[Eric Goldstein]

Hi Frank,

I made my walls in Photoshop and did a lot of detailed work on pane dividers, transparency etc. The work isn’t something I can duplicate entirely with masks.

Because I can see through the windows created in Photoshop, I had hoped I would be able to shine a light through them without haveing to use masks.

Thanks,

Eric

Eric Goldstein
Giraffe Film Company
Los Angeles
eric@giraffefilm.com

[Eric Goldstein]

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for getting back to me. I’ve done all the things you’ve mentioned. To try to clarify what I want to do:
I have a wall and a floor, both 3D layers. The light is set to cast shadows. The wall is set to cast shadows. The floor is set to accept shadows. The wall has a window cut in it. If you look at the window, you can see outside it.

I want to set a light outside the window and shine it through the window onto the floor so that the shape of the window is cast on the floor i.e. the floor would be dark, except for the rectangle of the window through which the light is passing.

I can do this in combustion, but when I try it in AE, the light is completely blocked by the wall even though there is an opening for the window.

Is there anyway to acomplish this in AE using a light and a shape on a layer to partially block light?

Thanks,

Eric

Eric Goldstein
Giraffe Film Company
Los Angeles
eric@giraffefilm.com

[Eric Goldstein]

Hi Joey,

Thank for responding. I’ve tried tracking both automatically and manually. When tracking automatically, I’ve used the greenscreen mode, which allows you to use a key from the greenscreen to mask out foreground such as actors. I’ve also tried preprocessing the footage both in Syntheyes and separately in AE to make the footage hi contrast, black and white, turn the tracking marks red and various combinations of those things to get a better track. But, Syntheyes seems to have trouble with greenscreen regardless.

Thanks,

Eric

Eric Goldstein
Giraffe Film Company
Los Angeles
eric@giraffefilm.com

[Eric Goldstein]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for information. I’ve already read these pages and was hoping for more detailed information or accounts from people who are doing this. Anyone out there who is exchanging info between a 3D package, particularly 3D Max and AE, It would be great to hear from you.

Thanks,

Eric

Eric Goldstein
Giraffe Film Company
Los Angeles
eric@giraffefilm.com

[Eric Goldstein]

Hi,

Dr. Stefan Demetrescu, Sr. Vice President Research and Development at
Lasergraphics, Inc. is the guy to talk to. Try this e-mail address:

stefan.demetrescu@lasergraphics.com

Let me know if you have any trouble getting through to him.

Best,

Eric

Eric Goldstein
Giraffe Film Company
Los Angeles
eric@giraffefilm.com

[Eric Goldstein]

I just realized that, we did some tests for a feature up rez. In this case the material originated on DV and was being uprezzed for a 2K film output. But, we found that the last jump in our uprez was best done using the capabilities of the laser film printer, which has a certain amount of ability to blow up images. The machine we tested with was a lasergraphics unit. It actually did a better job of uprezzing than the Algosuite software although it has no anti-aliasing or deartifacting capabilities. However, the deartifacting can be done using other software plug-ins. I haven’t found anything to match the algosuite anti-aliasing, but it may be that deartifacting and using the laserfilm output to blow up the image or combining it blow-up capabilities with something like Red Giant’s HD product might work for you. If you’d like information on the Lasergraphics unit, I can put you in touch with some people there.

Best,

Eric

Eric Goldstein
Giraffe Film Company
Los Angeles
eric@giraffefilm.com

[Eric Goldstein]

Sorry, I wish they were still producing the software. Good luck.

Eric

Eric Goldstein
Giraffe Film Company
Los Angeles
eric@giraffefilm.com

[Eric Goldstein]

Hi,

I contacted Algolith and they won’t sell the Algosuite software anymore. Based on the way their licensing worked (it’s tied to your computer’s processor), I don’t think it would be possible to buy it from someone else. Unfortunately, I still haven’t found anything as good as this product.

Best,

Eric

Eric Goldstein
Giraffe Film Company
Los Angeles
eric@giraffefilm.com

[Eric Goldstein]

Thanks very much for the suggestions.

Best,

Eric

Eric Goldstein
Giraffe Film Company
Los Angeles
eric@giraffefilm.com

[Eric Goldstein]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the information.

Eric

Eric Goldstein
Giraffe Film Company
Los Angeles
eric@giraffefilm.com