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Here’s my camera rig!

October 23rd, 2007 14 comments

Alright, I’ve released a preliminary version of my camera rig and the GUI that goes with it!

Let me know if you find any bug or weird stuff, as I’ve only used it on my XP machine with Maya 2008. I believe it should work with previous Maya versions though…

Please carefully read the documentation and installation notes on the page prior to using it.

You’ll find everything here. Enjoy!

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Two sequences to go…!

October 21st, 2007 No comments

Yay! I just finished another sequence in ruff layout. Alright, it was a very short one, but still it counts!

One thing I experienced during this whole process is the fact that there is a balance between storyboard and animatic of “win some, lose some”: With storyboard, you get the charm of the drawings, but things are very “fuzzy” and flat. With the step of RLO, you suddenly get a sense of space and dynamism, but you lose some of the emotion of the panels. But that’s ok, since when I do the scenes, I try to keep in mind the little bits of acting that will (hopefully) plus everything, even though they’re not yet on the screen.

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Working on the animatic

October 13th, 2007 2 comments

Right now I’m working hard on the animatic, which in live-action they call the “previz” process. It basically means that the drawn storyboard is turned into a crude-looking 3D reel, which can then be edited more accurately.

I’m hoping to be done with the animatic before the end of the year. I’ll pretty much have to do an average of one shot a day. Of course sometimes I’ll do more, sometimes less. For example I’m just done with a big action sequence that required a lot of work in terms of camera moves and choreography. But that went faster than I had anticipated, although I know at some point I’ll eventually have to stop in order to build/rig what is necessary for the last sequences. So far I’m only working on sequences that require the same characters and sets, so I can plow through the shots.

One thing I discovered on the way is that very often the simplest shots are the toughest one to setup properly. Because the composition has to be just right and the information has to be clearly (and quickly) conveyed.

Anyway, I’ll try to post some pictures later on…

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A quick overview of my camera rig

October 13th, 2007 3 comments

Today I thought I’d talk about the camera rig I’m working with for the animatic. After numerous iterations and fixes, I’m now pretty comfortable with the way it works.

Basically you control most of it through channels (excepts translations). That way, you only have to deal with one channel doing one thing (dolly, horizontal or vertical pan, etc…).

 

 

Plus you get a mask with some info on the date of creation, focal length, shot name, frame number and so on. Oh and the frustum makes it easier to see what’s in the shot and what’s not. I made a UI for it that allows easy access to every node of the camera through a right-click menu.

I intend to put the rig online as soon as I can clean-up the script and make sure it’s solid.

Categories: production, update Tags: