Live action music video with camera-matched character

frank
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Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by frank »

I wanted to let you guys know about a project I've just started on.

(Disclaimer: It may never be finished! Ha ha! That's just my nature... I so enjoy STARTING new projects.)

Actually, it's a completely part-time deal. I find myself much more busy now that I'm self-employed. :) ...but I just CAN'T stop fiddling with this stuff.

I know I've been silent for a while, but rest assured I have bunches of thumbnail sketches and ideas scribbled in little notebooks, and a couple hard drives with handfuls of little "motion test" renders. I keep at the creative stuff as much as I can.

In this case, I've gone ahead and secured the rights to use the music... so that should help keep me going. The song is only around 1:40 long, so that should also play in my favor. :)

The character in this is a paper-cutout guy. I've played with this style for a while now and really like it.

Some background info:
  • Character modeled from thumbnail sketches, with the sketches being used for the actual texture.
  • Shooting the footage on a Canon EOS 7D (HD 24p), but plan to ultimately give it a low-fi look once everything is comp'd together.
  • Tracking is being done in SynthEyes.
  • Using trueSpace6.6 and sticking to basic IBL for lighting. However, some tests with trueSpace 7 and HDRI looked pretty nice too, so I may go that route in the final render.
Progess pictures coming soon...
frank
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by frank »

Here are a couple of pictures so far.

One is a screencap of some footage being tracked in SynthEyes. This feature points and camera are exported via Python script into trueSpace 6.6.

The second is a framegrab from a test sequence, where I was checking the motion (how well the 3D camera matches the real camera), as well as lighting and shadows.

One tricky part of this was matching the Depth of Field. For that I rendered a Depth Map (Z-Map) from trueSpace and used Depth of Field pro to apply the DOF effect over the characters. In some cases, like with rack focus on the real camera, the DOF has to be animated, which DOF Pro 2 allows.
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tracking in syntheyes
tracking in syntheyes
character camera-matched to backplate
character camera-matched to backplate
frank
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by frank »

Here is a picture of the rig I'm shooting with. The new pieces here are the camera itself (Canon EOS 7D) and the Hoodman viewfinder.
Canon EOS 7D, rails system, follow-focus, matte box, hoodman
Canon EOS 7D, rails system, follow-focus, matte box, hoodman
I've had the follow focus, rails, and shoulder mount for a little while now, primarily used with a prosumer camcorder. In the case of DSLR shooting, bulk and extra points of contact generally means more stability, as shooting with small form-factor cameras by themselves usually equals footage that is too jittery.

The adapter pieces that connect the rails to the shoulder pad are homemade from PVC and aluminum. The french flag was cut from an old PC case.
capturing footage
capturing footage
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marcel
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by marcel »

welcome (again) frank! Good to see new and different WIP. I hope to see more soon. :bananahi:
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frank
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by frank »

Thanks, marcel! Good to be posting stuff again! :)
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by Steinie »

Just so you know there are others out there watching this post with interest...
there are!
Me.

Very interesting topic.
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by jamesmc »

Welcome back!

And what is that arm sticking out of the bush? :o
Walk by faith, not by sight.
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bitkar
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by bitkar »

you should enlarge the image :D
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GraySho
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by GraySho »

Hey Frank, interesting project. Hope to see this one finished. I always enjoyed watching your animations and doodles. Keep it up :bananathumb:
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clintonman
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by clintonman »

frank wrote:...
I've had the follow focus, rails, and shoulder mount for a little while now, primarily used with a prosumer camcorder. In the case of DSLR shooting, bulk and extra points of contact generally means more stability, as shooting with small form-factor cameras by themselves usually equals footage that is too jittery.

...
Why are you using the DSLR instead of your prosumer camcorder? Does the camera give better results?
Clinton Reese

http://clintons3d.com
frank
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by frank »

Thanks for the replies, everyone! :)

@jamesmc: Thank you! Arm? Hrm... Gonna have to look at the framegrabs again and see if I missed something. :?:

@clintonman: The DSLR gives better quality footage, shoots native 24p, and is way easier to shoot with since the image isn't inverted (as it was on my DOF adpapter).
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by frank »

Here's a screengrab of a rigged character. You can see from the image that I've incorporated a "Puppet Stick" into the setup.

This one bone is at the base of the character and is used to control and key the overall movement (translation and rotation). Much easier than fiddling with the translation and rotation controls.
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sg_01.jpg
v3rd3
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by v3rd3 »

I can see a "puppet stick" in the screenie but, what is a "puppet stick" and why would I use that instead of other KFE tools?

Signed,
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by DesignDevil »

Hello frank, welcome back, nice to see that you still alive and still working with tS ... coooooooooool ;)

@v3rd3 - take a look onto my webside (tutorials). There are 8 learning movies about motionStudio. I also explain in the video "MotionStudio Trick 01" the "puppet stick" and other methods.
I still use TrueSpace 6.6
Link: My Youtube Channel
Link: www.DesignDevil.de - Plugins, Tutorials and more about TrueSpace 6.6
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by Prodigy »

HooooOOOOOOooooo!!! :worship:

Frank! good to see working on a new project, i love your characters and from what i see this will be something COOL! for sure..
Keep the good work!
๑۩۞۩๑ prodigy ๑۩۞۩๑
frank
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by frank »

Thanks, guys! :)

v3rd3: As DesignDevil mentions, it is a MotionStudio trick. At one point I was using basic keyframing of the whole skeleton, but it required ensuring the entire thing was selected (ie. disabling Auto Drill-Down Select in MoStu) and the way the character rotated with the regular tool wasn't as intuitive because the axis was not necessarily at the center of the object. The "Puppet Stick" is the way to go, I think. Give it a try! :)
frank
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by frank »

What it is?!?!

I wanted to share with you guys a short "Low-Fi" test I did. I will say right away, it is mostly live-action... there's only a brief short little small tiny clip with a paper cutout guy, which was animated and rendered from tS6.

http://www.vimeo.com/12933498"

I was trying to get a grungy / 8mm / low-fi / organic feel. (I like using "/".) So... there was lots of post-processing going on.

This is the look I'd like to use on a totally animated short one day.

What do you think?
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bitkar
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by bitkar »

nice mood, looking pretty good, test successfull ;)

btw what do you use for the video edititing and postproces? iam a video geek too ;)
Michal aka bitkar
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frank
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Re: Live action music video with camera-matched character

Post by frank »

bitkar: Thanks! I have an older copy of After Effects that I use for all color correcting (curves, saturation) and for the 8mm look, I use 8mmDistressKit and DigiEffects FilmDamage.

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