[Nathan Byrne]

Okay,

I’ve managed to get everything nicely aligned with a two dimentional chart. A couple of circles with an x through it. I also played around and made some nice 3D shapes play with the chart.

Yay. BTW to make this work, I set the correct information in SteadyDOF and then altered the Aperture Width to 18.3 in the object properties section.

Next step, make it work with a real world 3D shape where correct lens distortion fits correctly.

Nathan

[Nathan Byrne]

Hmmm … I don’t know where to go from here.

[Nathan Byrne]

Lennart,

Thanks so much for helping me through this. I agree that I’m missing something fundamental here.

My thought is that scale problem must have something to do with the throw ratio of the lens. I tried a similar experiment with another projector and had a wildly different result.

My projector has a Throw Ratio of 2.00-2.40 and a Zoom Ratio of 1.2. I looked into the zoom, however the projected image was still much smaller than the real life object. Do you have any idea how the Throw Ration is related to the C4D camera? Is it already accounted for by the focal depth and the aperture?

I found a great projection calculator at projectioncentral.com I copied the specs:

https://download.yousendit.com/TTZsUXVrNXZkMnRjR0E9PQ

[Nathan Byrne]

Just as an update. I’ve been trying the fix the perspective problem, by getting the three sides of the pyramid to join up. I went back to Lennart’s DOF calculations and used modul8 to to resize, reposition etc. The result was a bust, it’s perspective is still not correct.

My theory is that the the C4D camera projects symmetrically (i.e. the same height, north and south of the camera’s center), while the real projector only projects north. The projector is designed to sit on a desk and project so the bottom of the projected image is a couple of inches above the height of the desk.

This difference in lens throw rotation would certainly alter the prospective of the objects in the scene. Is there a way to adjust the throw rotation and dimensions of a camera?

[Nathan Byrne]

My goal is to give the illusion of parts of a stationary object are moving (i.e. a building facade). This would require creating 3D elements and shadows.

BTW … I working on tests as we speak and I’m still pulling my hair out.

If I put in the exact camera (projector) specs, in this case, as Lennart says a focal length of 14.75 and a aperture of 22.5,I’m still too far away from the object. Even disregarding the correct focal length and putting in a number that works 2 dimensionally (i.e. a focal length of 70mm), the three triangles don’t join correctly in the middle. When the projector (camera) is 68 inches away from the wall, the real life tetra pretty much takes up the whole screen. I’m currently considering my projector zoom maybe interfering, so I’m checking that now.

I keep reading of people using Cinema 4D to map out big theater productions, I wonder what there workflow is?

[Nathan Byrne]

Thanks so much for that. I did manage to install the Object user preset Steady_DOF_R10, and there are a great amount of controls that this allows. Did you design this (if so, I’m in awe).

However, I’m officially overwhelmed.

My intention is to create a scene in C4D (wall’s and geometric shapes), create a camera, place it in the scene and render it out at 1024×768. Play it back through a projector and have it line up with the real world wall and geometric shapes.

Here is a link to a very simple project and the specifications for the Optima 738 projector. If there is any chance anyone might be interested in telling me how this can be accomplished, I would be SO greatful.

https://download.yousendit.com/TTZseFVhZy83bUJjR0E9PQ

Thanks.

[Nathan Byrne]

Hi Lennart,

I must be missing something. I dropped the SteadyTOOLSPlugins_R10 folder in the Plugins folder, but C4D will not recognize the plug ins.

Any thoughts of where I’m going wrong? I’m VERY new to C4D.

Thanks,

Nathan

[Nathan Byrne]

Hey Lennart,

Thanks so much for this, I really appreciate it. I’m going to try to nail it over the weekend.

Nathan

[Nathan Byrne]

Please let us know how that works out, and if you could provide a link to the finished video that would be awesome. Thanks.

[Nathan Byrne]

Thanks, that was really helpful. Looks like I need the full version. Most my legacy projects are in 2:1.