Hi, guys,

I just got hired to do a music video in which there is one shot where my main character reveals that she is an angel. I really liked to realistic/creepy feel of the wings that are attached to Shia LaBouf ("Chaz") and Tilda Swinton ("Gabriel") in CONSTANTINE. I know that this is a tall order and a large part of the solution will be great A:M work (v12). I need some tips from a modeller/aimator/texture perspective as far as how I can make the wings as "realistic" (and non-cartoony). I imagine shooting the needed shot against a greenscreen would be a great start. I am also concerned about getting a nice transluscent "feather texture", something that seems more complex than even photorealistic hair. Any tips?

thanks in advance,
jabbar

You would get a faster responce by posting this at:

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showforum=1

That is the General discussion/Animation Master topics.

Well, you are not asking for something easy here... You could use decaled geometry , but hair would be the easiest way... you would have to use a map of a feather with an alpha map that cuts the shape of the feather out of the hair. Hair can be shaped like a feather using the timeline editor... and the feather color can be varied using the features of hair available in properties. There is a tutorial for this. goto the A.R.M. and search there. Or do a search on this forum... try "v12 hair" or "hair feathers".

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showt...545&hl=feathers

Well, I threw something together to test the hair approach ... The render took my machine too long to render with translucency+transparency, so I rendered it without. I guess it doesnt help to have a huge map for the feather. anyway I think it would just need to be rendered with some ambience and it would look more angelic... you may have to change a lot of parameters... I changed the ambience and it looks more angel-like... I also added a render of the mesh splines.

Here's the project file with everything embeded... along with the feather map.

You're welcome to modify this if it isn't quite what you are looking for. Part of a project I still haven't completed. Had trouble getting it to work quite right. This ones not rigged but the groups are ready to make rigging easier. Entity that's a really nice wing! I'll have to try that with the hair.

rich: that is a fairly awesome wing!

i built a cartoony one with splines a few months ago, and it was still very complex.

your solution is much more realistic, yet simpler!

-jon

thanks... but I'm not sure I'm getting it to look like the "constantine" ones...

Hay Rich! Thanks very much, you've just shown us how things can be done easier way... I would have never come out with this particle based solution...

And it doesn't have to look EXACTLY like the movie ;-P

Suffice to say that those were probably real wings, and if CG was used it was probably laser- digitized and then textured feather by feather... I still like your way much better!