IZation Labs

I spent a decent amount of time yesterday reintroducing myself to blender 2.5(3) and am happy to say that I can now use it almost completely in my SFX pipeline. Earlier versions of Blender only come into the game once, and that is to import my Syntheyes python script, as Syntheyes has a lack of compatibility with the new python API the Blender uses. All of two minutes later, it’s back to the new version and it’s wonderful speedy goodness. Here’s a tracking test of the days work.

The items onscreen are not final, they are simply visual aides to help determine the quality of the track and to configure the lighting. I have something much more interesting planned for this footage.

-Lace

With the shelling out of some decent dinero and about six hours of effort, I have here for the entertainment of all up and coming VFX enthusiasts a camera tracking test. If you are looking for bright lights, action, and large explosions… well you may be disappointed, this is just a test, there’s nothing too fancy about it, visually. The key focus was the tracking of a CG item to handheld video footage, and it turned out well for a first attempt.

The tracking was done using Syntheyes, the same software used for tracking in films such as Iron Man 2, Alice in Wonderland, and Avatar. If it isn’t already, Syntheyes is becoming an industry standard. However, if you can’t afford the license, the Voodoo camera tracker works rather well, and is free for the most part.

The compositing and CG effects were done using the node editing engine in Blender 3D, a free and open source program that continues to improve daily.

For a look at what the best of the best can do with Blender, check out this Sintel trailer, the newest short film from the Blender Foundation coming out in a few months

Critiques are welcome. More to come.

-Lace

Here is a short video I made a few weeks ago that grew out of a tutorial I was following to make ‘plants’ grow. I also made use of Blender’s built in Python camera changing script for the first time. There are some problems with the frame switching between shots that I need to figure out, but I felt this render was good enough to post.

It took four or five days to render this out, as I used some badly implemented concepts to make the ground look better which took up far more processing power than If I had just modeled the ground to begin with. Final product is close to what I was aiming for anyway.

–Lace

Made a new short SFX clip today named “Jump Stunt”. It took about three and a half to four hours to make. The final cut turned out better than I expected. If you’ve seen the movie Jumper, then you can probably guess where my inspiration came from.

You can also tell that I’m not the best actor, but hey, it’s not easy when you have to be the camera man and the guy who jumps off the porch 10 times in a row to get the right shot! That kind of thing can leave you a little disoriented..