Show Notes: Episode 6

  • Smoothing Your Images.
    Alex Lindsay
    Founder, Pixel Corps

    So many of us love to shoot without a flash. While the look is great, we often have to turn the ISO up to get enough light. This makes our images super grainy. Until now, we’ve just had to live with it.

    But, help is on the way. With Noise Ninja from Picture Code, you can remove much of the noise for a much smoother image. The Noise Ninja does some coolio math to find grain in the color and luma channels and blend it in more effectively.

    It’s not perfect…you may see some artifacts here and there…but overall, it’s very effective.

    In addition, if you turn all the settings up…you get a cool painterly effect.

    RELATED WEBSITE LINKS

    www.pixelcorp.tv
    www.picturecode.com

    PRODUCTS SHOWN

    Noise Ninja
    $34.95 Home
    $69.95 Professional

  • Visual Effects of Battlestar Galactica
    Alec McClymont
    3D Artist

    Battlestar Galactica features a wild, documentary camera style, which is important to match with the visual effects shots. Meetings with Visual Effects Supervisor Gary Hutzel will determine the rough action which needs to take place. Individual camera moves or shot composition may or may not be discussed. Other creative choices are often left up to the 3D artist who is animating the shot. All previz is sumbmitted to production for approval from the VFX Supervisor, as well as the Executive Producers, before the shot can proceed. Any new models featured in the show will be built starting at the beginning of a show. It is important to have multiple elements of a project in progress at the same time, in order to meet the tight deadlines of television VFX production. A new model may or may not feature concept art, and if not, it is normal for the modeler to do their own concept work and submit it to production for approval before starting the 3D model itself. During the 3D build, the VFX Supervisor will take one or two looks at the progress to make sure everything is going in the right direction. Texturing usually begins once the model is nearly complete, though there is some overlap as the artist decides which surfaces can simply use a texture, and which ones may require more modeling work. Once complete, the artist will do several test renders of the model from different angles, which are submitted to production for approval.

    RELATED WEBSITE LINKS

    www.newtek.com/lightwave/ – Lightwave 3D
    http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/family.html - Photoshop

    PRODUCTS SHOWN

    Lightwave 8.5 / 9.0 - $795
    Photoshop 7.0 / CS2 - $649