Reel ThinkingParticles/ VFX TD from SantiBono on Vimeo.
Santi Bono, FX Tool Developer, Blue Dream Studios achieving fame with his 'creative tools' & more....
Cebas: Please tell cebas about your recent projects. Please tell us how you were involved?
Santi: I'm currently working at the Blue Dream Studios Spain as a VFX tool developer for an upcoming animation film called ‘Animal Crackers’.
Nowadays, I am a hundred percent focused on film so I can't tell you much about it, but I continue studying and developing personal projects whenever I have free time.
We are Blue Dream Studios! from Blue Dream Studios Spain on Vimeo.
Cebas: Where do you get inspiration and what drives you to be so creative in your projects?
Santi: Well, creativity is not something you consciously look for and I do not follow any pattern. When I do see something that I like that has visual potential and above all, raises a technical challenge for me, I am inspired to sit at the computer and start trying to solve it. That's how I believe a person learns, facing a challenge and resolving it to surpass oneself.
On the other hand what I try to do in my free time is to escape from what, in this world, we can call typical effects (explosions and destructions). I'm not saying that you do not have to study and try to achieve those effects. In fact, they are the mainstay and the most demanded in day to day of our profession, and we have to work proficiently with them. But what interests me the most is to try different things and explore different paths.
Cebas: Which shots/images in particular were you involved in?
Santi: I am developing thinkingParticles tools that will be used later in the film for special effects. These procedural tools can be adapted to any need without having to start every shot from scratch and that's one of the strengths of Thinking Particles – the blackBox.
I will give an example of my work by showing this tool I developed to meet a need that I had and that 3ds Max could not solve efficiently. The challenge was for me to create a tool that allows the user to control the morphing effect of an object by using multiple animated helpers.
The peculiarity of this TP tool is that it offers a much more artistic control over the parts of the model that you want to transform... and the best of all is that It also allows the use of particles to achieve more interesting and creative effects!
This kind of morphing effect is something that other 3d software could do without problem, but I find that 3ds Max by itself isn't able to do so in a friendly or fast way so I decided to create a morphing blackBox myself using thinkingParticles 6.
password to Super morpher (WIP) is 'cebas' if needed.
Santi has kindly given cebas readers a first view.
Cebas: Which were the cebas visual technologies used in your projects and how did you use our software to achieve the desired effects?
Santi: I use thinkingParticles in almost everything I do. I became interested in this product a couple of years ago.
Initially, I was amazed by the ability it gave to the artist in terms of the destructions and demolitions in a completely dynamic and procedural way.
Although, many starter VFX artists tend to stop their TP learning there, I for one encourage them to investigate further since thinkingParticles is much more than just destruction scenes, it has such a huge potential that it can create almost any particle or dynamic effect you can imagine.
Cebas: What features in our plugin in particular helped you achieve your creative goals and did you have to figure out a lot of things?
Santi: There is nothing in particular about thinkingParticles that helped me achieve what I want, I feel it is the full package as a whole, the way it operates …. and interacts that makes it so indispensable for high-level CG effects.
It is true that it has some extraordinary nodes such as the VolumeBreaker or physics engines or the powerful ShapeCollision or BulletPhysics that helps the artist work, but it's real potential resides as I said, in the way it helps the artist manage the dynamism and how it works.
ThinkingParticles / Hidraulics TDtool from SantiBono on Vimeo.
Cebas: Can you give us a step-by-step breakdown of a typical shot/image that you do? Do you use MaxScript/ any scripting at all?
Santi: Usually, when I start a new effect or tool, I draw an outline of what this tool or effect must do, I break it down into multiple sub-functions and choose one of them (the most important) as the functional root from which the other features will be annexing, as if they were complementary pieces.
Regarding scripting, I have to say that I learnt this relatively recent. In fact, in these sample videos there is not a single line of code, but it's true that while in Thinking Particles almost anything can be done without scripting, as a vfx artist it makes your life much easier even if it was only applied to automate processes that would be very tedious to perform otherwise.
Cebas: How did it compare to other software you may have used?
Santi: The truth is that, since the particle system is one of the most versatile that exists for me right now, and moreover in the same package is included the different rigid and soft body simulation engines, fragmentation nodes and even fluid solvers, all of them with full connectivity, which is great because this saves a lot of troubles and time and allows you to focus better on the effect as you don’t have to deal with different formats and compatibility issues between different plugins. That’s a real competitive advantage with TP.
ThinkingParticles / WallWalkers TDtool from SantiBono on Vimeo.
Cebas: In your view, what is your wish for cebas software to achieve that it is not currently doing for you?
Santi: If I had to vote for what functionality I would add to Thinking Particles, it would be a new collection of nodes that could be called "Basic Forces" or "Noises" which would provide particles with organic behaviours such as turbulence or wind, without having to use the default 3DSMAX ones or to have to make some vector fields from scratch. In addition, it could be interesting to see some super fast "Particle skinning" node.
And what I really think would be most useful is an improvement of the caches system.
Cebas: Any tips you want to throw in for a new VFX artist ?
Santi: All I can say is to enjoy the work or learning process as if it was a hobby.
For me, to work doing special effects is like having a box full of parts, which you have to select and put them together to achieve the desired effect, or better; you can mix them, improvise and enjoy it by creating something completely new... It's like having a puzzle in your hands with infinite possibilities!
So, I encourage everyone to continue investigating, experiment and pose challenges, as I think it is one of the fastest ways to learn and it is great fun.
ThinkingParticles / SecondLife TDtool from SantiBono on Vimeo.
Cebas: What projects can we expect from you in the future (if you're able to tell us).
Santi: I am currently very happy developing tools and effects for the company where I work, but at the same time, I would always try to take some time for personal projects that I'm developing with the simple aim to learn and have fun, which I think some of them can become very interesting, so stay tuned to my Vimeo channel! https://vimeo.com/santibono
Thank you very much Santi for everything, and to Blue Dream Studios
as well for sharing !