UFO Chase

[sozap]

Hello everyone,

I’m super happy to present my last personal project !

Thumbail

Wireframe

Wireframe + Some FX

Creative Process

I wanted to study some stylization taking inspiration from TMNT Mutant Mayhem movie.
My initial goal was to work on an urbanish environment, and also add some FX to see how all those would play together…
Even though eventually I focused less on the environment that I initially planned, I took some extra time to make sure it can hold up especially in the distance where more stylisation/abstraction append…

Background Only

Background & UFO

Anyway, at the beginning I wasn’t really sure how to mix those constraints and what to do exactly.
Eventually by gathering references and thinking a bit I got the rough idea.

Scene Blockout

After some fiddling with those simple elements I got the composition figured out. This was a great first step since I knew I had a basis I liked that I could build upon.

Car modeling

From there I did some blocking on the set, modeled the car and started to introduce light and mood.

First Paint-over

Even though I’m not very good at drawing this is enough to test some ideas quickly and plan multiple changes.

Introducing Style

At this stage it was important to add style element to set the tone and avoid getting too realistic while modeling. I needed a character in the car and I used one from a previous project. Then I focused on the wheels to find the balance between style and realism, then added smoke and effects on the road.

Style Development

Then to keep developing this I worked on the UFO’s beam, and introduced some simpler, more abstract buildings in the background. I also tested some line work on main buildings and added a few props.

Second Paint-Over

This was about finding ideas for the UFO’s look, some stylized flares, and a few things to improve.

UFO & Flare Pass

Thanks to the paint over I had a clear separation between the thinking process/ideation and the more technical implementation, therefore it was relatively easy to add those elements.
I also abandoned the laser, at this stage I had mixed feeling and thought it worked well without !

Impact FX and more composition work

Then I added the last main element, and from there I could move on to secondary details. The first thing I did then was to work on the distance fog to make sure we make the most of those buildings.

Building details…

Then I focused on detailing the buildings. Through the whole image making I was constantly adjusting composition to make sure everything reads well and balance out elements. That’s why once I changed buildings I had to move stuff like poles around.

Last Paint Over before apocalypse

Then I did a last round of tinkering, I noticed I’ve left the wheel passing through the road and to change that without screwing everything I replaced it with a cylinder…
I also had the last minute idea of those scribbles in the smoke, I was a bit too close to finish to fully explore that, but I will definitely go back to that on another project !

And that’s about it !
I’ll make a second post that goes more into technical details, let me know if there is something you’d like me to cover !

[sozap]

Ok so this post is more on the tech side…

Assets

I modeled a few props, on the car I also painted some details using grease-pencil, that I converted to mesh so it integrates better. I tried to avoid too much painting to explore more procedural stuff but that was fun to do !

I kept shapes very simple and I prevented myself from adding to many stuff, the good things of making a still image is that I could really work from camera view unlike production where we never know where and how something might end up. This saved me a lot of time and was quite refreshing…

Background Assets

Since part of the art direction was to get more abstract in the distance I made those elements,
Some building generators, some even more abstract ones that was just textures on plane facing camera. And I also made those greeble-scribbles that I could put in some places to add a bit of noise instead of adding 3D greebles !

Scene Layout

A good deal of the set is deformed by a lattice to give that exaggerated perspective feel.
Then everything else is put according to camera view but doesn’t always makes sense in 3D.

FX
For all the FX I repurposed some geometry node tools I did on In Waves and see how they can adapt to other scenarios…
I’ll try to communicate a bit more in details about how they work later in a dedicated thread, on the overall it’s a lot of billboards based particles effects, and some effects based on curves that makes some kind of a brush stroke.

Then it’s all about adding layers of simple elements so it look complex.

The same elements in wireframe :

I also took advantage of eevee allowing to have additive blend mode for materials by doing so :

This was super useful for all those light effects / flares.

At some point I also made a side quest by looking into some fracture effects with geometry nodes. This was a bit overkill but those are always a learning opportunity.
The modifier takes a plane and a curve and it fractures and orient the elements according to it.
Here is a small demo :

“Grading” planes

And last but not least I made those colored planes that uses a geometry node modifier to drive their materials, this was super helpful to re-balance the image and to lighten or darken some parts… Also they can work in normal or additive mode…

Here is a comparison when I turn them all off and on :

Thanks for reading !

[alf0 (anas)]

nice work . i think it should be animated !

[pafurijaz]

Very nice, even the process and the post.

[sozap]

Thanks a bunch @pafurijaz and @alf0 !

@alf0

i think it should be animated !

Yeah that was definitely on my mind in the beginning and it could have worked if I didn’t go for a quick and dirty approach which would have asked for a bunch of cleanup just to be able to make it work.

Beside that I tend to bury myself in long projects so I preferred to make this a quick one.

Anyway, I’ll try to explore that mix of pbr and npr more and setting those in motion is definitely something I’d like to practice as well.

[Marcello.2045 (Marcello)]

Wow that’s a lot of work!

[Greeble_Town]

Thats so fun and beautiful!

[revolt_randy]

What a fun image!!!

I agree with @alf0, an animation would be fun!!

Thanks for the detailed write-up!

Randy

[Volkashin3D (Volker)]

With your criticism detail and how it always makes sense it’s no surprise to see you post a banger like this. Amazing work

[sidp (Peter Simonsson)]

Looks great! Love the sense of movement and the effects.

I’m really impressed with the level of detail in the post. It must have taken a long time to break it down like this, but it’s really interesting and educational I think. Thanks for that!

[sozap]

Thanks a lot @Marcello.2045, @Greeble_Town, @revolt_randy, @Volkashin3D and @sidp ! That means a lot !

@sidp

It must have taken a long time to break it down like this, but it’s really interesting and educational I think. Thanks for that!

Thank you very much, frankly I also enjoy doing these breakdowns for multiple reasons. First, I think it’s a good way to close a project by revisiting what has been done and putting actual words on it helps to engrave more what I learned. It’s also super cool to share a few tricks along the way just like you would if someone would step around your shoulder while you’re working. Also I’ve been inspired and learned a lot by similar breakdown so it’s a way to give back now that I’m in a position to do so at my own scale.

Finally that’s also why I like so much forums compared to social media, is that it allows to expand a lot more and also start a conversation when something is worth elaborating.
Anyway, thanks a lot for mentioning that, because I wasn’t always sure about what would be relevant to share and I didn’t want to bore people but having positive feedback tells me that it was worth it !

[CAE-ID (max)]

Would you mind to share the node tree for that fracture effect using GN? This looks super interesting.

[sozap]

Hello ! I’m generally not comfortable yet with sharing my tools even though it’s something I’m considering … However I can give the general outline of the technique and point you to some resources so you can build something similar if you need it to !

[CAE-ID (max)]

It’s just interest. That is something I’d do with fields and effectors on C4D, but it’s much less straight forward in blender. I absolutely understand, if you don’t want to share all of your secret black magic. It’s a nice impulse already.

[sozap]

Yeah I understand and that’s fair ! To me it’s more like if you just finished a 3D model like a spiderman character and where asked to share it, it seems natural to hesitate. It’s different if someone says “I’m looking into doing something similar myself, can you give me some pointers ?”

I think most artist might be hesitant to share their work just like that because they spend time on it and they consider their work to carry some kind of value and/or their own personality. Some people are ok to share as long as you buy it in some form or another… Some share for free, and that something I could do but generally it’s planned beforehand…

However, when it comes to technical stuff it’s less seen as an original artwork but more some kind of a recipe that you can share among cooks rather than something original and creative that is unique to their creators… and there is probably a blurry line between both …

Anyway, for that particular stuff I wouldn’t call that a piece of art, and while it needs skills in GN it’s also not that complex. I’m often asked to share some stuff and I’m still thinking about it, why I’m hesitant about it, what is the right thing to do and how to be ok about it… It’s nothing set in stone, probably different people would see things differently, and it’s a bit of a case by case basis anyway…

If you’re interested I recommend that video :

[Blender 3.0] Fracture/Shatter/Break/Destroy Geometry Nodes Tutorial

This is very worth checking :

Rough Cell Fracturing in Geometry Nodes

[GN-RockPlane] Hi everyone! I’ve been lurking for a while and figured I should make an account. I haven’t seen anyone using this technique and felt it needed to be shared. It’s a way to do something akin to Cell Fracture, but using geometry nodes instead of an add-on. The idea is simple: Generate many sample points Split to instances Create convex hulls The way you split the instances is very important, as it must result in convex hulls down the line. You can use a Voronoi texture, or do …

This is one technique for the actual fracture I used, which was fast but not very accurate, therefore it was more a preview mode, that I eventually used in the image.

This was closer to the method I used in the video :

Fracture ANY Object (Blender Tutorial)

the problem is then about how to smooth those edges.

I also used that basis for tessellating the plane to get variable mesh density :

[Tut] Voronoi Tower - Blender Geometry Nodes 3.1 Field

And that should give you some stuff to experiment with. There are obviously some missing bits and the curve part was a bit tricky to came up with I don’t recall exactly why but I spend a lot of time to get the right orientation… But I’m ok to develop that part as well !

[CAE-ID (max)]

Thank you very much for these links - I will most definitely dive into that. Thanks by the way for your detailed work process walkthrough of your image you posted in the first way. It’s so inspiring to see the way other people tackle some problems.

[sozap]

Thanks a bunch, you’re very welcome ! I just saw that I forgot to add a link about how to actually create fractured blocks, the technique ‘Rough Cell Fracture’ is super clever by using a convex hull on a group of points. I added that little gem to my previous post !

Have fun !

[Rubiano_Basquera]

In love with this project. Love the style, the process, shader and mainly the story telling.

[sozap]

Thanks a bunch that’s very kind ! I really liked the mix of intricate details and cartoony stuff in your work as well !

[Kyouki (Hocine Tazani)]

Masterpiece