Flight of the Navigator effect

[Steve Roberts]

You need a 3D app such as MAX, Maya, Lightwave, Softimage or Cinema 4D.

1. Shoot the live action film. It’s refered to as the “live action” plate.
2. Shoot photos of the set from the point of view of the ship as best you can.
3. Shoot stills of a chrome ball on a stick in the position of the ship. Use this as a guide for reflections later.
4. Measure everything on the set, including camera settings, height, lens, and so on.
5. If the camera moved, you’d have to use something like Syntheyes to create a 3D camera that matches the motion of your real camera.
6. Create a model of the ship, and give it a reflective surface. Use your stills from 2 as the reflective map.
7. Bring that model into a 3D scene in your 3D app, that uses the camera created in Syntheyes (or whatever). You might need that data from 4 here.
8. Animate the craft to taste.
9. Render various passes of the craft: reflective, non-reflective and so on.
10. Composite those renders in AE (there it is!), adjusting opacities and curves until you like the look.
11. Render.

You’d have to search the web for tutorials on multipass rendering for your 3D app. Among other things. 🙂

[Andrew Kramer]

I love that movie.

[Aharon Rabinowitz]

I just bought the DVD and am saving it for a special occasion. I remember thinking that the computer sounded like Pee wee herman. I just looked on the DVD case, and it WAS him!

I wonder if you could Use Zaxwerks Pro with a reflection map to do the same thing. It won’t be a true refelction, but I don;t think they used one in the original movie either (Though, as I said, I have not unwrapped it yet, and it’s been a loooooong time).

—————————————-
Aharon Rabinowitz
arabinowitz(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com

—————————————-
Click the link below to subscribe to the Creative Cow After Effects Podcast, and get free AE video tutorials:

https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=111087911