Playing with After Effects today, and creating the opening titles for THAW.
I've set some animation to the opacitiy of the lens flare, so it is more convinicing as it passes behind the frozen branch.
I've chosen a simple dissolve on both the fonts, and have created them in 3D and animated the letters in sequence....

Renders prior to NUKE

A couple of rendered shots, all ready for Nuke.

Both are renders from Maya, and the top image has a Light Ray effect applied in After Effects.

All shots apart from the final one are through the render farm, and I aim to start compositing next week in Nuke - and possibly After Effects.

Creating blendshapes in Mudbox and exporting to Maya

Final blend shapes for shot_19

I've been creating some blend shapes for the iceman, to allow for a subtle change in his expression, for a final close up shot.
Below: Mudbox screen shots showing the view panel, the sculpt layers on the right. The red indicates the mask tool, for when creating a blinking eye.
For some weird reason that we can't discover, the blend shapes, when exported directly to Maya, created irregular deformation of the legs; so the method below is based on the old style method of exporting blend shapes into Maya

Process:

MAYA

Select geometry
Select 'Send to Maya' (drop down menu under 'File'

Go to: MUDBOX

Create group in Sculpt Layers
Create new layer
Sculpt desired expression e.g smile. Once happy with the sculpt, save.
Duplicate layer (at this point the geometry will show double strength and will look very distorted. Simply turn off the visibility of the new duplicated layer.
Select the original layer and rename for either left of right. E.g  'L_smile'
Select the mask tool and also select the mask icon (at the top of the layers menu).
This will create a red mask brush.
Apply the red mask to the geometry that is to remain unaffected by the blend shape. E.g for the layer 'L_smile' apply a mask to the right hand side of the face. Once done
Turn off visibility of the layer.
Select the duplicated layer and re-name. E.g 'R_smile'. Turn on visibility. Apply mask

Repeat the above for all blend shape expressions.

Select the geometry (in object tab, adjacent to the layers menu)
Enable one blend shape layer at time.
e.g Left Smile
Create a folder in the Maya project, to save the blend shapes.
Export selection as an .obj file.

Go to: MAYA

File > import obj files
(They appear as geometry in the Outliner)
Re-name clearly
Once all obj files are imported, select them in order of blend shape (however preferred), making sure that the main geometry is the last to be selected)
Hide obj files in Outliner
Open Animation Deformer Tab
Select Blend Shape option box
Rename blend shape node
Open blend shapes, by selecting 'windows' > 'animation editors' > 'blend shapes'
Blend shapes should appear and be working!

Test lighting effect for final title sequence

I've been researching ideas for the final title sequence of Thaw...

Rather than have a 'black' backplate, or something scenic or too recognisable, I have chosen an abstract theme, that plays on light.

Below is a very quick simple test shot, using an abstract image of dark and light, with After Effects CC Light Rays animated across it.

The wording for the titles will be incorporated into this....

After Effects CC Light Rays

Light ray tests in After Effects, using a jpeg still of shot_18 and applying After Effects CC Light Rays Effects

Maya water blobs - Thaw penultimate shot

Final set up and adjustments to the water shader for the penultimate shot...

Panels below show the perspective space, water droplets and rendered images...

Maya water shader, exr render and melting ice men

   Shot 13:
A quick render in Nuke - just the exr multi-pass images, with no adjustment to passes. This gives a good indication of how the CG textures, animation and melting ice are looking