rethinkfx http://blog.rethinkfx.com A load of guff about animation and photography by Ben Cowell. Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:34:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1 en Japan http://blog.rethinkfx.com/41-japan.htm http://blog.rethinkfx.com/41-japan.htm#comments Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:31:01 +0000 admin http://blog.rethinkfx.com/41-japan.htm I’ve been to Japan. It was brilliant. Here’s some photographs of what I saw :

Boy

Tokyo pt 1 - Bladerunner-esq Shibuya in the rain, Meiji Jingu Shrine and onto Harajuku.
Kyoto - Lots of train travel and delicious tiny foods.
Takayama - Trainee train drivers and much white gloved pointing.
Tokyo pt 2 - The Tokyo Motor Show, sleeping business men and little dogs.

]]> http://blog.rethinkfx.com/41-japan.htm/feed/ Cravendale http://blog.rethinkfx.com/39-cravendale.htm http://blog.rethinkfx.com/39-cravendale.htm#comments Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:37:04 +0000 admin http://blog.rethinkfx.com/39-cravendale.htm



My recent mucking about with stop motion meant I got the chance to make this little spoof Behind the Scenes documentary to go with Pic Pic Andre’s amazing Cravendale commercials.

It’s also online at the Cravendale site.

And on You Tube

]]> http://blog.rethinkfx.com/39-cravendale.htm/feed/ Global Flyer Animation http://blog.rethinkfx.com/37-global-flyer-animation.htm http://blog.rethinkfx.com/37-global-flyer-animation.htm#comments Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:09:02 +0000 admin http://blog.rethinkfx.com/37-global-flyer-animation.htm



This is a promo for a documentary about Steve Fossett’s nonstop journey around the world in his Global Flyer. After a year and a half working on some very unrewarding projects at Condor Post in London this project came as a great end to my time spent there.

Discovery Channel asked for an idea but had no brief for us so Bryan Servante and myself came up with this. It clearly bares some influence from Numero 6’s Super Furry Animals video, but I’m really proud of it.

We co-directed with Bryan animating and myself modelling, texturing and lighting.

]]> http://blog.rethinkfx.com/37-global-flyer-animation.htm/feed/ Louis Tussuads House of Wax http://blog.rethinkfx.com/35-louis-tussuads-house-of-wax.htm http://blog.rethinkfx.com/35-louis-tussuads-house-of-wax.htm#comments Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:54:17 +0000 admin http://blog.rethinkfx.com/35-louis-tussuads-house-of-wax.htm Louis Tussuads

My post on Nothing To See Here about Louis Tussuads terrifying House of Wax in Great Yarmouth. Check out the rest of the site by the way, there’s some great stuff on there.

]]> http://blog.rethinkfx.com/35-louis-tussuads-house-of-wax.htm/feed/ Platform Animation Festival Opener http://blog.rethinkfx.com/26-platform-animation-festival-opener.htm http://blog.rethinkfx.com/26-platform-animation-festival-opener.htm#comments Mon, 02 Jul 2007 21:31:16 +0000 admin http://blog.rethinkfx.com/26-platform-animation-festival-opener.htm Platform still

I recently finished work on the Platform Festival opener with Smith & Foulkes at Nexus.
Lots of fun scrabbling about in the muck playing with boxes.

The video is here

platform_festival_002.JPGplatform_festival_003.JPGplatform_festival_009.jpg

platform_festival_001.JPGplatform_festival_005.jpgplatform_festival_006.jpg

]]> http://blog.rethinkfx.com/26-platform-animation-festival-opener.htm/feed/ The Seaside http://blog.rethinkfx.com/24-the-seaside.htm http://blog.rethinkfx.com/24-the-seaside.htm#comments Mon, 02 Jul 2007 21:12:34 +0000 admin http://blog.rethinkfx.com/24-the-seaside.htm June 2007

A couple of trips to the seaside during the wettest June on record is just the ticket.

I’ll post a link to my write up of the fantastic Louis Tussuads once Anne posts it on Nothing To See Here. In the meantime here are the photographs.

]]> http://blog.rethinkfx.com/24-the-seaside.htm/feed/ A Day in the Life - 5th June 2007 http://blog.rethinkfx.com/23-a-day-in-the-life-5th-june-2007.htm http://blog.rethinkfx.com/23-a-day-in-the-life-5th-june-2007.htm#comments Fri, 08 Jun 2007 23:23:30 +0000 admin http://blog.rethinkfx.com/23-a-day-in-the-life-5th-june-2007.htm

]]> http://blog.rethinkfx.com/23-a-day-in-the-life-5th-june-2007.htm/feed/ Lovely Holga http://blog.rethinkfx.com/21-lovely-holga.htm http://blog.rethinkfx.com/21-lovely-holga.htm#comments Sat, 19 May 2007 18:34:48 +0000 admin http://blog.rethinkfx.com/21-lovely-holga.htm Some kindly soul working on the Absolut Lomo campaign sent me a Holga to play with. So far I’ve had mixed results and the flash broke after about 5 minutes, but I’ve put a few of the better shots up in the May 2007 photoset.

mr_colins_sm.jpg

Have a look at more successful Holga photographs here.

]]> http://blog.rethinkfx.com/21-lovely-holga.htm/feed/ All Tomorrow’s Parties 2007 http://blog.rethinkfx.com/18-all-tomorrows-parties-2007.htm http://blog.rethinkfx.com/18-all-tomorrows-parties-2007.htm#comments Sat, 19 May 2007 17:02:35 +0000 admin http://blog.rethinkfx.com/18-all-tomorrows-parties-2007.htm
All Tomorrow’s Parties 2007
A weekend at Butlins with Nick Cave. Documented via polaroid.

]]> http://blog.rethinkfx.com/18-all-tomorrows-parties-2007.htm/feed/ Zdepth material MaxScript http://blog.rethinkfx.com/14-zdepth-material-maxscript.htm http://blog.rethinkfx.com/14-zdepth-material-maxscript.htm#comments Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:01:01 +0000 admin http://blog.rethinkfx.com/14-zdepth-material-maxscript.htm Zdepth example

This is a Maxscript for creating a pseudo Zdepth pass. I don’t generally use embedded zdepths in RLA or RPF frames as they can be very slow. Many jobs at Nexus make use of images on planes so swapping materials by hand isn’t an option. Check out Jim Lefevre’s Ambipur project for a great example.

This script allows you to keep all those masks and alpha channels but still render out a quick zdepth pass for compositing. It can also be quickly modified to make mattes and custom passes

To install the script download the zipped file and copy the UI and Script folders into your 3D Studio max application folder. Next time you restart Max you should find a new catagory in your Customise UI menu called BCtools, you’ll be able to assign the ZdepthSwapper to a menu or hotkey from here.

To use the script first save your scene (undo probably won’t work) as Filename_zdepth_pass or whatever, select the objects in the scene and run the script. You should find all your materials altered, go into any material and find the ‘zdepth_map’ map. From here you can change the near and far settings as you wish as they’re all connected and instanced. I usually just measure my scene to find these values.

As we’re Brazil users at Nexus it’s geared towards the standard Max and Brazil shaders (apart from Brazil basic and chrome) but you could easily convert it for other types.

Click to download the script installer.

I’ve been messing about writing Maxscripts for a year or so. None of them especially clever or well written but I thought this one might be of use to others.

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