Real Time Visual Effects for the Technical Artist
- Length: 390 pages
- Edition: 1
- Language: English
- Publisher: CRC Pr I Llc
- Publication Date: 2022-04-05
- ISBN-10: 0367444488
- ISBN-13: 9780367444488
- Sales Rank: #0 (See Top 100 Books)
Visual effects (VFX) are one of the most complicated components of feature film and television creation. With advancements in such technologies as Ray Tracing and Virtual Reality, the visual quality of the real-time rendering engine is now rivaling feature film. Real-time rendering requires years of programming experience with advanced understanding in math and physics.
As the power of the real-time rendering engine improves, so too do the interfaces for VFX creation. With limited technical understanding, artists can create VFX with the push of a button and tug of a slider. As powerful as the interfaces are, they can only expose a portion of the true potential of the rendering engine. Artists are limited by their understanding of the engine interface.Real Time Visual Effects for the Technical Artist is written for digital artists to explain the core concepts of VFX, common in all engines, to free them from interface bounds.
Features
- Introduces the reader to the technical aspects of real-time VFX
- Built upon a career of more than 20 years in the feature film VFX and the real-time video game industries and tested on graduate and undergraduate students
- Explores all real-time VFX in four categories: in-camera effects, in-material effects, simulations, and particles
This book is written to complement undergraduate- or graduate-level courses focused on the fundamentals of modern real-time VFX.
Chris Roda is a Technical Art instructor at the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA), a graduate degree program in interactive, real-time application development at the University of Central Florida. Early in his career, Chris was a visual effects artist in the film and television industries where he contributed visual effects for films such asSpider-Man,Titanic, andThe Fifth Element. Before coming to FIEA, Chris was a CG Supervisor at Electronic Arts, where he worked on video game titles such asNCAA Football andMadden NFL Football. In addition to teaching, Chris works on generating tools and pipelines for the creation of immersive experiences: the amalgamation of the narrative of films, the interactivity of video games, and the immersion of theme parks.
Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Acknowledgments Author Introduction Why This Book? Intended Audience Visual Effects Artists versus Technical Artists How This Book Is Organized Conventions Experiences Story Worlds Art Directable Users Software Disclaimer Prerequisites Chapter 1: What Are Visual Effects? Introduction Visual Effects Are Animations Special Effects Off-Line Visual Effects Real-Time Visual Effects Drawbacks of Real-Time Visual Effects Real-Time Uses Video Games Live-Action Production Cinematics Simulation Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Cross Reality (XR) Architecture Automotive/Transportation Scientific Visualization Location-Based Experiences Real-Time Visual Effect Types In-Camera Effects Material Effects Simulations Particles Conclusions Chapter 2: Visual Effects Rules Introduction Visual Effects Are Not the Story Visual Effects Add Credibility Visual Effects Are the Glue Visual Effects Help Story Flow Never Show VFX Out of Context Scale Is King! Visual Effects Don’t Scale Lighting Integration Is Queen Whites and Blacks Style Consistency Visual References Missing VFX Never Duplicate VFX Never Take from Tutorials Never Start from Scratch VFX Toolkit Visual Effects Layers Students of Animation Be a Magician Simulation Simulations Consume Careers Hyper-Reality Tease the Audience! Iterate! No Roadblocks Art before Technology Visual Integrity Conclusion Chapter 3: Color Theory Introduction Color in Reality Representation of Color RGB Color CMYK Color HSV and HSL Color Other Color Models Gamut Is “Photo-Real” Achievable? Linear Color Gamma versus Linear Color Calibration Basic Color Blending Addition (Color Sum) Subtraction Multiplication (Color Product) Division (Color Difference) Power Dodge Screen Color Dodge Linear Dodge Burn Multiply Color Burn Linear Burn Conclusion Chapter 4: In-Camera Effects Introduction Real-Time Rendering Pipeline Input Assembler Vertex Shader Tessellation Stage Geometry Shader Rasterizer Pixel/Fragment Shader Layer Blending Stage Real-Time Transparency and Blending Alpha Blending Additive Blending Multiplicative Blending Divisional Blending Alpha Testing Inside Blending Outside Blending Ray Tracing Ray-Tracing Pipeline Ray Generation Stage Ray Traversal Stage Intersection Stage Shading Stage Ray Tracing Shader Pipeline Raygen Shader Intersection Shader Closest Hit Shader Any Hit Shader Miss Shader Lighting and Lighting VFX Lighting to Move Story and Gameplay Lighting to Manipulate Shadows Lights to Interact with Characters and Environments Types of Lights Skylight Directional Lights Point Light Spotlights Area Lights Lighting Strategies Key Light Fill Light Rim Light Other Lighting Strategies Post-Processing Render Target Eye Adaption Color Filtering Tone Mapping Color Grading Look Up Tables (LUTS) Image Blurring Techniques Image Blurring Bloom Depth of Field Lens Flare Emissive Materials In-Camera Techniques Vignetting Chromatic Aberration Distortion Pixelization Dithering Edge Detection/Sobel Operator Conclusion Chapter 5: Material Effects Introduction Material Pipeline Shading Paradigms Old School Rendering Models Ambient Shading Component Diffuse Shading Component Specular Shading Model Phong Shading Model Unlit Shading Model New School Rendering Models Vertex Shader Parameters Tessellation Parameters Geometry Shader Parameters Pixel/Fragment Shader Parameters Color Blending Parameters PBR Rules Is the Surface Metallic? Normal Maps Shiny or Rough? How Specular Is the Surface? What Is the Base Color? Ambient Occlusion and Height Basic Material Operations Multiplication Addition Linear Interpolation Material Instancing Shading Models Unlit Rasterized Ray Traced Subsurface Blending Modes Opaque Layering Mask Rendering A Over B Blending Linear Dodging Multiply Burning Texture Mapping Fundamental Technology Texture Images Texture Coordinates Texture Space Texture Masking Animated Texture Images Virtual Display Flip-Booking Panning Non-Planar Trails Flowing Lava River Rotating Magic Rings Normal Mapping Procedural Textures Mathematical Functions ABS Step Clamp Linear Step Smoothstep Linear Interpolation Disks Boxes Anti-Aliasing Line Plotting Sine Wave Functional Attributes Wave-Like Attributes Sine Wave Uses Randomness, Noise, and Fractals Randomness Multi-Dimensional Randomness Noise Two-Dimensional Noise Fractal Noise Vertex Offset Definition Vertex Offset and Surface Silhouette Character Animation Displacement Mapping Procedural Deformations Panners Rotator Sine Wave Circular Waves Shrinking and Growing Absolute World Position Character Position Object Position Bounding Box Position Object Scaling Conclusion Chapter 6: Simulations Introduction Storytelling Components Duplicating Physics Departure from Other VFX Computationally Expensive Personal Comment on Simulations Chapter Layout Rigid Bodies Non-Deforming Bodies Newtonian Mechanics Physics Engines Apply Forces Update State Detect Collisions Solve Constraints Display Results Material Force Attributes Mass Gravity Friction Drag Resilience and Restitution Spring (Hooke’s Law) Damping Impulse Object Destruction Setup Trigger/Distraction Simulation Resolution Voronoi Decomposition Off-Line Simulation Simple Animation Octopus Skeletons Vertex Cache Soft Bodies Examples Cloth Curves Soft Containers Organic Highly Articulated Objects Paper Ragdoll Techniques Real-Time Simulations Skeleton Simulations In-Material Simulations Off-Line Fluids Static Fluid Bodies In-Material Spring Simulations Vertex Caching Flowing Fluids In-Material Spring Particles Splashes and Splats Flip-Booking Vertex Caching Vertex Caching and Splashes Volumetrics The Challenge Strategies Particles, Sprites, and Shaded Spheres Vertex Cache Simulation Post-Process Ray Marching Constructive Solid Geometry Signed Distance Fields Sphere Tracing Future Direction of Volumetrics Conclusion Chapter 7: Particles Introduction What Are Particles? Physics Simulation CGI Elements Moments to Learn, a Lifetime to Master Particle Usage Atmospherics Basic Simulations Trails Simple Crowd Behavior Two-Dimensional Motion Three-Dimensional Motion Other Particulates Fountains Footsteps Grains Magic No Particle Particle Life Birth Life in Simulation Death Particle Systems Engine Objects Attributes Static Attributes Dynamic Attributes Layers Emitters Particles Forces Visualization Instanced Objects Sprites Geometry Lights Materials Replication Render Attributes Sprite GPU Sprites Animated Sprites Ribbon Mesh Static Mesh Skeletal Mesh Light Conclusion Chapter 8: Conclusion Introduction Exceptions Procedural Modeling Procedural Animation Motion Capture Future VFX Rendering Artificial Intelligence Virtual and Augmented Reality Lifelong Pursuit Index
Donate to keep this site alive
1. Disable the AdBlock plugin. Otherwise, you may not get any links.
2. Solve the CAPTCHA.
3. Click download link.
4. Lead to download server to download.
