So I’ve spent the last 4 days in a groggy haze with Trapcode Particular. I am constructing demos for the class I am building, and I think I kind of went overboard. I had a lot of fun, though. Music by Big Star(!)

I’ve played around with Trapcode Form before, but I need to delve a bit deeper for work. Not bad, like a generative mograph playground. I also realized I never put audio in my movies, which is weird since I play music and used to score stuff as part of my living. To remedy this, I give you that hot new band, King Crimson!

I’m building an intermediate to advanced level motion graphics class and this is an example I made demonstrating a 3D camera follow. Let’s be frank – AE’s cameras suck and teaching novices how to do sophisticated moves is not so easy. But hey, it’s a living, right?

I finally figured out how to render Hair using Octane. Wow, no lights or shadows needed. These tests were done using only an HDRI. Render times are a little long, but the sample amount can be reduced to a fairly low setting.

First time using Mograph with Octane. You just need to bake the simulation before rendering. Motion blur added in AE with the new Pixel Motion Blur plugin. It’s not quite as good as RSMB, but if you crank the frame samples from 5 to 15, it comes close, but render times go through the roof.

I know where the term Hard Surface Modeling comes from: It’s HARD! Making a seemingly simple object like this takes tons of planning and reworking to get the rounded and straight parts to play well together. Seriously, try it – it’s not easy. This model is far from perfect, but I like the realism of the edges. This is also my first attempt at a procedural metal texture in Octane.

I have done a few animation render tests with Octane, and so far, they have been pretty good. This is a test that I thought looked good enough to put some motion graphics over. The scene reminded me of the moody, foreboding opening shots from Breaking Bad, so I kind of went with that look. On the technical side, I used Octane’s Pathtracing with a sample value of 5000. The animation is quite grainy, so next time, I will need to boost that number to about 12000. Of course, that doubles the 6 hour render to 12 hours. Looks like I will need to buy another Titan card…

Sometimes, the 3D has to stop and I need to design something just to keep my chops up. It’s hard going from 3D to Web Design to Motion Graphics to Music Making to Instructional Design. Sometimes I lose my bearings and need to spend a good hour or two in Illustrator just making things up and playing around.

Ok, so I guess I’m not too proud to use someone else’s model. I got this fromTF3DM. Wonderful resource when you are in the heat of Octane Mania. At least I textured the chrome and the plastic hardware. I also lit it and staged it, so that should be worth something, right?

Now that I’ve been using Octane Render, my modeling skills have gone to sh*t. Why? Because I spend most of my time tweaking textures and lighting instead of modeling. I’m sure it will balance back and I’ll start making better stuff, but until then – I give you the 10 minute egg. I spent about that much time making these “eggs”. I really just wanted something to render and I’m too proud to use other people’s models.