Composition Fill the Frame

Fill the Frame

It’s often said that if you can’t make something good, make it big. By filling the frame with your subject there’s no mistaking your centre of interest – although good compositional techniques, such as placing a key feature on a point of power, still apply. If you’re finding it hard to get inspired by a scene, big, bold, confi dent framing is a great starting point to getting you fi red up. Get in close – then get in closer still…

Make use of clothing and props to help your subject ‘flesh out’ the image. Leave a hint of background to give the impression that they’re almost too big for the frame.

If you can’t get in close, expand the presence of your subject in the frame using reflections or shadows.

In real photgraphy crop tool will be the best friend. Because after taken a pleasing shot, only to discover on closer scrutiny later that you’ve snipped off a part of your main subject, or an ugly piece of background’s sneaked in on the edge of the frame. It’s far better to crop for a tighter shot altogether.

Don’t spend precious hours trying to rebuild it in Photoshop – just go for a closer, more dynamic crop.

Creating a Spider Web

What is Spiderweb - A spider web, spiderweb, spider’s web or cobweb (from the obsolete word “coppe”, meaning “spider”) is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets. The most familiar spider webs are those used for catching flying insects, but some are used to ensnare small vertebrates, and others only provide shelter. Webs typically contain multiple types of strands, including sticky and non-sticky ones. ...

Step One

Create a new file around 180 x 104 and dpi

Step Two

Fill the background with black color and create a small diamond in the middle of the canvas using the brush tool with a 3 pixel white brush, you can also use middle and vertical guide lines to draw the diamond in the middle. To create a straight line, click hold down shift and click

Step Three

Create 8 spokes coming out from the diamond and then create a frame linking all the spokes. Spiders webs are of different kinds so don’t worry about the shape.

Step Four

Now create the smoke between the existing spokes and create a loose spiral starting from the center and stopping at the frame

Step Five

Apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and select radius to 5 pixels.

Step Six

Apply Filter > Noise > Median and select radius to 3 pixels.

Step Seven

Select Image > Adjustment > Levels or press Ctrl + L Adjust the levels of the image like below.

Step Eight

Remove the black background by selecting through magic wand or Ctrl click the channels in the channels dialog box (Inverse the selection and press delete)

Final Step

Select the image and apply the Filter > Texture > Craquelure and set it to crack spacing 15, crack depth 5 and crack brightness 5. Now select Layer > Layer style > Bevel and Emboss set the depth and the softness according to your choice.

Source Video: Artbeats

What is Matchmoving?

Matchmoving or Camera Tracking refers to the process of matching the position and angle of CGI to real footage shot with a film or video camera. This process can be accomplished manually on a frame by frame basis. More common is the use of automated matchmoving software based on computer vision techniques that can extract camera position and rotation values over time from a frame sequence of digitized footage with minimal user intervention.

When the visual effects studio receives the digitized sequence (known as a plate),they decide that they will need an animator to animate the creature and a technical director (TD) to do the glass-shattering effect. And, of course, they’ll need a matchmover to matchmove the plate.

The visual effects artists’ goals are to make their 3D elements look as realistic as the scene that was filmed. The animator will need to make the creature move as though it were really crashing through a window, and the TD will need to make the window shatter like a real window. The matchmover needs to figure out where the camera was and how it was moving when the scene was filmed.

Matchmovers play an important role in this case, because in order for the creature and window to appear matched realistically with the scene, they need to make sure that the CG objects are “filmed” the same way with their CG camera as the real set was filmed with the real camera.

No discussion of matchmoving would be complete without discussing some important terms. For matchmovers, it is important to understand the following terms.

Parallex: In simple terms means “Depth”. If we look at an object from two separate points in space then we are able to perceive information about its depth. If we look at the object from a single, fixed point in space then we will not get any depth information. If we move our viewpoint sideways then the parallax effect will provide us with a sense of where the object is in relation to its environment.

Film Back: A more generic term for film gate or aperture. Film back is often used to describe the aperture settings in a 3D animation program.

Calibration: The process of computing the camera’s position, rotation, and internal parameters.

Aspect Ratio: An aspect ratio simply described the shape of the viewing screen by defining the relationship between a frame’s width and height. The typical aspect ratio for television and video is 4:3, which is also called 1.33:1 in cinematic circles.

Nodal Pan: Nodal pan shots are pure rotation and so they contain no parallax. Foreground objects do not appear to move relative to background objects and so there is no way of knowing the positions of these objects in 3D space.

Dolly Shot: A dolly shot is a very natural shot where the camera moves horizontally across a scene. For example, stand up and take a look at something across the room. Now walk, but stay focused on that item; this is how a dolly shot looks.

Tilt Shot: A tilt follows a action vertically, like an up-and-down pan.

Some popular matchmoving or camera tracking softwares are:

1. d3 Boujou - $10000

. Realiviz Matchmover - $300

3. Andersson Synth Eyes - $3

4. Digilab Voodoo - Free

5. 3d Equlalizer - Unknown

From next issue we will try to understand Boujou interface and start tracking the shots in the upcoming issues.

Source Video: Artbeats

Use of Displacement Map

Click on image to play the video

The Displacement Map effect distorts a layer by displacing pixels horizontally and vertically based on the color values of pixels in a second layer, called the displacement map. The type of distortion created by the Displacement Map effect can vary greatly, depending on the displacement map and options you select.

Step 1: Create a new composition and import your video clip. Place the clip in the timeline.

Step 2: Create the text by using After effects text tool. Now create an open mask shape to trace the bodybuilders body. This mask was added to the text layer and not on the bodybuilder body. Now tweak the mask according to the body builder body.

Step 3: Set the Path Options > Path popup to Mask1. By default text sits on the top of the path, if you want to center the text on the path then click the Animate arrow and the Anchor Point Property.

Step 4: To move the text over the path, enable the keyframing of Path Options > First Margin at time 00:00 and text keyframe at the end of the file.

Step 5: Now we have to create a displacement map for this project. Create new composition, and drag the animation file on the timeline. Apply Calculations Filter and select the Input level which have best contrast. We selected Red channel in this case.

Step 6: Later, we can also maximize the contrast by applying Effect > Adjust > Levels and adjust the Input White and black point.

Step 7: Now drag all the layers in one composition. Layer 1 is text layer, Layer  is bodybuilding animation layer and Layer 3 is displacement layer. Turned off the view of this layer.

Final Step: Apply the Effect > Distort > Displacement Map (available on professional edition) on the text layer and change the displacement map layer to your displace layer. You can play with the horizontal and vertical displacement settings.

Change the blending mode of the text layer to Overlay. Benefit of this is, where image is black the text will automatically disappears or say hidden. Enable the motion blur and render the scene.

In April, your mission was to create a image on “Ruins” theme and sponsored by Vertus, Duber Studio and CGArena. These are the winning images... ...........................................................................................................................

First Winner

Marco Delgado, Spain webmaster@pixeltale.com

Second Winner

Tomer mor yosef, Israel tommy8@bezeqint.net

Third Winner

Raul Fabian, Romania raulfabi@yahoo.com Moise Hammouda, France hypnotik@wanadoo.fr

Fourth Winner

Making a 3D virtual Beer (Part 1)

By Paco Morales, Mexico paco_morales01@yahoo.com

We devided this tutorial in  parts and we will cover the following topics in this issue...

Modeling the Bottle

Modeling the Bottlecap

Modeling the Label

Modeling the Lemon

and cover the below topics in the next issue...

Modeling the Salt Shaker

Modeling the Waterdrops

Texturing

Lighting and Rendering

There is more to building a convincing beer than just revolving a spline. It is the small details that bring credibility to your renders, and this tutorial aims to give you a step by step guide to do just that. While specific to 3dstudio max, most of the techniques can be applied to most other 3d apps.

Modeling the Bottle

Step 1: First, we do the shape of the bottle and the liquid (Beer) with (splines). We can take the left side drawn image as a reference. The shapes we should not close them. Therefore, when you apply the modifier (lathe) is going to weld them in his open extremes.

Give width to the glass, because this is important to make a good reflection and reflection and is good for the integration of the liquid. Therefore the liquid should be integrated with the crystal.

Inside

Here we can appreciate, that the silhouette of the liquid is found inside the wall of the crystal, In this way the liquid weld with the crystal and this gives a natural sensation.

Outside

Here happens it opposed the silhouette of the liquid. It is found outside of the walls of the crystal or container, therefore itself does not melt with the crystal, and is not seen of natural form.

Step 2: Once finished the silhouettes, we apply the modifier (lathe) with the same values of the window. The same values for the liquid as for the bottle.

Note - Make two copies of the bottle shape and hide. One for the label and another for the distribution of the drops.

Step 3: Here you can see the two shapes with the modifier (lathe). Step 4: Select the bottle and press the right mouse button. Select Convert to Editable mesh from popup window. Once done, we are going to work on the base of the bottle. We are going to do the antiderrapantes.

Step 5: Select the polygons that shown in the image.

Step 6: Make an extrude 1 mm Step 7: Then Bevel about 0.5 mm and apply the modifier (Meshsmooth) 1 iterations.

Our modeling of bottle is complete.

Modeling the Bottlecap

Step 1: First, we make the half of the cap, with a with  vertex, you can see the image below.

Then apply the modifier with the same values. Step 2: After applying the lathe modifier you will get this. Convert the mesh into element by right clicking.

Step 3: Select the edges like shown in the below image and apply a chamfer about 3mm.

Step 4: Join and weld the vertices showed.

Step 5: Select the polygons as shown in the image and extrude around 0.5 mm Step 6: Go to the vertex mode and weld the vertices as shown.

Step 7: Now select the shown polygons and delete them.

Step 8: Now select these polygons, extrude -1 mm, bevel - 1 mm

Step 9: Now select these polygons and delete them. Step 10: Move to the vertex mode and select the following vertces in the front view.

Step 11: Move the vertices closer because we need a good seal on the bottlecap, scale it to bring little more close.

Step 12: Now select the following vertices, adjust them and apply a meshsmoth modifier.

Modeling the Label

Step 1: First, we make a copy of our bottle, and hide the original one.

We are going to select the polygons those will represent our Label and invert the selection and delete them.

Finally apply the modifier “Push” and unhide the bottle to see the final result.

Modeling the Lemon

Step 1: Create a sphere and choose a following settings... Step 2: Collapse the sphere and apply a meshmooth modifier. Select the edges and increase the crease and weight values and play with the shape.

Other parts will continue in the next issue...

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