Welcome to Chase's Construction + Help Thread

Spectrum

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Getting on the Spectrum

I really enjoyed making this project come to life so I thought I'd document a little of it here. I first started working on Spectrum around a year and a half ago to test the idea of one ride consisting of two separate layout styles. The first half is a spaghetti bowl and the second half is an out-and-back. The idea that made me stick with the project was separating it with tunnels. This is what it looked like from my first crude idea in MS paint to the finished product:

Oh God I Have to Learn

Of course this idea posed a challenge because I would have to teach myself how to model properly. I decided to use Sketchup because I had some experience with it already and, in a process that would make SecretImbecile cry, I slowly progressed on the base model. I worked in 3 major parts, as seen in the muddled illustration above. It was a gigantic, hideous mess that I restarted three times. I provided a 3/4 view of the bottom so you can understand what I mean by this. It nearly killed me. I've decided to learn blender for next time.

There's a Famous Song About This Part

Of course learning is an ugly process sometimes, but I had some outside help. Marvin helped me with all things Mack-related because he is really good at those details. We worked together on shaping, supports, and more minute details like track connectors and "thicc-spline" as he called it. He also pointed out some cool details that most people would skip, like the thicc-spine track connectors and some sensors, which I later modeled.

Bryce was also a paramount piece of this project. He taught me how to do everything from creating interesting shapes in a model, to texturing it, and coordinating my textures with NLmats. I didn't let him touch the models though, because he does work for too many people in this community (#FreeBryce). I'm a very slow learner and I need help very often so Bryce's patience and knowledge are greatly appreciated.

Some Cool Details Not in the Video

Rider's first view of the train and station ceiling:

Coasters run on renewable energy in this world:

Wrap Up

I'm very glad you all got to look at my chaotic creative process! Sorry this went on a little long. Based on the feedback from the video, I'll be putting up some written tutorials/pointers for cinematography in NL2 soon. I'm going to release this soon along with full POVs so hang tight. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts (positive or negative) on this because I've put tons of time into it. Thanks for reading!

She's THICC haha

Loved helping you with the ride :D

Awesome! I need to learn how to make those LEDS on the ceiling tho :D

@ Sydelix, u can do that using a glow mat on your object in the SCO editor.

@ MrRC thanks!

How to Create Passable Cinematic Content

Intro

One of No Limits' greatest capabilities is the stunning videos it can produce. Most announcement videos for real rides don't use the full potential of the program, often skipping a beautiful look for a straightforward presentation. I don't know if I can change that, but I'd love to help everyone on here make better videos. In this series of tutorials, I'll discuss everything from conceptualizing a video to more advanced editing and special effects tricks (yes, you too can learn to make flying train dream sequences).

Where to Start

I think a big mistake that many people make happens in the "I just finished my project, now what?" phase. Randomly editing clips together over EDM often comes off as lazy, so here are my tips to give your video a strong footing from the start.

--> Decide on your music (if any) before shooting your video. Doing so allows you to make purposeful stylistic choices to match your tune.
--> Don't shoot your footage without a clear idea of how you want that clip to look, or go along with the music.
--> If your music changes or shifts in anyway, adjust the style of your filming to match. This can be something as subtle and changing the field of view, how the camera moves, or the color grading of your clips. You could also always go with a classic day-to-night shift (tm).
--> Don't let your skill set define your shot. If you imagine a beautiful, fluid long take in your head but can only pull off a wiggly handheld flying shot, consult the two camera scripts that are available (I'll cover these in another post).
--> Finally, be creative! It's a very vauge instruction but essentially means to show us something we haven't seen before. Videos that do crazy new things always stick with me.

Filming

I'd recommend recording in the .avi format to retain the most quality BUT you can only afford to do that if you're using a solid video editor like Adobe Premier Pro (my bread and butter) or The Other One I Think It's Called Sony (tm). I think your recording habits are the most important aspect because you can really say a lot with little to no editing required. Of course post production can work wonders if you have the time. On top of the ideas listed above, it is crucial to film with a clear understanding of how each clip will fit into a sequence. Motion is a very important thing to consider. You can lull your viewer into a dreamy state by keeping the directional motion of shots continuous between cuts (ex: a shot that pans right and then downward is followed by a shot that begins panning downward), OR you can create jarring cuts that go in opposite directions if you feel the need to. Most importantly, keep your shots moving. Stationary shots, unless briefly in opening or closing, are boring. And, as a personal preference, long handheld walking through the queue shots should be banned.

Editing

(This section is mostly applicable to Premier Pro)

The most important step of editing in Premier Pro is rendering your sequence in the editor so your playback is fluid and matches up with the music. You can do this by selecting an "in" and "out" on your timeline and then clicking "sequence" --> "render in to out". You may have to wait the first time you do it, but constantly updating your sequence is crucial to a good edit. Also, make sure you audio clips (music, SFX) are expanded enough so that you can see the beat; this usually appears as "spikes" in the audio track so you can easily place a cut on the beat to look like a pro. Finally, never be afraid to send me or anyone you trust a draft of your video. Peer review is a great way to catch little things and really tighten your video up; you should never be afraid to take helpful pointers/critiques from friends. I'm going to go more into editing specifics based upon requests, so if you have any questions feel free to leave them below.

Conclusion (TL;DR: create videos with purpose)

I'd love to teach about the specifics of any SFX or filming methods, but I thought the theory behind a good video would be a great place to start. If you have anything in particular you would like me to cover, just tell me below and I'll be sure to get around to it. In the meantime, try out these great(!) scripts on a park from the exchange!

I'm kind of very late, but it would be pretty helpful if you shared the steps you took in creating the track for the scripted camera.

Alright, I can throw together a detailed how-to this week and put it in the resource thread.

CG Coasters posted on July 2nd, 2019

Alright, I can throw together a detailed how-to this week and put it in the resource thread.

Is this still coming? lol