This week my group and I did a lot of research to rework our previs. Our original versions were not properly scaled, so we had to gather the general proportions of a hot air balloon and mountains. We also had to take into account the height at which hot air balloons can fly and what clouds form at different altitudes.

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Important statistics include:

• Our balloon dimensions are 40' across x 60' tall 

• Mountains generally rise to at least 1,000' tall

• Most hot air balloons are made of nylon and will need sss from the illuminating engine flames

• At an average wind speed of about 5 mph, a balloon will fly 2 - 8 miles

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 Because of these statistics, we determined in Maya:

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• About 15 balloons stacked equals the height of a 1000' mountain

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          Everything is now proportionate and accurately placed within our scene. Our updated Previs can be seen with the video screen right. The different colored clouds represent the depth of clouds in the foreground, mid-ground, and background as we continue with our process of combining the assets. 

          In shot 4 we will have multiple balloons with varying passport stamps showing their flight's destination through Expedia. However, I was intrigued to learn that passport stamp designs are considered Public Domain meaning anyone is able to use and modify them for their personal and commercial projects.

 

            Once the previs was on a better track, l gathered many resource images to begin matte painting in Photoshop. Helpful sites that had great images are​Pexels, Unsplash, and Flickr.

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             I also went back to working in VUE to create a different HDRi for my team. We decided to adjust the time of day for our scene. Our shots will now resemble daylight around 5:30pm EST. This render includes a few stratus clouds in the sky to add dimension and a more realistic sky when the FX clouds from Houdini are composited within this matte painting. 

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