Jon Elsdon
Forum Replies Created
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This actually looks like a bias problem and luckily it is a simple solution. I teach a Maya 3D VFX training course and my students often run into this problem when they build object too small. This doesn’t have anything to do with the green screen or image plane. The problem is actually being caused by the shadow’s bias. I’m not sure how C4D works because I don’t use that app for production, but Maya has a dmap bias setting that can be decreased to eliminate the gap. Dmap bias is created to prevent objects from casting self-shadowing artifacts. When the value is too high, it looks like the objects are detached from their shadow. Decrease the bias if you have an option in C4D. If that isn’t a feature, you should be able to solve the problem by scaling your whole scene larger until the gap is not visible. Hope this helps.
Jon Elsdon
VFX Supervisor
EEFX.COM – Chroma Key Green Screens & Supplies -
We often use Kino flo florescent lights for green screen projects. They work well and you can buy bulbs specially designed for chroma key work. You should be able to get away with using those two different light types, but it isn’t the most ideal situation. I wouldn’t recommend adding gels to the tungsten lights. This was a technique more commonly used back when 35mm film was the main recording method of choice and white balancing was not a “One-Click” feature like it is on most current digital cameras. It sounds like you are white balanced to the fluorescent light instead of tungsten. Use white balance to remove the orange skin tone. Place your grey/white card at the location where the subject is and white balance to that. If you can’t manually set white balance on your camera, the default tungsten setting should work ok. Keep in mind, when you white balance for the subject you are inherently going to change the tone of the green screen slightly because of the two types of lights being used. As mentioned in an earlier post, lighting your subject is directly connected to the scene they are going to be comped inside. The green screen on the other hand should always be exposed consistently.
Jon Elsdon
VFX Supervisor
EEFX.COM – Chroma Key Green Screens & Supplies -
I just ordered another HVX200 last week and ended up running into the error message “System Error P2 Micon Error” every time I attempt to format the P2 Card. I have to turn the camera off and back on to get it working again. When I first received the camera it worked flawlessly for the first 4 hours of our Green screen production. After that, the camera started giving me that error message when I opened the “Operation” or “Meta Data” Drop-down menus under the VCR menu. Basically I have no way to format the P2 cards now. I can record fine and even play them in VCR mode. Originally I thought It may be a faulty 16gig card shipped with the camera, but I know the card is fine because I have 2 other HVX200 cameras and they both formated it correctly. I made sure all the setting were the same on each camera, then I tried one of my old 8gig cards in the newer camera. It produced the same error when trying to format the 8gig card. If I use the older cameras to format the cards, I’m able to use them again. Has anyone found a solution for this P2 error? I see lot of post thinking it is due to Final Cut, mix-matching frame rates on the same card, or because of the methods used to transfer the footage to the computer (IE: copying strait from p2 into FC). I understand these may be bad practices, but I used my other two cameras for at least a year without a hitch. The previous posts from “Bear Media” make it seem like I may have received a lemon. Any help from the guys at Panasonic would be great!
Jon Elsdon
VFX Supervisor
EEFX.COM – Chroma Key Green Screens & Supplies