Playing With Fire

Adding more special effects to my arsenal, Studio Projects Dynamics moves onto creating and controlling fire (using Maya fluids). Using fire is something which will be particularly relevant to a side-project I am currently involved in, and one of the tutorials involves burning down a 3D model of a house, which hopefully will be useful.

Starting off slowly, the first example introduces using fuel and heat within a fluid container. As this is not particularly exciting by itself, there is not much to show, so below we can see the second example - a simple flame created entirely in CG;

After working with a simple flame, a preset was created, and then imported into a new scene featuring a simple house model (provided on the tutorial disc). The flames were scaled up and tweaked to suit the new size. The house structure was already broken in segments, so these were converted to nCloth components, ready for destruction. Randomness was applied to the building 'burning down' by using keyframed ramp shaders with noise applied. The finished render can be seen below;

This chapter was one of the most important topics I have covered so far (and very relevant to the side-project) which allows me to transfer the skills learned during this tutorial, and apply them in a more creative manner.

The Story So Far...

So far, the majority of my work has focused on developing skills which are crucial in creating 3D computer generated visualisation. Having such a strong background in 3D has helped greatly, and has allowed me to focus on learning advanced techniques and understanding new concepts, as opposed to having to learn new software.

The key goal is to rapidly develop 3D skills this semester ('exploring practice') and although I will start work on related projects, these will take shape later in the academic year, as my abilities grow stronger.

My learning has been mostly self-directed, using a variety of sources. Progress using these are detailed below;

• In Silico - recommended as a starting point, this book gave me a brief introduction to using particles, and how to shade, light and render a scene containing medical data. Most of the content here is relevant to cell visualisation, and will be extremely useful as my projects develop. Some simple examples were created, and uploaded to my Vimeo page. Upon reaching the MEL sections, I realised that these assumed previous knowledge of scripting in Maya - since this was new to me, I chose to put this resource on hold temporarily. Beyond the MEL chapters, awaits some more complex tutorials on working with medical visualisation data.
• Gnomon Dynamics - I started using this material, and soon discovered that the content was of poor visual quality, and at points difficult to follow. As other sources were available, I chose not to continue working on the Gnomon material. However, I may return to this when looking at soft-bodies, as Digital Tutors does not cover this in great detail.
• Studio Projects Dynamics - another recommended learning source, I found this material relevant and easy to learn, developing skills in using particles, nParticles, nCloth and fluids. Tutorials applied skills to interesting examples, such as building a sandbox with moving contents or creating realistic looking tornadoes and volcanoes. I still have to approach the most relevant chapter, titled 'Playing With Fire' - once this has been completed, I will be in a better position to approach 'burning down' a computer-generated house.
• Digital Tutors 'Introduction to Dynamics in Maya' - this has been the most useful source of learning so far. Content is clear, easy to follow and explained in-depth. Although there has been a slight overlap in some areas (the implementation of a particle system mainly), there has been more explanation of working with the features in Maya. The tutorials also discussed the various effects available (such as fire or smoke) and introduced the different particle render modes. These topics have given me the confidence in experimenting with cell aesthetics, something which will develop throughout my programme of study (videos to be added shortly).
• Digital Tutors 'Getting Started With Nuke 6' - although not strictly essential, I chose to gain a basic understanding of node-based compositing using Nuke. This will be beneficial later in my work, when it comes to creating polished videos for presentation. 

Moving forwards, I will continue using most of the above sources, particularly Digital Tutors. I plan to finish off working with dynamics in Maya, and then return to MEL scripting, where hopefully I can begin to make sense of the content. Something of particular interest, is using RealFlow - Digital Tutors has a huge amount of lessons available, so this is something I would definitely like to experiment with.

Looking at the subjects I have studied, and the progress I have made, I am glad I have chosen this programme of study - I have enjoyed this new content, and know that I will continue to enjoy this moving forwards.

Tornado Warning

Since there has been lots of wind and weather warnings recently, it makes the next chapter of Studio Projects Dynamics even more topical than usual!

It introduces new ways of using Maya Fluids, and how to control them using a variety of fields. These tutorials have helped create some really nice effects (not just in this chapter on Tornado Winds). The final part in this chapter recreates a tornado demolishing a house, but I have still to start this.

The first example shows a Funnel Cloud. This was created by using Fluids and a Volume Axis Field, which spins the fluid. This example was to test the circular motion, and although basic colours were applied, that was not the focus.

The second example builds on the first set of techniques, although it uses a Volume Curve field instead - this gives more control over the shape and size of the simulation. A simple curve was used alongside the volume curve field to define the shape of the tornado. This was then paired with a second, smaller fluid container (for dust and debris) at the base of the tornado. Finally, a dynamic hair curve was used to move the finished tornado around. A directional light was added, and the finished clip was rendered using Mental Ray.

In Constant Motion

In Constant Motion. A rather fitting title for a post about using dynamics...

Progress continues on my new source of learning - 'Maya Studio Projects: Dynamics'. In addition to using dynamics within a scene, I have introduced Maya's nDynamics, and made good use of the nCloth system. Although nCloth is intended (as the name suggests) for recreating fabric, it can also be used to create a variety of adaptable and tearable surfaces which rigid bodies can interact with.

I have also now started work on using Maya's Fluids feature, something which will be extremely useful moving forwards, particularly when experimenting with cell aesthetics.

Good progress has been made so far this week, and my understanding of using dynamics is really setting in. Although these seem like simple examples, I am aware I have started with the basics and intend on building strong foundations. Moving forwards, I plan to work on more complicated setups and develop my Maya skills even further.

The first example illustrates a simple 'sandbox' idea, and uses a half-cylinder as a 'bucket'. We can see the earth-like material (automatically generated nParticles) moving around without any key-framed animation - it is all dynamically generated, and moves, collides and flows as appropriate.

The second example takes this idea further and adds an nCloth plane, with the idea of dropping a heavy sphere onto the ground, which then smashes, sending shards flying. The nParticles are used to provide a more accurate simulation - if they were not present, the ball would simply drop through the plane... this would not happen in real life!

The third example shows a volcano erupting. Relying heavily on the use of a 3D container for Fluids,  attributes were manually configured to create the smoke, and an nCloth 'explosion' was used to create the initial blast.

Research Continues...

Today was a day for research. Or at least that's what I thought before I started.

Continuing on with 'In Silico', I worked through Chapters 12-13. This introduced MEL scripting, and also looked at importing numerical data into Maya. These chapters seemed to ramp up the complexity significantly on previous material, and were difficult to follow. Although I worked through all of the examples, nothing has stuck in my mind and I feel like I haven't gained a huge amount... except the mess of expressions and terms floating around in my mind.

After struggling with the In Silico material, I chose to shift focus to something more creative (and let's say more interesting). Instead of using the Gnomon material to explore the use of dynamics, I have started working on a new book, on loan from the University Library. 'Maya Studio Projects: Dynamics' is written by Todd Palamar and published by Sybex, and deals with creating realistic earth, wind, fire and water effects in Maya. Although my interest lies within creating fire, I decided to look at the particle stuff and see how it compared to using the older Gnomon material.

Within a page of starting, I was already working with simple dynamics setups in Maya. The book was clear, and easy to follow. It made use of high-quality images to complement the textual instructions - something the Gnomon DVDs struggled with.

The first chapter of the Studio Projects book deals with using particles, and has you creating and customising emitters, whilst playing with different types of particles and changing the appearance of the outcome. It uses simple expressions alongside the normal Maya interface. Having completed a couple of examples, I felt better about today's work.

Who knows, after time, the complicated approach of In Silico may make sense. In the meantime I'll walk before I can run, and give this new book a chance.

The first video example shows a comet 'flying' along a path. This was created by applying a lifespan to the particles which 'trailed' from a sphere. Ramp shaders were also applied to colour and transparency values.

The second video example shows an asteroid belt 'orbiting' around a planet (pre-supplied). This was an experiment in using a NURBS circle to emit particles, and then containing them with a cylindrical volume. A ramp was also applied based on the size of the spheres, which was randomised using a simple expression.