The Cog Project

an independent film by Colin Litster produced using BLENDER

Home

Tutorials

Images

Movies

This is the website of an independent 3D animator, and film producer, whose main project is called 'COG'. Over the coming months I will post images, movies, explanations and tutorials about all Cogfilms productions.
My ageing hero's will take you to the beginning of creation, the 4th dimension, and through to love and retirement. ...... and hopefully make you laugh.
The projects are being produced in Blender, the OPEN SOURCE & FREE 3D creation suite, developed by Ton Roosendaal et al.

UPDATE

December 2006 (Ed)What Happened to Christmas? Whoops I seem to have mislaid Decembers entry. For completeness I should wish you all a Merry Christmas and explain that due to the fact I am one of the authors of the upcoming Essential Blender book, I won't be able to have the 2 promissed tutorials completed just yet. However, after a short rest they should appear in 2007.
November 2006 Time to update some techniques and progress the opportunities now offered with nodes. Several months ago I detailed an approach to making the transition of objects immersed in water more realistic. That was for solid objects, such as posts, but what about hollow objects like boat hulls.
How do you keep a water surface from passing through and apparently filling the hull. Well composite nodes can both achieve this as well as softening the transition from water to object. If you want to see the effect click the image to the left for a concept open crate floating in the ocean.
Over the next few days I shall be publishing 2 new Cogs Quick tutorials covering both this, object in water composite node technique, and a simple 3D stereo image creator for use with those RED/BLUE glasses from SHREK 3D you have been saving. So stay tuned.
October 2006 The second part of my new series of tutorials on Blender nodes is available from my Tutorial section. This time on Composite Nodes enjoy.
I am just back from the Blender Conference 2006 and what a fantastic conference it was. So good to meet all those enthusiastic and famous people. Following my session on Blender Nodes I promised to make available the files for the flash-cards and also examples for you all to try. Well I have decided to turn all the work into a series of node tutorials to kick use and experimentation of this versatile Blender facility. If you head over to my Tutorial section you will find the first on Material Nodes giving you a full color printable flash-card system; with supporting notes, and a blendfile. Over the coming weeks I will add several brand new tutorials exploring nodes from novice to expert that I didn't have time to cover in my workshop at the conference.

Its only a few days to the Blender Conference 2006 in Amsterdam. Apparently all tickets are sold out so I hope you were lucky enough to get a place. Fear not however, as apparently video streams of the sessions will be made available during and after the conference. In anticipation of my 'Creating the Impossible with Blender Nodes' workshop, on Sunday 22nd October, from 13:30 to 15:00, here is a completed concept of an atom bomb explosion. You will learn how to create this and many other node based effects during my session. So i look forward to welcoming you there or at wider locations via the feeds. Click the image above for a short animation.
September 2006 MADCello, from the blenderartists.org , has reformatted the BSoD wiki pages to produce a printable (pdf) version as well as odt (Open Office) format. I have mounted these and associated support files on my tutorial section for anyone to download. My thanks to MADCello for his hard work in reformatting the documentation.
In preparation for my workshop, at the Blender Conference 2006, October 20 - 22, Amsterdam, I thought I would show you an early concept that makes heavy use of Blender v2.42a NODES. The whole workshop will show how NODES can be used to create some really difficult FX easily. I will demonstrate the simple art of using Material and Composite NODES with a unique FLASH card system that a few lucky attendees will be able to take home. What a bargain. See you all there.
By the way click on the a-bomb image for a short nuclear explosion.
August 2006 Well I am a little closer to solving the transition problem between objects in and surrounded by water. In the process I have learned a new technique to mix toon-edged models in a none-toon background.
I used the new Node compositing capabilities in Blender 2.42a rendering to HD size and shrinking down for the demo file shown here.
Of course not everything runs smoothly as annoying render artifacts appeared which I had to remove by rotoscoping (individually removing the render aberrations in a paint program for each shot ~ 250 frames HELP) However, now I know the problem, and how it is caused, I hope I will be able to avoid it. This single shot has shown me the way to approach such difficult to achieve effects in Blender so I am confident that I can get the effect I'm after for the rest of the production.
Click the link for a non-looping animation of the corrected shot.
7x-new_480x204.mov (QT 1.3Mb)
By the way I know that there is an annoying shadow from a light in the wrong direction. Fortunately I can fix this problem by using Node based compositing to remove it later.
A little play time does no one any harm so I have been exploring the wealth of information buried in the 'Elephants Dream' DVD. The files are full of superb modeling, texturing, and animation. It's well worth taking the time to study. I took the Proog character and extracted the head for a turn-table looping animation. I had to remove most of the actions from the head but still managed to miss the eye brow raising. I told you there was a lot of hidden treasures in these files. Anyway here is the looping animation for you to enjoy.

prooghead.mov (QT 418x316 1.5Mb)

Following a busy period dealing with new tutorials and holidays its time to get back to some production work. I am revisiting the sea and interaction with objects floating in it. This produces some difficult to resolve issues so time to put the thinking cap on and find a definitive solution.
July 2006 BSoD 2006 is finally finished. Over the next week, or so, moderator's will be checking the submissions before releasing them to the community. However, if you would like a sneak peak at my Introduction to Materials and Textures in Blender here is the link.

http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_Materials

Here is a larger 640x480 looping animation of the toon flags exercise from the documentation. BSOD-Flag-640x480.mov (QT 3Mb) Enjoy.
Cog retires to a dark corner to get some sleep:)
While creating the section on toon shading for my BSoD documentation, I came across a neat way to get procedural textures to repeat in a controllable way.
This means that it will be possible to create repeating animated procedural's which will be a great time saver enabling much shorter animated sequences. It's achieved by attaching the texture (marble in this case) to an empty and rotating that through 360 degrees the texture will repeat. In the example shown all flags share the same material.
I shall be detailing this fully in my BSoD documentation. For now click the image to see a 200 frame looping animation of some Hayao Miyazaki inspired flags. *UPDATED*
June 2006 Here is a looping (silent) movie of the lavafall.
lavafall_480x270.mov (QT 1.0Mb)
Well as you probably know my Blender Summer of Documentation project utilizes a scene that is transformed by materials and textures. You've seen the waterfall now be the first to witness the awesome power of nature as the volcano erupts to reveal a lava fall. Click the image for a HD size render.
I couldn't resist making a looping animation with sound of the waterfall. Seeing materials and textures in motion really brings the thing you are trying to simulate alive.
warterfall5_480x270.mov (QT 1.5Mb)
As you all may know I have an interest in 3D stereo images. I thought it would be nice to see how bump maps translate into a 3D stereo image. The materials used in my waterfall example are mapped to quite simple meshes. So I created a left and right view, then used a paint package to extract a RED BLUE 3D Stereo image.
Click the image for a larger example. To view in 3D you will need a set of RED & BLUE glasses. The DVD 'Shrek3D' came with several pairs and is still available. It also has a great 3D waterfall that you can compare with mine.

Work is progressing with the Blender Summer of Documentation Materials and Textures section. To wet your appetite here is a waterfall that you will be learning how to create. Just click the image for a HD size render of the waterfall.

I am pleased to say that a proposal I put forward for the Blender Summer of Documentation contest has been accepted. Over the coming few weeks I will be producing a comprehensive Blender materials and texturing tutorial to help the Blender learner. Here is my proposal summary so you can get some idea of what will be covered:-
Materials and Textures in Blender from the basics up to UV mapping. To help make this interesting I propose that the trainee will produce 2 spectacular scenes based on the same mesh. One will be a Niagara/Victoria/Angel falls scene and the other a lava falls scene, similar to that from a recent space opera. Materials and textures will be the only things to make the changes between these 2 scenes.
However, by the conclusion of the documentation the trainee will have learnt the material and texture settings within Blender including the why and how. The idea is to teach materials so that the beginner can develop a strategy for producing the look they require. Then apply these strategies using Blender materials and textures.
As soon as I have some example pictures of the finished scenes I will post them here. So keep tuned.

May 2006

Blender April 2006 Gallery

April 2006 Since this is the month of Easter I thought I would give you all an Easter egg. However, a hunt is usually in order but a simple black and white image clue, not on this page, will lead to page 1 of the exciting adventure novelette used as the basis for the latest Cogfilms production of the Cruel Sea (The recently discovered novelette bears no relationship to the Nicholas Monsarrat book of the same name).
News has just reached us that despite the losses in recent challenges across the Atlantic our brave buoys are going to carry on and win the day. Much has been learned about our strengths and weaknesses and a realization of a long struggle. We will continue to blend on the beaches, we shall render on the landing grounds, we shall raytrace in the fields and in the streets, we shall animate in the hills; we shall never surrender.

Knowing how long a project will take is an important question to answer. When one sets up an independent production un-financed, other than by ones own time and money, it becomes difficult to let go and say it's done. A developing package, such as Blender, always has better tools coming that temp you to redo and improve previously completed shots. As a friend once put it, "How do you know when you have finished anything"? My answer is 'When it's too late to change your mind'. So deadlines, real or artificial, should be welcomed.
As an aid I have produced a spreadsheet of render times against shot or movie lengths. It even indicates render farm improvements to the process. Believe me when I say it can be sobering to look at this chart. It only gives pure render times which I estimate as 20% of the process. The other 80% is creativity, development, and mistakes. Don't be put off by what it shows but use it to understand the need for efficiency and closure.
March 2006 Well my entry to the CGTalk FXWARS: Ocean Challenge is in.
I won't tell you what a rush this was to complete with attendant software crashes and slow upload speeds that seem to be inevitable when one has a short timescale.

colin-litster_FXWARS(634x270).mov (QT 19Mb 634x270 Sorenson) or
colin-litster_FXWARS(317x135).mov (QT 5Mb 317x135 Sorenson)

Anyway I am quite pleased with the final result, a mini story told in just a few shots. However, I am developing both the story and the techniques for a more full featured short over the coming months.
Until then please vote for my entry at the following location.

VOTING NOW CLOSED

Although there hasn't been much of an update over the last few weeks things have been progressing with my CgTalk:FXWars! Ocean challenge. Here is my textured hero character BUOY.
As you can see he has developed a character since my last concept, along with a more detailed texture. If you click the head image to the right a larger whole model shot will display in a separate window. The short for the competition will be rendered without cartoon edges but I do like the graphic look as displayed on the right. The competition is to create a real ocean rather than a stylized one. I may however, make the finished short using this technique.
I only have 7 days left to render, composite, and edit the completed entry so time is running short. So no more updates until my entry is in.

Yet further progress towards my entry into the CgTalk:FXWars! challenge. The final modeling of characters is now complete with this the BUOY that forms a central character in the story. The buoy is based on the one seen in the 1951 film 'The Cruel Sea'. My short uses the same title but explores the Cruel Sea from the buoys position. I have to produce quite a few FX shots so I will be entering a trailer for the competition rather than the completed movie . However, I will finish the short ready for the Blender conference later in the Autumn.
The buoy still has to be rigged, and further shaders are required, but it's coming along nicely. It will certainly be ready for animation to begin tomorrow. Final rendering will be in 2 weeks time which leaves approximately 11 days for the final rendering. I will be using a render farm of 6 Linux PCs. There is in addition some post processing, compositing and editing to do. More details to follow.
By clicking the image above you can see a higher resolution picture in a separate window.
February 2006 More updates on the Ocean Challenge
Here is a texturing test to show heavy rust on the mine.
If you click the image a short turn-around animation will be shown. The material uses pure procedural's, making heavy use of cloud, screen, and Musgrave textures.
I've also been concepting the effect of a mine surfacing using my ocean shader with an additional wave modifier.
This has been quite tricky to create because of the lack of direct feedback (other than rendering) from displacement mapping. However, it's coming along nicely. Here is a short concept without wake or spray.
mine-surfacing.mov (QT 1.1Mb)

Just a little update as I work to find the look and feel for my entry in the CgTalk:FXWars!challenge. Over the weekend I watched The Cruel Sea for inspiration. Note I still have a lot of work to do. The mine is not lit correctly and its interaction with the ocean will need some careful hand animating, but its coming along. Click on the image to see a short animation. Heavily filtered and scratched in Quicktime (1.1Mb). Don't you just love to play.
For the CgTalk:FXWars!THE OCEAN Challenge:10 I have been developing a little story that may turn into a short. It involves oceans, sea mines, a warning buoy, and an adventure through storm and fair weather. This early concept, based on my new ocean tutorial of course, utilizes some different lighting setups, a brooding sky and a sea-mine. This concept has been modified in a paint package to help break the CGI stark transition from sea to mine edge. I know how to achieve this in Blender but wanted a proof of concept for the look in low light. I'm quite pleased reminds me of a Christian Benjamin Olsen painting.
A few have asked for a completed blend file of the New Ocean Techniques tutorial. So here it is:- new-ocean-finished.blend
The last section of my New Ocean Techniques in Blender is now published.
Here's Part 4 the final part.
Well the New Ocean Techniques tutorial is taking longer than imagined.
Here's Part 3 of what will now be a 4 part tutorial.
Here's Part 2 of my NEWOCEAN TUTORIAL. The final parts, which are the largest, will be posted shortly.
Although I haven't quite finished I didn't want to miss my own deadline. So
Here's Part 1 of my NEWOCEAN TUTORIAL in Blender.
I have entered the CgTalk:FXWars!THE OCEAN Challenge:10.
You can follow my WIP there and perhaps vote for my entry (and Blender)when the time comes.
I've updated the new ocean example movie with a sky background and a bright morning sun and also added a larger render in the image section of the website. Just click on the image above to view QT 846x320 3.3Mbmovie. The large render uses subsurface to help ease the displacement for the waves. For the movie render its set lower to cut the rendering time. Another example of balancing resources to achieve the effect as economically as possible.
Cog's New Ocean Tutorial is IMMINENT and to 'wet' your appetite here is a short looping animation of a fresh breeze day-lit ocean. Click on the image above (QT 2.2Mb). This example does not use any raytracing. Just light simulated reflections and Blender procedural textures.
I have discovered a bug in Blender 2.40 -2.41. If you use displacement in a material and select wire the displacement will flip. I discovered this while producing the images for the upcoming New Ocean Tutorial that is only a few days away. I have an example blendfile available that produced the image to the right.

wire-displ.blend

Just render once then change the plane material to wire and blend again.
January 2006 Well it's the last day of January 2006 and my New Ocean Tutorial still needs a few more pages, and illustrations to complete.
I also need to check on each of the demo files to ensure you don't get into trouble. These all take time and I am concerned that I will not be able to finish this evening. Please bear with me and I am sure the tutorial will be published in the next few days.

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL
I am currently working on my NEW OCEAN Tutorial that is to be published later this month. This will be another multi-paged and fully illustrated tutorial available to download as a printable pdf file. So stay tuned as the storm is gathering.
I have uploaded my latest Cog's Quick tutorials No.5 Cloud Creation in Blender. The simple techniques described will enable you to produce some really dramatic sky's.

The process is quite simple and can even save you time in your renders by pre-rendering sky like backgrounds for easy compilation into your scenes.

The film is dedicated to my great friend Roger Finch who tragically died in 2003. Roger was an inspiration to many non-professional film makers encouraging them to dream, persevere, and achieve the impossible.

The Cog Project

an independent film by Colin Litster produced using BLENDER

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL