Minis in the Storm Drain

[steevo]

Here are a couple of stills from an animation for my reel, but they don't look quite "real" to me. Do you folks have any suggestions?

To see the animation, check out my reel at http://www.reidroberts.com/steve . It's pretty short -- sorry!

Thanks,
Steve

http://www.reidroberts.com/mini/60-03d-051.jpg http://www.reidroberts.com/mini/60-03d-060.jpg

[anieves]

they look pretty good to me, specially the top one. maybe is the texturing of the drain or maybe the lighting of the drain... at least that's what I would play with.

[John Fornasar]

coincidence?

I just finished watching the original "The Italian Job" (Michael Caine, Noel Coward, 1969) that had the 3 minis in the storm drain scene.

Two things could be added here...

most of the scenes in the storm drain had either the distant daylight at the entrance to the drain, or the police car with its blue chase lights in the distance - they both gave depth to the scene.

They also had a small stream of water (about a foot or so wide) throughout the drain, reflecting the headlights.

It was also very dark... in most shots the only way to tell it was a round tube was when the cars were rolling from side to side.

[steevo]

Coincidence? I think not. :-)

Yeah <sigh> I was working from memory (since I couldn't find the movie) and this still that I found on the web:

http://www.reidroberts.com/mini/italianJob.jpg

I didn't want to obscure detail to the extent seen (or unseen) in the still, but maybe I should adjust the curves on the anim again to raise the contrast.

Yeah, I thought there might be water in the tunnel, but I didn't want to deal with splashes and such <sigh>. I'll give it a go.

... and I'll take more time texturing the tunnel, try adding light at the end and try to rent the video again.

Thanks John and anieves,
Steve

[starbase1]

GREAT idea for a scene! I hope you are going to share the end result!

Maybe dirtry up the tunnel a bit? It does look rather smooth and even...

Nick

[drclare]

You have a great reel. I wouldn't say it is too short. Even if you think so, it looks so good that it doesn't matter. Those cars in motion look great.

[John Fornasar]

Steve,

A new version of the movie was released this year, still called "The Italian Job", but I believe it was sited in L.A. instead of Italy. That's the reason I viewed it - a friend at work saw the new version, didn't know it was a remake, so I watched it before lending it out.

I don't think you'll have to worry about splashes from the water - the cars move from side to side, but I don't remember seeing the water spash, it was barely a trickle.

If you can't find the flick, I'll grab some frames for you when I get the video back.

p.s. the three minis were red, white and blue for the Union Jack.

[nikfaulkner]

all to familiar subject matter, lol

i just finished working on the new "italian job" ps2/xbox/gamecube game.

i modeled the new version of the subway chase, including the la metro station, metro tubes and sewer sections.

i'll sort out some screen shots (if i'm allowed)

good work steevo

nik

[steevo]

Thanks for the compliments, folks.

I remember the original from my childhood. It was one of my favourite movies at the time, and the storm drain scene resonated with me for a long time. The remake was a lot of fun, too.

Heh - my minis are red, white and blue as well, but you can't really tell, it's so bloody dark in there!

... and there should be two guys (arguing) in each mini, the fog lights should be on, yadda yadda ... :-)

But I will add the water - you're right John, there shouldn't be any splashes, partly because the splashes are out of range of the headlights, for the most part.

Thanks, Nik ... maybe I'll buy an Xbox just for your game!

I'll post when I change the scene.

Thanks,
Steve

[nikfaulkner]

yep the original is a british institution.

i felt like a traiter working on the game of the remake. lol

mind you it was cool going to LA, being on set and meeting the director and stuff.

can't post any of my own pictures i'm afraid

here's a link the official site

http://www.italianjobgame.com/

if you've got the time check out the game trailer

here's a direct link

http://ftp.eidos.com/pub/videos/italian_job/08MAY03_WEB_TIJ_A.zip

enjoy

nik