Lots of progress on the film this week which is exciting. My goal was to address the disintegration of the trees in the wasteland scene and the asteroid that will destroy the city in the film. I have workflows and promising results for both, but I need to spend time polishing the visuals for each. I also took time to go back and make additional edits to other pieces of the film based of feedback from the past few weeks. This included: creating a better dung shader, fixing the beetle's walk cycle, adding a nighttime city skyline, and speeding up the flapping of the butterflies' wings.
Tree Disintegration
To create this disintegration effect, I used Red Giant's VFX package. By animating a series of masks, and using a particular trapcode, I was able to generate the effect I am looking for. I need to touch up some of the harshness of the mask still, but so far I am happy with the workflow/results.
Asteroid
This is another After Effects plugin called Saber. I am layering several effects on top of one another to create this asteroid. I still have a few tweaks to make, but nothing too concerning. I also converted my city matte painting to night to help highlight the asteroid's light. I plan on shifting the city from sunset to dusk, and then sinking the asteroid behind the skyline.
Updated Rough Cut
Just a rough cut of current elements and how they are working together.
Book Update
I finally have a projector that works for what I need it to do, but now on to the hard part: actually building the book. I am most likely going to use gampi paper because it is durable and the projector is able to rear project through it. I have been researching how people make cardboard conveyor belts, and I think that it could work if I can generate enough tension to pull the paper around. I have though about using sprockets, but my only fear with that is it could damage the paper and tear after continued use. Still lots to think about, but with the film almost in the can I feel okay diverting more of my attention to the book & my paper.