Camera tracking for TG render camera

Started by TheBadger, August 19, 2011, 04:09:33 AM

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TheBadger

Hello,

I would like to know if "cameratracker" http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/cameratracker/ will work with TG2. If not what will?

If I shoot on video, a sequence with a green screen in the background, will I be able to import the camera track from AfterEffects (cs3) too TG2.
Please suppose I moved a camera through my scene (studio shot), and then track that movement with cameratracker or name your program, what is the process of importing the track, so that my render camera will match exactly?

Thank you
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goldfarb

if you can export the data in a format that terragen can import then yes...
I couldn't find anything on that page about exporting camera info though...
--
Michael Goldfarb | Senior Technical Director | SideFX | Toronto | Canada

ndeewolfwood

Sorry i can t give you the exact name for each script but i m pretty sure this will work :
track your shot with your foundry tracker.
export the camera with a script to maya. Go to check aescript on google.
Export cam from maya to terragen with a cam to chan mel script.
you can found this .mel on creativecrash.com.

TheBadger

hmmmm, a little strange. I expected that this is something that everyone new how to do, except for me that is :-\ I don't have maya or max, but why should TG2 need another 3d app to make it work in a movie production? Tg2 was meant for movie making, I thought? Maybe (and I really don't know) what Im asking how to do is not possible? That would be really harsh, because compositing moving images together is an important part of what Im trying to do.

I know how to composite two images together, i can work with moving shots, or movement in a shot, and I can bring a TG2 shot in and make it work rather easily as a matte. I can set up the shot for angle and light in TG2 to mach my foreground, But if there is a zoom or pan or, dolly this way or that, in the foreground shot, it must be matched, correctly, in the background. What is the method for this in TG2? And a skybox is not what Im getting at here, just to be clear.

I could set the camera up in tg2 to match manually, for a simple slow or fast zoom. But for more complex shots I need to be able to program the movement without spending thousands on another 3d app.
Just suppose for conversations sake that there is only say 20' between the camera lens and the (360 degree) green screen, now the camera zooms (slowly) past the foreground subject into the matte, and then zig-zages even as bumble bees fly (with some foreground still in the shot and then shoots out to space (for example ;)). So how do I match?

Help please
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Kadri

#4
Quote from: TheBadger on August 20, 2011, 12:49:45 AM
...
I don't have maya or max, but why should TG2 need another 3d app to make it work in a movie production? Tg2 was meant for movie making, I thought?
...

There are users here who use it in production they could help you with this i hope.
But TheBadger in production everybody uses what they know , what suites them best and in the fastest way.
For example , you can use Maya for character animation , Terragen 2 for the clouds , backgrounds and Lightwave to render all these parts.
Of course there could be some places that you use only one 3D software but i think you will see mostly more then one.
Look here for example:
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=5822.0

Camera animation in Lightwave is much much easier then in TG2 (v2.3) , so i would animate the camera there and import it to TG2  ( is there a way?) if i had to.

goldfarb

I be very suprised if you EVER had a production shot that had live action elements and a camera move done in Terragen...

as others have said this is just standard camera matching - something done hundreds of times a day...
however, 99.99% of productions doing this work have tracking people/departments - using PFTrack, Nuke etc etc
these cameras are then exported to maya/houdini/xsi etc and Terragen...but there are not many people exporting to Terragen so there isn't much talk about it or casual experience with it
Terragen is for environments...it's NOT for many other things in VFX...that's not a criticism just a description of what PlanetSide has concentrated on in their development...

so to get a camera from After Effects to Terragen might be a little more work that you first thought...
download the demo of that cameratracker and give it a go...track your shot and see what kind of export options you have...you might get lucky...
if not you might post a request on a Maya forum and ask someone to import your tracking data and export a chan file that Terragen can use...many people are willing to do these types of things...
--
Michael Goldfarb | Senior Technical Director | SideFX | Toronto | Canada

ndeewolfwood

you should be able to do exactly the same thing with blender who's is a free software.
You just need it to convert camera data.

Quotewhy should TG2 need another 3d app to make it work in a movie production
It doesnt.
I just assume you want to composite on after effect.
Terragen Camera data are perfectly friendly with nuke and foundry tracker module include in NukeX.

The simpler way to do will be to write or find a script who's convert after effect camera data to nuke camera data who are the same than terragen.





TheBadger

Quote from: goldfarb on August 20, 2011, 04:39:13 AM
I be very suprised if you EVER had a production shot that had live action elements and a camera move done in Terragen...
...but there are not many people exporting to Terragen so there isn't much talk about it or casual experience with it
so to get a camera from After Effects to Terragen might be a little more work that you first thought...

Hello goldfarb. Yes I am using AfterEffects and terragen, but I hope to move up to nuke soon. This work is for my demo so i'm using what I have, when i'm in the field Ill use whatever my company uses. Thank you for helping :)

Quote from: ndeewolfwood on August 20, 2011, 04:45:16 AM
you should be able to do exactly the same thing with blender who's is a free software.
You just need it to convert camera data.

The simpler way to do will be to write or find a script who's convert after effect camera data to nuke camera data who are the same than terragen.

So all I need to do is convert my camera data from the aftereffects plugin to a "chan", and i can use blender for this. correct? Thank you, I will look into all of this. :)
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