Page 52 - 3D World - October 2017

TuTorials
Simulate a Ghost Rider transformation

PRePARe the footAge StAbiliSe the footAge
01Before we jump into a 3D program – Autodesk’s 02 If you don’t happen to have a tripod to shoot on, it isn’t the end of the
Maya, in this case – it’s worth preparing for the shot. world. There are some useful compositing tricks that you can use in order to
You need to capture good footage. The display is up stabilise the footage. First of all, import your footage into Adobe After Effects,
to you but make sure you stabilise the footage or shoot create a new composition, drag the footage into this composition and then
it on a tripod. Get some sudden movements from the right-click on the footage in the timeline. You’ll see a Warp Stabilizer VFX
actor as well as slow ones, for when the fire is inside the button appear. Click it, and then in the properties of the effect, simply change
character’s head and burning him when he’s human, Smooth Motion to No Motion. Do this only if your footage is suffering from
before slowly turning into the Rider. camera shake.

Stabilise
the footage
This is pretty
straightforward but
capture the footage
to be as smooth
as possible. Use
After Effects’ Warp
Stabilizer to add some
stabilisation in post.
SoRt the geometRy Skinning geometRy
03 You’ll need two models. First, a human base to 04 Make some joints based on the actor model and
simulate. This won’t contribute to the final composite skin it. In my case, I only have the head, and only a small
but it’s what we’ll burn. Second is the skeleton. Get both portion of the head. So I created three joints. One from
of these models, fit the skull inside the head as well as the chest to the neck or the bottom of the skull, another
you can and clean the geometry. Weed out any holes. In from the neck all the way to the top of the head and a
Maya’s modeling module, go to Mesh in the toolbar and third one that doesn’t really do anything but I like to have
find Reduce. This helps cut poly from the geometry. in case I need changes later.

AnimAte the geometRy tuRn geometRy into ncloth AnD RigiD boDieS
05 Now, animate the geometry to move like the 06 Under the FX module in Maya, go over to the nCloth menu bar and then
actor in the footage. Get this as close as possible. Once click Create nCloth while selecting the actor model. This will transform your
done, create a copy of those animated joints using Edit> actor model into an nCloth on which simulations can then be made. In the
Duplicate Special (in the settings of that, check the same menu bar, you’ll find the Create Passive Collider option. Click this button
Duplicate Input Graph to copy the animation) and skin while selecting the skeleton model in order to turn it into a Rigid Body. By
this new joint system to the skull for a quick and accurate doing this, you can ensure that the skin on the actor model will be prevented
duplication of the actor model’s motion. from going through the skull.

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