frame of it?? So this one starts on frame 86,400- like an image ...
Story Space and Reality and Lots of Filmmaking Thoughts about Avatars
In which Ian babbles way too much about adaptations of animations from his childhood. I don't do a lot of written posts, but after typing out a few (10+) thousand words just to get my thoughts together, it seems weird to re-record it all just to be a video! Also this month is a bit wild (been working on my talk for the Blender LA conference, but I need to go harder (and do taxes)), so I'm trying to get out what I can here :DThese are just my opinions, and I'm definitelygoing to say a lot of incorrect contradictory bullshit, for sure...
Setting up a Drivable Rigid Body Bulldozer/Tank
Sort of a follow-up to "Rigid Body Stuff" a few months ago, but for basic vehicles! Should also be a good introduction to Rigid Bodies in general. And here's the documentation for the Rigid Body Constraints.Don't forget to save often! Hohoho.
Alpha Release: Compify Addon for Advanced CG/Live Action Integration
Get the addon Here (go to the "Code" pulldown and select "Download Zip")Alright!! Very excited to finally release this! It's a tool Nathan Vegdahl made a couple years ago as part of his color tools project. Hopefully you don't run into problems, but we'll try to check the comments here if you do. Although- I'm releasing this at the worst possible time (Nathan's currently on a road trip), but I want to get it out there! I'll post more later about advanced use cases; we filmed a bunch of stuff for the boat ...
Canceling my Adobe Subscription (and what I'm doing instead)
Extra video today: going through the process of finally leaving Adobe! They've got lots of cool tools, but they're raising the price again, and I think it's time to move on.
More Digital Extension Work (Poor Audio)
A bit of a continuation of the last video; another example of what I've been doing over and over the past month! Taking footage, projecting it, and messing with it. Also a few other little breakdowns and stuff scattered in. Turns out it was using the wrong microphone, so the audio is bad, but not toooooooo bad I think? Here's the Camera Projector Node Nathan madeAnd my previous video: Digital Extension Experiments
