Hey guys, I’ve taken a break for a while but am interested in making a nice little war scene. I made a test video earlier and added a couple of gun turrets and a plane flyby. It’s relatively simple. No sound. I have since rerecorded a better scene and am working on it. I want to incorporate some explosion/s and physics into the scene. Please let me know what you think. Be sure to watch in HD
Changed Title, update in direction of scene.
Hey, here’s an update, but just a general test I did for motion tracking. I’ve found how to get a better track. I threw a little sound in and am ready to move on with the project. Let me know what you think, as I appreciate input. Thanks.
Very cool, tracking looks good… was the fire/smoke done in Blender or is it real footage composted? Nice job
Thanks Harley. It was done in Blender. I’d forgotten how time consuming it is to bake and render smoke scenes. It’s because of this that I’m trying to do the contrails and explosions for the war scene with halos. But I have not been able to get them to look as good as smoke.
These are some nice tests, Frobenius! Your tracks look good to me. As long as you keep your shutter speed fast enough, and keep your aperture tight enough to ensure your markers are in focus, you should have clear points for tracking. Also, if you have a shot where your camera will be moving around the scene quite a lot (such as the rotating shots around the car in my GTA video), it is advisable to choose a marker shape that will look the same from all directions. However, if you’re mostly going to be shooting from just one side, you may find you get better results with other shapes which are not the same from all directions, but are very easy for the tracker to identify and track from frame to frame.
Thanks so much, James. I will have to keep that in mind. I am still adding elements to the scene, and have to wait until I can get better video to finish this one. I wanted to film it outside, but I have not found a suitable spot.
Very nice. Have you got any tips for a good track?
Thanks Scarsz. It depends on your preferred scene, I guess. I’m relatively new to tracking. I just started learning it a couple weeks ago. What has worked for me is using high contrast areas as tracking points, and trying to be less jerky in my camera movements. My lighting is not ideal in this one. But it’s only a test. I learned motion tracking from Andrew Price’s youtube tutorial, and he made it super easy. I can’t believe motion tracking is so simple, compared to some other features of Blender.
James, the previous poster here, just made an awesome motion tracking video called GTA in Real Life| Supercar Spawn, which can be found on page one of the finished projects section. The tips he gave are great.
Hey guys. I’ve created a youtube intro and just uploaded it. Let me know what you think. Made in Blender. Put it in here because I guess it is a part of this project, as it will play at the beginning of the video.
EDIT: Watch in fullscreen for best view
Did you use end up using boids for this? Something else you could experiment adding is a actual road silloette beginning in the forground and winding its way into the background. Than when the scarecrow turns into the birds and flys away… you would be left with …a lonely road 
I like the concept very much, it’s just different to the idents you see everywhere. I agree to Harleynut, a roand in the background would give the scene more context and also break the flat pure white-pure black color scheme, because somehow it lacks depth.
Some compostiting effects like a vignette, flickering or mist would also make this quite atmospheric
Harley, yes I used boids. You know, I looked at it from other angles, thinking of where to add the road, but just gave up on it. But an actual physical road is what came to mind too, so thanks for reaffirming the importance of that.
Thanks suboptimal, that’s what I was aiming for. I just didn’t really want a massively complicated intro that’s overwhelming. I wanted to keep it simple and say more with less. Seriously, about the flickering, I wanted to add like a slideshow effect so much to this but I didn’t know a good way to do it. I was thinking it would look better with a stuttering kind of slideshow effect, so maybe I will have to do it again, because we’re on the same page there. Actually, I really wanted a native american flute in there somewhere but with the other noises, it seemed to make it too busy. And I kind of like the howl. Thanks again guys. I like to hear feedback.
Hey, I updated the previous video post with the new intro. Harley, you will find a road where there once was none. I added a bit of music as well. I like it, but still can’t tell if it’s missing something. I want to keep it simple. Anyway, this project is delayed because the actual video can’t be done because of the weather. I just have to move on to something else for now.
I think the road you added works well. Something you might try, just to see if you like it. I would have your title fade in a little slower than it does now (it kind of just pops on currently), and hold the title about about 1/2 -1 second longer, and than fade out. Perhaps even try a slower fade out.
I do kind of like Suboptimal’s idea of experimenting with some type of mist effect. It just depends on where you wanted to take it.
Thanks Harley. I updated the video again but have been to lazy to put it up on youtube. I have, however, put a little time into a new idea I have. Since the weather forbids I take a nice outside video, I’ve decided just to take a video inside somewhere. Instead of a little war scene, I am planning on doing a very detailed jet engine walkaround. I will animate it and maybe add other effects. I need to change the title of this thread I guess. Here’s what I’ve started with, It’s the basic shape of the engine. It’s inspired by a lot of different references and I look forward to adding all of the details, including decals and everything. It’s very early in the process, but just wanted to update. please, let me know what you all think.
No doubt it will come out nice, I’ll look forward to watching your progress.
Thanks Harley. Here’s an update. Added a little and added some color to easier differentiate parts. I have not started on the middle, as can be seen, but that is where a lot of detail will be going. No textures yet. I have a bad habit of getting distracted and beginning texturing before I finish modeling. I’m terrible at sticking to a timeline but I’d like to get this one completed relatively soon.
I’m watching this interesting thread, Frobenius, and I enjoy the nice and clean modelling of the jet engine so far.
I like the shorter tubes better because they don’t cover such a big part of the mesh.
