The second workshop was about 3d tracking or matchmove. I’ve never worked with this technique before and it opened a lot of doors for me. It is a really interesting technique which is very useful.
What did I learn?
Where do I start? I’ve learned so much because it was new to me. Although I have some experience with After Effects my knowledge has its limits. The last workshop we’ve worked with 2d tracking. Now it’s 3d which has more functions and is a great thing to use. I’ll start again with defining what it actually is, can do and cannot do:
- It can track the x and y positions but also the z position.
- It can solve 3d positions.
- It can reverse engineer camera movement, angles (camera and lens).
- Same as the 2d tracking it can not track when there’s something in front of the tracking points
- Same as the 2d tracking it can not track when there too much motion blur.
What I find interesting about 3d matchmove is that when the tracking points are on the screen and they go of the screen, the object will still be attached to the tracking points. So it never goes off the points which is really useful. Especially when you are using this for a moving and the points are go off the screen for a few seconds. You don’t have to re-track them.
3D Motion tracking Matchmoving – Text Basics
What worked/didn’t work and why?
The first exercise was to add a text in 3d to a box and made sure it would stay in that place even if the camera angle would change. Again I followed some steps and it worked. I had no problems with this exercise. We added shade to the text and made it look like it was part of the environment.
The second exercise was to place a gap in the ground, as if a meteorite struck it. Again I followed the steps as given although I missed one step and that’s why my tracking points weren’t quite right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNPuwMTtcxE&feature=youtu.be
With this exercise I had some trouble to place the smoke in the right place like it would look it came of you the gap but for some reason it kept moving. It was probably because I hadn’t added the right data to this layer. When I did that it stayed perfectly in place. I’m very happy with the result.
How can I apply this in the future?
Again, I’m not sure if I want to do this more in the future. As I’ve said in my other blog I prefer to work on other things such as graphic design or websites but it comes in handy when you have the knowledge.
How can I use this in my convergence project?
This technique is actually pretty awesome to use in my project. I can now film myself and make my background afterwords a little blurry. I can add blur to the photo’s behind me as well so that they blend in. I could also walk past shops or windows and hang them like leaflets or make a big billboard out of one of my works. I’m definitely going to try bringing this in my 1-minute-me video.