Photobashing Concept Art

Photobashing in Photoshop - Concept Art for China Town Alley

Replacing the Photoshop Previs with the rendered CG elements

In order to do the last final camera set ups, I used an image plane showing my Photoshop mockup and then positioned the camera accordingly, so my icemen were in a similar position. I duplicated the Maya scene, where the icemen are sitting on the branch (as below) and created a new scene folder. This way the IBL, and lighting all remain consistent. And, just as it would be on set, the camera, rather than the set rotate!

Below:
Photoshop mock up of the live action and CG elements. This mock up comprised of a screen shot of the After Effects pre-comp of my actress and sky, plus a Photoshop layer showing a screen grab of a test render of the icemen.

Below:

Maya scene. Image plane shows the Photoshop mock up above; with the CG icemen as viewed through the new camera position. This way, I could recreate the approximate position of the iecmen, and make sure that Kerry's eyeline was correct.

In the final grading in comp there will be a blur on the foreground icemen and the sky; so that the focus will be on Kerry's expression.

Below:

Maya UI showing the perspective space (right) and shot_cam tear off panel (left) 

I used the tear off panel, so I could work in the perspective space and see immediately how the results and framing would look in the camera view. 

Test render below

Below:

Tree trimmed down, so that only the geometry that shows in the shot is in the file. This keeps the file size down.
Test render time at full HD resolution is currently at 11 mins 52 seconds per frame.

So I now have a clear shot list, including frame quantities, duplicated camera set ups and  shots will require animation.
Namely: Shot_07 through to Shot_13...(other than camera zoom, shots 7,9,11 and 13 are the same set up. The same with Shot_08 and Shot_10 which are also the same.

Shot list below, includes

frame start/finsh: shot number; details and notes of duplicated set ups; frame quantities

Storyboard images in Photoshop - drawing to a sound track

Some images created for a sequence in Thaw.....I've been drawing these whilst listening to 'We Move Lightly' by Dustin O'Halloran...which is exactly the type of thought provoking music I want to use for the sound track....
The images below will be a mix of live action (girl) and CGI ice people and branches behind....
Really excited to start experimenting with lens flare, volume rays and God rays too!
                                                

Concept sketch visuals, using Photoshop and Intuos Pro graphics tablet

Some sketch visual ideas for our Going Live project, using Photoshop and my new graphics tablet!