Surf's up in Houdini

eriktier · **Surf's up in Houdini -** September 23rd, 2009, 01:08 PM

Hi,

About a month ago I started a project to create a breaking wave system similar to the one used in Surf's Up. I've in the mean time setup a blog as I was posting updates in too many forums...

http://dvfx.dutcheffectsfactory.com

Always interested in what you think!

Cheers,
Erik

dcompz · September 29th, 2009, 08:44 AM

Well firstly let me say that Surf's Up is my favorite animated movie of all time so rock on.

(Of course after seeing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs I realized anything that Imageworks does is on my favorites list

) I read through your blog and it all looks quite good. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished project. I did have a few thoughts/suggestions/critiques for you though.

(1) I don't really know what angle you're going to use for the final shot but based on the most recent animation test you had up there, you can see where the wave cuts off near the end of the clip. If you're sticking with that shot then you should probably crop it in a bit more or extend the length of the wave so it doesn't just drop off like that. If you aren't using that angle then disregard this part.

(2) The animation of the wave itself seems a bit off after it crests. The area that is mainly catching my eye is the center where it first starts to break. It seems to hesitate a bit too long and then almost thrusts itself forward as if it has something accelerating it. I know next to nothing about Houdini so I don't know if that is strictly simulated or if you have control over the motion but it doesn't seem quite right to me. I know that once it breaks gravity takes over and it crashes down fairly quickly and I think it's being held a split second too long.

Overall, some very nice work though! The shader is looking excellent. I will be checking up on this frequently to see your progress.

eriktier · September 29th, 2009, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcompz

Well firstly let me say that Surf's Up is my favorite animated movie of all time so rock on.

(Of course after seeing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs I realized anything that Imageworks does is on my favorites list

) I read through your blog and it all looks quite good. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished project. I did have a few thoughts/suggestions/critiques for you though.

(1) I don't really know what angle you're going to use for the final shot but based on the most recent animation test you had up there, you can see where the wave cuts off near the end of the clip. If you're sticking with that shot then you should probably crop it in a bit more or extend the length of the wave so it doesn't just drop off like that. If you aren't using that angle then disregard this part.

(2) The animation of the wave itself seems a bit off after it crests. The area that is mainly catching my eye is the center where it first starts to break. It seems to hesitate a bit too long and then almost thrusts itself forward as if it has something accelerating it. I know next to nothing about Houdini so I don't know if that is strictly simulated or if you have control over the motion but it doesn't seem quite right to me. I know that once it breaks gravity takes over and it crashes down fairly quickly and I think it's being held a split second too long.

Overall, some very nice work though! The shader is looking excellent. I will be checking up on this frequently to see your progress.

It's one of my very favorite animation films as well. That together with the fact that I surf myself were the main reasons for taking on this project. Thanks for your remarks! The current camera and wave animation are really just rough setups to test the system. I fully agree on both remarks. The current wave I've setup for testing is very short so its really hard to get a shot of it without the end showing up like this. Once I'm ready to do a real animation, I'll setup a much longer wave. I'm also considering calling in the help of an animator and/or lighter to make the results better. This will at the same time test the flexibility of the animation rigs that are part of the setup. Everything in this system is fully animatable and the main goal is to make a wave system that can be fully creatively controlled both in animation and look. But currently I'm mostly in the technical development fase and only have very rudimentary animation and lighting setup.

Cheers,
Erik

eriktier · **Sunset dreams -** October 4th, 2009, 12:57 AM

I've just posted another update on my blog. I've worked on a new 'sunset' look.

Cheers,
Erik

eriktier · October 9th, 2009, 02:59 PM

I've just posted another update on my blog: http://blog.dutcheffectsfactory.com with a first render of the new lip spray particle system.

Cheers,
Erik

dcompz · October 10th, 2009, 06:23 AM

Coming along nicely. I definitely like what you've done with the spray so far and the sunset coloring adds a lot to it. Keep it up!

eriktier · **Multi-pass and small fixes -** October 13th, 2009, 03:10 PM

I've just updated my blog: http://blog.dutcheffectsfactory.com

Cheers,
Erik

eriktier · **Shades of white water -** October 14th, 2009, 02:24 PM

I've just posted a monster update to my blog (http://blog.dutcheffectsfactory.com) on a new white water shader I wrote from scratch that combines tons of control while keeping data sizes relatively low.

Cheers,
Erik

krizard · October 14th, 2009, 06:20 PM

it looks amazing..good work
but i think you should add a little bit more of bump on the foam map, i think it looks too flat.
what you think???
keep going and pls keep posting updates..

eriktier · October 15th, 2009, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krizard

it looks amazing..good work
but i think you should add a little bit more of bump on the foam map, i think it looks too flat.
what you think???
keep going and pls keep posting updates..

I think that's a very good thought

Thanks!

Cheers,
Erik

eriktier · October 20th, 2009, 09:58 PM

Hi,

Just posted an update on my blog with the first whitewater explosion renders...

eriktier · **updates and beta testing -** October 28th, 2009, 02:08 AM

Hi,

I've posted two updates on my blog: http://blog.dutcheffectsfactory.com. One is a quick update on the progress of the project and the other is about beta testing the tool

.

Cheers,
Erik

krizard · October 28th, 2009, 03:34 AM

is that an HDA or its just a scene that you're making????
i think after you finished you could make a tutorial on how to make the rig, or make a case study cause many people will be interested.
BTW looks nice!!!

eriktier · October 28th, 2009, 04:37 AM

I'm making it an HDA.

Cheers,
Erik

Quote:

Originally Posted by krizard

is that an HDA or its just a scene that you're making????
i think after you finished you could make a tutorial on how to make the rig, or make a case study cause many people will be interested.
BTW looks nice!!!

eriktier · **Tools 'r Us: Setup and Animation -** November 9th, 2009, 02:31 PM

Hi,

Just posted a new update on my blog: http://blog.dutcheffectsfactory.com. I'm starting to get quite far along on making the wave system a full fledged tool. This post is a first in a series on what the tool looks like and how its used to generate breaking waves.

Cheers,
Erik