024 - Hair Droplets - Project Process

Hey! I made a short video showing how I approached it. Many ways, this was the most controllable. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/uuup0t99if04529sjkngk/houdini_lSSMYO3IgJ.mp4?rlkey=1h14k2jkuaxp29jjjyj1c335l&dl=0 Essentially I did some animation in sops and then pinned it in vellum allong it to fold on itself while maintaining the overall structure.

Paul Esteves

Hey Paul, loved this video. Very insightful. May I ask how you achieved the shot where the cloth is falling and folding onto top of each other so perfectly? I've tried to create this setup myself but am struggling to get the folds so uniformly and to rest. Would love to know as I have an idea for a piece for my portfolio

Apz

Thanks so much for this. So valuable.

Philipp Welsing

Great tip on using screenshots/renders/flipbooks to keep track of changes in different versions.

Chanelle - @neondepth

(Great wall of text incoming!) Frame.io is great! But I've got some issues trying to educate some clients on how to use it, a lot of them still send me corrections via email which isn't so bad. Slack/video/phone are a big no no, everything has to be written down and easily accessible at all times. I'll grant you that a lot of my work is for the local Québec/French-Canadian market so things are different culturally than Euro/North American clients. The pool and smaller and people trust each other more, references/reputation plays a bigger role. Most contracts are verbal. You give your ballpark amount of time you think it'll take, your hourly rate and that's it. When people are for more detailed estimates it's usually just a total time estimate, rate $/h and the total amount estimate. When things are not going well due to XYZ problems (usually client side, too many corrections, back n forth, etc) I usually raise a flag saying that : "We're approaching the time/budget limit, we need to find a solution ASAP or you'll have a problem." This is usually where the clients decides to increase the budget, get shit done, pull the plug or bring it in-house or transfer it to another freelancer. In the case of the latter two, It's great because I still get payed for the time that I did, I then charge a couple extra hours for rendering/collecting assets if need be and that's it, "goodbye, sorry it didn't work out, bill sent." No extra negociation for contract ending, etc. There's also the fact that for TV/Theater/Projection gigs that need me to be on-site for what we call "integration", days are long, you come in at 8-9am and leave around 11PM. Most technicians/producers are freelancers or unionized, you're basically sitting on your ass during rehearsals waiting for corrections (color, animation,etc) that need to be made and shit can go south at any moment. If I can leave at 5pm, great ! But if I leave at midnight or 3AM and come in at 8 the next morning, I expect to be payed for the hours I did. Those clients tend to understand how things work and are willing to take a hit financially or compromise for things to work out. They also give a stipend for food, transport and lodging if gigs are out of town. *NOW* for N-A / EURO clients things are a lot more structured and contractual, but I still work in a very similar manner. Right now I'm starting a projection show in France and I've got 3 shots. Here's a breakdown of one: - Creation / Animation of various (3-4) growing 3D vines: 5h \ Editing / Compositing on facade 6h - Creation / Animation of various (3-4) 3D flowers 5h \ Editing / Compositing on facade 6h - Vegetation filling layer 3h - VFX leaf explosion transition to next shot 3h - 2D Dolly/Zoom out of Scene 2h - 3D tree creation 3h \ 2D animation effects 2h - Misc Vegetation Creation 3h \ 2D animation effects 2h - VFX 2D lights, fireflies, particles 2h - Feedback / Corrections (25%) 10,5h TOTAL HOURS: 52,5h TOTAL ESTIMATE (80$C/h): 4'200,00$C Often times, things take less time than that, but just in case a 25% buffer for corrections is a great way to pad for uncertainties and also communicate to less experienced clients that time is money and corrections and comments come at a price, so there's a psychological/contractual weight to it. The faster I deliver the project the cheaper it is for everyone. So at this point they have the choice to pay me per hour or take the full estimate but know that they'll have to renegotiate if they go past the budgeted hours. If things go under budget, great for me because I get to pocket the difference. If it goes over, I'll be nice and absorb a 10-12% hours out of my own pocket if the client or project is nice. In general I find that charging per hour is a lot more transparent and honest. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, I have trouble working a normal 9-5 schedule, by calculating by hour I can fend off overzealous project managers by telling them : "I'm off by one day on the gantt chart because I decided to go do groceries, I'm still on time for the deliverables". I run Linux so I've got a nerdy app that tracks my time spent per app / file name, so I get a good idea of the actual work I get done without having to have the mental load of starting timers. On Windows/Mac: Manic Time, Activity Watch and RescueTime are great!

Wow, what a cool read! Thanks for sharing so indepth!! I'd love to get onto the frame.io train, heard so many great things about it. I may test drive it on my next project! It's also cool that you have a VERY different workflow to me in many regards, but, you still make cool stuff, get it done in time, etc. I think that's awesome! So, when working direct to client, you charge them per hour? Not per project? I find in general clients aren't a big fan of that as they have no idea how long something would take, so, are they looking at 1000 vs 100 000$. Which is why 99% of the time I've found they want a fixed price.

Paul Esteves