Month: May 2021

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Individual Project: Tutoring Help and Image Plane Error Solutions

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’d lost a lot of time on my individual project due to technical difficulties with the image plane, unsolvable in the hypershade, the attribute editor, or even by recreating the dewarped footage.

After running through a couple of options today, we found the solution: the EXR files were simply to large to run compatibly in Maya on the image plane. I put the EXR files through Media Encoder, converted them to JPEGs, and found that they ran perfectly.

So now that I’ve finally got a working scene, I can return to the task from last week and build geo for it, aligning it as tightly as I can with the shot in order to make up for the unfortunate use of the nodal camera necessary for this track. Once I’ve got my geo built and my character rig in and scaled, I will review the scene with Dom to make sure it is ready for animation. Thankfully, I’ve got a second session with Dom scheduled for this week on Friday, so I’ll be able to move along with my progress at a faster rate and make up for some of the time lost on this issue.

Below I am including a list from my handwritten notes on how to snap a 3DE scene to the ground plane in Maya, because I continually forget and end up writing and researching it repeatedly. I attempted to break down the steps more thoroughly in my notes this time.

3DE Scene Snap to Ground Plane in Maya Process:

  1. Select scene, then hit W, followed by D, to bring up the pivot point
  2. Middle mouse drag the pivot to a point in the scene while holding V to snap.
  3. Hit D again, and, holding X, snap the scene to the center of the world.
  4. Turn on frustrum display controls, allowing you to see the camera’s angle in the world.
  5. Add another 0 to the image plane depth, allowing geo to move through it.

Now, when you load a character or object into the scene, they will automatically spawn in the image plane, and once the scene is scaled and sized correctly, blend seamlessly.

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Indie Film Collab Project: Tutoring Help, Motion Blur Tracking Workarounds

Speaking with Dom about the motion blur issue in our indie film project footage was a godsend. While I originally wasn’t able to track any single point for longer than about ten frames, and even then wasn’t able to keep a very solid track on them, I’ve now got four well tracked points in the midground and plan to continue placing more into tonight in order to catch up on lost time this past week.

Though I’d made it to point 74 in my original attempt to track this blurry shot, I deleted all of my previous subpar work and started again with Dom, in order to avoid my messy track interfering with the calculation of the shot. The first thing we did was open the image controls window and up the contrast and brightness to their respective maximums. Then we began searching for very dramatic patterns, looking to place points at the very corner of a high contrast area. As I tracked a high-contrast point, Dom helped me with a couple of tactics for blurry footage.

When tracking a blurry shot, it’s always necessary to use a very wide search box and to constantly adjust the pattern. For a shot as blurry as this one, we tracked every single frame by hand, which is, although time-consuming, necessary. Fortunately, Dom did tell me that after six or so points tracked accurately, the software will be able to account for the blur in calculation.

As I tracked every point by hand, I found that for each point I had to hand-select the area where it should be placed at least once or twice, with the software simply unable to account for the massive blur at times, and meticulously pinpoint its exact location using page-up and page-down, though Dom did tell me to make sure not to do this too frequently in order to avoid vibration of each point.

Though using a wide search area with high contrast is imperative for a blurry shot, it’s also important to make sure that the search box never crosses into the depth of another object in the shot. I found it somewhat difficult to discern whether my point had moved during some of the camera shaking, and though I only have four points, I spent almost half an hour placing them.

This shot may be strenuous, but getting these points tracked is a glimmer of hope that all is not lost and it won’t be impossible. It is fortunate that we know the camera specs, and, as Dom pointed out, this will be a showstopper of a showreel shot.

Camera specs- we researched the filmback width and height for a Canon EFS 15_85mm. I was initially frustrated with the fact that I cannot have the width be fixed at 36 mm, the height be fixed at 24 mm, and the pixel aspect be fixed at 1 all at the same time without one automatically turning to passive, but Dom has instructed me that it is fine for the software to edit; as long as the pixel aspect stays fixed at one.
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Collab Project: Tracking Difficulty due to Camera Shaking/Blurriness

Similarly to my individual project, I struggled this week to make real progress on the collaborative project; hitting a wall with the software’s as well as my own capabilities. The shots include frequent camera movement, and unfortunately, this results in near-constant motion blur. Because of this I’m only able to track around 10 frames at a time per point. I am hoping to bring this up with Dom tonight for some potential workarounds; I expect we will discuss advanced techniques for splining. I’ve spent several days trying to work this out myself with no luck, and am worried about the project deadline.

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Individual Project Technical Difficulties to be Addressed

After my discussion with Dom last week regarding my next steps in my individual project, I was prepared to construct geo for the scene and scale it accordingly to my rig in order to move ahead before animating. I’d even had a discussion with Luke on the rig I wanted to use, and how to load up the Shave and a Haircut plugin for it.

Unfortunately, I’ve hit a roadblock on this project before I could even begin creating geo; the image plane simply refuses to work correctly no matter how many ways I try to fix the problem. I’ve tried deleting it from the hypershade and reloading it, as well as running Warp4 again in order to make sure nothing was wrong with the EXR files themselves, and I’ve made sure every time that “use as image sequence” is checked.

I will discuss this problem with Dom tonight and make a new post regarding the solution. It is unfortunate that this setback has cost me a lot of time I could spend working.

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Individual Project Tutoring May 19th

During my catch-up with Dom tonight, we reviewed some of the shakiness still present in the track and fine-tuned some of the points used in order to prevent any jolting from the subway car.

We assumed first that it may be the points on the foreground seat disturbing the parallax, as the front is not attached to the wall and jiggles with the movement of the car, but deleting these points still did not achieve satisfactory results. After several different attempts to turn points on and off, track different spots and sim the lens, Dom suggested to me that this shot may have to rely on what’s called a nodal camera due to the software’s inability to understand the depth of the scene (possibly resulting from the very-nearly-static camera).

He explained this to me as creating all of the points on one flat plane, which the camera movement will be tracked around. A definition I found of nodal camera movement is, “The no parallax point–or nodal point–refers to the specific axis on a camera lens around which the camera rotates so as not to create a parallax error. By rotating around this point, the scenery will all move at exactly the same speed in the resulting pan shot.”

I was initially confused and skeptical of this strategy, as I had assumed that failing to accurately track depth was failing to complete my job as a matchmover, but Dom explained to me that what I would do instead is create the depth in Maya when I build the geo along the correct angles.

My next step on this project is to bring it into Maya, line it up to the ground plane, and scale it- making sure that all the flat lines of the floor line up- then I will add in my character model and send that over to Dom for the okay before I go ahead on the next step, which is to bring in animation.

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Individual Project Motion Tracking

Attempt 1

The benefits of using my own footage for a tracked shot are that I can intentionally set the scene to both challenge myself and provide easy patterns to track. I planned for the subway car to be a relatively easy background track, with plenty of signs and seat markings to get a solid track on. The camera is completely static, and the only motion path necessary to figure out is the slight shaking from the stopping and starting of the car. The only plane that I struggled to track was the background wall, as the only markings/signs on the wall intersect with my model’s arm and the midground pole.

I felt astonished with my track when my very first calculation resulted in a deviation curve of only 0.0486.

However, my excitement began to wear off when I considered a few factors. This was only the deviation for one point group, and some of the others had slight inconsistencies or large spikes. On top of that, when I moved my shot into lineup view, the depth of the planes was very clearly incorrect. In the video below I’ve tried to demonstrate what I mean- although the ground plane looks okay, it appears almost as though 3D Equalizer thinks the back is the front; the back wall and midground seats have much larger X’s than the foreground seats.

That being said, the deviation curves in every point group look relatively okay.

back wall
ground plane
foreground seats
background seats

I spoke to Dom about this issue over Discord messaging in advance of our session tomorrow and he informed me of the issue: by placing each plane of the background in a separate point group, I was asking 3D Equalizer to consider them as objects to track rather than being part of the background. The camera group must all be part of the same point group. And so, happy that I learned this before wasting our entire session trying to figure that out, I went back to the drawing board to track again in the camera group this time.

Attempt 2

Upon tracking the background of the shot a second time in the camera group only, I was met with a parameter adjustment chart that makes a lot more sense; however, the depth of the back wall does still seem to be slightly off. I reached out to Dom again about this and he reminded me to calculate a second time.

Now that the background track looks a lot better, I’ve tracked a couple points on the object as a starting point.

During my session with Dom tomorrow, I’ll revise and edit the track as needed.

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Framestore Launchpad Competition Showreel and Cover Letter

[Video Editing by Jane Boehlert]

Cover Letter

To the Department Head at the Framestore Recruitment Team, 

We are a group of students from around the world who have come together in pursuit of our Master’s degrees at the prestigious University of the Arts London, with a broad range of individual specializations and a devoted commitment to creative visual narratives, hard work, and experimentation with cutting-edge technology in the industry of visual effects. Each of us brings a unique passion and skill set, cultural perspective, and essential professional experience to our team of dedicated artists, and we, collectively, would like to express our greatest gratitude for the opportunity to apply for a spot on the Launchpad Competition. At UAL, we receive close mentorship from tutors who have worked with Framestore on phenomenal projects, and earlier this week were fortunate enough to speak with Framestore Director Andrew Schlussel regarding the recruitment process, an eye-opening experience which led us to the fortunate discovery of this competition. The chance to work with an industry giant at the forefront of visual storytelling is an incredible gift, and we believe that our well-rounded spread of talent and enthusiasm for exceptional work places us as ideal candidates for consideration in representing the legendary Framestore brand. 

Our team is comprised of six postgraduate students, each with their own considerable achievement and competitive skill. Team Captain Giulia Villela is a driven and passionate 3D modeling artist with experience interning at Rede Globo, an internationally recognized Brazilian media powerhouse and the largest broadcasting television network in Latin America. Gherardo Varani is a postproduction specialist with interests in photogrammetry and compositing, and brings us essential understanding of advanced technology in filmmaking through means such as his utilization of drone operation and HDRI cameras in aerial filming. Another vital asset to our team is compositor Diana Chinalieva, who creates stunning effects in Nuke and Houdini, drawing on expertise she developed during her time as a junior compositing intern at the Russian VFX company Unit5 as she worked alongside leading specialists in the field. Jane Boehlert’s brilliant passion for VFX is distinctly apparent in her exploration of the field with a unique transcendence of mediums and dimensions, implementing her firm creative background in the world of video art, 2D animation, and design. Emma Copeland joins the team from the school’s 3D Animation course with a strong command of motion tracking, and in particular the practice of matchimation, incorporating her enthusiasm for dynamic animation seamlessly into a background plate of live-action footage to create an ethereal balance of the supernatural mixing among the mundane. In addition to a previous four years of experience as an animator while finishing his Bachelor’s degree, Antoni Coll also lends us unparalleled skill in his motion tracking and photorealistic visual effects as well as an edge on the latest innovations in the VFX 

industry through his ongoing training in Unreal Engine. Together, our team harmoniously blends artistic vision and technological literacy to produce an ambitious, visually striking output. 

Under the invaluable guidance of Framestore advice, mentorship, and review, we hope to conceptualize a project that pushes the boundaries of visual narration and showcases the stunning results of the blossoming technology in our sector that allows us to ever further breach the line between reality and the human mind. 

We would like to once again express our gratitude for being given the chance to apply for this illustrious opportunity, as well as our sincerest thanks for your time and energy. 

Sincerely, 

The UAL MA School of Screen Students of 2020-21 

[Written by me]

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Individual Project: Homemade Mocap Suit & Matchimation Footage

During our Framestore talk with Andrew Schlussel, he mentioned that something called matchimation is highly sought after on matchmove showreels currently. This is a term for animating a character rig on top of a background plate involving a tracked person. As I mentioned before, in my collaborative project I aim to showcase my tracking abilities, and in my individual, I seek to do the same but with a spotlight on my animation skills, too.

Last night I went out with a very kind friend and took several shots of her wearing this homemade mocap suit on public transportation. I’m very excited to actually get to track a person/object that is made to be easy, rather than struggling to pinpoint a tiny scratch on a leather jacket and hope it doesn’t spline.

As I took my footage, I had three goals in mind:

  1. To create a shot that would be trackable. By this I mean making sure that the camera motion is steady enough, avoiding and objects interfering with the sticker placement on my model (for example, on the escalator, people moving around her to climb up the stairs), and keeping all of the stickers in eyesight without crossing over too much.
  2. To create a shot that would be impressive on a reel. By this I mean one with a very solid track, impressively realistic animation, or dynamic movement.
  3. To aim for realistic character animation. By this I mean animating my model moving naturally through her surroundings. In the chosen shot, she is swaying with the motion of the subway carriage car and moving her arms to stabilize herself.

Out of the shots I took, Dom suggested I choose this one because I could get a very precise background track on it due to the lack of movement and the subject’s movement will be natural yet at the same time impressive. I was at first concerned that the background and camera movement were not dynamic enough, but he reminded me that this project is meant only to focus on my object track, not my background track, and I already have several good background track shots to put on my showreel.

The next step for me is to brainstorm what kind of rig I’d like to use for this project. I’ve been told to make sure that it stands out in some way, whatever I do, whether that’s with a striking character or lighthearted humor. I’m considering something supernatural. I will spend the rest of today planning out the character and storyline here.

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Dynamic Track Polish & Breakdown for Framestore Launchpad Competition

On the twelfth of May, Antoni from the VFX program asked me if I’d like to join him and some of his fellow VFX classmates in a competition that Framestore is running this summer. Essentially, teams of six students create a combined showreel to submit this coming Friday (the fourteenth of May) showcasing the talents of each member of the group as well as our ability to collaborate on a project. The selected teams will be given the opportunity to make a 30-second short film over the summer with mentorship and free online aid from Framestore representatives. It will be treated like a Framestore internship, and thus is tremendously beneficial for breaking into the industry, not to mention the likelihood of placing a role at Framestore itself afterward- according to Schlussel’s presentation earlier this week, about 70% of Framestore interns end up working there afterward.

So within two days, we are working to put together a showreel that displays our individual best work as well as some of our collaborative projects. Me, Antoni, and Gherardo, who are all part of this group, worked on a collaborative project last term, and we are excited to showcase that in this reel, and the other three members- Diana, Giulia, and Jane- also worked together on a collaborative project last term, so we have a great opportunity to show off our ability to create fantastic work as a team.

I’ve volunteered to write the cover letter for the group. In addition to that, of course, I’ve also got to make sure that my individual work is good enough to not only represent me well but benefit the rest of my group members as we present our work. I had a session with Dom this morning to discuss three things- the mocap footage I’ve been collecting and which I should choose for my individual matchimation project (see post regarding that), fixing image plane bugs in Maya, and which of my matchmove work exhibits my skill best.

Dom suggested I use my helicopter shot, or, as we’ve been referring to it, the Dynamic Shot (because the rotating camera is challenging + impressive for a background track), however, he had a few suggestions for ways that I might push the shot to a more competitive final product. For reference, this is what it looked like originally:

Dom pointed out that the flying helicopter actually does not showcase my track well, because we can’t see the camera moving around it, and the rotating camera is the entire point of choosing such difficult footage to track. He suggested that I have the helicopter stationary in the foreground and instead have a couple extra helicopters flying around it in the back. He also mentioned that I should add a shadowmatte to the ground plane to give it extra believability. Here is the shot with these changes:

It looks a lot better! Finally this shot is showreel-ready. For the Framestore competition specifically, we are looking to add a reel breakdown with all of our passes, and so below you’ll find my breakdown for this shot including my playblast, geo wireframe, and final polish.

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Framestore Talk with Andrew Schlussel, May 10th

Earlier today I attended a lecture with Andrew Schlussel, a recruiter from Framestore. His Linkedin also lists him as a director as well as a professor at Academy of Art, which is interesting, because I turned down an offer from Academy of Art in order to come here, favoring UAL for its connections, opportunities, name recognition, and more competitive acceptance rate. That said, I am very grateful for the opportunity we had to speak with Andrew today. Getting the chance to speak with a recruiter from Framestore face-to-face (as it were), was an incredible opportunity and really taught me a lot about the way the hiring process and growth within the industry works as well as nudged me to pursue a new path for my showreel in accordance with the demand in the industry.

The question that I posed to Andrew was regarding the number of entry level roles that Framestore looks to hire as they go through the hiring process each year (season?) and what that number is dependent on.

Andrew answered me that the role that could be considered the most “entry level” aside from a runner position would be as a matchmove artist or as a 2D paint artist, and that they are looking to hire for these positions year round, but of course it depends on the number of roles that are available for each project. We discussed the field of matchmove and he informed me that a skill highly in demand right now is something called “matchimation”, which involves animating a character rig over footage of an actor. I believe this is the same sort of thing we had been working on with Dom in January with the superhero suit. Andrew then also talked to me about the career path for a matchmove artist- it is typically considered entry level but there is growth within the industry.

I plan to incorporate matchimation in my showreel by re-centering my individual project for this term around it. I will go back to acquiring footage with this goal in mind.

One last piece of information mentioned by Schlussel that stood out to me was that, obviously, a junior position after school is ideal, but an internship may have a 70% chance of landing an applicant a role upon completion, and then a runner position can still open many doors. As someone who’s worked in customer service for over five years while finishing my education, I’m not afraid to wash dishes if it gets my foot in the door.

I also liked his discussion of a “playful” approach to learning software. He told us that we should try out software like Unreal Engine, but focus on exploring its tools and learning what it has to offer rather than forcing ourselves to visualize an end goal.