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Activity Forums Maxon Cinema 4D 3D elements incorporated in video.

  • 3D elements incorporated in video.

    Posted by Simon Roughan on February 21, 2012 at 8:47 am

    Hi all, yet another (maybe) dumb question…
    I am trying to figure out the best way to get elements from cinema into footage. I have the foundrys camera tracker. So I track my footage, use the plug-in to get the project into Cinema, and place a 3d object in the scene. So far so good. But how do I get it looking realistic? How do I match a shadow on the surface, or get a reflection? I tried a plane, with the same material that I have on the background, with camera mapping and AO in the diffusion channel, but it never matches the BG. Its always a bit darker for instance. Basically, I want to know how to sit an object on an invisible plane, but still get shadow, reflection etc.
    Thanks in advance
    Simon

    A picture is only as good as the glass it comes through. And the person using the camera has something to do with it too.

    Simon Roughan replied 14 years, 2 months ago 2 Members · 4 Replies
  • 4 Replies
  • Adam Trachtenberg

    February 22, 2012 at 3:29 am

    For shadows, basically what you do is insert a a plane, or ground plane, assign it the same video as the background, and set the texture tag to us frontal mapping. Then assign the plane a compositing tag and check the tag’s “compositing background” box.

    Reflections are trickier. In production they often shoot a spherical HDR pano of the scene to use for IBL and reflections. If you don’t have that luxury you basically just have to fake it. Perhaps you can find an HDRI that’s similar to your footage. That can work if the reflections are subtle and/or blurred.

  • Simon Roughan

    February 22, 2012 at 9:53 am

    HI Adam, thanks for your reply.
    I tried what you sugested, but still, the plane is darker than the background.

    Do you know what Im doing wroung here?
    Thanks again
    Simon

    A picture is only as good as the glass it comes through. And the person using the camera has something to do with it too.

  • Adam Trachtenberg

    February 23, 2012 at 12:11 am

    You don’t seem to have a compositing tag ont he plane.

  • Simon Roughan

    February 23, 2012 at 8:51 am

    Thats the ticket!
    Once again, thanks heaps mate!
    Simon

    A picture is only as good as the glass it comes through. And the person using the camera has something to do with it too.

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