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IanHubert
IanHubert

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EPISODE RELEASE: "Prepare for Execution" Dynamo Dream ep1 pt2

It's out!! As always THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING HERE! You've allowed me to go so much harder on these things than I ever hoped!

The 4k YouTube version is actually pretty good, but if you want, here's a 6 gig download.

If you specifically have any questions or shots you'd like seeing broken down, comment them here and I'll try to include them in a little video here in the next week! Also I want to do a full-on BTS at some point. There are a few assets that I need to get off my butt and finally optimize for upload.

WOW. This week was wild. A lot of big changes and news from a lot of folks, then I was literally doing the final export when my motherboard died- took a while to fix, even after we were able to diagnose what was wrong. Fortunately my friend Andy Dopieralski dropped everything and helped me for like 2 days straight! I hope you're all lucky enough to have an Andy in your life!!

But! It's out! I released it as episode 1 pt 2, because I think that's the best order for new viewers to watch it in (right after Salad Mug); it promises a bit more narrative momentum before folks see, say, A Pete Episode.

The reception has been really nice so far! As I've mentioned before, it's a wild ride to work on something for a couple years, seeing it over and over, wondering the entire time if any of it's going to "work"- and only finding out at the very end. Like throwing spaghetti to the wall to see what sticks, but only a few times a decade haha.

Up next is the boat episode! It's already fairly watchable even as a rough edit (which was very much NOT the case with this latest episode), so it feels deceptively close to completion.

Anyways- I have a few things I want to upload pretty quick here, but otherwise I might try to get out and finally see a bit of summer while the sun lasts!

EPISODE RELEASE: "Prepare for Execution" Dynamo Dream ep1 pt2 EPISODE RELEASE: "Prepare for Execution" Dynamo Dream ep1 pt2

Comments

Beautiful and absolutely stunning work. This inspires me more than words can say.

Jason Dillard

I kept forgetting I heard this was out; finally remembered! What a trip!! Fun episode. Great to finally see the scenes we saw you working on like the taxi ride and them getting taco-burgers. I like your sense of humor Ian. Thank you Mr Wizard God!🤓🤜🏼🤛🏼

michael w honsinger

the new episode titles have a very "valve" energy about them, lol. I loved this episode. There's so may amazing shots in it. And I'm very curious about the location you shot the underground scenes at. i wish i could record some resonance feedback there :0 Your work is really aspirational to me. I don't really do vfx work, but there's techniques i've learned from your blender tutorials that have helped me in game design. Really want to thank you about the stuff you put out there. And good luck to you and your projects. Also I love your folk punk songs. i keep playing "i am the disoster" on guitar in the squat i visit quite frequently :p it's a real banger. cheers! :]

kibble

I would love to see some more about the water throughout the piece. Specifically the tide at 2:04, the water/oil shader at 2:17 and the flowing water off the moss at 2:33 (assuming these were all CG shots). I was absolutely blow away

Alex Hay

Hi, Ian. I joined here few days ago. You make me excited whenever It’s released that DYNAMO DREAM. Thank you for your works. How do you look for nice textures?

kerotan

Man. I just want to walk around and explore all of those spaces.

Thomas Heaney

Really fun espisode! also im getting lost in all the beautiful design and cinematics .... You´re a straight-up Movie Director. Insaaaaanely impressed.

Jimmy Art Director

Cheers man

Dougahole

Would for sure love to see a breakdown of those. In general please do more of the retrospective breakdowns like you did in the past. Those are always great!

Tewan

I love this! so cool

明智 山田

It's just crazy to think that all of this is mostly the result of a one man team. All that insane works makes me sweat. Congrats and respect (kneel before you) I don't know if others think like me but I think it would be really cool if you made a video on your use of motion capture and your workflow about it. (How you plan the job, how looks your motion capture session on set, how you deal with it in post/blender?... ) That kind of stuff. Would love this. Congrats again ! You are an inspiring artist

Simon Salord

Ah yeah! In general those shots are either fully practical, or fully digital (the wides with the tiny little digital people)

Ian Hubert

Cool.. Hoping to see some tutorials about the production work to produce the latest episode of Dynamo Dream

Giulio

Amazing!!! Ian I have a teeny tiny styling job for you have time. Getting a 3d helmet made, it ready to print but I'm not digging the color scheme.

Kash

You need to add it to your Dynamo Dream playlist on YouTube

Zap Andersson

Incredible work. Stunning and very inspiring, exactly what I needed to restart some of my own dormant projects. One question (no, actually a thousand questions): How did you do the POV shot when he runs away after he gets out of the taxi? That is wild!

Thomas Sturm

Congratulations Ian. The love and shear amount of effort by you and the team is there for all to see. For me, it's your unique world building, environmental design and wry take on story telling that truly sets you apart. So much scale achieved with modest tools and resources. Very inspiring for any indie filmmakers watching. Excited to see where all this goes next!

Mike Hay

So good! Question, Are all the tunnels digital or just digital extensions to a real location?

Dougahole

Amazing episode. My favourite so far. Would love to see a breakdown of the family home being blown up and on fire. Both incredible shots!

Flynn Millhouse

I don't comment often, but watch every patreon video as soon as it drops. Amazing work, huge congrats on getting the next episode out! Enjoyed your panel at OpenSauce too btw, was happy William included some VFX folks to the lineup :)

Zachary Tong

Just finished rewatching the original Dynamo series on Karma Pirates you tube channel then went right into Salad Cup for the 3rd or 4th time then this one.. Love them all. The VFX work on the original series was awesome and they just keep getting better. Gonna bring Rubix back or at least mention him or maybe Gage?? LOL

Christopher Marsden

Okay. One question. At 10:30 when the bag hovers down on the robot and he picks it up, is it a digital bag that transitions to a real one, or is it moving in the footage and the robot's tracked to the rotation? Or something else? Either way, it's really nicely done.

Paul Richmond

Incredible work, Ian. Completely blown away.

Paul Richmond

Hey Ian, definitely my favorite episode so far, i really like the storytelling in this episode, even aside from the typically amazing vfx. Looks like you even have some non-vfx shots in this one, although im not putting it past you to have made those tidepool shots in blender somehow

Jeffery F

Spoiler Alert: This episode is a masterpiece! Your best work yet! The visuals and details are spectacular ( as expected lol) but i was really taken in with the narrative you crafted! The storytelling felt very polished and compelling. I loved the worldbuilding with the lines about living to 50 years and how they seem to die young? And how Jackie only has a few years left to live. The parent’s assassination was shocking (great payoff from the drone in Salad Mug). And there was a melancholy hanging over all the opening sequence with all the ironic joyful signs and celebrations which i found moving, especially aided by the wonderful and cinematic score! I also laughed out loud at several places with those one-liners. Trademark Ian off-beat humor! Overall i loved that the story really pulled me in and i’m onboard with Jackie in finding his sister. The only thing i dont like is having to wait to find out what happens next! In the meantime i look forward to the BTS and commentary type video!

Nate Pantumsinchai

With the door opening? Just swiped an LED light onto him, yeah!

Ian Hubert

It's a video texture of a boat wake on a Dynamic Paint displacement! I wanted to do a full video about it, but I wanted to see if I could use a drone to capture a lot of better wakes to use as assets first...

Ian Hubert

Ah yeah! There's a lot of emissive materials going on. Emissive materials work great as long as they can be large enough, and don't have to light up too big of an area, otherwise you get fireflies, but they work really well for casual glows around a city! And thanks man!!!!!!!! :D

Ian Hubert

10:11 how did you light this shot before blender? did you light practically or let blender light subject?

Noah Christian

are all the scattered small lights in large city shots image textures/ emission? or lights in blender? looking at 5:15 LOVE THE NEW EPISODE SO MUCH, GREAT JOB IAN!

Noah Christian

Boat wake??? of all the jaw dropping visuals, that boat wake was the most “how did he do that!” moment i had

Danny

Pretty cool episode. It reminds me a bit of half-life 2 at times when the devs were showing off their new physics engine with all the moving parts on stuff. I am excited for the next episode.

Simple Silicon

At least for this episode the soundtrack is on all major music platforms just search for DYNAMO DREAM, Vol. 1 - EP by Dedouze. And I actually made a (somewhat scrappy) spreadsheet of all the places to find the music that has been released for both Dynamo Dream and Dynamo https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aT90V9zTjQc30_vNxI3lj-RzQ8_F7RgonAmXxes9U1g/edit?usp=sharing

Platyelf

I would love to have the music/soundtrack for this episode (and actually the previous ones!!) released, like you did for Salad Mug! :D

Pinpoint12

How did you do the killer robot at the end accumulating?

George Russell Media

Incredible! That is stunningly good. i agree with many of the previous posts. There are so many things i would love to see broken down. The explosion and resulting damage/fire shots were amazing. Every shot looks so dense and palpable. I want to learn how to achieve that 'look' you get. I know much of it is the incredible amount of small detail you put into your shots, but your lighting and shot angles also give such a solid look to your scenes. You are an inspiration.

Don Perkins

I'd love to see a breakdown of the explosion and aftermath of the assassination

MagnumVD

Woo! Congrats and amazing Job. Glad to be able to support this even in a small way :)

Deskinem

Could you breakdown how you did the starfish shot at around the beginning of the epusode. I don't think you've done any water tutorials and it would be cool to see how you got the oil on the surface of the water.

Penguin.com

Every time I see one of your videos I am so inspired to make stuff!! An excellent motivation booster and so much to be learned! The shot that really blew me away (and unfortunately probably also blew Jo’s family away) was the opening shot and similarly the cutaway to the burning apartment later. Even though I know those shots were basically fully CG they felt so tangible! I’d love to see a breakdown of those

Ben

Ian this is amazing! I'm buddies with Luka so I was thrilled to hear his voice! It looks stunning. Very inspiring. You're a true world builder! One of my favorite little details is the way you changed the 'stop' sign. Just a simple change I'd never seen. I'm so happy we can help support you! Keep up the incredible work

George Moise

Hi Ian - great episode! I've seen so many of your breakdowns, but still there are shots that I'm not sure if they are fully filmed, extended/enhanced, or fully CG - wild! One major suggestion would be to remove the episode numbering on the video titles, as this likely significantly reduces new viewers. If someone see's "Episode 3" or "Episode 1 pt 2" suggested, they are much less likely to click than just seeing the episode title and thumbnail. Episode 2 and 3 are standalone anyway, and Episode 1p2 has a quick "previously on" (and I would argue is pretty standalone also). If new people enjoy the later episodes, they'll likely jump back and watch the earlier ones. And people who are currently subscribed and into it will watch them as they come out / know the order. The only exception I would make to this rule is Salad Mug - I'd keep that labeled as Episode 1 since anyone who sees that would know where to start / won't feel like they are jumping into the middle of an ongoing thing.

Mike Pouch

It was such a good episode, the atmosphere is ridiculously thick, the whole crab battles and giant nut cracker warrior mech is such detailed background. Theres also scenes im struggling to see the difference between your recorded footage and the spliced CGI

Jack_Wolfe

I was loving the robots with dubious allegiances, between the autocar and the floating xerox bot. Also secretly hoping the floating Xerox bot eventually attaches Voltron style to a bigger body and battles Nutcracker bot, or Crab bot (or wait, did crab bot got his arms tore off?) That Christmas tree firework was >chef's kiss< superb! But I will admit I was secretly hoping for one more Muppet show cutaway like that one you did a few years ago. Or an entire Muppet episode, no computers allowed, unless it's computer animated muppets (obvsly). Really beautiful work though, the music and SFX really filled out the mood.

Stephen Somers

Can you talk about your color grading workforce after you export the scene from blender

Matt W.

Amazing, Ian. Just amazing. The things you manage to do on your own and with just a small team rivals any film I've seen with 10 minutes of tiny-type credits after it. And do it better, from storytelling to the visuals. You are an inspiration for what a single creative mind can accomplish. Mad props.

Dolph K

Absolutely Epic Ian, well done. Great atmosphere and effects. Love the soundtrack too.

Nigel Hillyer

This is impressive on so many levels. Storytelling, worldbuilding, problem solving, production design, acting... just pure creativity and imagination on full display in every single frame. I also quite appreciated the change in aspect ratio: scope is cool but a full 16:9 frame helps giving a sense of scale with all those environment and megastructures! I'm so excited for the boat episode and the future ones, and grateful for having the possibility to follow each step in the making of this series here on Patreon. So worth it!

Armando Marchetti

I loved this one! As a technical nerd though I'm wondering what you're doing with the frame rates, so two of them are 23.976 and the other two are 24. I imagine your different cameras you use have different rates, so are you speeding/slowing them down for the timeline and chosing that for the more abundant frame rate?

Harry Robins

This episode was awesome! You definitely deserve some time off to enjoy the summer sun. And I'm looking forward to seeing what you have in store for us in the future!

OwlWithA1ds

Once you've got back from seeing daylight, I've quite enjoyed it when you've scanned through your timeline after a project and had a little directors-commentary over shots of interest. I'd love to see that again with this one!

Dave Brain

TERD is very relatable! I also turn off my empathy circuits when it gets late. For logistical reasons.

RationAlphi

The final timeline was basically just full of straight-up blender image sequences, yeah! Very little final compositing, but most every shot has some diffusion/grain or filmconvert on it- Resolve also has lots of nice options for glows and such, too! I'll try to touch on it!

Ian Hubert

That was fast. Thanks for asking about the novel, it is about 90% done (about 650 pages, test prints are looking good, meanwhile I'm waiting on the feedback from my beta readers to give it one final polish). It will be self published as a book on demand (hopefully) before the end of the year, and I'm hyped. Kinda reassuring to hear that the struggle with information promise / payoff isn't just a "me" thing. As I said, from my audience point of view, it worked / works very well for me to enjoy your art and keep on building anticipation - I just suspected that it might sometimes be tough on your end to "hold back" the final piece(s) of the puzzle. I'm excited for how things connect in the end. :-)

Lennart Reuschling

Wow, Salad Mug was already incredible but you keep growing and evolving. The amount of detail and complexity is mind blowing. I have been showing Dynamo and Dynamo dream to my gf, so now whenever a new episode comes out we watch it together, and I have to keep myself from constantly exclaiming "I know how that was done! I have watched him build that scene!" although I did tell her about the background of the taxi scene, how every shot is hours and hours of work for stuff you barely have time to notice as the taxi hurtles through the streets of Shade. The first episode was more establishing and setup, I appreciate the more narrative focus of this one. Can't wait for more but now I need a rewatch of this at 1/10th speed lmao

Davide Bertolini

Amazing! Could you do a breakdown of that shot, especially the water simulation/treatment (the oil and the little bubbles really fooled me).

Sebas

For the stuff with Thom in it, yeah! We built a real seat and both him and the camera were moving all over the place- I'll definitely break it down! For the exterior taxi stuff, it was using the RBC car physics addon; it lets you control stuff with an xbox controller inside blender, it's wild!

Ian Hubert

Oh cool yeah that whole shot is CG! It's basically pushing the photoscanning workflow as far as I could take it (and the water refractions are doing some favors, too)- photoscans work really well with gunky textural stuff. You can kind of see it- I had one scan I did of a clump of barnacles, and I just stuck that clump anywhere one of the larger scans was showing its seams a bit.

Ian Hubert

That's the big thing I got wrong on this one! I'm hoping it makes a bit more sense if you watch them back-to-back, without a 3 year gap in between, but I'd totally figured it'd be more obvious that Salad Mug happens right after the can collecting scene in this episode, but literally nobody I showed it to as a test audience got that. Even after I added the "8 months later- 9 hours after mug drop". Which is totally my fault, and fortunately people do piece it together eventually... but I guess I should have put a bit of the missile/phone call in there or something. Even just had a shot of him looking up at the missile as the call ends, but from his POV, to tie it all together.. And ah cool yeah!!! That whole scene was very much inspired by landing in real airports at night, and seeing all those little color-coded lights stretching way out into the dark- they're so cool.

Ian Hubert

Thanks Lennart! How far along is your novel?? And hahaha yeah! IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY!! Like, in general, I appreciate that the more you "earn it", the better the payoff is, and anticipation is the fuel that keeps the whole thing going, but that definitely means that I've never gotten to any of the good bits! Literally everything from the past 12 years is setup and character introductions, and cause stuff takes so long to finish I never get to the payoff! Although- that changes a bit with the next episode- there's one scene/idea in particular that I was going to introduce a lot later, but now I'm more of the mind that I should just put those things in now, because more ideas can always happen later- and I think it works well! At the very least, I'm optimistic that enough of the drip-fed stuff will finally have enough of a context for things to start clicking together, which I'm excited for! We'll see how it goes- thanks again!

Ian Hubert

Ooooo yeah!

Ian Hubert

Hey! This is an amazing episode I know you do most of your work in blender but could you do a video of effects done in post that you think really added a lot more realism to your shots? Or a video just about texturing?

Sean Nguyen

Despite having watched you work on some of the scenes, I'm having a hard time figuring out where the live action ends and the CGI begins. Amazing! Is the giant starfish CG or real?

Sebas

Hi Ian, this is amazing! I realized a little later that it was a direct sequel to Salad Mug episode, at first i was a little confused. Even if i understand english language well, i think is a little bit hard to follow the story (but maybe is just me); did you have some explanation of the whole story so far and even the connection to the original Dynamo? That said, this is full of wonderful shots, and we love to have some breakdown; i especially love the emission decal on the concrete floor when the ship is landing (i tried something similar but i failed).

Michele Coser

Hey Ian! First and foremost, once again: A brilliant episode. I'm still immensely impressed by the amount of thought and care you put into every single scene and shot - love it. My question is: While I (as the viewer) really enjoy the concept of opening up a ton of questions and only hinting at most of the answers, I can't imagine how that works for you as the artist. Being a storyteller myself (doing mostly short films and, for the last 16 months, working on my first novel), I always find such a structure a painful exercise in delayed gratification. When I try to construct some kind of mystery or keep the reader/viewer in the dark for a while, I'm just aching to see the reactions to the "big reveal" - and that's just talking about maybe one or two years from first hint to final reveal. So, given that you have been drip-feeding the viewer little bits of info since the beginning (probably even including the original "Dynamo" series, Rubix, North, Sterling...), how do YOU deal with this? Is it even a thing for you? Greetings and, once again, fantastic job!

Lennart Reuschling

This was a great piece of art! I specifically loved the chase squence, this felt like a really realistic video game kind of? How was this filmed? Did you film that irl & then tracked the camera movement?

2late

Stellar work dude. Been an absolute pleasure watching this come together!

Petteri Valtiala

Man, you've really upped your game Ian!! I remember you getting inspired to add more detail, and this episode has so much!!! The establishing shot of Jo's old house and the ground Jackie walks on exiting the ship!! The latter is not even the main focus of the shot, but the little extra details really stand out. I think you've covered all the scenes already. I just need to start applying what you've been teaching us. Great job as always Ian!!

Clint Shelton

amazing Episode! would love to know how you did the boat wake?

D B

Sorry I lied. It's in the second most recent one, called "rigid body stuff"

Andrew Gelfman

Don't know about the purple doors, but the stick monster is explained in the most recent rigid body physics video

Andrew Gelfman

I love it. Specifically the part where he's landing in the city. That scene is awesome because you've conveyed so well the feeling of what it's like to arrive in a new city or place. That "simple shot" when he sees through the window conveys the feeling of uncertainty, doubt and excitement.

Billy Lopez

Loved the cosmic horror kinda elements coming into play towards the end!! Could you talk a bit about the making of that scene with the stick monster and the purple doors? As well as some of the sound design aspects for that scene! I just loved that scene so much.

Garrett Wade

Thank you so much for the download! My router has been so finicky lately :/. I want to hear all about the “big picture” stuff, how do you evoke specific emotions in certain scenes, what inspired different scenes, etc. Feel free to ramble as much as you like :)

Platyelf

Ian! My man! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). This has got to be your best one yet! Absolutely amazing! Nothing I would improve besides giving me more! Here are some breakdowns/walkthroughs I would love to see! 1. The taxi scene. I just want all of it, anything and everything on that. 2. The apartment on fire at the very end, I need to know your process on that! 3. Lighting breakdown! It can be any scene of your choosing, just please! Lighting breakdown! Absolutely amazing video Ian, 64.32/10

gabe dobsky

Thanks Jeffrey :D And ooo- Probably Salad Mug, Prepare for Execution, then A Single Point in Space (and A Pete Episode could just be... whenever :P). I feel like the experience might be a little anticlimactic till I get the next episode out, since Prepare for Execution sets up a little journey, but then we get a "MEANWHILE IN SPACE" episode followed by a "MEANWHILE- PETE" episode- but I'm feeling optimistic the upcoming Boat episode will keep some of the narrative momentum up!

Ian Hubert

Thanks Kauko!! And it's an old building in Port Orchard, kind of looking out towards Bremerton/Bainbridge. The rest of the can-collecting shots were along the waterfront in Tacoma (we only trespassed a *little*). If you go to Dickman Mill Park you'll recognize a lot of the places.

Ian Hubert

Ian, this was spectacular!! That taxi scene and the POV scene were excellent. You mentioned that folks who are new should rewatch this right after Salad Mug. What order would you recommend for folks watching Dynamo Dream for the first time? I'd love to share it with some friends with a proper watch order

Jeffrey Caban

AH! Oh yeah those are great ideas, thank you! :D

Ian Hubert

directors commentary on patreon?

Nicholas Cummins

Also across the episode you have so much lovely secondary animation. When the ship lands the door has a delayed clunk down. The blowing plastic on the mine cart. All sorts of lovely stuff. Would love something on that!

Blake Rizzo

Loved it man! So fun watching you make the shots and then see them in the final product (:

B#D

Absolutely love the episode! You do SO much in 22 minutes and it looks amazing. Where was the shot at 1:50 filmed? I'm one of those city folk that never goes south of SeaTac and it seems like a really pretty place to outdoors at

Kauko Firetale

Thank you, Ian, for this Masterpiece!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’ll take you up on your word. A) Could you break down how did you do the fireworks? B) Could you break down how did you do the explosion at the beginning (when the evil drone shot the house)?

Alejandro Rios

YAYYYYYYY so excited! So many shots I'd like to see breakdowns on. That POV first person shot/camera animation as he runs through Shade would be super fun! I know it's the camera shake add on but the running down stairs momentum of the camera is SO satisfying. Love the whole airport sequence. Love how you put plastic over the computer screens! I think it would be cool if you talked about/breakdown some of your favorite shaders on this episode! THEY LOOK SO GOOD. Thank you so much for being inspirin!!!

Blake Rizzo

Amazing work as always! Watched it on YouTube but my favorite part of the Patreon is the full res download! Since all the episodes are so neatly organized they work out perfectly in a PLEX/Jellyfin library and I can see them I their full glory on my TV 😁

Zachary Porlier

Loved it! Loved the intro of them collecting cans I don’t think I’ve seen anything sci-fi really focus on the lives of the characters like that. Also! The abduction bit was hilarious.

Jon-Tyrell Adolpho

I can't pick a single shot or even a handful of shots that I want to see a behind the scenes on, I just want EVERYTHING

Evan Barron

Let’s goooo

Corban scheid

exciting times!

aviphyr


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