The Refinery Project is a four chapter tutorial that demonstrates, in real-time, how to bring a static image to life in seven hours. Starting with a static photo of an oil refinery, Alex integrates 2D and 3D elements using Maya, After Effects and Photoshop.
CHAPTER 1: SPRITE RENDERED SMOKESTACKS | 467 MB
CHAPTER 2: SKY AND WATER REPLACEMENT | 479 MB
CHAPTER 3: ROLLING SPRITE FOG | 322 MB
CHAPTER 4: SHORELINE, BIRDS, PARTICLE INSTANCING | 642 MB
Chapter One: Sprite Rendered Smokestacks
In chapter one, sprite rendered smoke is added to several of the refinery’s smokestacks. Topics include: Importing the image plane, aligning the 3D camera, adding 3D reference geometry, volume emission, fields, sprite set-up, expressions, adjusting particle speed without changing behavior, hardware rendering separate elements, motion blur, particle disk caching, compositing, color correction and final integration.
Chapter Two: Sky and Water Replacement
In chapter two, the original sky and static water of the refinery photo are replaced. Using Photoshop, we mask out the original sky, replace it, then color correct to match the lighting of the scene. For the water we use Maya’s Ocean Shader to create animated water that integrates perfectly into our scene, including reflection of the backplate and shore/pier intersection through the use of camera projections.
Chapter Three: Rolling Sprite Fog
In chapter three, animated fog is added to the Maya scene using volume emission, fields, sprites, expressions, disk caching, hardware rendering and motion blur. All necessary steps are discussed as we build the effect from scratch and integrate it into our composite. Final tweaks are added in After Effects including color correction, level adjustments, masking and movement.
Chapter Four: Shoreline, Birds, Particle Instancing
In this final chapter, we begin by adding a new foreground shoreline and some rocks in the water. We pull elements from a photo using masking, fringe removal and warping. We then move to Maya to create a dynamic flock of birds that fly into frame. The bird effect is created from scratch including joints, skinning, looping animation, UVs, texturing, particle instancing, emitters, fields, expressions, lighting, rendering and the final composite of the Refinery Project.
CHAPTER 2: SKY AND WATER REPLACEMENT – Part 1:
http://rapidshare.com/files/85090547/refinery21.part01.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85090798/refinery21.part02.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85091019/refinery21.part03.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85091254/refinery21.part04.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85091528/refinery21.part05.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85091647/refinery21.part06.rar
CHAPTER 2: SKY AND WATER REPLACEMENT – Part 2:
http://rapidshare.com/files/85091914/refinery22.part01.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85092637/refinery22.part02.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85092841/refinery22.part03.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85093032/refinery22.part04.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85093277/refinery22.part05.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85093538/refinery22.part06.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85093859/refinery22.part07.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85094135/refinery22.part08.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85094386/refinery22.part09.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85094747/refinery22.part10.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85094865/refinery22.part11.rar
CHAPTER 3: ROLLING SPRITE FOG – Part 1:
http://rapidshare.com/files/85095189/refinery31.part01.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85095487/refinery31.part02.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85095784/refinery31.part03.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85096071/refinery31.part04.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85096282/refinery31.part05.rar
CHAPTER 3: ROLLING SPRITE FOG – Part 2:
http://rapidshare.com/files/85096523/refinery32.part01.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85096764/refinery32.part02.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85097045/refinery32.part03.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85097461/refinery32.part04.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85097718/refinery32.part05.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/85097988/refinery32.part06.rar
8 comments on “Gnomonology – The Refinery Project”
thanks for this tutorial. What is the problem with the first part? thanks again.
Since the first file dont work the whole first disk is no good. So the hole beginning of the project is no good. That first file would be great to get….
@ PopperRocka
Take the missing file name, namely ‘refinery11.part01.rar’, google it, download for other working sources.
can?t find refinery11.part01.rar anywhere
Wow! Sounds great!! Thanks for sharing!!!
You can find the file ‘refinery11.part01.rar’ here:
http://www.badongo.com/pt/cfile/7368631
Dude i i dont know how you do it AND i probably dont wanna know how u do but…..
U PWNNNNNNNN WHOOOOO HHHHHHHHHHOOOOW!!! :)
PS sry about that last part :)
HAve a nice weekend
Well seems to be that the link is still working when i try maybe iam lucky maybe not just try it as primary!!
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We always ask bloggers to scan all the files before publishing the posts, but sometimes it's hard to detect all these things, so if you found anything suspicious (Not false positive, Generic, Patcher, Riskware and Heuristic results, most patches could get false flags like that by some Antivirus companies.) be sure to post comments with the file name and a VirusTotal report result link or the file MD5 Hash (higher than 30% overall positive result). Thank you.
thanks for this tutorial. What is the problem with the first part? thanks again.
Since the first file dont work the whole first disk is no good. So the hole beginning of the project is no good. That first file would be great to get….
@ PopperRocka
Take the missing file name, namely ‘refinery11.part01.rar’, google it, download for other working sources.
can?t find refinery11.part01.rar anywhere
Wow! Sounds great!! Thanks for sharing!!!
You can find the file ‘refinery11.part01.rar’ here:
http://www.badongo.com/pt/cfile/7368631
Dude i i dont know how you do it AND i probably dont wanna know how u do but…..
U PWNNNNNNNN WHOOOOO HHHHHHHHHHOOOOW!!! :)
PS sry about that last part :)
HAve a nice weekend
Well seems to be that the link is still working when i try maybe iam lucky maybe not just try it as primary!!