OM wrote:

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 01:41:13 GMT, David Sander
wrote:

Well, some of you might have noticed I haven't been here much of late.

fx: waves to newbies and recent regulars who might not know/remember me

...Welcome back, you slimebag.

Mmmmmm hugs and kisses to you too, sweetheart :-)

Two questions come to mind:

1) Has Fred Ordway seen this? He was really enthusiastic at NARCON '01
when it was shown there that one night I attended.

I've not communicated with him directly about this clip - he's a bit
reticent to open up when it comes to email - just the facts in as few
words as permissible. If that's his way then so be it, but it means I
can't read what his emotional reactions are to anything that me might
have encountered from any of this.

2) Ok, spill. *How* is the 30-engine flame sequence done?

Well, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

....

Buggrit - you're gonna die anyway[1], so here goes:
3D model of the tail end of the ferry rocket. In the bells of the
engines - but rendered as a separate pass - 3D particle effects,
multiple layered with some layers blurred, some sharp, some faint, some
strong; and composited for flow (this is the unburnt fuel and fine
particles preceding All Hell. Added to that, billowing objects
texturemapped and displacement mapped using a fractally based procedural
shader, with the objects also keyframed from small to large and teardrop
shaped. Added to *that* is a practical pyrotechnic shot in real time and
inverted, though the overall shot could certainly survive without this.

I use ElectricImage http://www.eitechnologygroup.com for my 3D, and rely
on shaders from third party suppliers like Konkeptoine
http://www.konkeptoine.com for some of the more freaky and downright
brilliant effects. Unlike a lot of CGI artists I recognize the
importance and value of using real items where possible, and keeping the
need for CGI to a comparative minimum. If I had the budget I might have
gone the way of Ron Howard in Apollo 13 and simply used a source of
pressurized vapour like a fire extinguisher on a large model to simulate
the blast of fuel and flame, but I would also have gone over it with
other CG effects as well, as I ended up doing anyway. The shot took me
two days to bash out, with another full day for rendering both 2D
compositing and 3D effects.


[1] One day ... and the good die young, so you've got a bit of a wait on
your hands, OM old son ;-P


David
--
per aspera ad astra