Ocean waves from Vegas 4 generated media

JohnnyRoy wrote on 2/9/2004, 10:54 AM
I am always amazed at the power of the generated media in Vegas. I’ve been playing around with 3D modeling in Cinema 4D CE6 to make real world things like water that’s believable. I never thought of doing it right in Vegas. Then yesterday I was looking at the Boris FX web site thinking should I buy it? When it showed an effect with an ocean of waves claiming that it could easily be done with a gradient and bump mapping. I thought, hey wait a minute, Vegas has bump mapping, I’ll bet I can do this in Vegas with just generated media.

So I started with a gradient and I bump mapped that with an animated noise texture and it didn’t look half bad. Then I thought, I can tilt it back in 3D space with Satish’s 3D Plugin Pac LE and it began to really take shape. I dropped in a sky with a sun and two layers of clouds and I thought who needs Boris FX? Vegas has most of this stuff built right in. ;-)

I uploaded the veggie file to Chienworks and submitted it to SundanceMediaGroup. I’ll admit it looks a bit computer generated but you get the idea of what Vegas can do.

I also upload a video of it to Chienworks site for you to see: johnnyroy-oceanwavesnbirds. I added some birds with particleIllusion SE on the video that are not in the veggie. (sorry, I couldn’t resist) Thanks Kelly for providing an exceptional site for us to share our work on.

You can add titles that wave on the water using a displacement map or rise up from behind the horizon, etc. I’m in the process of rebuilding my web site but I hope to add it as a tutorial soon.

~jr

Comments

RichMacDonald wrote on 2/9/2004, 10:57 AM
Bravo.
Erk wrote on 2/9/2004, 1:19 PM
Pretty cool. This is inspiring me to take a long-delayed plunge into the joys of Vegas' generated media.

Thanks!

Greg
PeterWright wrote on 2/9/2004, 4:59 PM
Good stuff Johnny!
Spot|DSE wrote on 2/9/2004, 9:20 PM
Looks pretty cool, JR!
JohnnyRoy wrote on 2/9/2004, 9:40 PM
Thanks guys. I was equally impressed with Vegas when it actually worked by transposing what I had learned in Cinema 4D. There is certainly still a lot to explore in Vegas 4. Like I said, I’m working on a tutorial to explain how its done. Thanks again for the kind words. I’m hoping to actually make a living from all this some day. ;-)

~jr
farss wrote on 2/10/2004, 4:32 AM
JR, something ti think about:

Hands up all those who enjoy doing this? (large show of hands)
Hands up all those who make a decent living out of this? (much smaller show of hands)
Now hands up all those who answered yes to both questions? (.....anyone?)

You see in the real world there's one word that you need to consider before embarking on the "make a living out of this" deal:
The Client!
JohnnyRoy wrote on 2/10/2004, 10:08 AM
Yea, I hear ya’. I spent 10 years as a professional musician playing clubs and doing studio work in the NY tri-state area. After 10 years of 5 nights a week it became a job just like anything else. I grew to despise the club owners (i.e. “the client”) but loved performing for a live audience as well as the solitude and creative atmosphere of the studio work. So I understand you gotta take the good with the bad. As soon as you add money to the equation your favorite hobby becomes a job. Damn I hate when that happens. ;-)

So I guess, “make a living” was the wrong term to use because I couldn’t afford to leave my day job unless I landed a major gig doing video editing or 3D modeling and that’s not going to happen. I’d just like to do something creative and have it appreciated by people. (wouldn't we all) If I make a few bucks along the way, so much the better. That’s how I felt when I was a musician and when I first started programming. I just want to feel that way again. Perhaps I’m dreaming. Perhaps I should take up painting? Perhaps it’s mid-life crisis? =:-0

~jr
swarrine wrote on 2/10/2004, 5:16 PM
Really cool, nice work JohnnyRoy.
Maverick wrote on 2/11/2004, 10:19 AM
Great stuff!

It's people like JohnnyRoy & others that are encouraging the likes of me to delve into Vegas even further after being shown there is so much more.