What is this thing! I’ve basically combined a bunch of stuff into one experiment!

I might have been inspired by the amazing planet explosions from The Force Awakens but wanted to see if I could get a cool version inside Element 3D.

Few Notes on this experiment;

I added smoke elements, shockwaves using CC Sphere, and even used the Saber plug-in to give the beam a nice energy feel!

For the disintegration, I used the multi-object system of Element 3D with a pre-fractured sphere and animated with the animation engine so it would break apart over time.

I even animated an After Effects light to match the death beam to fake reactive lighting.

The Sci-fi Weapon Tutorial has some really cool tips for turning radial shockwaves into other shapes.

DeathRay! #Element3D #Saber

A video posted by Video Copilot (@andrewkramer) on Jan 5, 2017 at 4:30am PST

Boom! Combining techniques! #Saber #Element3D #Shockwave

A video posted by Video Copilot (@andrewkramer) on Jan 5, 2017 at 4:28pm PST

I think the Aviator was on TV this weekend so I was inspired to make this image and here is a little breakdown:

BREAKDOWN:

1. First thing I did was load this model from the Jetstrike collection and convert the materials to a physical shaders.
2. I was going to just place the ship over a cloud background but I noticed it looked like the aircraft was emerging through the clouds so…
3. I took some dust stock footage and placed it around the craft with Mesh warping. Making sure to put some in front and behind.
4. I used a Z-Depth pass to blend the ship into the cloud layer.
5. As a final touch I added some fog to the render to simulate mist.
6. For motion blur I animated the Turbines with the Jetstrike Rig controls with some additional radial blur.

In the first tutorial in our Superhero landing series, we begin by creating a digital rooftop using the all new Roof Toolkit!

• Use the Roof Pack to create a digital set extension!
• Add Smoke and composite greenscreen footage
• Insane workflow tips for Element 3D
• Outside Global Illumination-style Lighting
• Aux Channel tips
• Physical Shader tips and Ground Reflections

Download Tutorial Raw Footage and Grunge Texture

DOWNLOAD the FREE ROOF PACK: For After Effects!

DOWNLOAD

windows

DOWNLOAD

apple

Alternate Files

Rooftop Toolkit – OBJ
Rooftop Toolkit – JPG
Rooftop Toolkit – PNG

Apparently this blog show wouldn’t be complete without a shot of my Elevator Shaft. I don’t want to say too much yet, but a silly idea came up and we wanted to include a shot of an Elevator! So the episode is taking a little longer to complete.  Why am I always waiting on Elevators!!!?

This scene was created inside of Element 3D and I found that using a world position pass helped to composite elements into the scene better. A Z-pass is great but with a camera movement the depth changes based on the camera distance. But a world position pass is almost like a texture that stays in place. So you can create depth information that stays parallel to a surface so you can composite smoke or other live action elements. Here is an older video with some information about the World Position feature inside Element 3D.

Notice how the world position pass highlights the back wall evenly behind the scaffolding. This could also be used as a mask for color correction or placing dust elements against the wall.

Doing a show in Japan this November! #VideoCopilot

A video posted by Video Copilot (@andrewkramer) on Jul 13, 2016 at 2:03pm PDT