add window to a car

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

If it’s a static shot- the camera does not move, then just shoot the car with the window up and no actor and composite on top and adjust to your needs.
If there’s a camera move and you have a motion control rig, pretty much the same.
If there’s no motion control rig, then it depends a lot on the camera move and how much the perspective changes. You could shoot a still of the window and track/distort using Mocha (Corner Pin)and comp that on top. Then you would have to fake reflections. You may be able to get away by using the reflections from the back window since you are shooting chroma.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Sam Gharai]

Thanks Ted!

I’ll be honest – a few things you said went over my head 🙂

But you’ve given me a solid next step.

I don’t have a motion control rig – I wish to do a tracking shot – but more than likely I’ll just do zooms.

REG: “just shoot the car with the window up and no actor and composite on top and adjust to your needs.”

– I get the shot with the car that I need and shoot the actor separately (siting on a green screen setup) and than composite over

Did I understand this correctly?

Also this will be a shot from within the interior. Here is a link to an example – https://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=https://www.blogcdn.com/autos.aol.com/media/import/person-driving-car-320nm-042010.jpg&imgrefurl=https://bmw.42t.com/key/mapquest%2520gas%2520mileage&usg=__xiCUWEOVUvcUnQDmnc1vLxIwQOY=&h=240&w=320&sz=27&hl=en&start=24&zoom=1&tbnid=8ghlENTcHx9d2M:&tbnh=89&tbnw=118&ei=BmNZTYCcF4GBlAfi1rnQBw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dperson%2Bdriving%2Ba%2Bcar%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1092%26bih%3D294%26tbs%3Disch:10,720&um=1&itbs=1&biw=1092&bih=294

Thanks a bunch!
Sam G.

[Sam Gharai]

Thanks Dave! I’m more than likely going to lock this bad boy down – Will give it a shot.

Cheers,
Sam G.

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

Dave has a point with a lock down shot. However if for any reason you need to zoom in, best idea is to try and shoot with a camera that will give you a bigger image than what you will end up using (for example if you need HD, shoot with a 2k or even 4k camera like the RED One). This way you get a larger size image and you can do a zoom in post without loosing quality.
And yes, shoot the car with the window up- no actor, then shoot the actor in the car with the window down.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Sam Gharai]

Thanks Ted for the great advice!
I’m shooting with HDSLR so I’m guessing the best is to keep zoom out and lock it all down.

[Sam Gharai]

Thanks Dave! Since I’m also shooting HDSLR it sounds like “lock down” is the way to go. Appreciate it your advice.

[Shawn Miller]

The folks at Video Copilot did a tutorial like this a while back:

https://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/magic_glass/

Hopefully this helps.

Shawn