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To start off, fire up Maya. If you are not in the Dynamics module interface, hold down the H key on your keyboard, and then left click anywhere on the scene and drag the mouse onto Dynamics. This will change the menu buttons on the top panel of Maya.

From the top panel, go to Fluid Effects>Ocean>Create Ocean and click on the Option Box as shown in the screenshot below.

An attributes window will open, check the Attach to Camera and Create Preview Plane boxes. Preview Plane Size is the preview plane that shows the effect of ocean on the scene when playing with attributes, you can give it any value you like. In this case I gave it a value of 15 which is pretty reasonable while playback, you can forward play the animation if you would like to check the ocean’s movement flow.

Your ocean should look something like this now in perspective view.

While the preview plane is still selected, hit Ctrl+A to open up the Attributes Editor. Once the Attributes Editor appears click on the Ocean Preview Plane1 tab, you will come across few options over here like Resolution, Color, Displacement, etc. Resolution increases the segments of the preview plane and that will lead to a smoother result on the scene. However, the increase in Resolution could lead to lower playback speed and system performance, in other words, rendering will take much more memory out of your system and preview playback will be slower than usual. Color and Displacement are locked, you don’t need to play with those so just leave them at their default values. Height Scale increases the height displacement of the preview plane. Make sure you also keep it at it’s default value.

Once you are done with Preview Plane 1 click on the Ocean Shader tab. We are going to spend most of our time here to modify and achieve the desired shape of our ocean.

Creating The Stormy Ocean

Creating a specific ocean effect simply requires using specific configuration in the Ocean Attributes rollout. To start off, simply expand the Ocean Attributes rollout to reveal its parameters. Assign the values stated below:

Scale, 1.000
Wind UV, -0.700 | -0.700
Wave Speed, 2.000
Observer Speed, 0.200
Num Frequencies, 20.000
Wave Dir Spread, 0.200
Wave Length Min, 0.200
Wave Length Max, 100.000

Go down to find the Wave Height rollout beside the color coded window. Set the Interpolation option to Smooth and add some points in accordance to your desired shape.

Scroll down to the Wave Turbulence rollout, set Interpolation to Smooth and play around with the Wave Height the same way we did before.

Scroll down to Wave Peaking, set Interpolation to Smooth, play around with the the settings to get your random ocean effect by adding some points along the graph to get peaking ocean waves.

Wave Peaking basically works well together with Wave Height. Again, change the Interpolation to Linear, play around with the settings and add some points along the graph to get peaking ocean waves.

The final step here is again adding Foam. Find the Foam options under the Wave Peaking rollout, set the parameters as specific below:
Foam Emission, 0.140
Foam Threshold, 0.675

That’s it, you can create a test render to get an image similar to this:

Source: Republic Of Code

December 4, 2009

Mike proposes that Ty join him and his crew — Mike’s hotheaded brother-in-law Baines (Laurence Fishburne), Quinn (Jean Reno), Dobbs (Skeet Ulrich) and born-again ex-con Palmer (Amaury Nolasco) — in pulling off an inside job worth $42 million. The plan seems fool-proof, but — as any viewer of capers can tell you — all “perfect crimes” are destined to go horribly awry in a movie. This inside job is no different. It’s the getting away with it part that proves the most difficult for these guards-turned-robbers.

Mike had promised Ty that the job would be violence-free, but again this is a crime movie and a bodycount is inevitable. Rebelling against his now panicked and violent cohorts, Ty locks himself inside his armored car at their drop site (an abandoned mill)… with the other half of the loot. The thieves only have less than an hour to break into their own armored truck, deal with Ty and get their money before they miss their check-in deadline and the armored car service alerts the police. Ty is outnumbered, trapped, and looking at losing all that he’s fought so hard to hold onto in his troubled life.

Much as he did with the 2007 thriller Vacancy, director Nimrod Antal manages to turn a rather generic premise — in this case, a heist gone wrong — into something that feels not original but at least fresh and exciting. Antal’s direction, along with the grim cinematography of Andrzej Sekula, makes for a more interesting-looking heist film than we usually see. As he did with Vacancy, it is Antal’s ability to draw realistic, gripping performances from his leads that elevates the film and keeps the viewer invested in the characters even though we know how formula dictates the story play out.

Dillon plays the Faustian devil here, tempting his young friend not out of malice but from true concern. After all, Ty’s a veteran who has endured a hard life; doesn’t he deserve to be rewarded? Given how hellish the economy and job market is right now, it’s a tempting offer many people might agree with. In that sense, Armored is reminiscent of those bandit pictures of the Great Depression that offered filmgoers the escapist “get rich quick and screw the system” fantasy they craved.

Short gives the film’s strongest performance, an endearing dramatic turn that’s somewhat of a surprise for those who are only familiar with his comedic work. Surprisingly, the industry vets who play the gang don’t fare as well as this young up-and-comer: Fishburne is a bit over-the-top as the requisite loose cannon, while Reno plays yet another quiet and intense Frenchman with a knack for violence. Ulrich has a few solid moments, but all of these characters are ultimately thumbnail sketches. We only get to know much about Ty and a bit about Mike, but otherwise they’re all ciphers who are memorable only because of the actors playing them.

The entire second half of the film is one protracted but gripping suspense sequence played out in essentially real time. As in Vacancy, Antal knows how to use a single, enclosed location to maximum effect for generating suspense. While there are definitely familiar moments from other robbery films here, particularly Reservoir Dogs with the inclusion of Milo Ventimiglia as a wounded cop, Antal succeeds in crafting a memorable and gripping thriller. While Armored may not offer the viewer much of anything new, it’s nevertheless an entertaining little flick that’s worth a look-see.

See Screenshot Gallery

Source: IGN

I just edited a sweet video that contains only scenes of devastator in the movie Transformers Revenge of the Fallen! Check it out!

I am so pumped! I have finally received my Autographed by Michael Bay Transformers Revenge of the Fallen DVD today in the mail! This is the coolest thing ever! And it’s actually signed!

Here in the picture you can see my current Transformers ROTF collection so far. The biggest poster on the left is an actually movie poster from the theaters and it has two sides for some reason. But anyway im super pumped and the bumblebee toy i have in my right hand actually transformers into the camaro. It is so detailed! Woot!

And the DVD I am holding is signed by Michael Bay himself!

]]> http://baselinefilms.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-signed-by-michael-bay/feed/ 0 Hudson Bloom My Transformers 2 Collection http://baselinefilms.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/snl-digital-short-two-world-colide-feat-reba-mcentire/ http://baselinefilms.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/snl-digital-short-two-world-colide-feat-reba-mcentire/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:39:17 +0000 Hudson Bloom http://baselinefilms.wordpress.com/?p=428 ]]> The Lonely Island are awesome! They yet again threw down a sick beat!

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