[Shawn Miller]

“It’s also fairly obvious that there wasn’t any 3D object tracking done here.”

Oops, forgot to explain this. Object tracking would require more movement to expose more curvature of the surface… the camera movements are too flat.

I also meant to add that this might be a question better asked in the ‘compositing forums’ (AE, Nuke, Blender, etc)… AND, I believe videocopilot.com covers many of the questions you might have about an effect like this in their “Healer” tutorial (these kids give away the good stuff for free… I might be bitter if I was still freelancing). 🙂

https://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/the_healer/

[Shawn Miller]

I’ve done effects like this a few times (fake tattoos, brands, scars, etc) – the workflow if fairly simple.

– Shoot background plate (body parts with markers for tracking)… make sure to keep your camera movements simple AND high contrast if possible.

– Develop graphics (stills, video, etc)

– Track in 2D (position, rotation and scale) then ‘pin’ graphics to the background plate

– Remove tracking markers.

– Duplicate your background plate, de-saturate subject and increase contrast until you have an nice smooth ramp from the lightest parts of the subject to the darkest.

– Use the new grayscale plate as a distortion map for the graphics

Note, this ‘can’ be done in 3D by projecting graphics onto geometry… but it’s three times the effort.

FWIW, I don’t think this video used a 3D model with projected textures at all… the distortions aren’t extreme enough. It’s also fairly obvious that there wasn’t any 3D object tracking done here.

Lastly, You can also do this the old fashioned way by using a real projector. It takes a lot of planning and a bit more time in post (rotoscoping to make sure the projected graphics don’t go beyond the subject)… but it can be done. 🙂

I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Shawn

[Shawn Miller]

I think you bring up a great point, Kevin. One of the biggest advantages VFX has over SFX is safety. I have worked on a few projects where actors have been injured by glass, simply because the proper respect wasn’t paid to saftety. IMO, you either spend a lot of time testing practical effects and making sure that they’re safe and look good (on film/video), or you spend a lot of time testing VFX and making sure they look good (on film/video). Either way, the point is the same; make sure you know what you’re doing WAY before you start shooting. 🙂

Thanks,

Shawn

[Shawn Miller]

Excellent, that’s the best kind of endorsement. I’ll look him up. Thanks, Adam.

Shawn

[Shawn Miller]

Thanks Adam,

Renderking.com looks like another good option. Have you used them alot?

Thanks,

Shawn

[Shawn Miller]

Ahh, that does look interesting. Thanks for the link Robyn.

Shawn

[Shawn Miller]

“Maybe I should suggest they go buy a mac with QT (and the little hd patch) and call it a day!”

Or… you could put the customer first and buy a Windows box for encoding. 🙂 Seriously though, I have a 4 year old Dell ($600.00) that does nothing but screen captures (via Camtasia) and video encoding. It’s not fast, but it does a great job and I’ve had very few problems with it. I run The Microsoft Expression Encoder (which is free) and my video looks great(especially using the VC-1 codec). Best of all, most any PC can play the files coming from that machine.

Also, have you tried posting this in the compression forum? They may have a better answer to your QT encoding woes.

Thanks,

Shawn

[Shawn Miller]

“Apple is essentially a software company selling expensive dongles”

Hmmm… it seems the other way around to me. Apple seems to be better at licensing or buying software then polishing it up for their hardware products. What was the last application actually developed (completely) by Apple? Seriously, does anyone know? I don’t. 🙂

Shawn

[Shawn Miller]

Hmmm…. I didn’t see any mention of VFX or Motion. 🙁 I’m sure something will turn up. Like I said in and ealier reply, I’m interested to see what Motion can do, but I haven’t really seen anyone push it to its limits.

Shawn

[Shawn Miller]

Ah, I see. You’re talking about the built in particle engine. I haven’t used Motion, but it does pique my interest. I’m sure someone out there is doing VFX work with Motion, I just have’t found anyone who will admit it. AE is in the same boat, it’s widely used in VFX work, but most post houses would rather not disclose how much they use it. They prefere to play up their Inferno systems or their Fusion stations.

Shawn