What? I'm a filmmaker and not a game producer. Why should I care about this CG VFX tutorial?
An excellent question. So, here's the multi-part answer. Answer one: Film special effects. The content covered in this tutorial is applicable to any 3D system that has a particle system for producing sprite-based particles - think smoke or flame effects for background elements. Answer two: Get out of the box - the marketing box that is. Having an interactive marketing piece or game is a really cool way to add some "oomph" to the films you're working. Answer three: Would it make sense to have another revenue stream for your production? Creating a game that aligns with your movie might be just the ticket. (For more on these concepts, check out what some of the MFM team is doing with the World of Depleted Creative Community, which is encouraging development of 3D assets for both the films and gaming elements.)
This series covers the production of particle effects for smoke, flame, smoke, blowing dust, candle flame, explosions, bullet impacts, animated textures and sprite production. Shown here is the Unreal interface in quad view that shows the geometry and the effects animating in real-time.
This series is not about how to make a game, rather it is narrowly focused on creating animated, looping visual effects that can actually be deployed across a large range of needs, gaming being only one of them. And, after seeing the ease of doing so, the specter of making a game for marketing or additional revenue may not seem so daunting.
At a brief 74 minutes duration, this series quickly covers need-to-know stuff. Presenter, Maxime Deleris, is one of the Senior Visual Effects Artists for Ubisoft games in Montreal, Quebec. (And Ubisoft Montreal is an amazing production studio that's produced a large string of hits starting with the reinvention of Prince of Persia and most recently releasing the ultra-successful Assassin's Creed lineup.) His presentation is economical, easy to understand, and to-the-point.
Quad view of a project burning building requirement. While the Unreal environment doesn't translate directly film, the techniques shown here do if you're using a particle or 3D software for generating CG VFX.
Comprehension
This no-nonsense presentation is delightfully thorough. Maxime is very fluent in his craft. But the fluency does not mean he glosses over newb questions you might have. Now I have to throw out a disclaimer that viewers should have at least some working experience with Photoshop and an effects program like After Effects or Motion. There will also be the need for some experimentation on the viewers part when imitating the tutorial (production files are included with series to speed this up, however.)
While the series is about using the free version of Unreal for real-time previz of gaming assets, it also delves into using Photoshop, After Effects and 3ds Max (could be any 3D program that animates to particles) to prepare assets. In each case, Maxime provides concise explanations about the tools being used and why you use them in the order and fashion displayed. The nice thing is the forward-looking narrative, formed from experience that foresees production problems and then the resulting demonstrations of toolsets to prevent problems. So, viewers get the 'why' and the 'how' simultaneously. It just brings things into a sharper focus, much faster and that is worth something.
2D "sprit" production is with Photoshop is also covered. Also a handy link to pick CS5 dedicated plugins to make the job easier.
Depth of Information
Explosions, fire, smoke, bullet impacts, muzzle flashes and more are covered here - the hallmarks of gaming and action flicks. But also covered are environmental effects such as blowing dust and distant smoke.
The biggest bonus of this series is that Maxime tells you what he's going to cover right at the beginning of the training and then does just that. Basic, I know, but very important.
As mentioned earlier, this series is only 74 minutes; there is no fluff. It is obvious during the series that Maxime recorded the series visually first and then did the voice-over. This does leave some awkward silences in the narration that I wish included additional information.
I bring this up because the greatest strength of the series is its brevity but that is also its Achille's heel. I haven't used Unreal before this myself. As such, when Maxime gets to certain node based shaders and contextually clicks to add an item, what isn't covered is the "why" of that selection given the other options you see on-screen. I know, I know, this isn't a series about understanding Unreal inside and out, but instead, a series about getting efficiencies out of Unreal while creating the effect at hand. Yet it would have been nice to have a little more comprehensive drive around the block.
Consequently, there are two things that go in the 'depth of information' rating here: 1) explanation of the toolsets in Unreal, and, 2) usefulness of the insights accompanying the series. The explanation of the Unreal toolset is adequate to explain the task being demonstrated. However the insights presented are excellent.
Bottom line, it would have been nice if the series had run an additional 20 or 30 minutes and poked around the Unreal tool a little more. In Maxime's defense although, he states at the beginning of the series that the lessons are suitable for other game engines as well so it's not specifically for Unreal. But still...
Interest Level
For game folks, the insights and utility of this series is premier. For filmmakers, there is a lot of good info if you find yourself straying more and more in the would of Computer Graphic augmentation of your films.
Content created in Unreal isn't easily repurpose-able for film. However, the tricks demonstrated in this tutorial series do translate very easily to other CG particle systems from the humble Carrara 8 to Blender, C4D, Max or other tools you may already have in your studio. In fact, some of the items in these series are created in After Effects which you can directly port to your film. The time/memory saving tricks Maxime shows off will seriously reduce render time in any 3D system you might be using for rendering effects.
As an aside, if you don't want to venture into the realm of 3D but still want smoke and fire, check out Turbulence 2D.
While the Unreal environment doesn't translate directly film, the techniques shown here do if you're using a particle or 3D software for generating CG VFX. Highlighted in this project focus is blending particles together to create 3D flame and smoke that you can rotate a camera around.
Reusability
This is one of those series that you will go through once and possibly twice. If you're not paying attention, then maybe three times. If you are new to CG and effects with particle emitters, this series will provide some really nice insight into the 3D VFX realm and that may bring you back more than a couple of times.
Value Vs. Cost
Ahhhh,commerce. Gnomon charges more than many tutorial providers because they've established themselves as one of the leading "pro" commercial art/cg/film tutorial sites on the web. There is nothing wrong with that. At $49, this series won't break the bank although there are tutorial providers who present 5-7 hour courses for the same amount. But for premium dollars, I'd expect to not have obvious audio artifacts and skips/overlaps. This is the second series I've reviewed from Gnomon with audio issues. Other series that I've personally purchased from them didn't have problems like these so I'm not sure what's going on there. [Editor's Note: The representatives from Gnomon have alerted us to the fact that there currently reviewing the material to see what corrections need to be made for the future. -JH]
The info in the series is very good and the presenter knows his stuff. Because of that, the series is very buy-able; but only if you are treading into the realm of CG and animated 3D textures for your workflow.
The classic explosion. This focus progressively echoes earlier lessons while providing good considerations about creating believable explosions.
Final Comments Maxime Deleris brings some real nice cinematic sensibilities to what is often a sterile and complex subject. His narration is easy to follow and understand and his workflow comments reveal a true professional that has weathered his share of production "issues".
Knowledge in this series isn't directly transferrable to a film production because the key tool in it, Unreal, is a total gaming tools. But if you are already dabbling with CG and 3D VFX in you productions, the know-how here will translate to your other tool sets. If you've never dallied in CG before, this probably isn't the place to start.
Comprehension
8.0
Depth
of Information
7.5
Interest
Level
8.5
Reusability
7.0
Value
vs. Cost
8.0
Overall Score
7.8
Mark Bremmer has operated his own commercial studio for 15 years. He’s been fortunate enough to work for clients like Caterpillar, Amana, Hormel Foods, Universal Studios Florida, and The History Channel; producing stills, digital mattes and animations. Mark contracts regularly as an art mercenary with production houses that shall remain nameless by written agreements. His production pipeline is Mac-based, with the FCP Studio2 workflow. He loves Shake and Motion. And his family.
