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tellan

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Join date
19-Oct-2004
Last activity
27-Sep-2011
Posts
442

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Post
#285083
Topic
.: The Lancer DVD Project :. (* unfinished project *)
Time
the SE footage is there as a placeholder because I havent rendered the other angle yet.

brightness, check, its needs a bit more brightness to match the other CG SE shots later on in the space battle. as I'm not going to replace all the SE shots, I need to key to that really.

everything was rendered out in LW9.2 and comped in Vegas 5.

I'm aiming more for the original shots that the SE replaced with one grand panning move. the originals had NO camera movement and little ship movement. the SE has both so I'm aiming for a middle ground. I think the ships need to move a bit faster in the shot, they're a bit lethargic.

too much motion blur? I'm running at 125% particle blur at the moment, what should I be having for 24fps?

I could do with a plugin that provides random linear movement to the ships to make things look more natural and not like they're running on rails.

Post
#284967
Topic
.: The Lancer DVD Project :. (* unfinished project *)
Time
ooh special treat for you people today.

an upload of my first flyby animation to go into my project. reds 1,2,3,5 and 6 are present in the scene along with two y-wings. everyone is textured as per the actual shooting miniatures. CG death star and planet and starfield in the background.

crits and comments please, particularly concerning the motion of the ships in the scene, lighting, engine flare, motion blur etc. this is important, I need to know if I got this right in peoples opinion. I think it looks pretty good. I don't think it's completely where I want it, but it's damn close.

rendered in LW9, comped in Vegas.

flyby mark 1
Post
#284708
Topic
STAR WARS: EP IV 2004 <strong>REVISITED</strong> ADYWAN *<em>1080p HD VERSION NOW IN PRODUCTION</em>
Time
Just in case this hasn't already been said, those of you already asking for different versions of this project when it's finished (i.e. NTSC, iPod, portable, etc) really should be ashamed of yourselves.


second the motion.

its hard enough sticking at a project long enough to finish without having to worry about what versions to do.

Post
#284700
Topic
STAR WARS: EP IV 2004 <strong>REVISITED</strong> ADYWAN *<em>1080p HD VERSION NOW IN PRODUCTION</em>
Time
ady, sound aside, a few crits from the clip. considering I have also spent months looking at this scene I know it pretty well.

1) frame 3320 to about 3395 there is a noticeable shimmy to the leading left side of the nose of the star destroyer above the Tantive. ovously you've masked here and something is ever so slightly showing through from the background.

2) frame 3600, the laser flash is tinted and not pure white.

3) motion tracking between tatooine and the atmosphere haze in the master establishing shot is off and doesn't line up right. the haze still has motion after the planet has stopped moving. its only a few frames out but....

also the curvature of the haze doesn't match the planet.

Post
#283974
Topic
.: The Lancer DVD Project :. (* unfinished project *)
Time
the footage is 720 x 430 ie 2.35:1 anamorphically stretched vertically, use either VLC or media player classic and stretch and shrink it so it's looking less tall.

as to shadows, the SE2004 and original have inconsistent shadows in these two shots.

light is coming from top left if we're looking from behind, but the gas giant underside is lit, when the death star isn't bit silly.I might reverse the orientation of the planet so it's at the bottom of the shot instead. making the shadows more consistent.

at the moment, the camera on the first shot matches the ORIGINAL star wars, not the SE. in the original, it was a static establishing shot and remained so even when the fighters flew past. as was the reverse frontal shot. I'm going to have to introduce some movement I think otherwise like you say, it feels odd.

Post
#283670
Topic
.: The Lancer DVD Project :. (* unfinished project *)
Time
the iris wipe is going, yup yup.

the DS is going to be much further away, hence I'll probably keep the original one. I need better motion blur and that in turn causes an engine glow problem due to plugins clashing so I need to sort that out as well.

it's more a taste to show what can be done.

I think it holds up okay, it's just a matter of good lighting and motion rig.

the finished shot will be much higher res to give the necessary detail.

in addition, the distance shots I have planned won't have the detail issue because they are merely background.

Post
#283585
Topic
.: The Lancer DVD Project :. (* unfinished project *)
Time
well I'm back to work tomorrow so a small taster of what I have been working on.

this is purely a test shot. it is not a finished shot by any means.

motion blur needs sorting. speed of ships needs sorting. their placement needs sorting. colour matching etc etc etc but it gives you lot an idea of what I'm doing at the moment.

flyby test shot link

all wings call in!
Post
#283382
Topic
.: The Lancer DVD Project :. (* unfinished project *)
Time
I'm actually getting a bit more ambitious as I get back to grips with Lightwave.

I did a gunstar from the last starfight 4 years ago but haven't touched lightwave since. so it's taking a bit of head scratching.

shots sketched in so far.

1./ liftoff from yavin. new shot replacing the god awful close in thing from the SE's with a long range shot of ships lifting off into the sky from the temple. I am also toying with putting in the falcon lifting off and going in a different direction to the fighters. ie this is when Han and Chewie bail before coming back to save the day.

2./ the two shot I've already announced, both angles. because you just can't slow down the film sufficiently to provide enough frames.

I also noticed a continuity error with the SE shot anyway. the Death Star is having to go round Yavin's gas giant to get a clear shot right? well how come in the panning shot, in the background is Yavin IV. and when we pan 180 degrees, there's the death star. hold the phone, that means they already have a straight shot, why haven't they fired? so my shot will show the death star and maybe a peak of Yavin IV from round the back of the gas giant.

3./ a few TIE's during the falcon TIE escape duel.


4./ certain death star battle shots are going to get spruced up as well. there are a number of original movie static shots where ships could be inserted into the background to add depth and action.

5./ the intial dive on the death star has surprisingly few fighters in view. more are going to be added in the background.
Post
#283128
Topic
STAR WARS: EP IV 2004 <strong>REVISITED</strong> ADYWAN *<em>1080p HD VERSION NOW IN PRODUCTION</em>
Time
damn, neil, you beat me to it.

yup, that's a focus shot. the emphasis is on the background first to show the stormtroopers running away and then it switches to the foreground when 3po speaks. what doesn't help the minor distorition on the pull back is that the camera moves slightly causing it to visually warp as it does so. I can understand your urgh moment, but I wouldn't even want to fix that.
Post
#283120
Topic
STAR WARS: EP IV 2004 <strong>REVISITED</strong> ADYWAN *<em>1080p HD VERSION NOW IN PRODUCTION</em>
Time
well everyone else has had their tuppence worth. so here's mine.

a) overall quality, very good. what's done is nicely done

love the starfield replacement in the gunwells to match their position in the falcon and the ships relative movement. neat touch. and the overall starfield replacement gives the duel a lot more dynamic feeling of movement and speed even though they are static sets.

b) crits

i) when ben is cut down, I see you've subtly changed it so that we see his lightsaber and his hands (nice touch) falls away, away from camera, ie to ben's right. but off course, if I'm being really picky that then creates a continuity error because when ben's cloak collapses to the floor, the lightsaber falls on top of it.

why not have his hands and saber fall to our right, ie back towards him for that brief second, not creating that discontinuity.

ii) when the falcon pivots and accelerates away there is a slight jerk between your change and the original shot on the position of the falcon.

iii) when you see Han saying he's going to warm up the guns etc. I know you've changed the starfield, but I'd advise changing the pan so that it's not going so fast.

the original shot has a slight top left to bottom right movement going on. no problem. yours is a top right to bottom left. again no issue with that, it creates a bridge of continuity to the panning shot of the falcon afterwards. HOWEVER, and this is the point. if you have the falcon moving so fast in a climbing turn, we should have seen them do a 180 back to the death star by now. I'd just personally tone down the amount of pan in the starfield at that point.

iv) this is how picky I am.

the first dive on the falcon by the tie's time index 1.29.26.17

if you look REALLY closely, you will see that the topside quad mount on the falcon is putting backwards, ie towards this tie.

but you've got it firing forwards.

this is one of the most iconic shots in the original film and while I appluad the changes to it that you've made for their quality, I think you've made it too busy. personally, I'd ditch the other two attacking tie's and the only change I would make would be to have the guns on the falcon firing at this tie.

v) I think I'll be in the minority on this one.

the targetting computer readouts. hate hate hate the TIE targetting icons. love the rest, hate them. for me, this is a targetting display, and I think this is my military background coming out here, but having the readout display actual TIE's is a bit of a misnomer, a targetting package is there to give you target cues, not display the actual shape of the target. while the rest of it is perfectly fine. I'd personally ditch the TIE icon and put a chevron back in.

vi) I see what you've done to accomodate the new shot of the falcon being hit, you've moved the r2 and 3po corridor walk around. neat, clever manipulation of existing material

vii) one or two of the shots where you have TIE's flying past the front windows of the cockpit, I'd eliminate the laser bolts on at least one of those shots. reason? the problem here is one of repetition and angle. their point of origin is the exact same place, ie the upper dorsal turret position. they originate from the same place, and track in the same direction, makes the shot feel samey even if it isn't. I'd just mix it up a bit and one of the middle shots, drop falcon fire from it. stops it becoming repetitive.

on a personal level, I don't agree with every change, but the quality of what is there is stunning and I'm sure there are changes of mine you don't necessarily agree with either.

regards music etc, I'm just not sold on the new music for this section, but then, I'm not intending to edit the first three films as well.

I totally understand the need for that music for your version as that is the last climatic showdown between kenobi and anakin and the audience when watching the films in order will know that. hence the music is necessary.

Post
#282540
Topic
.: The Lancer DVD Project :. (* unfinished project *)
Time
took a break from sabers. they do my head in, they really do, more than anything else in the film.

so I started work on what for me, is the biggest shot replacement of all.

the swing flyby of yavin. I'm going for the feel of the original, ie a straight two shot.

one reverse, one frontal.

but with the detail and quality of the 2004 DVD. the problem is that I can't just pinch the shot from the DVD because one they turned it into one sweeping shot, when you cut out the middle pass, there aren't enough frames left. I've tried slowing things down etc but it doesn't quite work.

it's a WIP and I'll post a test movie once things are ironed out, for now, a still to whet appetites.

textures on the xwing are only temporary at this time.

flyby test shot
Post
#282327
Topic
.: The Lancer DVD Project :. (* unfinished project *)
Time
timeframe. ah the eternal question.

progress is good. now the monitors calibration has been double checked I am flying again. the next job is to double check the kenobi vader sabers, then its mainly laser bolts at the end battle plus another check of everything and a few odds and sods tweaks. that is then the video done. now I have a 5.1 speaker setup on the computer it makes the sound mix a lot better to sort out and I don't imagine that taking too long, then the menu's which I again am thinking of jigging.

I've got another week off work, so provided I don't get distracted by RL, good chance the video side of things will be done this week.

two things though I'd love to do but am having difficulty.

I want to re-do the fighter take off from yavin and the flyby. now for the yavin take off, I'm looking to emulate the original release version. ie guy in tower in foreground, fighters taking off in far distance. can do. no really an issue, it's just a new comp plate. but I'd love to lay paws on a good 3D mesh in LW of an xwing and a ywing so I can recreate the shot from the 2004 SE but without the pan. ie turn it into a two shot like the original film.

remember my philosophy, picture quality! and in the spirit of the original.

Post
#282181
Topic
.: The Lancer DVD Project :. (* unfinished project *)
Time
two days work. a shot that is one of the most carelessly rworked in ANH.

19 layers to this and it's a major frigging headache to mask and align six different versions of 47 frames.

megaupload link.

PS. there is no new 2004 DVD stuff here. it is all LD rips, including MOTH3R, Citizen, EDITDROID and the GOUT release.

masking, and fiddling with the transparencies on this remarkably managed to fudge out a lot of the grain normally visible on the stormtroopers.

PS. sorry for the mask letter overlay but a version of ANH on ebay recently included a lot of my shots which have come from an old pre release test disc I (stupidly/naively, you pick) sent to someone I had previously trusted a great deal.

not a member of this forum by the way, but once stung, you get the idea.

let me be clear on this

I have no problem people incorporating any of my work into their own projects, none at all. its flattering that people think my work is up to snuff that they want to use it. but I'd like it if people asked permission, and gave credit where credit is due. in this case, the so called friend was passing it off as his own work with no recourse to whose work he was using.
Post
#280014
Topic
.: The Lancer DVD Project :. (* unfinished project *)
Time
hey it's fine. what's the point of a forum if people can't point stuff out to you. we're a community right. as long as crits are fair I got no problem with them. flame wars I can do without.

I already know about the red shot. I couldn't be arsed to rerender is all.

the black side of things though is a concern.

the blue screen bit I can cure easy enough. I think I left a layer turned on by accident for that one.

hmmm, rebalanced the section.

gonn have to dig out my calibration tool here. looks like the settings for the monitor have drifted a bit.
Post
#279591
Topic
STAR WARS: EP IV 2004 <strong>REVISITED</strong> ADYWAN *<em>1080p HD VERSION NOW IN PRODUCTION</em>
Time
well for myself, if I got luke out in the moisture field looking up at the sky with his macros' and the biggs tosche station stuff, I'd have a damn good stab at slotting it into my version.

I think the pay off is huge in terms of story at the end of the film, it makes the whole biggs death more poignant. it also means inclusion of the hangar scene.

I know lucas cut these scenes for pacing reasons but I think they 'could' work.

I've seen a glimpse of the restoration work done so far and I think with a bit of jigging, I can get them to track acceptably at 25fps without jerking and sharpen them up enough so that they can fit in with the surrounding footage.

movealong, how's about it? huffyuv or lagarith codec of the files uploaded somewhere and we can talk turkey.