Friday, 4 May 2012
Evaulation: 04/05/12
Looking at my final piece, there are some aspects that I am pleased with and there are some that are not good enough. At the beginning of the project I knew I would struggle with it as 3D is not my area of interest and I don't have a very good knowledge in it, especially Maya (slightly more knowledge of 3D Studio Max). However when it was explained that the main chunk of the project would be using 123D Catch and MatchMover I thought it might be abit easier, as the programmes both looked fairly simple to grasp and use. When I first tried to create my model in 123D Catch it was pretty much a failure. This was a good thing looking back as it taught me how to take better photographs for use in the programme. I retook my photos and tried the model again. Although it wasn't perfect and needed a lot of cleaning up, I was quite pleased with it. Creating this model successfully pulled my confidence up a little and I felt better baout the project. I then quickly shot my footage and put it into MatchMover.
Here is where the problems began. None of the members in the group released how difficult it is to get a good track form MatchMover. It appeared at first that you just put the footage in the programme and run an automatic track and that was it. But this is not the case and we all began having to do manual tracks to get a decent track. At this point I had a lot of help from Brad who had looked at some online tutorials about MatchMover. He showed me how to put in manual tracking points and where abouts on the footage would be good to place tracks. I was pleased to be learning something new and found putting the points in quite interesting, albeit a little tiresome. I was however a little frustrated at this point because I was suffereing with tonsilitus and didn't have the energy or patience for things to go wrong.
Once we had a decent track I put it into Maya with the model. This caused another set of problems as I struggled to get the footage into Maya, but this was quickly fixed with the slight change of an extension name. When the model and footage was put together in Maya I added a shadow and altered the lighting to make the model look like it was really in the scene. However there was a slight movement, but I was overall pleased with how it looked, as I didn't really think I would be able to reach this stage successfully.
The next stage was to render out of Maya and put all of the elements together in After Effects. For some reason the movement of the model seemed more exagerated in After Effects. By this point I was rather disheartened as everything seemed to have gone wrong with every piece of software we had used. I decided that I would had this in, it was either hand in a piece with a slight wobble or not hand anything in!
Overall I am disappointed that my track isn't good enough and isn't doing the job it should, and if I was to do the project again I would spend more time familiarising myself with MatchMover and creating a better track. However as it goes, I am pleased with how my model turned out and how it looks in the scene.
Here is where the problems began. None of the members in the group released how difficult it is to get a good track form MatchMover. It appeared at first that you just put the footage in the programme and run an automatic track and that was it. But this is not the case and we all began having to do manual tracks to get a decent track. At this point I had a lot of help from Brad who had looked at some online tutorials about MatchMover. He showed me how to put in manual tracking points and where abouts on the footage would be good to place tracks. I was pleased to be learning something new and found putting the points in quite interesting, albeit a little tiresome. I was however a little frustrated at this point because I was suffereing with tonsilitus and didn't have the energy or patience for things to go wrong.
Once we had a decent track I put it into Maya with the model. This caused another set of problems as I struggled to get the footage into Maya, but this was quickly fixed with the slight change of an extension name. When the model and footage was put together in Maya I added a shadow and altered the lighting to make the model look like it was really in the scene. However there was a slight movement, but I was overall pleased with how it looked, as I didn't really think I would be able to reach this stage successfully.
The next stage was to render out of Maya and put all of the elements together in After Effects. For some reason the movement of the model seemed more exagerated in After Effects. By this point I was rather disheartened as everything seemed to have gone wrong with every piece of software we had used. I decided that I would had this in, it was either hand in a piece with a slight wobble or not hand anything in!
Overall I am disappointed that my track isn't good enough and isn't doing the job it should, and if I was to do the project again I would spend more time familiarising myself with MatchMover and creating a better track. However as it goes, I am pleased with how my model turned out and how it looks in the scene.
Deadline day: 04/05/12
Today was the final day for us to work on our projects. I returned to my 3D project with the intentions of improving it. However I have to admit that my knowledge of Maya is limited and I didn't know how to improve the movement of my model. If I had more time I could have gone back to MatchMover and tried to do a more accurate track, but because of illness throughout the week I have not had all of the time I would have liked to work on the project and ask my tutor for help.
When Brad and myself did the manual track of the footage earlier in the week it looked quite good, there were a good number of points and the majority of the track was green. We therefore couldn't understand why the model moved around so much in Maya, when the track we were using appeared to be fairly good.
I decided that I would leave the track as it was, considering the time and would put the model, track and footage together in After Effects. Once I had done this I rendered the video out to hand in.
When Brad and myself did the manual track of the footage earlier in the week it looked quite good, there were a good number of points and the majority of the track was green. We therefore couldn't understand why the model moved around so much in Maya, when the track we were using appeared to be fairly good.
I decided that I would leave the track as it was, considering the time and would put the model, track and footage together in After Effects. Once I had done this I rendered the video out to hand in.
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Retracking footage and putting model into scene: 01/05/12
Today I continued working on my project. With some help from my course mate Brad we were able to creat a manual track in MatchMover as the automatic track that I did first was nowhere near good enough. It took a long time but we managed to get a decent track of my footage.
I then put the footage and track into Maya and added the barbie model. Once the model was positioned in the place I wanted it I worked with the lighting (which was already quite good) and added a shadow to help it look more realistic.
I then rendered the model and shadow out and put it into After Effects with the original footage. However when I played it back the model was moving around way too much, alot more than it had done in Maya. I asked Brad to look at it but he couldn't figure out why there was a problem exporting the model. I decided to revisit the project tomorrow and try to render out the model again.
I then put the footage and track into Maya and added the barbie model. Once the model was positioned in the place I wanted it I worked with the lighting (which was already quite good) and added a shadow to help it look more realistic.
I then rendered the model and shadow out and put it into After Effects with the original footage. However when I played it back the model was moving around way too much, alot more than it had done in Maya. I asked Brad to look at it but he couldn't figure out why there was a problem exporting the model. I decided to revisit the project tomorrow and try to render out the model again.
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Project Update: 26/04/12
Today I continued to work on my model, playing with the mesh and getting it tidied up ready to go into the scene. I am pretty pleased with how it looks now and think it is ready for the next stage of the project.
I then tried to put my model into my scene, but I have been having some problems with my footage and although I can see the track in Maya, I cannot see the moving footage, which makes it impossible to know whiich tracking points correspond to which piece of footage. I am therefore unable to add my model to the scene at the moment until I have asked my tutor to look at the problem.
Hopefully the problem will be easy to sort out and I will be able to finish my project next week.
I then tried to put my model into my scene, but I have been having some problems with my footage and although I can see the track in Maya, I cannot see the moving footage, which makes it impossible to know whiich tracking points correspond to which piece of footage. I am therefore unable to add my model to the scene at the moment until I have asked my tutor to look at the problem.
Hopefully the problem will be easy to sort out and I will be able to finish my project next week.
Monday, 23 April 2012
3D model:23/04/12
Today I used my new photographs to make my model. The model was much better the second time round and after some manual tracking with help from the tutor I was able to produce a fairly clear model. Once I had this model I exported it into Maya to tidy up.
Once in Maya I edited the mesh of the model and deleted areas of the model that I didn't need, for example the surface the doll was sat on in the photographs.
The next thing I need to do with my model is to put it into my tracked footage and then work on the shadows and lighting to make it look realistic in the scene.
This is going to take a little longer than I first thought as I have decided to reshoot my footage in a different location as the track that I did on the footage of the settee in my living room wasn't very good and the points moved around, which isn't ideal for this project. I am going to shoot new footage of the steps outside of the university this afternoon and track this, as I think this will produce a better track for me to put my model into.
Once in Maya I edited the mesh of the model and deleted areas of the model that I didn't need, for example the surface the doll was sat on in the photographs.
The next thing I need to do with my model is to put it into my tracked footage and then work on the shadows and lighting to make it look realistic in the scene.
This is going to take a little longer than I first thought as I have decided to reshoot my footage in a different location as the track that I did on the footage of the settee in my living room wasn't very good and the points moved around, which isn't ideal for this project. I am going to shoot new footage of the steps outside of the university this afternoon and track this, as I think this will produce a better track for me to put my model into.
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