At the Movies

So, I’ve been posting about the “At the Movies” VFX trailer, but there’s a whole other side to the campaign. All of the print, animation and lobby elements are based around a “drive-in movie” theme.

To tie everything together, I built the art in 3D (using Lightwave – see previous post on how I feel about that) so I could animate the elements later. All of the cars are stock 3D models that I got online and resurfaced (I don’t have the hours -or the skill- to model 20 different cars in detail), but the drive-in was created from scratch (OKC residents might recognize the structure is based on our very own Winchester Drive-In – though the sign is completely made up).

Here’s the animation:

And here’s a little bit of the process (though getting too in-depth would take a few pages on this one):

old dog learning new tricks

Alright, that’s it. I’m posting out of frustration…

The last 7-8 years of using Newtek’s Lightwave for 3D may soon become for naught. I think I’m learning Maya.

I can’t take any more of Newtek’s buggy code, terrible user interface, and completely non-artistic approach to 3D (you pretty much have think like a programmer, not an artist).

I would say it’s just because Lightwave was made for PC, so it’s just Newtek’s attempt to port it to Mac that is to blame, but who am I kidding? Their stuff barely worked on Windows either.

So, I’m going to need to find a support group as I detach myself from the familiar and leap back into “beginner” territory with a whole new piece of software.

Oh…and Adam: you were right.

Here endeth the geek speak.

**UPDATE: ha ha, typical example of flying off the handle here. I’m generally smarter than that. I still hold to what I said, but it looks like the transition to Maya won’t be as immediate as I’d hoped, thanks to cost and the learning process. LW will still have to do until I can get up to speed. Unfortunately, as I’m getting into Maya, I’m realizing that they all have their pros and cons…

Nikon customer service

The interwebs are full of people complaining about bad experiences with companies (mainly because a lot of companies really don’t give a rip about customer service anymore) but I wanted to do the opposite.

Kudos to Nikon. I just received a Nikon camera that I had sent in for repair with a big fat 0.00 balance on the invoice. It’s even an older camera, but they owned up to creating a faulty chip somewhere and set up a whole return system for anyone who had problems with it.

Thanks, Nikon, for still realizing that the best way to keep a customer is to treat them right.
BC + Nikon 4–>

“Anything Short of Sin” behind the scenes

Here’s little peek into what my job is like…kind of. First, some outtakes from our action trailer shoot are above.
*edit: The actual trailer can be found HERE.

Plus, some people seemed interested in the making of the special effects, so here are a few images of the process:

A CGI explosion. Composited in After Effects with our background plate & stock detonation clips.

Car jump. 3D car surfaced & rendered in Lightwave3D, then composited with After Effects. The same process was used for the helicopter & jet shots.

Stephen hanging from the ledge. This was shot right outside our building. We shot the background plate from a rooftop in downtown OKC.

The closest I’ll ever get to stardom

Here’s the promo for the upcoming “At the Movies” series at LifeChurch.tv (which was alluded to a few months ago here ). All I can say is this is probably the most fun I’ve ever had on a project. One of those “I can’t believe I’m getting paid for this” things.

I’m still pretty sure I only got the screen time because I offered the FX work, but I’ll take what I can get.

Created the effects with green screen footage (shot by Grant Downing & Beth Johnson), Lightwave3D 9 and AfterEffectsCS3. Edited by Beth Johnson.

One Prayer

The “One Prayer” event officially kicks off this weekend (though we already had our “preview” week at LifeChurch.tv last weekend). Here’s some of the artwork I came up with (after only about 13 failed concepts).

It’s really a pretty amazing thing. You should check out the website if you don’t know about it. I’m most excited about the massive joint offering that will go to help people all over the world.

Anyway, I thought our Tulsa campus really went all out in advertising it. They tagged the side of their building with the artwork. Apparently they guy freehands it with spray paint. Crazy.

*I totally stole this image from our Tulsa Worship Pastor, Derrick Henslee’s blog.

i love hulu

How did I not know about this little gem from SNL?
Superhero Party