[HN Gopher] Visual effects for the Indian blockbuster "RRR" ___________________________________________________________________ Visual effects for the Indian blockbuster "RRR" Author : rrampage Score : 569 points Date : 2022-09-10 13:30 UTC (9 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.blender.org) (TXT) w3m dump (www.blender.org) | 29athrowaway wrote: | They will never surpass the most excellent Indian production | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8OJB5qLZ6o | andsoitis wrote: | Ah, and I see you can watch RRR on Netflix. | vipa123 wrote: | Is it any good? | [deleted] | efficax wrote: | It's completely over the top, with absurd action sequences, | fantastical characters, dance numbers, melodrama and | heartbreak, one sided caricatures of evil Englishmen, and | lots and lots of fun. It's excessive in every way, down it's | more than 3 hour runtime. It's a blast! | that_girl wrote: | Not much different from over the top movies by Tom Cruise. | brink wrote: | I love those. | spaceman_2020 wrote: | Its very well made for its genre. | | I personally found 90% of the movie to be great, but was let | down by the climax. Went too hard on the CGI. | doodlebugging wrote: | I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie and found myself | grinning ear to ear when it was done as I was describing it | to my wife. She had been working while I watched so we plan | to cue it up again and see it together. | | I felt totally entertained at the conclusion. I even watched | the credits roll. | | Many of the CGI effects were pretty obvious but it made the | movie more watchable in my opinion. The blending of real | action with fake enhanced the ability to tell the story. It | was great. | | Kudos to all involved in this epic! | hannofcart wrote: | Depends on who's asking and what they're looking for. | | Let's just say that nuance/subtlety is not a high priority of | this genre of film. :) | pen2l wrote: | I liked it. It's like if you mix Snatch with Inglorious | Bastards and then made it over-the-top cheesy. | | But on the topic -- I think this changes everything. Blender | is now literally a viable alternative against behemoth setups | that easily go in 5-digits (and 6 digits if you have hundreds | of designers as some shops do). It's now crossed that magical | threshold where competent firms will choose it for their | projects and any weaknesses that surface then, it will now be | the, the big buys at big chops like the Mill or what-have- | you, who will be contributing fixes and pushing Blender to | new directions. Full alembic support, better volume-related | features, some more UI touch-up, and we're almost all there. | | I'm nothing short of stunned at the pace with which Blender | is moving forward and it's clear that come another 5 years, | it'll be a force to reckon with and a worthy competitor to | dethrone Houdini. | silisili wrote: | I think it's going to depend on what kind of movies you like. | | I went in thinking it was going to be some nonstop action | flick, and didn't like it at all. It seemed like an overly | long musical to me, which I've never been a fan of. | | My wife on the other hand thought it was beautiful and loved | it. | | YMMV. | dominotw wrote: | yes if you have kids below 7 yrs. | robin_reala wrote: | I really wouldn't show it to kids below 12; there's some | pretty horrific torture scenes in it. | dagmx wrote: | It's highly enjoyable though it is also very nationalist | propaganda in parts, which foreigners won't pick up on. For | the most part it never becomes an issue because the brunt of | the movie is fighting colonialism and therefore quite | appropriate and incredibly good. The end credit scene is the | only part that I'd consider problematic from a messaging | standpoint as it takes a hard line on who they celebrate and | isn't subtle about the directors political allegiances. | | Anyway would really recommend watching it. It's a wild ride, | and incredibly well done. If you're not from India, you can | largely ignore the issues with internal politics | | Edit: Since people are asking for links about the politics... | | https://www.vox.com/23220275/rrr-netflix-tollywood- | hindutva-... | | https://slate.com/culture/2022/06/rrr-review-indian- | blockbus... | | Essentially it's holding up some of the more radical freedom | fighters and downplaying the more pacifist and equitable ones | which reflects the directors political stance | hermitcrab wrote: | I did wonder about the Indian politics in the film. I did | pick up a few bits here and there, but probably missed a | lot. Care to say a bit more about that? If not, I | understand. | dagmx wrote: | I updated my post above with links of why many consider | it nationalist, but I can elaborate more if you want. | Just let me know. | | It's subtle but it's in the same vein of how many | military and cop films push messaging | bergenty wrote: | What are you talking about? The part where they refer to | Indian freedom fighters? Because I thought they did a | really good job of highlighting a lot of them, not just | well known ones and across vast political spectrums. I mean | they had Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose as well as | Shivaji and Mirabai. | dagmx wrote: | That scene was good till you consider a few factors: | | - Bose was allied with the Nazi's. I know it's debatable | whether the ends justify the means but he also held some | fairly hostile views that are being used again | | - there were notable omissions of freedom fighters who | preached peace , but more importantly, those who were | against the division of Pakistan and India. | | I shared a couple links above in an edit, but there's | definitely an messaging to align with the directors more | hardline views of modern Indian politics | unmole wrote: | > Bose was allied with the Nazi's | | A marriage of convenience like when Gandhi allied with | the Ali Brothers. | | > there were notable omissions of freedom fighters who | preached peace | | Three of them where Gandhians but OK. | | > but more importantly, those who were against the | division of Pakistan and India. | | Nobody in the Congress wanted partion to begin with. But | there was no leader against it when it became clear that | it was apparent. Who exactly do you have in mind? | dagmx wrote: | Your entire comment is a "so what?" | | You don't think it's suspect that major figures were | excluded from the list? And they just happen to be the | same major figures the right wing governments try and | move away from. | | You don't think being allied with the Nazis and never | denouncing their views was an issue either? | | the movie had a clear political agenda to it. | unmole wrote: | > Your entire comment is a "so what?" | | Yes. Because it's a fantasy movie. Reading complex | political messaging into it is rather silly. | | > Your entire comment is a "so what?" | | I don't think excluding Gandhi and Nehru from a cheesy | dance number is the end of the world. | | > never denouncing their views | | Again, read what the man had to say about the Nazis after | he left Germany. Also read about what Gandhi had to say | about Bose and what Bose had to say about Gandhi. We've | had an international airport named after him for decades. | Bose is not even remotely controversial in India. | | > the movie had a clear political agenda to it. | | But somehow that wasn't clear to overwhelming majority of | the audience who actually saw it. | bergenty wrote: | Who did they exclude from the list? I counted almost | everyone I can think of and more. | bergenty wrote: | Bose "aligned" with the Nazis so he could free the Indian | POWs captured by the Japanese which he then used to build | the Indian national army. Also, the Nazis were fighting | the British who in India were enemy number one. He wasn't | antisemitic or racist so his alignment is pretty | irrelevant. | v512 wrote: | > highly enjoyable Doubt. | dagmx wrote: | What's there to doubt? I'm not speculating that it will | be enjoyable. I am making a statement that it was | enjoyable to me (and my friends, along with many many | others online who've raved about it) | | if you don't find it enjoyable, that doesn't mean | doubting the veracity of my stated opinion. You may | however disagree | mikymoothrowa wrote: | Those articles reaffirm more the extreme political | mentality of vox and slate than any political leanings of | the director. | | That these websites practically thrive on conjuring up | issues even where none exists should surprise no one. | dagmx wrote: | How can you possibly seriously describe Vox as extreme? | Perhaps they're more liberally biased but "extreme"? | There's no world where that would be an accurate | description | pessimizer wrote: | Imagine thinking that about those boring-ass centrist | websites. | mikymoothrowa wrote: | imagine thinking these websites are centrist because you | have more ridiculous extremist websites on the left and | the right. | xmonkee wrote: | Vox is literally the definition of neolib trash. I don't | understand how you can call it far left. People on the | left don't actually mind the label, but don't call | shitlib stuff far left. The left is explicitly opposed to | neoliberalism. If you wanna read something actually on | the left: https://jacobin.com/ | unmole wrote: | Vox is just cookoo. Jacobin on the other hand is full on | deranged. | random314 wrote: | +1 on that. I only watched the action sequences in the | movie as RRR is not the kind if movie I enjoy. | | But the end of the movie, makes it quite clear that it is a | nod to right wing Hindu nationalism. The most pointed | example is the exclusion, in the end credits, of the 2 | biggest icons of Indian liberation - Mahatma Gandhi and the | first prime minister Nehru( the British locked him up for | over a decade) who were secular liberals. Nehru happens to | be the great grandfather of the main opposition leader | Rahul Gandhi. | | As the right wing Hindu pre independence movement largely | connived with the colonialists, the right wing government | today is focused on appropriating a select few independence | fighters and projecting them as right wing icons even | though they were liberals or socialists. 3 prominent | figures. | | 1. Bhagat Singh - a socialist who is now projected as a | right wing icon and stripped of his Sikh beard | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagat_Singh | | 2. Sardar Patel - Nehru and Gandhis colleague who had some | right wing sympathies, but actually banned RSS (Modi's | organization) following the assassination of Gandhi by RSS | workers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Unity | | 3. Subhash Bose - A foolhardy military strategist who tried | to partner with the Nazis to fight the British. Eventually, | assisting the Japanese in Burma and helping them invade | India. Gandhi was extremely wary of Bose's plans. | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhas_Chandra_Bose | | Towards the end, it projects the independence fight as a | largely Hindu fight against British and anoints upper caste | Rama as a leader of lower caste Bheem. At this point, it | seems that the exclusion of muslims, sikhs and some | Christians etc. From the script as freedom fighters seems | deliberate. | | Bheem is a nod to lower caste icon bhimrao Ambedkar, who | converted from Hinduism to buddhism to escape caste | hierarchies. This could have been a positive inclusion in | the story, but it is flipped on its head when Bheem is | shown swearing fealty to upper caste Rama in the end. The | Ramayana itself, has a negative attitude towards lower | castes, which makes this highly improper. | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._R._Ambedkar | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambuka [1] | | Moreover the choice of Rama is sensitive in the current | political situation in India as Rama is being used as a | tool to bully poor Muslims on the streets. | | https://www.google.com/search?q=muslim+jai+shree+ram | | [1] You will notice that Shambuka is noted as an | "interpolated" character in Ramayana. This almost certainly | true, but the Godliness of Rama as an avatar of Vishnu is | part of the same interpolation. The original smaller | Ramayana is simply the story of an "ideal king". This was | converted into a story of divinity by the interpolation of | Godliness, sexism and casteism(uttara and bala kanda) . | Wikipedia has been edited to clarify that Shambuka is a | later interpolation, while the article on Rama and Ramayana | simply forget to headline that the divinity of Rama is a | later interpolation. The interpolation makes complete sense | as the brahmins successfully solidified the caste system | and inserted casteist and sexist texts into several ancient | sanskrit texts to anoint the caste system with divine | status. There is a small ongoing movement to refer to the | current version of Hinduism as Brahminism. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Brahminism | unmole wrote: | > At this point, it seems that the exclusion of muslims, | sikhs and some Christians etc. From the script as freedom | fighters seems deliberate. | | It's a fantasy based very loosely on two historical | characters. Bheem for the bulk of the movie pretends to | be a Muslim and is sheltered by a Muslim family that | knows his true identity. Claiming that this somehow | excludes non-Hindus is farcical. | | > Bheem is a nod to lower caste icon bhimrao Ambedkar | | Bheem is loosely based on Komaram Bheem: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komaram_Bheem and Ram is | loosely based on Alluri Sitaramaraju: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alluri_Sitarama_Raju | | You are ignorant of even the basic premise of the movie. | But hey, don't let that stop you from theorising grand | conspiracies. | random314 wrote: | That Ram can map to Alluri, but the mapping to Lord Rama | is absolutely loud and vociferous. | | I could be mistaken about the mapping of Bheem, but given | that Komaram Bheem is also lower caste, my meta point | stands virtually unchanged. And that's just one point | amongst the 10 I have made with references. | | Moreover, it is very easy for me to see that you are | upper caste hindu - about 40% of indias population. You | should ask the rest of the 60% about what they read from | the movie. | | > pretends to be a Muslim | | Yes, I watched parts of the movie. How does this matter? | unmole wrote: | > That Ram can map to Alluri, but the mapping to Lord | Rama is absolutely loud and vociferous. | | Any elements that you might perceive as _mapping_ to Rama | is an homage to the 1974 classic movie: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alluri_Sitarama_Raju | | That representation is what is etched into the minds of | Telugu audience. | | > I could be mistaken about the mapping of Bheem | | You _are_ mistaken. | | > And that's just one point amongst the 10 I have made | with references. | | Yeah, the rest them are either unfalsifiable or | statements of opinion. | | > Moreover, it is very easy for me to see that you are | upper caste hindu | | I'm fascinated to know how you came to that conclusion. | I'm a half-caste with one side of my family entitled to | minority status. Try again. | | > Yes, I watched parts of the movie. | | Wait, you didn't even watch the movie in its entirety? | random314 wrote: | The mapping to divine Lord Rama is unmistakable, and the | Godliness bestowed leaves no room for doubt. The | iconography of lower caste Bheem showing fealty to lord | rama is how the movie ends. | | The facts I mentioned are well cited and referenced facts | that are well supported. Thanks for acknowledging that | you offer no contradiction. | | It is also obvious from your play with words - "half | minority" that you are upper caste. Eg, Hindu Jain | marriages are common. | | > I'm fascinated to know how you came to that conclusion. | | Lower castes - SC/ST would be irritated by the | supplication by Bheem in the end. Non Hindus would find | the conversion of a secular independence movement to a | hindu religious paen and the exclusion of secular liberal | leaders (the father of the nation and first PM) | offensive. | | This is a typical UC thinking. The only things that are | offensive are those that offend me. If someone else gets | offended by something else, there is something wrong with | them. | dagmx wrote: | Thank you for adding to the list of subtleties that | foreigners wouldn't pick up on. These are great points | and I'm very appreciative you took the time to list them | | My wife isn't Indian and she really enjoyed the film | (which I did too as an action film) but I was aware the | whole time of significant choices used to push the Hindu | nationalist messaging. So I've been using it as an | example of explaining the political climate in India | | As a Hindu myself , but with a mixed caste/religion | family, I've slowly been realizing how much messaging | there has been in the media we consume as I expand on | this with her. | random314 wrote: | Caste discrimination doesn't get as much air, but here is | what urban casteism look like | | https://youtu.be/x_9326pheho | | For rural caste discrimination there are enough incidents | like Hathras rape, but this movie gives a good | perspective | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fandry | unmole wrote: | > The end credit scene is the only part that I'd consider | problematic from a messaging standpoint as it takes a hard | line on who they celebrate and isn't subtle about the | directors political allegiances. | | I don't actually remember the end credit scene and I didn't | pick up on any contemporary political references. Could you | elaborate? | dagmx wrote: | I updated my post with links for reading but it's | essentially subtle but insidious. | | There's a movement among the right to downplay the more | equitable and peace friendly freedom fighters in favour | of more radical ones, including ones with ties to the | Axis powers. | | Again, it barely takes away from the film since it's just | the final credits but it's quite a clear signal of the | directors outspoken political views | cuteboy19 wrote: | From their perspective the Axis powers were not that much | worse than the British | asenna wrote: | I agree with this. I saw this in the theater in India and | the overtly Hindutva stuff definitely got me laughing. It's | not even subtle, hard to miss when you know the context. | unmole wrote: | Honestly, a lot of the criticism reads like a tin-foil fan | theory. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. | | And some of it makes me question the author's familiarity | with the actual background. | | > he's seen assuming a wardrobe that invokes his namesake | Rama | | No, he assumes a wardrobe that invokes Alluri Sitaramaraju, | the historical figure his character is based on: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alluri_Sitarama_Raju | | And this popular representation and the fictional fiancee | named Sita come from a classic 1974 movie: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alluri_Seetarama_Raju_(film) | | Rajamouli is not exactly big on subtlety. If the troubling | implications need so much ink to explain, maybe the | implications aren't actually there? | | > Essentially it's holding up some of the more radical | freedom fighters and downplaying the more pacifist and | equitable ones | | Sardar Patel, Chidambaram Pillai and Tanguturi Prakasam | were not radicals, they were lifelong members of the INC | and were committed to Gandhian non-violence. Bhagat Singh | and Subhash Chandra Bose were capital S Socialists, it | doesn't get more equitable than that. This argument would | have held weight if someone like Savarkar was included. As | it stands, it makes no sense. | dagmx wrote: | Bose was a socialist in the sense that nazis were | nationalist socialists so I'm not sure what your point is | there. | unmole wrote: | Maybe read about man's views on the matter? | dagmx wrote: | I have in the countless times this has been brought up. | My high school had a Bose statue and taught us a lot of | his history as well to try and reaffirm his greatness. | | In the end , I haven't ever seen anyone show me anything | that didn't also require ignoring Bose's significant ties | to the Nazis to have a charitable take on the man and his | followers. | unmole wrote: | > I have in the countless times this has been brought up. | | And you didn't come across any references of him | advocating for authoritarian socialism? This was way | before he went into exile or joined hands with Hitler. | JohnBooty wrote: | Thank you for posting that. I learned a lot! | | Like many (most?) Westerners, I obviously appreciated the | anti-colonialism aspect, but had _no_ idea about all of | that other context. | | I am deeply appreciative. | mikymoothrowa wrote: | I'm Indian and I didn't see those either. | | There's no scenario in which slate/vox would have written | a ideologically uncoated positive review of this movie. | dagmx wrote: | I'm Indian and I saw it when I watched the movie. Your | comments show you have a right wing attitude to these | things and I doubt you'd have therefore picked up on it | since it affirms a particular world view. | unmole wrote: | If you didn't realise Ramcharan taking up a bow was an | homage to Alluri Sitaramaraju, maybe you don't know what | you're talking about? | dagmx wrote: | Where did I say I didn't know that? You're putting words | in my mouth. | unmole wrote: | Because you posted a link to an article that claimed | otherwise and commended a comment that got it wrong. | JohnBooty wrote: | I feel like you two are both on the same side? | unmole wrote: | No, we're not. I believe the movie is just ridiculous in | a very fun way. The other side claims that in addition to | that it has subtle propaganda that promotes a Hindu | nationalist agenda. | gwill wrote: | I loved it. It's over the top, but embraces it really well. I | recommend watching with someone else because discussing the | movie is really fun. Don't get put off by the runtime, it's | very well paced. | screye wrote: | Probably the best Indian-as-indian-can-be movie that's | released in a longtime. This is the highest grossing film of | all time in Indian cinema, the Avengers Endgame / Jurrassic | Park of India. | | Pros | | * Incredibly stylized and fresh (not derivative) | | * great bro-drama | | * arguably best dance scene EVER | | * Not deeply cynical towards society like everything made | today. | | Cons: | | * Long (but still somehow incredibly fast paced and dense, | just a lot of arcs) | | * over the top (but shamelessly so, and taken seriously) | | ______ | | RRR is a tectonic shift in how Indian cinema views itself. It | is worth watching purely because of its place in the Movie | movement zeitgeist. | | IMO, This is the first Indian movie in 10 years that makes it | to must watch territory for universal audiences (the last one | being 3 idiots). | nsajko wrote: | It's fun, but seeing it was concerning because it's basically | propaganda, and it seems like it's not out of place in this | way where it came from. | throwaway49374 wrote: | +1 | throwaway49374 wrote: | My +1 is for the parent propaganda comment, Bollywood has | a lot of right wing propaganda these days. | nsajko wrote: | FTR, it seems that this is categorized as a "Tollywood" | (Telugu) movie, as opposed to Bollywood (Hindi). | unmole wrote: | It's _propaganda_ in the same way _Sharpe 's Eagle_ is | propaganda. | UtopiaPunk wrote: | Yeah, it's tons of fun. It's a big goofy action movie, and | they really lean into it in all the best ways. It's basically | a superhero movie. | andsoitis wrote: | I don't know yet, but I added it to My List to watch this | weekend. | gernb wrote: | I enjoyed it. In fact it might be the best Indian movie I've | seen in terms of just being interesting all the way through. | | I'm curious what if any serious Indian movies there are. Are | they common or rare? Pretty much every Indian movie I've seen | is full of amazing and fun nonsense in one form or another. | Not that I've seen more than 10 or 15 Indian movies, just | curious what the mix is of serious drama vs, break into dance | and or show crazy stunt movies is | i67vw3 wrote: | It is not even a 'best' indian movie. It just the current | most popular indian movie with western audience. | | Tumbbad is somewhat considered masterpiece of indian | cinema. It was made with just 700 thousand $ | https://m.timesofindia.com/entertainment/hindi/movie- | reviews.... | | >Pretty much every Indian movie I've seen is full of | amazing and fun nonsense in one form or another. | | They are the most popular genre. Production houses love | them as they make them money and viewers also love to watch | them as they can be watched by whole families. | | >Not that I've seen more than 10 or 15 Indian movies, just | curious what the mix is of serious drama vs, break into | dance and or show crazy stunt movies is | | Most of indian cinema is action genre with slice of life | twist. There are also good serious movies with genres like | drama, romcom, comedy, horror, history, sci-fi etc. | | You must also know that Indian cinema is not a monolith | like hollywood. There are 7 big 'woods' in india branched | due to various languages. There is hindi wood (bollywood), | tamil, telugu, kannad, marathi, bengali etc. Each have | their own tasted with respective viewers. Over the counter | action movies (like RRR) are most popular in south | industries and viewers. | unmole wrote: | > Tumbbad is somewhat considered masterpiece of indian | cinema. | | By whom? Don't get me wrong, Tumbbad is an excellent | movie but _masterpiece_ is over selling it. And the low | budget for VFX really shows. | | > kannad | | _Wince_ | smcl wrote: | I'm curious what the wince is for - do Kannada-language | films have a reputation? | mikymoothrowa wrote: | probably for "Kannad" instead of Kannada | | and if KGF 2 is any indication, they should stop making | movies altogether | unmole wrote: | > probably for "Kannad" instead of Kannada | | Yup. It's inconsequential but I find it very grating. | | > and if KGF 2 is any indication, they should stop making | movies altogether | | I absolutely hated KGF 1 and didn't bother with the | sequel. I honestly don't understand why people compare it | to RRR. | mikymoothrowa wrote: | Reportedly the Bollywood movies are worse and they would | rather watch KGF | unmole wrote: | That sounds entirely plausible. | unmole wrote: | > I'm curious what the wince is for | | The language is called _Kannada_. Schwa deletion turns it | into _Kannad_ which sounds grating and seeing it written | without the _a_ is even worse. | | > do Kannada-language films have a reputation? | | I'll just say Sturgeon's law applies. | smcl wrote: | Ahhh sorry I didn't realise, I thought it was just a typo | :) | as1mov wrote: | Like every other film industry, Bollywood movies also have | a indie counterpart. I've seen quite a few, though it might | not translate very well to a watcher who is not familiar | with the cultural context for the movies. | | Still if you want a list of movies which are "serious" but | still approachable enough (i.e doesn't gaze at it's own | asshole) and fairly new, I do have a few recommendations - | | Udaan, Kahaani, Satya, Maqbool, Khosla's Nest, Masaan, | Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, Gangs of Wasseypur, Johhny | Gaddar, Kaminey, Black Friday (2004), Aaranya Kaandam (not | bollywood) | | This list isn't some exhaustive "greatest" ever, just some | oddball movies which stick out in my head. | | Also keep it in mind this is just the list of | Hindi/Bollywood movies which were historically known as | "Indian" movies. Other regions of the country have their | own list of favorites. | dagmx wrote: | There's tons of very serious Indian movies. They just don't | usually capture western audiences | | Sholay is a classic , in the vein of Eastwood films. | | Don is our take on Godfather | | Rang De Basanti and Lagaan are also great films. | | Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum , Dil Chahta Hai and other romantic | dramas are also very serious but do have songs etc because | they're huge drivers of engagement. | | In the west, people see the dancing as making the movie | silly. But those musical breaks are prevalent in very | serious films too. There'sa whole difference in cultural | norms when it comes to cinematic language. | washadjeffmad wrote: | I'm not very attuned to modern Indian cinema, but Satyajit | Ray's Apu trilogy is excellent, as is Charulata. | | For non fiction, Mira Nair's "So Far from Home" and Roberto | Rossellini's "India: Matri Bhumi" are also captivating | watches. | srik wrote: | Satyajit Ray's entire catalog is delightful, and | timeless. The Indian new wave parallel cinema movement | that held such promise back then has bemoaningly since | declined to a disappointing one or two entries every | couple years. Distributors and studios being conservative | and reluctant to change from the "bollywood doctrine" | held the indian film industry hostage in a state of | arrested development for the past few decades. It's kind | of why I'm thankful for the rise of streaming services, | they're enabling younger indie directors to break free | and be bold again. It's a very hopeful time for indian | cinema. | ivanmilles wrote: | Netflix's Sacred Games. It was their first domestic | production and is a straight faced noir cop drama. It's my | favorite crime series of all time - I think it blends The | crime boss mythology of The Usual Suspects with the multi- | decade story telling of The Godfather. It is told in a way | that it feels like a picture coming into focus, rather than | a linear narrative. | [deleted] | SanjayMehta wrote: | "The Kashmir Files" is the most serious movie in the recent | past. | butterNaN wrote: | Ugly (2013) Court Jai Bhim | | Off the top of my head | hermitcrab wrote: | Obviously that is highly subjective. I really liked it, as | did my 16 year old son. Although, being British, it was weird | to see my countrymen as the cartoon baddies[1]. It is | completely over the top and fantastical. But that is part of | the appeal. I thought it made a very refreshing change from | hollywood movies. | | [1] Not without reason. Read up on the depradations of the | East India company | blackoil wrote: | Random digression. In wake of recent demise of the Queen, | good curious how much do British see the colonion past as | glorious and how much as a dark legacy? | robocat wrote: | > it was weird to see my countrymen as the cartoon baddies | | I really enjoyed IP Man 2 for the one dimensional portrayal | of the British antagonists. Disclaimer: I'm from the | colonies. | lizardactivist wrote: | It's very cool to see Blender grow bigger each year and moving | into the mainstream movie production. | | I can recommend Blender Bob's YouTube channel, he has worked in | the VFX industry for many years and primarily uses Blender and | shows how VFX is made: | | https://www.youtube.com/c/BlenderBob | spaghettiToy wrote: | I hope to have one of these articles about FreeCAD one day. Maybe | the stakes are lower for movies than engineering and that's why | it hasn't happened yet. | NavinF wrote: | Some blockers I've encountered after spending a lot of time in | FreeCAD: | | - No built-in assembly workbench. If you create more than 1 | object, there is no way to align/attach them together. There | are several competing, incompatible, and buggy plugins. | | - Topological naming problem is way worse than in paid CAD | software. It's very difficult to edit old constraints without | breaking new actions as they're replayed: | https://wiki.freecadweb.org/Topological_naming_problem | | - Software dependencies are not included. Essential features | like viewing the dependency graph (to unbreak your model; See | above) are broken out of the box. You have to manually install | specific versions of tools like graphviz (no, not the same | version used by all the other software on your system) to | unbreak these features first. Same goes for rendering images, | exporting to some formats, using some mesh generators, etc. You | really get the full "linux desktop" experience even if you are | not on linux ;) | bsder wrote: | > Topological naming problem is way worse than in paid CAD | software. It's very difficult to edit old constraints without | breaking new actions as they're replayed: | https://wiki.freecadweb.org/Topological_naming_problem | | This is the single, number one, absolute must fix problem in | FreeCAD. All other FreeCAD work should stop until this gets | fixed. Period. | | Broken constraints were bad enough, but as an amateur I could | live with them. However, every now and then the system would | renumber and _reconnect_ constraints wrongly. That 's just | not acceptable and should never happen. | | Until FreeCAD fixes this not only can't I recommend it but I | have to give anti-recommendations to stay far, far away from | it. That pains me greatly as FreeCAD is the _only_ piece of | open-source software I have ever had to chase people away | from. | progfix wrote: | FreeCAD needs a drastic UI/UX overhaul and then some serious | funding to get at the same level of todays CAD software. | gwicke wrote: | I agree the FreeCAD UX could use some improvements, but I | think even more important would be improving reliability and | feature coverage in the OpenCascade CAD geometry library it | uses. Slightly more complex things like fillets, lofts, nurbs | surfaces are very limited and unreliable today. Mixing any of | these with booleans tends to create more trouble. | | Blender on the other hand is very solid in the modeling | department, in my experience. The mesh based approach | certainly helps, but not depending on an external | organization for the core geometry functionality does not | hurt either. | samwillis wrote: | Completely agree with this, OpenCascade is just not a good | enough foundation to build a CAD package at the same level | as SolidWorks or Fusion360. The unfortunate thing is that | the level of investment to build a kernel of that quality | is in the 10s or millions dollars. Without a corporate | backer who wants it, it won't happen. | | The only way I could see it happening is if a consortium of | large companies decided that they wanted to drop the big | players and build an open source one. It needs a visionary | in the position to decide to do it. | phkahler wrote: | >> but I think even more important would be improving | reliability and feature coverage in the OpenCascade CAD | geometry library it uses | | I've been wondering what portion of the FreeCAD "problems" | people report are actually issues with OpenCascade. I don't | have time to deal with any of it, just a question that pops | into my head when I see complaints about FreeCAD. When I | have time I spend it in Solvespace, which is decades behind | commercial CAD but is so much more fun. | spacebeer wrote: | I've been using various CAD programs, and IMO, FreeCAD UI/UX | is quite ok. If you are Inventor or Solidworks user and try | to switch to SolidEdge for example, it won't be easy. Not to | mention some others like VariCAD (~30 years old professional | MCAD) | | There are many issues with FreeCAD being OSS alternative to | professional MCAD software, but UI/UX is not one of them | xmonkee wrote: | I can't think of another OSS desktop app that comes close to | the success of blender and firefox. How did blender do what | Gimp etc couldn't? | Ayesh wrote: | I'd like to throw in OBS Studio as well. There's absolutely | no software even close to the quality and functionality of | it. | rcarmo wrote: | I've been trying to get to grips with FreeCAD for a few months | and it reminds me a lot of pre-2.8 Blender - the UX is very | opinionated and clunky, needs some serious re-thinking... | | (I am trying to avoid using Fusion 360, which has a much more | streamlined experience) | agumonkey wrote: | Maybe it's the perfect time to rebuild it. | dahart wrote: | > Maybe the stakes are lower for movies than engineering and | that's why it hasn't happened yet. | | I really doubt that has much to do with it. The Blender team | has been working the hardest on creating sustainable funding, | that is the major difference. Blender's "Get Involved" link | takes you to the Blender Foundation page, which is a business | entity setup and devoted to funding Blender. FreeCAD's "Get | Involved" link takes you to GitHub. The Blender site lists paid | jobs, and has a one-click donate button highlighted with | monthly corporate level sponsorships listed, where FreeCAD's | has only a single $5 suggestion behind a menu. There's a | further link to a list on a wiki of a couple more ways to | sponsor FreeCAD, but you can feel the difference in scale just | browsing the two sites. Blender got started ~8 years ahead of | FreeCAD, so yeah maybe if FreeCAD focuses on growing a business | model they can get there too. The Blender Foundation was | launched about 20 years ago though, and it seems like it look a | looong time to get the real traction they seem to have now. | sen wrote: | I spent a solid month trying to switch from Fusion 360 to | FreeCAD (as a hobbyist maker) and while I got to the point | where I could pretty much make anything I needed... it never | stopped being a struggle, and taking twice as long. | | I really really want an OSS alternative to Fusion/etc but | FreeCAD needs a lot of work before it'll even come close. | mihaaly wrote: | FreeCAD's user experience is incoherent or perhaps more like | chaotic for a newcomer - to FreeCAD, but experienced in CAD | -. Like there was no coherent way of thinking or common | approaches in it, like if hundreds of people added pieces to | it here and there the way they pleased. | | At least this is what I seen 5-7 years ago, gave up very | quickly struggling with it - a software supposed to make | things easier, not more complex, and FreeCAD made things | unnecessarily difficult and complicated. Maybe I should look | at it again now, hopefully things improved. | Lio wrote: | I can't thinking that the struggles of an experienced Fusion | 360 user such as yourself would be a very valuable thing to | contribute to the FreeCAD project. | | It's only a few years since we used to hear regular reports | of people really struggling with the Blender UI too. It's | great to see the improvements to Blender now paying off. | | I think there's a fairly good chance that the devs aren't | aware of all the rough edges or quirky choices in the same | way that a power user of another CAD system would be. | | (My own personal CAD experience is so dated at this point as | to be pretty useless. I learnt on Unigraphics on a Sun | workstation way back in the mists of time but have forget | almost everything about it.) | jker wrote: | Agreed, FreeCAD is painful to use when you've been spoiled by | Fusion or OnShape. I've tried using SALOME as an OSS | alternative, it's somewhat reminiscent of FreeCAD but | something of an improvement. CadQuery is another possibility, | but I would miss some of the drawing tools - full parametric | CAD seems too limiting. | tulasichintha wrote: | I watched this movie and visual feast for audience. Nice to see | they used Blender pipeline for Visuals. | weinzierl wrote: | There is also _" I Lost My Body"_ which is full-length movie made | in Blender. An interview with the director Jeremy Clapin[1] gives | a bit of the backgound of the project. | | Both _" RRR"_ [2] and _" I Lost My Body"_ [3] are on Netflix. | | [1] https://www.blender.org/user-stories/i-lost-my-body-a- | stunni... | | [2] | https://www.netflix.com/us/title/81476453?s=i&trkid=13747225... | | [3] | https://www.netflix.com/us/title/81120982?s=i&trkid=13747225... | jvdvegt wrote: | Too bad Netflix won't let me play [3] | krama wrote: | Who cares if they used Blender or Maya. As an Indian (and a South | Indian at that), I must say I'm embarrassed at the level of | attention this movie is getting for its over the top use of | cringey special effects. There are so many other worthwhile | Indian films to watch and enjoy. | sremani wrote: | Indian Cinema and esp. Telugu Cinema has its own style of story | telling, remember this is make believe. I find it refreshing as | a Telugu speaking American that they are staying true to their | traditions. | | The Bombay production houses have gone Hollywood-lite making | movies for affluent westernized Indian class which as it turns | out is not profitable. I am for artsy Indian movies but at the | end of the day, this is commercial undertaking and the film | crew and its producers should make money out of it. | akritrime wrote: | Why? I am so tired of certain section of Indians online | pretending that somehow all entertainment should be dictated as | per their sensibilities of what's acceptable and what's not. | What's wrong in having movies that are over the top? Everyone | has different tastes. What's worthwhile for you maybe boring | for someone else. I am not saying you have to start | appreciating RRR if it's not something that you enjoy, but | don't invalidate an experience that millions of people clearly | enjoyed. I can appreciate a K Balachander, Gopalkrishnan, | Satyajit Ray masterpiece while also hooting for Bheem in RRR. | The greatest achievement of Indian cinema is how varied our | repertoire is and there is something for everyone to enjoy. | Celebrate it, don't be embarrassed about it. | basti724 wrote: | Really weird that we're reviewing a movie on a tech platform. | Also, your comment suggests a need for western validation which | I think is not needed for Asian cinema. I just enjoy Chinese | and Korean cinema for the way they are. I searched for this | film and seems its loved a lot by westerners too. Sorry if I | misunderstood you buddy! | pen2l wrote: | Relatedly, I've come full circle on my feelings when it comes | to Indian movies. I grew up with Bollywood/lollywood movies, | and pretty much stopped watching all of this silly stuff upon | arriving to America and thought the breaking out in a song in | the middle of things was absurd. | | I don't know what changed but now I'm not just down with it | I'm actually a big fan. I'm there to be entertained - give me | Gesamtkunstwerk; I'll suspend belief for those few brief | moments, give me wonderful melodies and over-the-top sights. | All types of art each have their place! I mean, we put up | with soliloquys in Shakespeare plays, we cherish fanciful | wordplay, why not give me songs! | pdntspa wrote: | The effects sequences I saw in the video clip didn't look over | the top... | | Besides what's wrong with a little ridiculousness? Some of the | special FX I've seen in memes of indian movies look like they | take a decent amount of imagination to visualize | | Note that I have not seen any indian cinema, no idea where to | start with that, other than to say that the Bollywood format | (and musicals in general) has little appeal to me... | firasd wrote: | Bollywood movies aren't really musicals. The way I would put | it is that musicals are a genre, and Bollywood movies are all | sorts of genres with songs interspersed. So you could | literally edit out (or more practically, forward through) all | the songs and fully watch the movie which is not really | possible with musicals | bergenty wrote: | I think I understand what you're saying but it was a large | spanning tale and though there may be some parts that are | cringey I thought overall it kept my interest and had something | for everyone. | krama wrote: | I agree that RRR has its place. Like so many other Avenger | style genre movies. The problem is that it just advances a | stereotype and bias about what an American audience expects | when they sit down to watch a Korean film, or a Chinese film, | or an Indian film. | | They are all just films, just like Hollywood makes different | genres, these countries make films in every genre. At least | the Indian film industry is a behemoth large enough to be | able to make movies in every genre. | gamblor956 wrote: | Agreed, while the movie was fun to watch, the FX are quite poor | compared to US films. In terms of something American viewers | would understand: it's about the equivalent of a Disney Plus | show like the Mandalorian or Ms Marvel. | | As far as FX quality goes, the recently released Bhramastra | sets the high watermark for Indian films. The FX are Hollywood | level...probably because it's made by Disney's Indian film | studios (Star Studios) and the FX were outsourced to some of | the same FX studios working on Marvel films. (And as a side | bonus, there isn't any of the weird fetishization of | British/white women or obsequious political pandering to the | India's current ultra-nationalist government like there are in | RRR.) | | As an example of the difference in FX quality: in RRR, you're | always aware of the artificial nature of the CGI because it | doesn't "blend" into the world around it; the CGI sits on top | of the world and is clearly separate from the action on screen. | The animal FX are especially bad. In Bhramastra, the "astra" | that give people various powers blend in with, light up, and | shade the world around them even though they're purely CGI. | firasd wrote: | Yeah I have some mixed feelings. It's good that an Indian movie | is breaking over to such significant consciousness in the US | but a lot of the interest is like gawking. Like: 'OMG a tiger | is jumping out of a truck with the hero, I'm laughing' | | So as an Indian I feel like this shouldn't be generalized as | the 'image' in people's minds of what an Indian movie is. The | over the top parts should be considered as a genre of its own | dereg wrote: | Don't worry, I don't think Americans started thinking that, | in movies, all Chinese people should fly after watching | Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon. | nyokodo wrote: | > So as an Indian I feel like this shouldn't be generalized | as the 'image' in people's minds of what an Indian movie is. | | We'll do that as long as you do us a similar favor for | Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich. | shp0ngle wrote: | For what it's worth I love all S S Rajamouli movies I have | seen. And like them or not, they are crazy successful. | | (I haven't seen this one yet though) | athulp wrote: | Your comment is cringe. | TaylorAlexander wrote: | I care! As an open source advocate, it is important to me to | see Blender being used in successful feature films, regardless | of the artistic merits of the film itself. | tandr wrote: | What would you recommend to watch instead? | karanmg wrote: | Delhi Belly for sure! | perfectstorm wrote: | If you have Hulu watch Drishyam (Malayalam) and its sequel on | Amazon prime Drishyam 2. | krama wrote: | Given the number of movies made and regions, and decades, I'd | run out of breath. But I'd start here. | | Malayalam Films : Known for their subtlety and craft in film | making, and obsession with crime novels. Dhrishyam part 1 & 2 | are like no movies I've seen in Hollywood. | | Hindi Films: Or Bollywood movies, known for their big stars, | great attention to set pieces of grand dance sequence s and | decent romantic comedies / sports movies. Hard to pick one as | nothing has shined recently. I'd give "Zindagi Na milega | dubara" / "Chak dhe" a look. Again nothing spectacular | recently unless you want to watch a classic from the | seventies "Sholay" | | Tamil movies : Gritty movies about inner city gangs / social | upheaval or focus on stellar music/dance romantic comedies | and major action blockbusters. From recent years I'd give | "Vada Chennai", or "Vikram Vedha" a chance for gritty urban | movies. Or just the most recent action blockbuster "Vikram". | Which has a really good score. | | Telugu movies (the original language for RRR) : I'd give | "Pushpa" a look before watching CGI drenched RRR. | sremani wrote: | Nah Bro.. RRR beats all the 3rd rate movies you have | mentioned for global audiences.. this coming from a guy who | loved Pushpa more than RRR. | bhupy wrote: | > Hard to pick one as nothing has shined recently. I'd give | "Zindagi Na milega dubara" / "Chak dhe" a look. | | +1 for _Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara_ - one of my all time | favorites. For a more recent Bollywood film, _Kapoor and | Sons_ is pretty good. | prashantsengar wrote: | I will also add "Andhadhun" to the list of bollywood | movies. One of the best movies I have _ever_ seen. | bergenty wrote: | Malayalam films really are something else. For everyone | else that isn't Indian, the trope is Bollywood copies | Malayalam films (who are known to have fantastic character | development and original stories) and makes them over the | top ridiculous, campy and throws in sappy love songs with a | bigger budget. It's kind of like the book was better than | the movie argument. | [deleted] | unmole wrote: | > embarrassed | | Why are you embarassed? | krama wrote: | paisawalla wrote: | Indian action films typically don't strive for believable | action scenes, like American films do. Instead, they apply | the effects and stunts excessively -- they go over the top in | a major way. | | The embarrassment is for the comparably unsophisticated | tastes, and I don't share the feeling but I can understand. | It's like everyone discovering that your uncle is addicted to | something cheap and insubstantial that only children like, | like junk food. | michaelt wrote: | American action movies aren't striving for realism these | days - their output is 98% superhero movies. | | Action movies have always been unashamed about having an | element of lowbrow populism. You can enjoy seeing bad guys | get their asses kicked in The Matrix even if you've never | heard of plato's cave - and there's nothing wrong with | that. | dsign wrote: | > Indian action films typically don't strive for believable | action scenes, like American films do. | | I'm taking your "believable American action scenes" with a | big semi full of salt. | paisawalla wrote: | Hah point taken, let me put it a different way. | | In American films, if someone does extreme, superhuman | stunts, the filmmaker typically feels pressure to explain | that the character is actually superhuman in some way and | not an ordinary guy with an office job. And he or she | will be in peak physical shape. | | In Indian film, an utterly ordinary character in "office | job" physical condition will catch bullets, run faster | than a full speed train, etc. No pressure to explain the | seeming contradiction with ordinary reality. The film | could be considered a romance, having ordinary people as | protagonists, and these characters would be doing the | above-mentioned stunts as part of the plot. | | These aren't hard and fast rules, both sides of the | divide deviate from them, but that's been my observation. | dereg wrote: | > No pressure to explain the seeming contradiction with | ordinary reality | | this is a feature and not a bug. The urge for excessive | exposition is so tiring. Not everything needs an origins | story, explanation, or a prequel. Hollywood has been | leaning on that formula and you can see it in the product | - the movies have become tiresome. | | Nobody needs an explanation for their "powers". | Excessively qualifying a character more likely burdens | then than lifts them. RRR was such a refreshing, | thrilling watch parallel to Mad Max: Fury Road. | CrazyStat wrote: | >a big semi full of salt | | Let's have the semi jump off the end of an unfinished | highway overpass and do a barrel roll. While the truck is | slo-mo flying through the air we'll cut to a ground shot | of a middle-aged dad about to salt some meat on the | grill, but the barrel-rolling truck overhead spills just | the perfect amount of salt on his burgers so he just | looks up and shrugs. Finally we'll cut back to the | massive explosion as the truck hits the ground. | tomcam wrote: | Some of us are very happy to pay for entertainment like | that. I consider this exuberant style a worthwhile niche of | its own, like wire work in Asian films. | krama wrote: | Exactly. When I saw the reaction to RRR, I was reminded | of how "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" was received in | the US back then. It would be akin to an Asian / Indian | audience only watching A sub genre of movies made in | Hollywood. | GiorgioG wrote: | I don't think American films strive for believable action | scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elpUGB9Ap1Y | gamblor956 wrote: | Tom Cruise actually performed that stunt. There is a | highlight BTS reel showing how they composited that shot | (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZjsZCMBT-s one of | several; just the first result in my Google search). As | you can see, he's very well secured to the plane in the | BTS footage; the cables and other protection are | composited out in post-production. Similarly, in the | water tank scene later in the movie, Cruise actually | jumped 120 feet into water, and held his breath in a | water tank for several minutes (though the fountain in | the jump, and the arm in the tank were both composited | into the scene in post). | | In fact, Tom Cruise actually performs most of his stunts, | especially for the MI movies. It's kind of his thing; | while the context of the stunt might be CGI the action | itself is real. | | He's worth more than a billion dollars, so he can afford | to pay specialists to train him; he supposedly spent over | a year learning to hold his breath for several minutes | just for the water tank scene. | random314 wrote: | Except that it is claimed that Tom Cruise actually | performed that stunt | | https://youtu.be/afS5ks54tms | ramesh31 wrote: | > Indian action films typically don't strive for believable | action scenes, like American films do. Instead, they apply | the effects and stunts excessively -- they go over the top | in a major way. | | This is precisely what Americans love about it though. | Indian cinema comes from a completely different tradition | than Hollywood, and it's a breath of fresh air. Action | movies _should_ be more silly. It's just entertainment. | | A great analogy is to the Ugandan action films as well (go | watch "Who Killed Captain Alex" right now if you haven't). | They are doing something completely new that breaks the | Hollywood tropes. We really need more of this, because the | American film industry has reached a creative dead end. | sprkwd wrote: | > Indian action films typically don't strive for believable | action scenes, like American films do. Instead, they apply | the effects and stunts excessively -- they go over the top | in a major way. | | That's why I like them. So refreshing. | aloknnikhil wrote: | Being over the top is a unique characteristic of the Indian | Cinema. If I wanted to watch "believable action scenes", | I'd go watch a documentary. I honestly don't get this idea | of standardizing everything as the West does. It's a great | idea for some. For art? Come on. | samuraijack wrote: | bozhark wrote: | what would you recommend? | | overthetop cgi is equated with bollywood, to my knowledge | unmole wrote: | > overthetop cgi is equated with bollywood, to my knowledge | | No. The overwhelming majority of Bollywood movies don't have | much CGI. And RRR isn't a _Bollywood_ movie to begin with. | vivegi wrote: | The film certainly took the level of art and craft in Indian | cinema several notches up. Pleasantly surprised that some of the | visual effects used the Blender pipeline. Very cool. | lern_too_spel wrote: | Multiple VFX companies worked on RRR. This article is about one | of them, which used Blender. | js2 wrote: | This movie is apparently available to U.S. audiences only on | Netflix with a Hindi dub. I'd really like to see it in its | original language with English subtitles. As well, the total size | of the UHD stream is about 14 GB which isn't going to be the best | quality for a 3 hour runtime. | | https://old.reddit.com/r/Bluray/comments/v3fzni/rrr_bluray/ | | I'll watch it anyway. Looks like a fun time. | protoc wrote: | What type of computers do they use to render these FX these days? | kelsolaar wrote: | Depends on the studio and the type of VFX. The most complex | tend to be CPU/Memory bound as the datasets typically do not | fit in GPU memory (48GB for an NVIDIA A6000). Thus you find AMD | EPYC with a lot of RAM and NVME disks on the server side or AMD | Threadripper Pro at artists desks. | dagmx wrote: | Title is misleading. It was made primarily in Blender but not | entirely in it. | | From the article | | > Blender was used in our entire pipeline aside from the FX | department | | Houdini was likely used for FX work since Blender isn't quite | competitive with it yet. | | Additionally, this is about a single studio's pipeline and not | reflective of all the total work involved. | dang wrote: | Fixed now. Thanks! | | (Submitted title was "Visual Effects for the Indian Blockbuster | "RRR" made entirely in Blender".) | dagmx wrote: | Thanks for consistently being on top of submissions , even on | the weekend :-) | dboon wrote: | Speaking of Houdini, https://github.com/setzer22/blackjack is | an excellent open source alternative that loses a ton of cruft | and is scriptable in Lua. I highly recommend checking it out if | this is your kind of thing | gabereiser wrote: | Not even close to Houdini. It's on par with its modeling but | has nothing on Houdini's sim, particles, FX. | virtualritz wrote: | I like Blackjack and I'm even working on porting some of my | Rust geometry code to Blackjack nodes. But calling it a | Houdini alternative is, pardon my French, BS. :) | | Blackjack atm covers less than <1% of Houdini's modeling | toolset. And modeling is the least used part of Houdini in | VFX (less so in games, i.e. for massive open world building | etc.) | | Houdini is usually used for what is called FX/effects in VFX. | I.e. fire, water, explosions, destructions. Also crowd stuff | is not seldomly done in Houdini. | capableweb wrote: | blackjack seems like a great (initial version of a) tool for | doing procedural modelling, just like geometry nodes in | Blender. | | However, it seems the similarities with Houdini stops there. | While Houdini might be famous for the procedural nature of | the tool, where it really shines is the physics, simulation | and effects department. Which blackjack seems to not have any | features about at all. | makach wrote: | Nothing but masterful! Blender is a tool to be reckon with | jwitthuhn wrote: | Excited to see this posted here, I'm the author of the Cycles for | Max plugin mentioned in the article. I was delighted when I first | heard it was used in RRR. | | https://cyclesformax.net | sizzle wrote: | This movie looks EPIC where can we stream it?? | nickhalfasleep wrote: | Netflix | pen2l wrote: | I saw it in imax at the insistence of an acquaintance. While | watching I kept thinking: "ok, so this is the results when you | have a massive budget, access to lots of designers and top-of- | the-line tools". | | I'm totally thunderstruck to learn it was all done in Blender | pipeline. Bravo for making this possible. | 2Gkashmiri wrote: | i have a designer friend who, after years of me prodding him | to try blender recently said "i should give blender a try". | this is the same guy who lives on adobe, and all that | shizz... | | "industry tools" he calls them. "why should i invest my time | to learn a software when no one else in the industry is using | them"... | | glad the industry is changing behind the scenes to a point | people like my friend would have to put blender in their | workflow and maybe, just maybe one day work entirely off of | FOSS tools. | tomcam wrote: | Same. The movie was very fun and it was plainly obvious to me | that they had a giant budget for crowds, visual effects, etc. | Gobsmacked that this was an all-Blender operation. | tooltower wrote: | I'm confused. What does budget have to do with using | Blender? I thought a big movie budget is needed mainly for | the labor and artistry, and comparatively little goes into | software licensing. Is that not the case? | ZiiS wrote: | Plenty of good films have been made with very small | budgets. If you are shooting on a consumer DSLR or even | phones then Blender is a godsend. | | If you have RRR's budget you can easily waste more money | explaining to the lawyers and accountants that something | is free. The decisions is purly on which software is | better. | blackoil wrote: | The budget of ~60 million is huge by Indian standard not by | Hollywood where >200 million is now increasingly common. | rockemsockem wrote: | My favorite comparison now is to look at what the Indian | Mars Orbiter Mission cost. | | It cost $73 million (according to Wikipedia: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Orbiter_Mission) RRR's | budget was $72 million (according to Wikipedia: | (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RRR_(film)) | | Seems a bit crazy with that comparison. | silentsea90 wrote: | Funnier still was a comparison between Indian Mars | Orbital Mission ($73 M) and the budgets for Gravity | ($100M), The Martian ($108M), Interstellar ($165M). ISRO | (India's space agency) engineers missions to Mars for the | price it takes Hollywood to make movies with Mars, space | etc. | dereg wrote: | A good chunk of that goes to actor pay. For instance, in | the $200m budgeted Gray Man, Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans | took home $20m each. Even net those two salaries, Gray Man | was twice the budget of RRR and visually pales in | comparison to it. Huge budgets mean nothing. | bozhark wrote: | Americans are paid a higher wage. | | Dollar goes further with exchanges | echelon wrote: | > Americans are paid a higher wage. | | For now. The rest of the world is rapidly catching up in | pretty much every sphere. | | But take movies: | | America has but a paltry 330 M people. The appetite for | "American" media will wane as India, China, and other | vastly more populous Asian countries begin to produce | Hollywood-caliber films. American box office increasingly | relies on non-domestic consumption. Chinese films are | doing bigger revenues, and soon Indian films will too. | | Korea is starting to sweep the Oscars, Emmy's, and Golden | Globes. | | Hollywood is going to be washed out by the vast talent, | capital, and differing tastes beyond American borders. | | The age of the "American" film has already peaked. (It's | not just the market growing up. Kids today no longer want | to be Hollywood stars - they want to be famous on | YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch.) | | The same trend is observable in other fields. Science, | technology, fashion, etc. | | edit for downvotes: Do not confuse this post for anti- | American sentiment. It's an honest current and forward- | looking assessment. | geodel wrote: | Those 330 million have highest spending capacity in the | world so that makes big difference. | | Are those Chinese movies making big revenues outside | China? Until that happens they are just catering local | market. So far Chinese movies successful in China or | Chinese speaking population. I think it is just logical | thing not world changing. | | One can also read about Indian movie economics where | movies with massive budgets sank like giant turds. | Clueless directors in India are shocked that their | successful formula of movies is failing so badly. | | Kids today also do not want to be doctors, should I be | worried that no one will be there to treat my old ass | very soon? | hilbertseries wrote: | > Korea is starting to sweep the Oscars, Emmy's, and | Golden Globes. | | I don't think Korea won a single award at the Oscars this | year. They won a single golden globe and two Emmys. It's | just parasite and squid game, so far. They are very far | from sweeping the award ceremonies. | echelon wrote: | I was referring to _Parasite_ , which won six Oscars, | including the coveted Best Picture and Best Director | nods. That was two years ago, but it speaks to the new | high water mark Korea is now hitting at. | otikik wrote: | Isn't that a bit like saying that Australians are great | at playing piano and singing songs and cracking jokes | about religion because Tim Minchin exists? | oarabbus_ wrote: | >The age of the "American" film has already peaked. | | >edit for downvotes: Do not confuse this post for anti- | American sentiment. It's an honest current and forward- | looking assessment. | | I don't think it's "anti-American sentiment" as much as | unsubstantiated claims. | | Parasite was an excellent film I thought deserves all its | praise. But "Korea is starting to sweep the Oscars" is a | very different statement than "Bong Joon-ho and the | Parasite team swept the 2019 Oscars". | | What you're claiming is that American cinema has peaked, | and "Hollywood is going to be washed out". A more | reasonable statement is "The age of exclusively | USA/Hollywood filmmaking awards is over". | majormajor wrote: | > The age of the "American" film has already peaked. | (It's not just the market growing up. Kids today no | longer want to be Hollywood stars - they want to be | famous on YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch.) | | Currently a big next step for TikTok stars is moving into | Hollywood stuff - Addison Rae, the D'Amelios - just like | it was for the Kardashians a couple decades ago. | | Even as you talk about American films doing less at the | box office, Hollywood itself is rapidly adapting to | produce more content for serialized US-market TV | (primarily streaming, but this actually started in the | cable era). | | Many people argue that this stuff is actually _better_ | than the "blockbuster films" that are still trying to | have global appeal, because of the ability to make more | niche content of varying sorts. | | It's hard to see Hollywood or a domestic US media market | fed by US productions going anywhere. Thinking that the | average US media consumption will turn into non-American | stuff is the same fallacy as thinking that _everywhere | else in the world_ would have just consumed American | stuff forever instead of creating their own local | markets. | kyriakos wrote: | how much of those 200+ are going to actual VFX though? | Isn't most of it being used to buy A-list actors ? | rob74 wrote: | Speaking of "lots of designers": while everything else looks | very realistic to me, that tram (I think it's a tram) in the | motorbike chase scene | (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbuZQTud7YE&t=85s) looks | very odd. A low floor tram in the 1920s? Is that based on any | real model? Also, the overhead wire seems to be just hanging | there in mid air while the poles that are actually supposed | to support it are off to the side... | ricardobeat wrote: | Haha, good catch. Would be nice to have floating tram | lines. | | In this other shot (https://youtu.be/wbuZQTud7YE?t=94) you | can see there are actually support lines, but they have | been "eaten" by the post-processing. | Daub wrote: | Love Blender, but in my experience, the biggest advantage that | 3DS Max has over Blender is its ability to handle massive scenes. | In VFX, especially those involving explosions, dust, crowds and | suchlike, this can be a deal breaker. | Etheryte wrote: | You clearly haven't watched the movie mentioned in the article. | Most of the movie is massive scenes including exactly the kind | of elements you described. | TaylorAlexander wrote: | For anyone unfamiliar with the movie or seeking some perspective | on the film, I did very much enjoy this review/retrospective of | RRR by Patrick H Willems, a channel which I generally enjoy. The | same video is also on Nebula for folks with a subscription. | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPU2D5Ftjbw | [deleted] | andrewstuart wrote: | The Critical Drinker - a YouTube movie reviewer who is very very | selective about what he calls a good movie, says: | | "RRR is the best movie you've never seen" | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKN6FAKjFPU | rufusroflpunch wrote: | I love the Critical Drinker and I also loved this movie. I am | not a fan of Indian movies usually, but this one was so good | that it is really almost mythical in the way can tell a | universal story. | jmartrican wrote: | I can't finish watching this movie because I do not want to see | the two dudes fight each other. lol. I want to live in a world | where they still BFFs. | mikymoothrowa wrote: | If that's your problem, you can watch the ending and then | rewatch the whole film. | bergenty wrote: | This is a spoiler you probably want to get rid of it though you | can probably see what you're saying coming. | pvsukale3 wrote: | Unrelated: | | If you enjoyed RRR and it's over the top drama, action sequences | you might also like following movies. | | 1) Bahubali 1 & 2 (same director) | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G62HrubdD6o | | 2) KGF chapter 1 and 2 | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qah9sSIXJqk | mikymoothrowa wrote: | I second Bahubali | | but please do not waste your time watching KGF. It's just a | series of hype scenes made for tik tok recreation. Not a movie. | Has great music though | kshacker wrote: | I agree. This is how I describe KGF | | Part 1 has shot / camera angle changing every 2 seconds, like | an American music video (movie is not musical just talking | about the video) | | Part 2 is more traditional with the camera angle / shot | changing every 4 seconds. | | And then there is some story to fill these few thousand | camera shots, but your head hurts so much from the very | changing screen visuals ... maybe it is my age :) | tomcam wrote: | Right up my alley, thanks! | | Do you have any recommendations for musicals? I love the 2000s | era ones with super melodic songs. Last one I loved was Janatha | Garage though. I feel like Telugu movies have seized the | Bollywood crown. Not a lot of the jukeboxes on YouTube have | impressed me since. | pvsukale3 wrote: | On top of my mind, not an exhaustive list | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geetha_Govindam | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%2796_(film) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saathiya_(film) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sairat | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_States_(2014_film) | | https://youtu.be/XTTAHt4VlUA | tomcam wrote: | You are my new best friend. Cannot wait to see these! | lwn wrote: | I absolutely loved Baahubali and watched RRR last night for the | first time. I'm planning to watch KFG tonight. I'd highly | recommend Tumbbad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumbbad too. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-09-10 23:00 UTC)