Warbirds - WWII CGI Short

This personal project of mine was the most challanging so far. Not only due to higher amount of shots, but also because when I began, I lacked the knowledge of properly creating elements like oceans, smoke, fire, or clouds. Furthermore, I encountered numerous bugs, crashes, and mysterious problems throughout the process, not to mention the hundreds of hours spent rendering during nights.

It all began with the creation of a Spitfire model in 2020. I utilized Maya for modelling and Substance Painter for texturing. A year later, the idea emerged to place the plane within a scene, resulting in the creation of the initial 7 shots assembled in Houdini and subsequently rendered in Redshift. Procedural materials were used for hangars and houses. Grass was sourced from Quixel Megascans, later instanced and scattered across the scene. To introduce movement, noise was used to drive the position of the upper part of the grass. Trees were crafted using Speedtree. HDRi was utilized for lighting. In some shots, there are used photos of clouds as a background. Fire and smoke from exhausts was also created in Houdini.

Subsequently, a model of the Messerschmitt BF109 was created to serve as an adversary for the Spitfire, injecting action into the shots. By this point, I had outlined all 40 shots, ultimately excluding only the weakest one in the final edit, as I was dissatisfied with its outcome.

In subsequent shots, the focus shifted primarily to the ocean. The displacement and normals were driven by layered animated textures, created in Houdini. This helped me to have non-tiling water. For following shots, I used mainland instead of water. I utilized lidar data of Galloway Forest Park in Scotland to create base terrain. Low-poly trees were created for instancing, along with bushes, rocks, stones, and a few houses. Lakes were added to introduce water elements. In the end I put large grid above the scene with noisy black and white alpha to simulate clouds and to create shade in certain areas.

The shots at the end were set amidst clouds. They are volume simulation, that is later frozen. Additionally, particle simulation was employed in select shots, particularly for generating sparks or bullet flashes.

The majority of the work was completed in 2023. This project provided me with the opportunity to learn numerous new techniques and enhance my proficiency in a variety of 3D and VFX skills.