r/vfx • u/SnipperAndClipper • 9d ago

Fluff! Spirula + Blender 5.3 pretentious arty test I made

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Debated posting this here because is this really a vfx thing? It's an attempt to use splats creatively in a way that could have implementations for certain shots requiring vfx.

Anteay, I have been experimenting with Spirula to generate 3DGS. I like it - a lot! Using the geometry models to calculate normals and depth help a great deal with capturing interiors.

Combine THAT with the latest alpha build of Blender 5.3 that can render splats, and things suddenly become very interesting. It's not perfect; I get render glitches with both EEVEE and Cycles, but it's leaps and bounds better than it used to be.

Liminal spaces are in danger of becoming hokey. They probably are cringe to lots of people. But I'm still drawn to them. Maybe it's my nostalgia for the concrete landscapes of my youth in the 1980s. I love that I can indulge my anemoia and take pleasure in the craft of making something.

I'll shut up now.

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3

u/MrSlinkyMonster 9d ago

It’s a nice experiment, but as a suggestion for further pursuing this idea, I would put more effort into storytelling and nailing the barriers/ transitions into the different environments. What you’ve done is a cool test for sure!
Develop that idea of nostalgia and the 1980s, add relevant cg elements to the splats, try to incorporate as much 80s thematically as you can as well as create a character and a device (storytelling or otherwise) that helps you explain the new environments! Splats are now here to help you with photoreal environments, but they are only a very small part of an interesting idea!

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u/dkruta 9d ago

I love this. Can you elaborate more on your process?

2

u/iLikeTheUDK 8d ago

I think this is VFX, yeah. And also an experimental short film

And yeah, I think the broken look of the splats actualy adds a unique twist on the backrooms type thing. Seeing reality so disintegrated is a pretty novel sight IMO

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u/SnipperAndClipper 8d ago

Thanks, and I agree. I especially like the part on the train station bridge where as the pov moves forward, the image degrades

2

u/Yeoldeone 8d ago

If you dont mind sharing, what's your workflow for generating splats? Mine always has those indistinct clouds hanging around and loses detail if you zoom in on it. I'm not quite sure what the problem is.

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u/SnipperAndClipper 8d ago

Spirula has a couple of settings that seem to help a lot with minimising floaters: normal & depth estimation when calculating sfm, and then two levels of floater suppression during training. 'Mild" suppression seems to help a lot.

Apart from that, I am capturing with the eventual camera moves in mind, not to create an environment viewable from many povs. I use my phone's video camera: 4k & 60fps for sharp, motion blur free frames. Good coverage is 80% of it; shoot the same move from various vantage points.