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SANM-560 Blog

11/13/24

Shots 2 & 4 Breakdowns

11/08/24

The version of Shot 4 that was used in our final video.

I tried a variation of the camera movement being a tilting motion rather than moving with the falling apple. Ultimately we didn't use this approach because when it was combined with Shot 5 the downward tilt felt unnatural compared to the upward tilt in Shot 5.

11/07/24

I experimented a bit with trying to get the camera to follow the apple as it falls in order to make Shots 4 and 5 flow better. After getting the first movement feeling in a decent spot I would import the screen recording of it into Premiere Pro with Shot 5 to see it in context.

Recording of the initial test.

The test put together with Shot 5.

I also made sure to have the camera movement going as a curve rather than a linear movement to help it feel more smooth.

Need to Do:

Adjust the camera in Shot 4. Make the camera either tilt or move with the apple.
Slow apple down a tad bit

11/3/24

Working on the material of the branch bark in Shot 4, I did things like adding more desaturation and contrast. Before the material had a lot of vibrant orange and yellow colors in it, but now it is more neutral to match the other apple trees.

Node network of branch bark material.

Parameter values of branch bark material.

11/2/24

In order to match the lighting between Shot 4 and 5 we had to change the direction of the directional light in Shot 3. This made the main apple in the scene kind of dark, so in order to make it pop a bit more I added a point light in front of it with both the light and the apple on a separate lighting channel. The point light has an extremely low intensity as to not make it look out of place.

Before

After

I also started rendering with exrs and console variables. These are some I'm using.

10/31/24

Raghav and I were working together to try to get a good HDRI using the scene capture cube in Unreal Engine. This is the process we used with the scene capture cube.

Add the Scene Capture Cube actor into the level.

2. Position the "camera" in the level to where you want the HDRI to capture from.

3. With the actor selected, in the details panel find the Texture Target and assign it the HDRI_Cam, or create a new target if one isn't already created.

4. Double click the HDRI_Cam and change the Size X to 2048.

5. Right click the HDRI_Cam and Create Static Texture.

6. Save and rename the static texture. Right click the texture > Asset Actions > Export. Export as an HDR file.

I was having a lot of troubles trying to figure out a way to change the speed of the apple falling because it seemed like every adjustment was appearing in the viewport simulation, wasn't appearing in the render. Raghav had the idea of changing the gravity in the scene and that worked! We got it to a point where it matches the speed of the apple falling in Shot 5.

Before - Gravity value of 980

After - Gravity value of 375

Need to Do:

Get new HDRI for Shot 5 from the Shot 4 Unreal scene.
Look dev for branch bark in Shot 4.
Slow down the speed of the apple falling in Shot 4.

10/27/24

Updated Shot 2

Grass has been shortened.
More elements added to the path such as sticks, apples, and more material variation.
Shadows on the path reduced and also lightened.

Updated Shot 4

Leaves added where the apple and branch connect in order to hide the lack of actual connection.
Fireflies are now gone.

10/26/24

Fixing Fireflies:

After trial and error, I finally found the issue that was causing fireflies to appear in my renders and in editor. The trees in the background had too much complexity for Unreal to render out of focus, so I just had to switch the meshes to a lower-poly version. This fortunately fixed the problem.

Hi-res screenshot taken with the background trees removed. No fireflies are present.

Hi-res screenshot taken with original tree mesh to the left. Fireflies can be seen on the background tree mesh just to the left of the apple. The new, low-poly mesh is on the right with no fireflies present.

Scene Capture:

Trying to get each shot cohesive with each other we were testing out using the Scene Capture within Unreal Engine to get the environment of Shot 4 to use for Shots 5 and 6. It was good to test because we weren't too happy with how they turned out when Raghav implemented it in Shot 5, so we are going to add more trees to the environment and adjust where the Capture Cube is positioned in order to get as many trees within it as possible.

Scene Capture with a full sky.

Scene Capture with a crunched sky.

10/25/24

We were lucky enough to be scheduled for another time slot at the XR Stage where we were troubleshooting the shadows trying to make them brighter.

10/24/24

Attempt at Fixing Apple Physics Sim:

Trying to fix the speed of the apple falling in Shot 4, I added mass to the static mesh hoping that it would fix the issue. The mass was set to 0.1 kg as that is the average mass of an apple in real life. Unfortunately this did not change the speed of the apple in the render, so I need to continue researching how to get it to slow down.

Need to Do:

Lighten shadows (Shot 2)
Shorten grass and add more things to the path (Shot 2)
Continue Look Dev on bark (Shot 4)
Solve the fireflies issue (Shot 4)
Refine apple falling (Shot 4)

10/20/24

The current progress made for Shot 4. The things that I need to continue working on for it moving forward are:

Checking the exposure settings in the post-process volume.
Reducing the speed of the apple falling.
Continue look development on the bark of the branches to make it appear more similar to our other tree meshes.
Adding subtle wind to the leaves to make the shot more visually appealing.
Adding render settings.

Building Shot 4:

I started with the base branch and arranged it to where the apple would be hanging.

2. Next was adding the apple that is going to be the main focal point of the shot.

3. I then added another base branch behind the apple to fill the composition more and make it a bit more interesting to look at.

4. Then smaller branches were added to the background branch to make it appear more realistic instead of just a stick.

5. I then placed the leaves on the branches.

6. Finally, I added some more apples to the branches.

10/18/24

I gathered the assets needed to build out Shot 4. The branch and leaves are both from Quixel Megascans and the apple is the apple asset that Raghav is using for Shot 5.

I started building very basic materials to use on the assets of Shot 4 using the texture maps that came with the assets.

I changed the Shading Model of the apple material to allow for subsurface scattering.

10/17/24

The set dressing we did for our final shoot at the XR stage. The biggest difference between this time and last was the new table cloth we brought.

We were able to borrow the "fancy kit" in order to capture images to make an HDRI with the content and lighting we had while shooting at the XR stage.

(Shoutout to Ben for the picture of the camera we used)

10/12/24

I extended the timing of Shot 2 and also decreased how far the camera is going to moving within the scene. The dolly motion of the shot is a lot less extreme than what it previously was.

I also started adding console variables and render settings to the shot renders to improve the quality. This include things like anti-aliasing and motion blur.

I added more tree variants into the scene because before I was only using one mesh. When placing them I made sure to apply random rotation to them within the foliage brush settings to add an extra layer of variation.

10/11/24

We went to the XR Stage to do a load test and shoot some footage for Shot 7. We were able to get some test shots done as well as adjust some settings in our Unreal file to make it run smoothly on the stage. Shoutout to Team Trailblazers for helping us out during the shoot too.

This is the test footage of the main sequence we are going to be using for Shot 7.

Towards the end of our shoot we were experimenting with different shot ideas, and we really enjoyed this sequence.

10/10/24

One of the pieces of feedback we received was to make the barn pop a bit more for Shot 2. I did this by increasing the saturation of it slightly.

Before

After

10/08/24

To do:

Change the timing/movement of the camera in Shot 2. Make the movement slower and hold the shot for longer.
Increase the saturation of the barn to make it pop more.
Shoot footage for Shot 7.

10/07/24

Most updated version of Shot 2.

Main lighting and sky reference for Shot 2, warmer lighting with a blue sky.

10/06/24

I was having some issues with my graphics card the past couple of days, but I was able to implement more foliage into the scene. I had to recreate the tree-line on the new landscape as well as add the procedural grass and make a rough block-out of the path from before as well. Both need to be reworked a bit. I rendered out 2 different options for shot 2, with the focal length of the camera being the difference between them. Version 1 (left) has a focal length of 22 and Version 2 (right) is 28. Version 1 was what we created when making the sky in order to fully show off the gradient, but the more I looked at it it started to seem like too much sky. I'll review with my group during our meeting together to see which one everyone likes most.

10/05/24

In order to make the shots in the orchard more cohesive I decided to change the landscape material to match the one from Brushify that Donnie was using. Since I had to change the material, I had to make an entire new landscape. I didn't want to waste time trying to recreate the landscape completely from scratch, so I decided to export the height map from the previous landscape.

Although it doesn't look like much, this was the height map that was exported from the original landscape.

This was the built in height map import within Unreal that I used to apply the height map to the new landscape.

10/03/24

After working on the sky for a while these are the results. Using the Clouds & Skies pack, I edited one of the sky materials to have a stronger, more noticeable gradient. We decided to add some clouds to break up the sky a bit.

The edited material instance for the updated sky.

10/02/24

After continuously struggling with trying to the clear sky in the Shot 2 scene to look "right" I decided to experiment with adding some clouds into the sky. I'm want to get feedback, from both my group and the professors, on the skies tomorrow during our scheduled class time. The main issue I was having with just the clear sky was that the gradient of the sky wasn't prominent within the framing of the shot, so the sky looked like one blue block. By adding clouds to the scene it will help break up the sky to make it feel less like a blue block. The only downside to adding clouds is it would stray away from the scene on the Angry Orchard can that we are trying to replicate because it depicts a clear, blue sky.

Version 1 of the sky using the Ultra Dynamic Sky pack by Everett Gunther.

Version 2 of the sky using the Clouds & Skies pack by Leeyo Atelier.

In addition to the skies, I also started refining the dirt/gravel path in the shot. I began blending out the landscape material painting as well as starting to introduce more variation in the path. I want to start placing rock foliage along the path to even further break up the current 2D feel that the path has.

After many attempts, we finally were able to get access to the green room to shoot footage! We shot the footage for Shot 1 which is the can of Angry Orchard being placed and cracked open on a table triggering the transition to the orchard. We also shot placeholder footage for our updated Shot 7 which will be a man pouring Angry Orchard into a glass and walking off to reveal the logo motion graphic.

10/01/24

We went to pitch to a sound design class in order to secure a sound designer for our project. Some of the roles we were looking for during our pitch was a Sound FX Editor, Foley Artist, and Foley Artist, We were successful and our current sound designer that will be helping us is Charlie Delatorre.

09/29/24

Progress of Shot 2

I was able to add a bit more foliage to the scene. I had an issue where my scene kept on crashing, but I realized that I had used nanite foliage instead of low poly.

I was having some trouble with my scene looking different in the viewport than it did in the renders. I was going through different settings trying to figure out what was going on. Eventually I came to the conclusion that I didn't have a Post Process Volume, so I didn't have any control on what the renders would come out as. I've figured out the rendering issue since then, but these were some of the trial and error renders that I went through to resolve it.

09/28/24

Started experimenting with the Ultra Dynamic Sky pack from the Unreal Engine Marketplace.

09/25/24

Addressing the feedback given on Tuesday, the camera motion of Shot 2 has now been changed to continue into the orchard instead of pulling away from it. (The choppiness does not appear in the actual render of the shot, and is only present in the GIF version of the shot).

09/24/24

Need to Do:

Change the camera motion of Shot 2 (establishing shot of orchard, replica composition of can label) to continue the motion of the transition pushing into the can. Have the camera moving forward instead of reversing back after the transition.
Address Shot 3 (wide drone shot of orchard). What is the purpose of it? What is it contributing to the story/what is it trying to achieve?
- - Consider continuing the journey into the orchard. Shot 2 starts with the introduction/establishment of the orchard, why not try to continue going further into the orchard instead of trying to take the viewer "outside" of it again in Shot 3.
Explore the idea of a more continuous camera shot variations. Either different camera angles or using the progression of moving further into the orchard as inspiration for camera variation (e.g., establishing wide shot, into medium shot, into close-up).
Continue and refine look development. Figure out the issues with the HDRI lighting, include more materials, continue refining materials to better match the references images.

09/22/24

For now I can fix the HDRI issue with an HDRI Backdrop, but I'm still trying to find a way to use a Geo Dome for it as it will be more optimal to use than the backdrop.

Running into issues with setting up HDRI in UE5. Not quite sure what is going wrong, but this is how the grey ball is appearing in the scene. I have a Skybox, a sphere with the HDRI applied to it (two-sided, unlit material with ReflectionVectorWS node), and a Post Process Volume with the settings changed to SLS Cubemap. For now I think I'm going to import the materials into a separate file where I know the HDRI is working so I can continue with Look Dev until I can figure this issue out.

Substance painter graph of apple material I made.

Quick look at apple material in Substance Painter.

I created an updated version of our storyboard. The only changes are of Shot 1 and 7. Shot 1 is now changing to the interior of a country kitchen. Shot 7 is now remaining inside of the orchard where we feature more of the product line as well as a man pouring cider from a can into a glass and walking away to reveal the Angry orchard logo.

09/20/24

Although we had a reservation to the green room to shoot our test footage, there was a mishap where we were not able to access the space, so as to not waste the time we had originally put aside to shoot we decided to do a rough test shoot in an empty classroom. This shooting time was very beneficial because it helped us to figure out what did and didn't work. For example, we had to try a couple of different options for the composition of the different products because it either would create visual tangents, or just didn't look good.

I also made some more progress on the blockout of the orchard for Shot 2 in Unreal Engine. I started to implement more of the materials, specifically on the landscape, into the scene to get a better understanding of what needs to be adjusted. More progress needs to be made on the landscape material itself because at the moment there is only the base color maps attached to it. I definitely want to work a lot more on the lighting because right now it is underlit, and also doesn't match the references that we gathered previously. Using the color callibrator in Unreal Engine is going to help a lot with fixing this.

09/19/24

We were given the amazing opportunity to tour and learn about SCAD's LED volume. This experience actually caused us to reconsider shooting the first shot of our video on the volume, and instead we are now shooting it with a green screen. After learning more about the volume we realized since we aren't going to have a super wide shot and will mainly be focusing on the product itself, it would make more sense to use the green screen. We are still going to use the volume, however we are only going to use it for Shot 7. Instead of pulling back out to return to the country kitchen, we are going to remain inside of the orchard to display the products.

09/18/24

After taking a closer look at some of the models in the apple tree asset pack we weren't 100% happy with the detail in the geometry of the apples when viewed up close. After talking about it we decided to use different apple models and textures for Shot 4, the close up of the apple. We are going to outsource the model, however I am going to be creating the texture for the new apple(s) in Adobe Substance Designer. If this for some reason does not work out, we decided as a backup to outsource the texture. This image is going to be used as the main reference for the material creation in Substance Designer

The block-out process of Shot 2, the dissolve match cut of the apple orchard on the can, has started. Right now I am focusing on getting the composition of the shot to match the image on the can in order to "sell" the dissolve of the transition from Shot 1 to Shot 2. As it is still in the early stages of the block-out, it's rough in order to make adjustments easier and faster. The white cube is being used as a placeholder for the red barn that will be in the background.

I set up the bare bones of a landscape material, so I could visualize how the different materials of the actual landscape will look in order to help with the block-out process. The green will become the grass material and the tan will become the dirt/soil material. Later when the refinement process starts these will be switched to their respective color maps and other texture maps, such as normal and roughness, will be applied too.

09/17/24

After pitching to the mentors and receiving feedback we started gathering the assets we're going to use within the Unreal Engine scenes. One of the main asset packs we've selected to use if from the Epic Games Marketplace, "Trees: Apple Tree (Seasonal)" made by 60fps. Its built in capabilities, such as being able to change how many apples are displayed on the trees and the season the tree is in, will help us with our development of this project.

Week 1

Introduction & Prompt Ideation

After meeting with fellow team members for the first time, we discovered our group has a wide range of skills. We have the real-time lighting and environment team madeup of myself and Donnie, our effects will be conducted by Raghav, and our compositing and live action shooting will be led by Ben.

At first we were daunted by the prompt of "food," because it was so open we were having trouble nailing down a solid idea. We decided to take it one step at a time and decide what types of food could be feasable for both the effects side and environment side. After ideating, it became evident that we were going to focus on some sort of liquid. Some early ideas we came up with were ketchup, yogurt, chocolate, or some sort of beverage.

Idea Selection

We landed on the idea of "Angry Orchard," a hard cider beverage. It was able to check both of the boxes we want to due to the environments and effects we could create based on the product. On the environment side, we could make a sprawling outdoor orchard to showcase the product's origins while still create engaging visuals. The bright red apples against the greenery of the trees and landscape would create visual contrast. On the effects side we could use the liquid to our advantage by creating splashes and play with the carbonation of the product.

Research

As I am on the real-time environment/lighting team and knowing we were going to include an orchard shot, the research phase began. I did some digging on if Angry Orchard had an breweries located in the United States, and it turns out they have a public orchard located in Walden, NY. We used a lot of photos from the orchard in Walden as early inspiration for the environment and ideation. The red barn became a key asset because, just like the red apples on the trees, the barn will stand out against the scenery and become a main focal point to viewers.

Ideation for the beginning shots started from the can of Angry Orchard "Crisp Apple." The orchard scene with the red barn was perfect for recreation in Unreal Engine. With the composition selected, we just needed to figure out how to bring the viewer there.

One example that was thought of was from Ratatouille when Anton Ego is transported back to his childhood after tasting the dish for the first time. We knew we could use this fast-paced transition to our advantage because we could sell the effect more using the motion blur of the camera.

These are storyboards of our commercial that I created. It starts with a can of Angry Orchard "Crisp Apple" sitting on the table in a living room that has cool lighting. The camera then quickly zooms into the orchard on the can's label which dissolves into the CG orchard made in Unreal Engine. The orchard environment holds for a couple of seconds before cutting to a wide drone shot of the orchard and barn. The next cut brings the viewer to a closeup of a red apple on a tree which then falls off of the branch and into the water of an apple bobbing bucket along with other apples. The next shot continues the theme of falling apples, with one falling behind a bottle of Angry Orchard creating a splash effect behind the bottle itself. The background is the orchard shot from Shot 2, but blurred as to not distract from the effect. Using the background of Shot 6 as a transition to the final shot, Shot 7 is a reverse of the first two. The orchard environment quickly zooms out to bring us back into the living room, this time with warming lighting to convey the joy that the product can bring to the viewer. On the table of the living room is the can that the camera just zoomed out from as well as a bottle. A hand comes down to pick up the bottle and replaces it with an apple that has a bite taken out of it to reference the bitten apple in the Angry Orchard logo.

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