2009
cmiVFX
Thiago Costa
2h18m
English
Within this training video Thiago Costa explores the development of a toolset that deals with scalar data in ICE, by showing it in the context of a weightmap tool. He will guide you through his exploration process and implementation of how to use per-point values to capture and store data between different sources, to diffuse data across the mesh, work with time information and much more.
This training video takes focus on this specific toolset that goes from the basic to intermediate level of how to build an ICE system.
Experiments
Experimenting with different setups and finding the limits of developing such a system is the goal of this lesson. The author presents many different uses/tests done with very simple graphs that might influce the way the rest of the work is developed.
Initializing Data
This lesson will show how to initialize scalar data in an object, and how that compares to the way the standard WeightMap tool works in XSI. We try to mimic the initialization of such a tool in ICE.
Display Data
Using a standard Weightmap we will display the ICE data created in the pevious lesson. This explores the concept of computing data in ICE, and displaying/connecting to non-ICE features in XSI.
Improving The Base
This lesson we explore the first flaws on the basic level of the system, and how to solve them to guarantee a better environment to further develop the tool. By doing such abstractions now, we will be able to expand the system in the future by thinking of the global aspect of the tool from the ground up.
Distance from Null
Using the length property of a vector we will create a soft distance field from a null center and use that to build the system foundation of changing values in the point set.
Implementing Features
We identify the features needed on the previous node and start working on that. We will see how to add a Motion Sensivity term to activate the painting as well as sharpness control.
Mess with Time
This lesson goes into understanding how time works and how we can use time to gradually control the gradual decay of the values stored in the surface of a mesh.
Dispersion
We explore how to propagate the values through the mesh points by adding a few terms to control the speed propagation and the logic that distributes and blends value between neighboring points. The addition of this feature makes it possible to many different effects in the same tool.
Distance From Geometry
We basically get all we have done, and expand the system to interact with polymeshes and particles. By changing very few things in the Distance from Null node we finish with a very flexible system!
About The Author
Thiago Costa lives in Montreal-QC, Canada. He has several years of experience in advertising, motion graphics and VFX films working at post-production studios such as CafeFX and Ubisoft Digital Arts/Hybride. Recent work includes GI Joe and Assassins Creed Lineage as lead Technical Director. Thiago begun his 3d career circa 2000 in his home country Brazil, and blended his knowledge of art and animation with variety of technical disciplines, which lead him to develop many tools for artists including SlipstreamRT© (a realtime smoke solver available from Exocortex) and ICE SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics addon for Softimage ICE). The addition of ICE in Softimage was an important step to push his creativity into interactive tools to be used in production. He is a life student of physics, mathematics and art, not necessarily in this order. He found that not restricting his knowledge to only one subject was a better way of understanding the world around him.
http://cmivfx.com/store/212-Softimage+ICE:+Scalar+Data

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