One of the most important things you can do to make your animations feel more cinematic is to generate as many passes from XSI as you can. You won’t be able to achieve a wet look without several different black and white “wet passes.” These may be reflection, incidence, specular or depth. Each pass is vital to creating a good composite.

STEP 8
SHOOT REAL ELEMENTS YOU
CAN MIX WITH THE 3D
If you can afford it, shoot real ele-
ments to add into the mix—splats on
the lens, condensation, particles and
steam all help to create an “in-cam-
era” cinematic feel. I believe that
if you can bring something actually
shot into your CGI composite you’ll
have a much easier job convincing
the audience your final effect is real.

STEP 9

MIX AND DOUBLE UP PASSES TO HELP ACHIEVE A “WET FEEL”

Now back to that wet look: Using the passes you’ve generated in Mental Ray, start compositing these layers. Don’t be afraid to

double up and experiment to try to reach your goal. Doing something unconventional, or beyond the limits of a “normal” composite, always generates more interesting results.

STEP 10
USE LOTS OF BLUR AND DEPTH OF FIELD AND KEEP YOUR
COLORS REAL
Blur, depth of field, grain and camera shake all help to add to the
real feel of the shot. When grading, make sure the colors you’ve
chosen match the context. More important, make sure they are
within the range of the real world. The palettes from video or still
photos captured with an endoscopic lens and lights are quite lim-
ited and will go to the extreme and blur, go out of focus and burn
out. Replicating these kinds of details in your effects shots will help
you achieve a much more believable look and feel. ■