Inside Combustion 2
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New to Combustion 2, and something that I think is the most attractive feature of the program is the ability to use a network of computers to render the composite. This is available on the higher end systems, but not on compositors such as After Effects. Instead, they have a system called a Watch Folder system (which Combustion has as well if you are comfortable with it), where all the render node machines look at one particular directory and if a new project appears in it, they will grab it and start rendering. This method of net rendering is clunky and a bit of a hack. To solve this, discreet has included Backburner with Combustion as a network manager. A Combustion file is assigned to the designated Backburner manager, and each machine that has the Backburner server running on it will pick up the job and contribute to the render. Each rendering license for Combustion 2is free with the purchase of the workstation version. So, if you have the one license, your entire render farm can help out with the renders. [an error occurred while processing this directive] A couple other nice features in the render parameters are the communication that Combustion 2 has with the outside world pertaining to its render. It has the capability for the system to e-mail you when the render is complete, so if you have e-mail connected to a pager or cel phone, you can be notified when things are done. Combustion 2 can also post the images to an FTP site for approval or even as generated artwork to another house that will use them, or a remote artist.
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| Combustion's Matte Tools |
With all of the features that have been incorporated into Combustion 2 (a number of which I did not touch on in this article – like Paint integration with Max and the tracker), there are a few things that are still missing that I would like to see in the next version.
My first and foremost issue with Combustion 2 is that I cannot access the data from any channels within the program and use them to drive other channels either directly or through mathematical equations. For instance, if I wanted to take the average position of two trackers and place an object at that point, I wouldn’t be able to drive the position of the object with the output of those two trackers. Even After Effects has motion math, which lets you do this to a degree. For heavy duty procedural animation, not necessarily as simple as the example, I find that Combustion lacks the proper tools.
You also cannot “remap time” (in AE terms). You can speedup and slow down clips based on a percentage, but you cannot do it over time. A lot of filmmakers use this technique where the frame rate of the camera will change in mid-stream, giving a jarring effect to the scene as it goes from overcranked to undercranked in the same shot. Combustion 2 doesn’t have tools to accomplish this. You are required to use RealViz’s Retimer or Twixter. Or even go into After Effects and use their built-it time remapper.
I would also like to see the robust deformation tools that FFI includes, which would allow morphing and highly controllable distortions using a grid of bezier control points.
As of this writing, there is a quite annoying bug (which I assume will be fixed in a patch or minor upgrade) which causes Combustion 2 to second guess the artist when naming files or going through directory structures. If you have a number in your filename that is not part of the sequential numbering of the file sequence, or a number in the name of the directory – Combustion 2 will automatically convert this number to a [####]. You can fix this by specifically retyping the number after you have used the browser to determine your output path – but this is annoying and should be unnecessary. Furthermore, it will cause a render failure because Combustion 2 cannot find directory “shot[####]”.
I’m sure that these items will be fixed within the next development cycle.
Overall, I think that Combustion 2 has come a very long way since its effect* and paint* days, due in large part to the contributions of its big and more experienced siblings on the SGI side. There is a bit of a learning curve and some time is needed to get used to the simplicity of the interface and the methodology that you have to use, which is different enough from both the timeline based compositors like After Effects, and the module based compositors like Digital Fusion to confuse most artists for a few hours – despite the “artist interface” As a rotoscoping tool, I feel it is indispensable. The feedback that you get from Combustion 2 is absolutely necessary for this process, as well as hand tracking objects and painting out wires. As a compositing tool, the items that Combustion 2 has inherited from the Flame, Flint, and Inferno, place it a cut above most other systems at this price range. The 3D functions add value as well. I am especially intrigued with its use of the additional information provided in RPF files.
Combustion 2 has a lot of benefits and it is a welcome addition to a compositor’s toolset. The next few iterations should provide some interesting competition to the higher end compositing systems.
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Todd Perry is the visual effects supervisor and partner at Max Ink Cafe (www.maxinkcafe.com) in Venice, Calif. Between supervising visual effects and animation for films, television, and games, he occassionally has a moment or two to impose his thoughts about the industry on DMN.
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