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Floating screen over table
Hello,
here’s my issue…
i’d like to have a floating footage over a table.My problem is the following : the camera of the original footage (the table) is turning around the table.
So, i need to have some tracking for perspective issues.Think of it as in “i, robot” with the dead guy hologram at the beginning.
I assume i’ll have my screen footage pre-comped and added as a 3D layer, but i need to know what to track…should i track the table, and then try to go perpendicular, or should i try to track something vertical ?
And, then, how do i work perspective out ?
i’ve seen tutorials on how to display screen over a wall, and i assume it should be something like that, but since the camera is turning around the table, there should be a parallax effect as well.
any help will be thanked for a loooong time.
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5 Replies
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You are talking about tracking a 3D scene, which AEFX cannot do.
Here’s the trick:
You can use an external tool, like Boujou/Mocha/PPFTrack to track or “solve” the scene (the corners of the table), which will generate a 3D Camera and key frame data which can usually be pasted into AEFX, or exported as a file for AE.
I know this sounds REALLY complicated, but it isn’t. There are lots of tutorials out there and software demos so you can track the shot and get some data to use.
Once you have a camera in AE which matches the motion of the camera in your original video, you can put any layer in the comp, and it will look like it is placed in your 3D scene. You then just put the “floating screen” where ever you want.
Use deinterlaced footage to track on.
Trying to fake it in Aefx will take you hours and look crap. I did my first track and import in to AE in about 1.5 hours, it always looks like magic when it works. You can then create anything, and it will look like it is attached to the table, or actually sitting in the scene – the “solved” camera will do all the work for you.
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First of all, thanks…
it’s amazing how fast one can get answers on this forum.
I’ll try it with icarus (free motion tracking software), since i don’t have Mocha (i believe it’s on CS4, and i’m still on CS3…damn me)
So, if i get it right, the camera movement that i wanted to fake myself will be automatically designed by the tracking software…neat, and elegant.
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quick question,
was the camera hand held or on a rig of some sort. Also, do you know the dimensions of the table top?
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The camera is hand held, and sort of rotating around the spot where there will be the screen…
I’ve made some tests with PFHoe (from Pixel Farm, which i assume has rebuilt icarus, since icarus doesn’t exist anymore), and i still have an offset problem, but i guess i’ll have to read the manual to find out how to set the space origin point in the camera path data.
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However, it works great…
The only flaws are due to my lack of skills (yet).
Anyway, thanks again.
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