Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/24970
bits & pieces Tips: By The Book ‘Introducing Autodesk 3DS Max 2011’ Tunnel Post launches digital dailies service S ANTA MONICA— Tunnel Post (http://tunnelpost.com) has purchased a Codex Digital Lab system, which will serve as the hub of a new digital laboratory service for commer- cials, television shows and feature films.The Codex system will be used to process digitally-acquired media, prepare files for editorial, facilitate color grading and create archival media files. The Digital Lab processes camera media at speeds several times faster than realtime and outputs files in formats required by most editorial systems and codecs, including Apple ProRes and Avid DNxHD. “Our new dailies workflow with Codex Digital Lab streamlines the digital production process by eliminating the prob- lem of managing codecs and formats,” notes Tunnel CEO Kyle Jack- son.“We will be able to provide production companies with fast turnaround for their dailies and greater security for their digital as- sets. It will also benefit editorial companies by freeing them from the complex task of processing digital media files and allow them to focus on the creative aspects of their work.” Tunnel is targeting commercial producers and editors with its dig- ital lab service, but expects it to attract episodic TV and feature film productions as well.Tunnel offering three grades of processing service with one-light, best-light and DI-graded color treatments applied. What Post readers are experiencing Right Now BOOKS:“When I read, it’s at night, which means I fall asleep and have way too many half- read books shoved under the bed. John Stew- art’s and Chelsea Handler’s latest are in the queue for 2011.” FILMS: “I managed to squeeze in Social Net- work recently. I’m still in awe of what Mark Zuckerberg created. It’s epic.As was the writing in that film. Santa brought Despicable Me to the house last month — loved it. I didn’t think any movie could surpass the Pixar hit-making machine, but that film is solid and witty.” Taylor Ferguson, executive producer,Trio Films, Los Angeles 8 Post • February 2011 The most important thing to know be- fore you begin to model is exactly what you are going to model.You need to think about your model and gather as many references as you can.The best training is simply by observing the core elements and forms that make up objects in everyday life. Learn how to dissect things around you into component shapes that you can picture in a 3D window.When you look at a barbell, for example, you should see several cylinders connected to each other.When you see an office chair, you should see a few boxes and cylinders arranged and rounded at the edges. When you begin to see objects in this personal, then you should take care to build it with extra detail, adding as many polygons as it takes to make it look good and still be able to render. If, however, the object is far away and half obscured, de- tailing the heck out of it would be a waste of time. Below, on the left you can see a park bench in a far shot, compared to a view of the bench up close on the right. It would be a waste of effort and time to detail the bench to exacting levels when the bench will be seen only in a far shot. The level of detail in a model depends on how much of the model is seen.You should ask yourself what the model will be used for when you are deciding how best to detail it. If you are not sure how manner, the idea of modeling them may not seem quite as daunting. “Yeah, but all my friends can sit down and model anything they want.” Be that as it may, if you are a novice to 3D, surround yourself with references.Whether you are new to 3D or to modeling,and even if you aren’t, you should surround yourself with as many references as you can.Not having a clear picture in your head of where you need to go for your model will aggravate the process and give you a slack result. Take pictures all around the proposed object. Get the dimensions, sizes, angles and slopes of the surfaces of your sub- ject.You could even try to recreate the object in a different medium.Try sketch- ing or grab some Play-Doh or a plate of mashed potatoes and make a rough sculpture. It will pay off in the long run. But enough of that old lecture.Your first question should be,“How detailed should I make the model?” It’s always a good idea to match the level of detail for a model to what is needed in the shot. If you are featuring the object up close and www.postmagazine.com the model will be used in the end, it’s generally best to create as much detail as you think necessary.You can always prune down the details later if, for example, your scene ends up very large and will not render quickly enough. Here’s another thing to confuse you: You can always add detail to a model with texturing.Textures, when applied well, can really turn an otherwise ho-hum model into a spectacular object when rendered.You can easily add details such as grooves, dents and engravings with special texture maps called bump maps or displacement maps.You can learn about these maps in Chapter 7:“Materi- als and Mapping.” Don’t worry about these things yet, though. Most people begin by putting all the details they can into their model, and as they gain more experience, they start to realize that some of the modeling work can be deferred until the texturing phase. By Randi L. Derakhshani and Dariush Derakhshani Wiley (www.wiley.com)