The Inside Star Citizen episode ROC and Roll - Summer 2020 was published on 30. July 2020 on the CIG YouTube channel.
Topics and timestamps[]
| Topic | Timestamp |
|---|---|
| ROC presentation | |
| VFX Team - creating explosions |
Video[]
Transcript[]
The transcript was created automatically and needs to be proofread. Words may have been transcribed incorrectly.1 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:08,880 i think that profession vehicles
2 00:00:06,879 --> 00:00:10,559 are really important to introduce
3 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:13,759 different careers to the game because
4 00:00:10,559 --> 00:00:15,599 not everyone wants to do combat you know
5 00:00:13,759 --> 00:00:16,480 this game that we're making is sort of
6 00:00:15,599 --> 00:00:19,840 this
7 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:21,279 open world sandbox game you know just
8 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:24,160 like in the real world you have
9 00:00:21,279 --> 00:00:24,960 specific tools for specific jobs and it
10 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:26,480 helps
11 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,320 people who don't want to be in that
12 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:29,840 combat profession
13 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:32,079 actually be able to contribute to the
14 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:33,600 economy and i think that
15 00:00:32,079 --> 00:00:36,000 it shouldn't just be spaceships it
16 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:39,280 should also be ground vehicles and
17 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:41,120 the rock is one vehicle
18 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,320 in a whole line of vehicles that we want
19 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:45,840 to do in the future
20 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,840 for ground-based professions
21 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:51,360 the original pitch was simply we wanted
22 00:00:50,079 --> 00:00:54,079 to make a ground vehicle
23 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:55,280 that did mining one of the biggest
24 00:00:54,079 --> 00:00:56,879 challenges
25 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:58,559 for going in the ground-based mining
26 00:00:56,879 --> 00:00:59,280 vehicle is making a vehicle that can
27 00:00:58,559 --> 00:01:02,800 actually fit
28 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:04,320 in another ship
29 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:06,560 so there was a lot of back and forward
30 00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:08,640 on different designs of where the
31 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:11,439 player could get in and out of and where
32 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:14,240 the beam should be
33 00:01:11,439 --> 00:01:14,880 because transporting it around would
34 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:16,400 kind of like
35 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:19,360 determine how much you could actually
36 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:21,439 mine so the mining laser was a little
37 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:23,680 bit tricky as well
38 00:01:21,439 --> 00:01:25,520 we had to change that up a little bit
39 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:29,600 the initial concept had it
40 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:32,320 uh gimbling sort of at the front
41 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:33,920 like mount but that would kind of
42 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:35,920 intersect with the cabin a little bit
43 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:38,400 and you couldn't get as much range
44 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,439 as you wanted to like to hit all of the
45 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:42,880 rocks in front of you
46 00:01:39,439 --> 00:01:44,799 so we had to put an articulated arm on
47 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:47,280 there so that you could actually
48 00:01:44,799 --> 00:01:49,280 gimble the arm around to get as much
49 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:52,640 range to hit everything
50 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:55,200 and also actually we actually restricted
51 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,799 movement to when when it's folded back
52 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,320 you can't go left and right with it
53 00:01:56,799 --> 00:02:00,880 otherwise it crashes
54 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:02,799 so there was just like some trickery we
55 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,759 had to do with the animations to make
56 00:02:02,799 --> 00:02:05,840 sure that it
57 00:02:03,759 --> 00:02:08,479 you know it's smooth and it doesn't you
58 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:10,959 know intersect with the geo behind it
59 00:02:08,479 --> 00:02:10,959 basically
60 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,200 so when we first started off of the
61 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:16,800 concept we thought that we'd only have
62 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:19,920 the mining laser
63 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:21,200 and in order to pick up the crystals
64 00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:22,720 you would just get out of the vehicle
65 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:23,840 and just pick them up or you'd have a
66 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:24,319 friend pick them up and then you take
67 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:26,160 them around
68 00:02:24,319 --> 00:02:28,800 to the back and then put them in the
69 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:29,200 back um the problem with that was when
70 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,519 we
71 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:33,200 increased the size of the fps mining
72 00:02:31,519 --> 00:02:34,000 rocks we also increased the number of
73 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,879 crystals
74 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,879 that would spawn from the rock and it
75 00:02:36,879 --> 00:02:40,400 became very tedious to have to pick all
76 00:02:38,879 --> 00:02:41,680 of those up so we decided
77 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:44,239 we needed some sort of gathering
78 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:46,160 mechanism uh one of the initial ideas
79 00:02:44,239 --> 00:02:47,120 was to have like a vacuum on the front
80 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:48,720 of the vehicle
81 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,640 you sort of break them up with the laser
82 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:55,120 and then you drive over them like
83 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:57,040 you're driving a uh a vacuum cleaner
84 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,800 but that was a little too gamey a little
85 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:01,519 too like unrealistic
86 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:02,879 in some of our minds so we decided to go
87 00:03:01,519 --> 00:03:05,760 with the gathering beam
88 00:03:02,879 --> 00:03:07,200 which is awesome it's actually kind of
89 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,800 like a little tractor beam
90 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,879 which is exciting because it's the first
91 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:12,560 time we've ever had one of these
92 00:03:10,879 --> 00:03:14,400 in the game somewhere that players could
93 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,720 use in the persistent universe
94 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,440 and then that shoots out basically a
95 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,680 cylinder
96 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,640 everything in that cylinder gets pulled
97 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:23,840 into
98 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:25,680 the the head and then those are then
99 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:27,040 deposited into your inventory in the
100 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,480 back
101 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:30,720 so if you point at the player nothing
102 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:32,239 will happen that's because
103 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,080 when we're developing the challenging
104 00:03:32,239 --> 00:03:36,400 step of figuring out what objects should
105 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:39,200 be queried and what objects should be
106 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:40,560 processed into this beam we explicitly
107 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:46,480 ignore players
108 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:48,640 sorry no trolling for you
109 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:49,760 and it's it's pretty fun to drive
110 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:51,680 because
111 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,360 it's somewhere in between like an ursa
112 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,799 rover and a cyclone it's not as fast as
113 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,280 a cyclone and
114 00:03:54,799 --> 00:03:59,519 uh not as slow as a nurse or rover it
115 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:01,760 has a good turning radius but that's
116 00:03:59,519 --> 00:04:03,840 still not as good as cyclone but it's
117 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:05,760 it's it's got some pickup to it and it's
118 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,280 it goes pretty quickly and we want it to
119 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:10,319 be nimble so we could kind of
120 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,879 make turn around and kind of find those
121 00:04:10,319 --> 00:04:13,519 rocks
122 00:04:10,879 --> 00:04:15,599 around other rocks possibly in the
123 00:04:13,519 --> 00:04:29,840 future get into caves that kind of thing
124 00:04:15,599 --> 00:04:29,840 and no i think it's pretty fun
125 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:37,440 the great cat rock makes its arrival in
126 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:39,440 the upcoming alpha 3.10
127 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:41,360 and it's the first step in bringing more
128 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:43,360 profession-based ground vehicles to the
129 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:46,000 star citizen persistent universe
130 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:47,840 up next explosions players got their
131 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,400 first chance to see the idris capital
132 00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:50,560 ship
133 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:52,240 and its destruction up close and in
134 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,199 action live in the recently completed
135 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:54,960 fleet week event
136 00:04:53,199 --> 00:04:57,199 let's take a look now at the team's work
137 00:04:54,960 --> 00:05:00,560 bringing that destruction to life
138 00:04:57,199 --> 00:05:03,199 or death so how do you tell a story
139 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:04,800 through explosions it might sound like a
140 00:05:03,199 --> 00:05:06,320 strange thing to say but
141 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,560 there is actually a story within an
142 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:10,240 explosion and especially as a vfx artist
143 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:13,280 that really matters because that helps
144 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,280 you make it authentic
145 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,320 the thing that i enjoy most about
146 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:28,400 working on explosions or being part of a
147 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,080 team making explosions is
148 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:32,000 i i mean it's kind of why i got into
149 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:35,039 into vfx in the first place
150 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,919 who doesn't like a good big monstrous
151 00:05:35,039 --> 00:05:39,280 explosion
152 00:05:35,919 --> 00:05:40,160 in films or games when you defeat your
153 00:05:39,280 --> 00:05:43,039 enemies in
154 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:45,280 any game really you want to have this
155 00:05:43,039 --> 00:05:47,440 sense of accomplishment
156 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:48,960 and that very often is achieved by
157 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:51,919 explosions
158 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:52,639 it's the attention seeking visual thing
159 00:05:51,919 --> 00:05:54,400 that's going to
160 00:05:52,639 --> 00:05:56,080 going to kind of dominate the screen and
161 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,840 to be a part of that and to be to be
162 00:05:56,080 --> 00:06:01,840 able to work on that to make that in a
163 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:01,840 game such as ours it's a real privilege
164 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,319 so the process of blowing up something
165 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:08,240 the size of an idiot begins with
166 00:06:06,319 --> 00:06:09,919 reference gathering all effects actually
167 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:12,160 start with the reference process
168 00:06:09,919 --> 00:06:13,759 we do this because we need to understand
169 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:16,800 what that thing needs to look like
170 00:06:13,759 --> 00:06:18,720 as obvious as that sounds we have the
171 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,199 core explosion itself so the actual fuel
172 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:21,039 source
173 00:06:19,199 --> 00:06:22,880 creating that big fiery blast we've got
174 00:06:21,039 --> 00:06:24,080 the shock wave there'll always be a
175 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:26,000 strong light source
176 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,000 we'll have debris we'll have shrapnel
177 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,120 sparks they'll be lingering smoke
178 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,720 and then typically we'll have things
179 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:31,440 like camera shake and other post effects
180 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,080 that can really
181 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,199 sort of bring that whole thing together
182 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:37,680 when it comes to
183 00:06:35,199 --> 00:06:38,400 capture ship destruction what happens is
184 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:39,919 we do
185 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:41,600 a little bit of back and forth between
186 00:06:39,919 --> 00:06:44,960 system design and vfx team
187 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:48,319 so all the pieces are
188 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:51,280 split in a way that allows us to uh
189 00:06:48,319 --> 00:06:52,720 express visuals a bit uh a bit more the
190 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:54,319 way we want it
191 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:56,160 so this is where the mood board
192 00:06:54,319 --> 00:06:56,720 specifically the timing elements of that
193 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:58,880 can get
194 00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:00,160 kind of fine-tuned actually even in an
195 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,960 early stage and
196 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:04,000 it really helps the the artist in that
197 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:06,080 process
198 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,840 so rather than just a big one shot all
199 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:08,720 the inner workings of that ship you're
200 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:10,560 conveying
201 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:11,759 the the catastrophic damages that has
202 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,199 happened to that thing
203 00:07:11,759 --> 00:07:15,120 it's a chain of events really and that
204 00:07:13,199 --> 00:07:17,840 is the same really for a big explosion
205 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:17,840 in our game
206 00:07:18,639 --> 00:07:22,160 so after the mood board which is
207 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:24,240 essentially pre-production we we
208 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,199 move into full production this is where
209 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:26,560 the artist
210 00:07:25,199 --> 00:07:28,240 armed with all the information that they
211 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:31,120 got from that pre-production stage
212 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:32,720 they now actually go into engine and do
213 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:34,000 the fun part really this is where they
214 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,840 start to
215 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,520 work on the effects they know what
216 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:40,000 they're trying to make
217 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,720 knowing how the vehicle is separated
218 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,120 into pieces
219 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:44,479 is very valuable because all these
220 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:47,759 individual elements
221 00:07:44,479 --> 00:07:49,919 will dictate what visual elements we
222 00:07:47,759 --> 00:07:50,960 we can use and where are we going to
223 00:07:49,919 --> 00:07:53,360 place them
224 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:55,199 for example if a trusture breaks off the
225 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:57,199 logical thing to do
226 00:07:55,199 --> 00:07:58,800 would be to praise to place like an
227 00:07:57,199 --> 00:08:00,800 explosion uh
228 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:03,199 in the location of breakage the reason
229 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:05,280 why is because uh trasters usually
230 00:08:03,199 --> 00:08:06,879 hold some fuel in them so you know
231 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:09,280 having this explosion would be
232 00:08:06,879 --> 00:08:11,520 fine but if it's just like a tip of the
233 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:12,080 wing you don't really want any fiery
234 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:15,280 explosion
235 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:17,840 you just want metal pieces flying off so
236 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:19,360 knowing all these separation elements
237 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:21,919 and locations
238 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:23,120 like i said dictates what visual choices
239 00:08:21,919 --> 00:08:24,560 we make
240 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:26,400 so there's always going to be a
241 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:26,879 performance cost when working in video
242 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:29,840 games
243 00:08:26,879 --> 00:08:30,960 making a massive scale explosion we need
244 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:33,279 to be smart we need to
245 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:35,279 we need to make sure that we know that
246 00:08:33,279 --> 00:08:36,959 we can actually
247 00:08:35,279 --> 00:08:39,760 make that effect without breaking the
248 00:08:36,959 --> 00:08:43,519 game if five of those explosions happen
249 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:43,519 it needs to be a scalable process
250 00:08:43,680 --> 00:08:47,440 at the end of the day once you go
251 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:50,080 through this whole process
252 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:51,440 you spend hours and hours making this
253 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:54,560 explosion
254 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:56,880 the most rewarding thing is actually
255 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:57,600 submitting and looking at all the
256 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:00,000 gameplays
257 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,800 and seeing people happy and excited
258 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:04,000 about
259 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:05,519 distraction they see if i see at least
260 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,800 one comment on
261 00:09:05,519 --> 00:09:10,800 reddit or youtube or any place really
262 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:12,959 and someone says well that that's an
263 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:16,240 awesome looking explosion well that's
264 00:09:12,959 --> 00:09:18,080 that's that's worth doing my job
265 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:19,920 so what we learned about this week well
266 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:21,920 we learned that like argo before it
267 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:24,160 grey cat is a brand whose product line
268 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:25,839 is expanding in new and exciting ways
269 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,519 that the rock is only the first
270 00:09:25,839 --> 00:09:28,959 profession-based ground vehicle on its
271 00:09:27,519 --> 00:09:31,040 way to star citizen
272 00:09:28,959 --> 00:09:33,200 and that explosions do more than just
273 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:34,880 look cool they can be used to inform a
274 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,160 player's sense of accomplishment in key
275 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:38,320 circumstances
276 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:39,920 and they look cool for inside star
277 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:51,839 citizen i'm jared huckaby
278 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:51,839 we'll see you next week
279 00:10:00,959 --> 00:10:03,040 you
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