Shouldn't trust the software to figure out the back plate since mistakes are common and can ruin a track.

Here's what I've figured out (please chime in with corrections):

17.3x13mm is gh2 sensor size for taking pictures

in video mode it will be HD, & HD is standardized to be 16-9 in aspect ratio, therefore camera sensor will crop horizontally to maintain 16-9 aspect ratio

So gh2 video size will be 17.3 x 9.73125

(17.3*9)/16 = 9.73125

As for ETC mode... I am not sure about my calculation but I think the sensor size might go to

6.67524115755627 x 3.7548231511254

17.3*1920/4976 = 6.67524115755627

Does all this sound correct?

Thanks.

For those interested in 3D tracking, there's a 24 hour sale at http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/ for Cameratracker for AE.

Nice thread! I was about to post the Final Destination clip, but looks like @Vitaly beat me to it. It was a gruelling yet intensely fun time working on that film. I'll see if I can get the breakdown reel we made at the studio and post it up sometime soon. @bwhitz Nice ship design. Are you using an HDR for any image based lighting? It's the quickest way to integrate CG to a plate matching the lighting. Shooting spherical HDRs on set can be rather tedious though

@Meierhans

Awesome... thanks!

@ted

Hey, thanks for the feedback! Those are some great tips! The natural light look is exactly the thing that's been bugging me about my models on live-action footage. I've been working the last few months trying to get a more natural look and that diffuse glow sounds like just the trick!

... and yea, motion blur... C4D's motion blur is just too slow to render, even when rendered with a few machines. Are their any third party applications that would work?

@otcx Yea, it definitely needs some dust/debris. I knew it was going to need this before I even started. This test was mostly just see how well Camera Tracker data works with C4D and if it translated properly. Which it does... and very well. Now I can start planning some more complicated shots since I've got the basics down of how the programs are working with each other.

Thanks again for the feedback!

bwhitz@

Nice. Maby a bit dust/smoke under spacecraft. And a bit motionblur, to blend craft better to background. Just keep on doing.

bwhitz,

That's a cool model. Nicely done. I've worked on a number of projects over the years, such as Independence Day, Dr. Dolittle, and a bunch of Star Trek work. One of the tricks we used to get CG to blend in with live action was to add a diffuse glow around the edges. Not just a soft blur, but actually creating a diffuse glow that would bleed into the CG, like natural light does around objects, particularly in daylight.

C4D is a great package. We did most of our work at VisionArt in Houdini (and its predacesor, Prisms), but I've become a fan of C4D for a number of reasons, including it's ability to work well with very large models, much larger than Maya will handle. Once I started working with C4D I was pretty impressed, enough so that I hired a programmer in Germany to write a RenderMan interface for it, and then we sold it back to Maxon. They're a great company to work with. Nice folks.

Anyway, try throwing a diffuse glow on there, as well as some motion-blur, and playin with the values until it starts to meld into the live action around it. You've definatley got a great eye for ship design!

All the best,

Ted Fay

Cool!

@itimjim

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=17355061

I did that this Maya... it's a pretty sweet deal they've got.

And for Cinema 4D, my personal favorite, I still have my student license from in college. But I do want the new R13... so I may have to find a client to buy it for me or something...

So, with Maya, 3DS Max and Cinema 4D having price entry points of around £3,500....apart from those using it professionally, how does a regular 'joe' go about learning and using for non-profit work? Or, are there alternatives? Or, just forget it! :-)

This is a nice thread to find after hours of learning/trying/dealing with all the video tech stuff that's quitte new to me...I bought a gh2 today...exactly for what's shown here .. (untill now I have been doing a lot of product-viz in Modo (stills) but just started on my first trackings and its inspiring to see what can be done!