[Eugene Perepletchikov]

I agree with Steve.

Even if your wall isn’t featureless, you can still take a high res still shot and the composite it in. Also, if your camera is locked off then you shouldn’t even worry about setting up tracking markers, and compositing will be really easy then. Otherwise, if you dont opt for the greenscreen scenario you are gonna do some heavy ass rotoscoping to achieve the look you want.

[Eugene Perepletchikov]

If your shot is in perspective and you want the waves to have a 3d look, you can create a particle animation using dynamics in a 3d app, render it out as a greyscale animation and use it as a displacement map in AE.

[Eugene Perepletchikov]

I agree with Dave. The only way to get a quality result would be to make use of someone who knows his 3D really well. You will then get perfectly matched camera moves and much more realistic lighting than you could ever achieve in something like AE. Because you have the model right there, you could use its dimensions to accurately recreate everything in an app like Maya.

[Eugene Perepletchikov]

Thanks a lot guys, problem solved!

Lars, your suggestion did the trick.

Cheers

[Eugene Perepletchikov]

Thanks for your responses.

Yes the iff files did not open and yes, i was using mental ray.

Mylenium, with the use of the lens blur effect in AE7, i have 2 questions:

1. Am i right to assume that it still calculates the depth by the percentage of grey, therefore with a proper z depth sequence i should still get the same effect?

2. Assuming it does, as the z channel info will still be on a seperate layer to the actual rgb sequence, who can i transfer the lens blur from the z depth layer to my rgb layer?

Cheers mate

[Eugene Perepletchikov]

yeah, there’s a lot of material/tutorials out there that you should check out. All I can say is spend a hell of a lot of time on lighting. Worry about the key later, but if you stuff up your lighting, its all over. Dont just worry about having your bluescreen lit evenly, make sure you have maximum distance between your actor and the bluescreen and setup adequate backlighting to remove any blue cast from your screen that might end up on your actor.

Cheers

[Eugene Perepletchikov]

hehehe fair enough evrard. It sounds like most of the real technical queries you have concern complicated 3D procedures. In this department it is absolutely fair enough that you want detailed info as this stuff goes a long way beyond the complexity level of compositing. You should probably try and post the same question on some 3D forums like cgsociety or something. I agree that this stuff is already a lot more complex, involving heavy coding and use of node trees etc…

My only suggestion is that if you think that you are more passionate about compositing/directing/cinematography or something, that you might try and find a specialized 3D artist to collaborate with. I have faced something similair this year, where i have decided to do all the Maya stuff myself, creating 9 different environments and some simple dynamics for compositing for my film. In the future though, i think i might out source 3D artists who can probably produce better results quicker.

If you specifically want to create crazy visual effects yourself using Maya dynamics, then you should really specialize in that, and like you are trying to do now, find as much advance material as you can. I guess all i’m trying to say is that you can’t specialize in like 10 different fields and do it all yourself, you are only human!

Cheers mate

[Eugene Perepletchikov]

hehehe fair enough evrard. It sounds like most of the real technical queries you have concern complicated 3D procedures. In this department it is absolutely fair enough that you want detailed info as this stuff goes a long way beyond the complexity level of compositing. You should probably try and post the same question on some 3D forums like cgsociety or something. I agree that this stuff is already a lot more complex, involving heavy coding and use of node trees etc…

My only suggestion is that if you think that you are more passionate about compositing/directing/cinematography or something, that you might try and find a specialized 3D artist to collaborate with. I have faced something similair this year, where i have decided to do all the Maya stuff myself, creating 9 different environments and some simple dynamics for compositing for my film. In the future though, i think i might out source 3D artists who can probably produce better results quicker.

If you specifically want to create crazy visual effects yourself using Maya dynamics, then you should really specialize in that, and like you are trying to do now, find as much advance material as you can. I guess all i’m trying to say is that you can’t specialize in like 10 different fields and do it all yourself, you are only human!

Cheers mate

[Eugene Perepletchikov]

Hey man.

I personally think that the best way to learn these things is to go straight into it yourself. After doing tutorials and reading all sorts of materials for 2 years, you should be familiar (at least in theory) with the techniques used in these productions. Shooting techniques, keying, matching camera moves/lighting, colour grading, and the numerous other elements of compositing.

After you attempt to create a sequence of complex effects, tricky composites, or even an effective short film, through mistakes you learn the importance of planning ahead, and things like continuity and timing etc…

I have also only being studying multimedia for 2 years, but by pushing myself further and further to create really complex stuff I have learned a lot. Get a lost of shoots under your belt and things start to make sense. This year I am finishing a 7 minute short film with heavy visual effects and compositing that will be submitted to numerous film festivals like Resfest.

In the end, the whole process is a matter of planning and problem solving. There can always be a technical solution found to a problem by simply breaking up the problem into its components, and logically thinking things out.

This might not help you whatsoever, but my experience has been that you can read or watch someone do something a million times, but until you actually go and do it yourself, you will still have no clue.

Good luck mate, and sorry about the long rant!

[Eugene Perepletchikov]

Hey man.

I personally think that the best way to learn these things is to go straight into it yourself. After doing tutorials and reading all sorts of materials for 2 years, you should be familiar (at least in theory) with the techniques used in these productions. Shooting techniques, keying, matching camera moves/lighting, colour grading, and the numerous other elements of compositing.

After you attempt to create a sequence of complex effects, tricky composites, or even an effective short film, through mistakes you learn the importance of planning ahead, and things like continuity and timing etc…

I have also only being studying multimedia for 2 years, but by pushing myself further and further to create really complex stuff I have learned a lot. Get a lost of shoots under your belt and things start to make sense. This year I am finishing a 7 minute short film with heavy visual effects and compositing that will be submitted to numerous film festivals like Resfest.

In the end, the whole process is a matter of planning and problem solving. There can always be a technical solution found to a problem by simply breaking up the problem into its components, and logically thinking things out.

This might not help you whatsoever, but my experience has been that you can read or watch someone do something a million times, but until you actually go and do it yourself, you will still have no clue.

Good luck mate, and sorry about the long rant!