Avatar Shot Recreation Week 1: Proposal

Hello! This semester at UTDallas I'll be working on my capstone project! I'm pretty excited for this one, and I'm looking forward to sharing my journey. Let's go!

To start off, here is a short description of the project, the shot I wish to recreate, and my project goals:

Project Description

For my capstone, I'll be working a recreation of a shot from Avatar (2009), of Trudy’s helicopter being shot down. I will be both recreating the VFX of the shot as well as creating a 3D model of the hero asset: the Samson helicopter. VFX-wise, his shot has a range of pyro effects including pyro explosions, billowy smoke and fire, smoke trails, and flaming debris. Modeling-wise, the helicopter has many unique hard-surface forms and lots of intricate detail. Since the helicopter has a largely uniform texture throughout, I will likely not be doing UVing or texturing work outside of Houdini's shading tools.

The Shot

My Goals for this Project

VFX

• Show my ability to match a professional reference and achieve realistic-looking fx. I really want to push the quality of my fx in both Houdini and through compositing in Nuke.

• Display ability in a range of pyro fx. This is a type of effect that in very common in industry but is missing on my portfolio. This shot gives me the opportunity to study a wider range of pyro fx.

• Better rendering and integration of fx layers to achieve a complete and cinematic look to my shot. Last semester was my introduction to Solaris and the Karma render engine. I want to familiarize myself more with Karma lights and settings to get better looking renders.

• Better scene organization, in both the SOP and LOP networks, as I hope to make my scenes easier to streamline, navigate and troubleshoot.

3D Modeling

• Create a film-ready hard-surface model with proper topology, so that the model could be easily unwrapped, rigged, and lit down the pipeline.

• Improve my ability to model finer details while maintaining clean topology.

Next, a VFX breakdown of the shot. This allows me to identify all the fx elements I'll need to recreate. I've linked a pdf below which includes my breakdown of the elements, as well as a couple observations about the shot and fx.

VFX Breakdown PDF

The final section of this proposal is my work unit priorities. I have divided up my VFX elements into the following categories: "A" items are must haves, "B" items only have some consequences, "C" tasks have little to no consequences, “D” items can be delegated or automated.

I also ranked my "A" items in the order they should be accomplished (after scene animation and lighting, of course)

Work Unit Priorities

Priorities

• A

  • Primary Explosion

  • Primary Smoke

  • Primary Flames

  • Initial Fire

  • Initial Smoke

  • Large Flaming Debris

  • Flaming Debris

  • Missile Trail

• B

  • Cockpit Explosion

  • Cockpit Flames

  • Cockpit Smoke

• C

  • Small Flaming Debris

  • Might be able to get away with just deleting the right turbine when the explosion hits, since it’s only visible for only a few frames after the impact

"A" Rankings

1. Primary Explosion - this is, after all, the centerpiece of the shot

2. Primary Smoke + Flames - as above, also a part of the centerpiece

3. Missile Trail - the cause of the first two and therefore an integral story-element

4. Initial Fire + Smoke

5. Large Flaming Debris

6. Flaming Debris

For 3D modeling, my workflow is slightly different. Here are the steps I'll be taking for that:

3D Modeling Order of Operations

1. Proxy - this is a rough "sketch" of the model, which allows me to gauge the major forms of the helicopter and nail down its proportions. The rest of the model is built around the proxy so it is vital that I get the proportions correct in this stage.

2. Hi-res of major pieces - Create the higher-resolution pieces of the major components, in this case the cockpit, body, tail boom, and rotors. I'll have to pay special attention to the edge-flow and topology here. I'm hoping to cut in the edges of the paneling that can be seen on the rings around the rotors and elsewhere, and my edge flow should follow that to make the process easier.

3. Hi-res of smaller pieces - such as the landing skids and vents next to the rotors, wheels, turrets, and any connection pieces.

4. Cutouts and bevels - getting into finer details here. This step can really help to push the overall feel of the model. *NOTE*: some of these details may be skipped in favor of surfacing and texturing.

5. Detail pieces - smaller parts that include bolts, small panels, small lights, etc.