Tracking Assignment

Stabilization of Jerky Subway Footage

This stabilization project was pretty simple to improve but not simple to perfect. There is not a good way to stabilize this clip 100% because of some perspective issues in the footage. In order to improve the footage I started out by tracking four points and then averaging them. After I did this I used the Smooth Cam node in Shake. The final result is shown in the clip above and the node tree is below.

Stabilization of Jerky Subway Footage Node Tree

Skii Lift of the Dead

This clip was a little more difficult to track and make it look convincing. I believe if I would have composited my object onto a chair going up rather than coming down it would have been much easier due to the fact that I wouldn’t have needed to deal with a mask for the entire duration of the composite (I would have only had to mask the lift pillar). That being said, the node tree for this composite is not terribly complex. I first used a Rotoshape node to make a mask in the shape of the lift chair so the skeleton would look as if he were sitting in the chair going down rather than floating behind it. I then used a Color Match node to try and match the color of the 3d generated skeleton to that of the footage. I then had to use a Pixelize node to take some of the definition out of the 3d render. I chose to use Pixelize rather than defocus because the interlacing in the film created more of a pixelized look than anything else. I then went to the middle of the footage and used a Move 2D node to position the skeleton where I wanted him in this frame relative to the first frame. I then used a Match Move node to track the edges of the lift chair as shown below.

Skii Lift of the Dead Track

I chose to use a two point track rather than a four point track because the Match Move node was giving me some strange perspective issues when I used a four point track. Since the change in perspective is not that drastic in this clip I chose to simply track two points rather than four. When tracking the pillar and the other lift chair got in the way of tracking the patterns. I used offsets when I was able to but I was not able to get a perfect track. Thus, after tracking the two points I had to do some manual editing in the curve editor. My final node tree is shown below.

Skii Lift of the Dead Node Tree

Tracking Using My Own Footage

This track was very simple, very fun, and very convincing. The first part involved creating a fake poster in Photoshop as shown below.

Wanted Poster for Tracking Composite

After creating the poster I took some blue tape and taped + marks on a wall outside of the building around the areas I thought the four corners of the poster would go as shown below.

Wanted Poster Tracking Composite Raw Screen Cap

After collecting the footage I tracked the four points as shown below.

Tracking Using My Own Footage Raw Track

I then used a Corner Pin node in Shake to place the corners of the poster in the correct place to give the appearance of correct perspective as shown below.

Tracking Using My Own Footage Final Composite

After doing this when I advanced to the last frame the perspective was slightly skewed. So I dropped a Corner Pin keyframe at the beginning of the clip and at the end of the clip. This took care of the perspective problem. Next I used a Color Match node to match the color of the poster to that of the footage. However, there was one last little problem. The footage at the beginning of the clip was significantly lighter than the footage at the end of the clip because the camera went from being exposed to the bright atmosphere to only being exposed to the shady side of the building. To correct this I added a brightness node to the poster and then keyframed the change in brightness. The final Shake tree is below.

Tracking Using My Own Footage Shake Tree

Sequence Composites

Live on Live

live on live foreground

live on live shot

live on live tree

CG on Live

cg on live foreground

cg on live shot

cg on live tree

Live on CG

live on cg foreground

live on cg shot

live on cg tree

3D Environment Renders

So this is my first attempt at a 3D environment. It is a modern Bauhaus influenced art gallery featuring my pottery model from my first model render assignment. I have 3 shots of the gallery with a black floor and an alternative 3 shots of the gallery with a white floor. I have also rendered a 1280 x 800 widescreen wallpaper featuring my 3D environment.

Zesty Green Screens

For assignment 2 in the compositing class I have done a few composites using the lab’s green screen. For each picture I have a foreground and a background. In most cases the foreground is photographed on a green screen. This way I can use the Chromakey in Shake to edit out the unwanted green background of my foreground to lay the foreground over the background image. The following sets if foregrounds, backgrounds, masks, and final composites illustrate the idea of green screen compositing.

Live on Live

mario composite background

mario composite foreground

mario composite mask

mario composite

mario composite version 2

3D on Live

pokeball composite background

pokeball composite

Live on 3D

liveaction into 3d background

liveaction into 3d foreground

liveaction to 3d mask

liveaction into 3d

First 3D Model Render

In my CPSC 807 Maya and 3D Animations class I have recently been assigned a task to make a vase in 3D and render some images and a short rotating video. Some of the great things I learned in this assignment were:

  • Maya ( duh )
    • Nurbs, Polys, and Subdivs
    • Basic Object Merging
    • Basic Texturing
    • Basic Lighting
    • Basic Rendering
  • Photoshop CS4
    • Texture Creation via 3D object importing

I have attached some of my renders. Enjoy :D


Mushcat

This was a project for CPSC 815, Compositing. We were to create a tabloid article with a picture using Shake 4 for the purpose of getting used to using the software.

[ Read Mushcat Article Here ]

Below I have attached the files that I used as resource photos. I have also included a snapshot of the node tree that I created for this composite. The main branches of the node tree represent each item in the picture: the background, the cat, the mushroom top, the butter knife, and the reflection ( basically a copy of the cat branch with a mask and a drop shadow ). Each branch essentially has the same nodes:

  • A node for the original image
  • A node to mask the original image
  • An optional node to erode the edges after the mask is applied
  • A node to match the colors between layers
  • A node to adjust the gamma or brightness
  • A node to paint in some lighting corrections

Finally, I finish up by using a few nodes to crop, grayscale, and grain the image.