1. Generation method of special effects
1.1 Generation of temporary special effects: Use the generated track to temporarily create the special effect (you don’t need to put the special effect in the scene, but just create it temporarily), and the system life cycle track sets the playback duration of the special effect
1.2 Generation of long-term special effects: the duration of the special effects is the length of the footage
2. Types of special effects
2.1 When the meerkat falls to the ground, dust special effects are generated (here two dust special effects are created at the same time for superimposition)
2.2 When the meerkat rushes to the nest and hits it, a dust effect is generated (the dust has a larger diffusion area and a higher concentration)
2.3 When the eagle rushes to the cave, a special effect of dust falling is generated
2.4 Mosquito special effects: From the beginning of the animation, there have been special effects of mosquitoes playing in a loop. Usually there will be swarms of mosquitoes in the wild environment, plus there are eggshells, there will be mosquitoes thinking about sex after being full, and the flying direction is roughly towards the eggshell
3. Lighting and post-production
The direction of most of the lighting was set by the producer: always roughly towards the face of the meerkat. Also, the angle of the skybox is constantly being adjusted to provide a satisfactory picture for the camera viewport. The angle change of lighting and skybox can also be said to simulate the effect of dynamic sky lighting
A VisualSettings_BP is specially created to set the post-parameters: Lensflare, Exposure, Global Illumination, Bloom. But the parameters of each sequence fragment are the same, why not just set it once? ?
4. Animation clips
4.1 Shot sequence: each animation is a camera position, and then spliced together
4.2 Animation clips in detail
shot001: Let me explain the two main objects: the cave and the bird's egg. The focal length of the lens starts to change from the cave to the bird's egg
At this time, you can see that the focus is on the bird's egg, and the light is on the left
Then the camera stopped moving (personally, I think it would be better if the meerkat appeared a little longer after the camera stopped), and the meerkat appeared in a dramatic way. action before starting to approach the egg (in line with the habits of wild animals). Note: The camera is not in a completely still state at this time, but has been slightly shaken, simulating the slight shake of a handheld camera to make the picture look more natural
shot002: At this time, the close-up is close-up, and the direction of light is also changed to be more towards the face of the meerkat. When the meerkat is about to climb to the top of the egg, the camera also moves to the top of the egg. By guiding the audience's attention to synchronize with the meerkat, the purpose of emotional synchronization is achieved
shot003: The meerkat starts to climb the egg. At this time, the picture is dominated by meerkats and bird eggs, the direction of light is indicated by the arrow, and the camera remains completely still
shot004: As the meerkat slides, the eggs begin to roll irregularly. Simulate the irregular movement of the hand-held camera (there is a delay in the response between the camera tracking and the movement of the observed target, so that the camera movement is more natural), which is consistent with the irregular movement of the bird's eggs. The unstable telephoto lens allows the audience to see the Observing the current plot screen, it is even more ridiculous.
shot005: The meerkat poked its head into the hole of the bird's egg, found that it was stuck, and started to get out. The camera switches to a medium shot, still simulating the random movement of a hand-held camera. At this time, a sound effect similar to "brain in a vat" was heard, which conveyed to the audience the sense of hearing of the meerkat. Note that the meerkat is always dragged by the bird's egg, which means that the bird's egg is quite heavy compared to the strength of the meerkat
shot006: The meerkat flipped on its back and smashed the bird's egg in the process of retreating. The camera first bobs up and down twice, as if to indicate that the meerkat is about to fall (just like a person who sees someone about to fall dramatically, his eyes will also move up and down in this way, because at this moment his eyes are completely caught by the dramatic attracted by one scene)
The egg rotated 180 degrees around the meerkat's neck, and the egg was lifted up under the action of centrifugal force. The close-up shot faces the sun and moves up and down once, not only because of the centering of the protagonist (meerkat and bird egg) in the picture, but also because it is synchronized with the up and down movement of the bird egg, realizing the synchronization between the visual center and the story center
shot007: The meerkat found that the egg was broken, and the other half of the eggshell left itself. After a moment of stunned, the meerkat began to try to break free from the eggshell on its head. The direction of the camera is perpendicular to the direction of the eggshell leaving (blue arrow), and when the meerkat is in a daze, the camera moves slightly towards the meerkat, and when the meerkat is about to stand up and break free from the eggshell, the camera moves to the meerkat and its For the center of the picture, prepare for the connection to the next close-up position
shot008: The meerkat stands up and tries to break free from the eggshell with both hands. Gives a close-up with a hand-held shake. The shadow of the eagle on the ground sweeps from right to left, indicating that the eagle is located on the upper right of the meerkat, only the sound of the eagle is heard but the eagle is not seen
shot009: After the meerkat heard the hawk, it stood up vigilantly to check the direction of the sound. Bigger troubles were coming. The camera cuts to the distant scene, and the frame includes the sky, indicating that the sound is coming from the sky (red arrow). While the meerkat stands up (indicating that the meerkat can support the weight of half an eggshell), the camera pans up (green arrow)
shot010: The meerkat's chest rises and falls, its face is red and its ears are red, and its heart beats fast. After it is judged to be an eagle by its sense of smell, it immediately prepares to flee to the cave. The meerkat’s eyes were still looking around, but he didn’t see the eagle (because the eagle was right above him, but his head never looked straight up, which means he didn’t see the eagle, or it might be because the eggshell blocked his top Sight), but judged by a keen sense of smell. The completely still close-up is directed upwards, clearly and completely depicting the current mood of the meerkat: a stroke of panic
shot011: After a jump, the meerkat began to rush towards the cave. The camera undulates slightly and tracks to the right (green arrow), echoing the undulations of the meerkat's run. A small eggshell was dropped
shot012: The meerkat rushed to the cave, and was knocked unconscious. The camera rotates to the right with the same position, simulating the vision of a bystander standing in place
. When the meerkat hits the cave, the camera rotates in a pitch direction, simulating the shaking of the head, and then rotates to the left. Turn, simulating the feeling of being bounced
shot013: The meerkat spotted the eagle in the sky and skipped it. Since there was no retreat for the time being, it only tried to roar to the sky to drive away the eagle. Looking down at the camera to capture a huge shadow of an eagle, and the meerkat looking at the sky, the camera is turned slightly upwards
shot014: The meerkat began to calm down and observed the eagle's position. The camera state is handheld random displacement
shot015: The eagle suddenly flew out of the sun and started flying towards the meerkat. The camera is tracking the eagle
shot016: The meerkat instinctively backed away in fear when it saw the eagle. The camera state is handheld random displacement
shot017: The eagle flew towards the meerkat, full of murderous aura. The camera tracks the eagle, which almost fills the frame with its wings outstretched
shot018: I'm about to perform the Eagle Claw skill. A close-up of the eagle's claws, the camera rotates the direction of the pitch, simulating the random shaking affected by the airflow during flight.
shot019: The meerkat can only retreat to the cave. The camera is animated to turn left and approach the meerkat
shot020: The eagle is approaching, occupying the entire frame, and spread its terrifying sharp beak and claws. Close-up shot remains still
shot021: The meerkat backed away with all its strength. The camera gradually zooms in, indicating that the eagle is approaching
shot022: The eagle's claws are stretched to the maximum, almost occupying the entire frame. The camera follows the eagle and moves quickly towards the meerkat
shot023: At the critical moment, the meerkat seemed to know how to get out: stick its head out a little more, and then retreat with all its strength. The camera is still gradually zooming in, and the eagle is still approaching
shot024: The eagle was blocked at the entrance of the cave, and the meerkat said that it was very scared at that moment. The camera focuses on the eagle's mouth. At the moment the eagle hits the hole, the camera rotates in a pitch direction, simulating the shaking
. The camera focuses on the meerkat's expression.
After 1 second, the meerkat begins to open its eyes and look towards the entrance of the cave. The camera focuses on the eagle
shot025: The eagle raised his head and found that his eyes were covered by eggshells, like a frozen rooster. The scene was funny, and the mood of the story changed from dangerous and tense to humorous. The camera follows the eagle's head (center of vision), first up and then to the left. The eagle is about to turn left. During this movement, the eagle will definitely face the audience. At this moment, the eagle turns into a clown, and its movements are natural
shot026: The eagle raised its foot to the left to leave this embarrassing scene, but accidentally stepped on the eggshell, slipped and fell to the ground, and flew blindly hastily. The camera action is to rotate the hand-held camera with a slight shake, tracking the eagle
Here is a more suspenseful picture: the eagle almost hit the rock
shot027: The plot is reversed, now the eagle breaks free from the eggshell. Flying off balance while trying to break free, the action is realistic. The lens is to track the head of the eagle
When the eagle skips the lens, the camera gives the rotation of the Pitch direction, simulating the force of the eagle inciting the airflow
shot028: The meerkat poked its head out carefully, using vision and smell to observe the environment outside the cave, and confirmed that the eagle had left. The static close-up also tells the audience that everything is calm
shot029: The eagle's call came from the sky again, the meerkat thought the eagle was coming again, and quickly blocked the opening of the hole with the eggshell, and the whole play ended. Still shot. The tattered eggshell fragments (red circles) shake slightly, and the eggshell is tossed into an eggless shape, and the scene ends comically.
shot014—shot023 is a group of alternating camera pictures, the distance from the eagle to near, the mood of the meerkat is getting more and more tense and fearful
5. Summary of the plot
The meerkats, eggshells and eagles run through the entire plot. The eggshells have changed from creating danger to a safety portal, and the eggshell mask has been transferred from the meerkats to the eagles. The scenes, actions, and camera movements are natural and real. Although the scenes are small, they are fully utilized. The plot ranges from funny-nervous-frightening-calm. It is a great illusory short film.
6. Implementation technology (the following content is purely personal guesswork)
6.1 Action: Meerkat is a professional motion capture actor, including motion and expression capture. The eagle is the real flying motion capture (recording the motion data of the flapping wings) + the motion capture actor walking (the eagle walks on the ground) + manual K frame (the eagle's flying part) 6.2 Scene: Megascan assets 6.3 Protagonist model: a.
Meerkat
:
Net Body Model + Groom Hair + Groom Mouth Hair Food Residue
b. Eagle: body model + Groom hair + Feathers_Cards static mesh (always hidden, function unknown)
c. Eggshell: The eggshell animation is different for each segment. It is divided into four eggshell states, and four eggshell models are used. 1: The
complete eggshell state 2
: The eggshell is broken in half
3: The eggshell is broken The eagle stepped on an extra piece (here a trick is used, in fact, a small piece of eggshell model is added, the original eggshell remains unchanged)
4. The eggshell was picked up by the meerkat
Plug-ins that can make eggshell breaking animations: tyflow, Rayfire, RealFlow
Eggshell properties: hard, thick, brittle, not broken into pieces
7. Dubbing and soundtrack
7.1 Dubbing
The opening bird call and the background sound of the blowing,
the meerkat's various calls, falling sounds, running sounds, hitting holes,
bird eggs rolling, smashing, trampling, dragging, and internal closed spaces Buzzing, eggshells hitting holes, meerkats detaching from eggshells, eagles putting on eggshells,
various eagle calls, whistling wind, falling
7.2 soundtrack
Relaxing wind music, with dial string sound ends