Enjoying My New Wacom Bamboo Graphics Tablet

So I just bought my new (and first) Wacom graphics tablet, called the Bamboo Capture. [Wacom Bamboo Capture Pen and Touch Tablet (CTH470)] I mainly bought this to relieve myself of the heavy use my mouse has been going through doing Stereo and multi pass compositing, and a graphics tablet is a more ergonomic and efficient way to go about your business and navigating through your computer. 

It really is phenomenal! After seeking advice from various artists on whether a Bamboo would be right for me - it just so happens that the Bamboo is Wacom's low-end line, mostly for non-business purposes but it is just as sturdy and usable as their more professional Intuos tabs. 

I've been using for a while now (it's been almost a day since I bought it) and I couldn't be happier with my purchase. It is fast, easy to set up, and does more than just acts as a substitute for your mouse.

In fact, it's also capable of being used as a multi-gesture touch pad for your laptop. 

It has 4 buttons that you can customize and point to various tasks on your comp - such as having shortcuts for programs that you use most often - all done through a very easy to use and intuitive control panel (comes on DVD). It also has 1024 levels of pressure, which I believe is twice that of the Bamboo Fun tablets they previously had. Wacom has gone ahead and upgraded their low-end line to meet the needs of 'the everyday artist/photographer'. It ships with a DVD with 3 programs - including Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, Autodesk Sketchbook Express and NIK Color Filters (for Photoshop Elements). 

As an artist told me the other day that you're really paying for the tablet not the software it ships with so make wise decisions as your tablet will stick around for a long time. You're expected to replace your PC more than your tablet. And I think he was right because this is one durable device. 

I think this is a great start to a meaningful relationship with my Bamboo. Looking forward to exploring more and more everyday and putting it to good use. In fact I'm using it right now to go through all these buttons on my dashboard! - Best $99 I've spent yet! 

Mocap - In Your Browser?

WebAnimate

Honestly didn't know about this until today but this is kind like motion capture plus Skype.It was part of a lesson at fxphd and I thought it was really cool! 

Simply put, this is animation in your browser. You can upload motion capture data and your rigged character from your computer, and you'll be able to make use of the IKinema Solver with it's very intuitive interface (load assets, pass animation from one character to another etc). And then you can export the animation and share it with your friends and fellow artists.

Note: That they will NOT be able to view or download the files that you upload. 

Martian Landscape in VUE

The Inspiration and Draft


I've been watching a lot of that British comedy series by Ricky Gervais and Co. called 'An Idiot Abroad'. Particularly, the episode in which Karl Pilkington goes to New Zealand to live on a Desert Island, I believe it was the first episode of season 2. So he's on his way to an island and along the way is this aerial shot of a gorgeous hazy, martian-like landscape. Only, this was on earth. It mostly comprised of hilly terrain (a few very large bumps here and there) and a lot of haze. 


So I went into Vue and started recreating my version of it - or rather whatever I had remember from that shot, really. 

Before compositing in Nuke

So I came up with that (above) terrain and I was, as always, astonished by Vue's ability to pick up so much detail. After I had achieved this sort of edgy terrain - modifying it using the powerful function editor - I figured that for a still image it looked quite decent with an un-textured terrain. Of course, this isn't even close to the effect that I wanted to achieve so I left the latter for Nuke to handle. 


The Final Composite

After compositing in Nuke.

The above landscape shows the finished (composited) scene. The Grade node being my favorite one in Nuke, I used that to my advantage to get the orange hue. Then applied a blur to the terrain in the horizon. 

About the blur

This was the tricky part as I wasn't sure if adding a blur was worth it. It sort of doesn't change anything but on a magnified level you will be able to see some difference. Most of depth effect was due to Vue's aerial perspective, but I just couldn't help myself and had to fiddle around with Nuke's blur node. All in all, it's done!

Who The Heck Was This Made For?

Last week. I had the audacity to watch sci-fi thriller The Darkest Hour. Of the few things I have to say about this movie, one of them is that it surprisingly borrows the plot from the 90s classic, Tremors. But then that's it, the movie is completely devoid of anything unique, or out of the ordinary and isn't worth watching.

For some reason, you'll know who's getting shredded next

On a visual level, The Darkest Hour tries it's best to become nothing but a light show with amazing fluid sims (oil smoke). Every time a human awkwardly gets hauled down and ultimately gets shredded into bits and ash, you want more. I found myself pausing and rewinding at these sequences very often as they were a joy to watch.

Now that is just fantastic. Policeman in the shredder.

On a professional level, the movie never delivers. You will never feel satisfied of what's going on as you'll be puzzled at how it even got started. Aliens are looking for minerals, again...where have I seen this before? Oh yeah, Cowboys and Aliens! Which made slightly more sense than this because of proper exposition. YOU KNEW WHO THE CHARACTERS WERE! In this case, YOU DON'T! You don't even know where they're from, what they're doing in Moscow, what the relationship between the 2 chicks is because every now and then they'll give each other the 'eyes' and whisper to each other as if they know more than ought to about the alien invasion. Truth is, they don't know SH**.

Looks like someone stole your sweet rolls.

Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT a critic but when it comes to movies like these, I question my sanity. On that soppy note, I'd love to hear what you thought about the film. Lay your otherwise meaningless opinions on me in the comments. 

On to The Grey. 

RUIN - Post-Apocalyptic Short by Oddball Animation

Amidst the eternal waves of post-apocalyptic shorts, Oddball Animation was able to produce an astounding 8.5 minute film. Very seldom do you see a short film as well-done as this one. 

RUIN from OddBall Animation on Vimeo.

However, viewers have had their concerns regarding physics during the slow-mo near the end and I myself felt taken aback during the POV shots - irritated the fluidity of the chase - it makes for some inspirational work to say the least. Like they said, "This needs it's own feature." 

Futuristic Eye in After Effects

Futuristic Eye in After Effects from Umar Ansari on Vimeo.

This is a clip from my new personal demo reel. I composited 2D elements with a live action clip of a moving eye, using After Effects. With the help of a simple, self-written script I was able to achieve the random rotation of the elements inside the eye.

Original Footage 

Finished Composite

Still Compositing - The Apache Project

I'll admit it, I do a ton of b.s. on my computer in my spare time (Don't Ask!) LOL! -- That include's Still Compositing. Instead of just taking pictures, I prefer to take videos instead and by using the Freeze Frame feature in After Effects I choose whichever point in time I like best and set my imagination free.

Credits go to a friend: Wajahat Siddiqui :D

So I didn't have a helicopter model on hand at that time and felt like I needed to do something in under an hour. Then, it dawned on me: GOOGLE! I went online, looked for a free Apache AH-64 model. I'm really not sure if this is the same blog I used for the model but it came with a MAYA version as well as 3DS MAX (My package of choice). 


Then came the fun part, VideoCopilot's Action Essentials 2. I use it wherever I can because it makes my work more surreal and gives it a dreamy kinda look. Added some VideoCopilot's Optical Flares - you really can't go without this, it's an amazing plug-in and can do wonders. Lastly, I used Magic Bullet's Looks for color correction on top of the built-in Curves feature in AE. Not sure which preset I used, but I think if you look under 'Cinematics' you should be able to find a 'Blockbuster' Look -- 2 thumbs up! -- It's EPIC! 
Preferably you can use Magic Bullet's Mojo but Looks comes with these (mentioned above) presets that should be more than enough.


Check out the final composite below! :D

I don't own the rights to this Apache model. Google it. It is freeware.