How many times did you ever ask yourself that question? These days, it’s becoming more and more common to ask that question, as Visual Effects (VFX) for television and feature film are making extraordinary advancements. And the Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica Emmy and VES (Visual Effects Society) award winning VFX artists are certainly leading the way. You know a VFX shot is a good one when you didnt know it was computer generated and you thought it was the real deal.

I was listening to the new Podcasts of episodes, 411 “The Hub” specifically, when something that Ron D. Moore said at the very end hit me like a brick in the stomach. He said that the shot from inside the Raptor looking out towards the Base Star at the end of the Hub was completely done in CG. This shocked me, because when I first saw the episode, and saw the cockpit shot right after they show us Edward James Olmos sitting there inside the full scale Raptor prop, well I assumed the shot of the cockpit was also the full scale real world model composited with a CG of the base star and stars. However, RDM himself was pretty surprised that it was indeed a full CG cockpit and Raptor interior, with the camera motion making it look like EJO was walking towards the cockpit from the back of the Raptor. Well, to say the least, we are just as surprised and in awe of the amazing CG work as Ron Moore is. Kudos to whoever modeled that Raptor interior and did the lighting. Spectacular work.

Here are 2 more images of the shot.

 
I personally had always wondered whether some of the shots from inside the Vipers and Raptors was CG or live action plate composited with CG of the background. Well RDM answered that question for me in the podcast. It seems the BSG VFX team is so talented that they make CG look like the real thing, and we cant tell the difference, which is when you know a CG shot was done very very well.

I cant wait to see what the VFX team will throw at us in Season 4.5 next year. Also keep your eyes peeled on Darth Mojo’s blog, as he said he’s going to be talking about the VFX of each episode so far in Season 4 in reverse order, from the last to the first.

~Adalla

Recently I wrote a news article for my BSG fan site talking about the long wait during the off-season and we always add some sort of eye candy to each article. This time, as I was searching for an appropriate image (and couldnt find one) I decided to create my own. So I took a lovely background of a yatch with a helipad in the Aegean Sea, and composited a CG Viper Mark I model onto it. This was my first attempt at compositing, and I am happy with the results, it was fun making the composite, and it’s a fun little picture. But I’ll let you judge for yourselves.

Click on the above image to see full size.

And if indeed you are looking for a place to hang out with fellow BSG fans and take part in activities, gaming, discussions and projects, visit BSG Pilots.

I’m still working on “A Great Saddness” my first major CG project. To see how that’s coming please visit the Work in Progress thread from the blogroll links at the top right of the page. I have posted a few test render images there. Things are not going as smoothly as I hoped, lots of problems to deal with, but it’s moving along. I’ll post any decent test renders here when they get done.

So stay tuned!

Adalla

Click here to view bigger version without glitches.

Greetings fellow Battlestar Galactica and VFX fans! We have recently setup our new Kobol Studios site here at wordpress, and we have setup our new Kobol Studios Theater over at blip.tv, and things are looking good. As our first post, we’d like to present Viper Scene 01 R01. Yes, I know, very boring title, but honestly, it’s such a simple shot that I think it’s fine calling it like this . Though if I had to give it a name, I’d call it “Tribute to Starbuck’s Sillyness”. So this is the very first work produced by Kobol Studios. Remember, I (Adalla) am the only crew currently, and I have almost ZERO experience or knowledge in this stuff. I was able to basically teach myself how to make this scene in 3 weeks and probably around 100 hours of work. But we all have to start somewhere in life eh?

Anyways, I have a LOT more to say about this, but I just dont have the time right now as I need to pack cause I’m taking  aplane for Los Angeles at like 5am tomorrow, but I’ll come back and edit this post and add more to it. So stay tuned!

REMINDER TO SELF….CONTINUE THIS