Week 1 – Camden
During the first week, I was introduced to VFX discipline called Matchmove. We used software called 3D Equalizer.
In class, we used footage of Camden Locks as a practice. First I had to track various 2d points. I had to spread points across the shot to get information about the depth and parallax of the camera. I had to find good areas in the shot with the visible pattern so the 3DE can track it. In some cases, I used image controls to change contrast, gamma and saturation of the image. In this way, I was able to make some patterns more visible.
When I tracked about 30 points across the shot I could make my first camera solve. This using a 3DE algorithm puts the points into 3D space and based on points it calculates camera movement. I used a deviation graph and deviation value to analyse the accurateness of my points.
By looking at the deviation graph I could spot points that were very inaccurate and so I decided to manually delete them. After every modification, I had to compute a new camera solve.
To improve the deviation value I had to also compute a lens focal length and lens distortion. For computing both values I used a parameter adjustment window. I had to again compute a new camera solve.
When my deviation value was below 0.3 I was satisfied. Before I could export the matchmove I decided to change 3D orientation of my matchmove. I picked one point as an origin and changed survey type from free to exactly surveyed with values 0,0,0. Then I picked another point that was close to the first one and I guessed its position from the origin. In this way my matchmove had a flat floor and wasn’t rotated at a weird angle.
The final matchmove was imported into Maya. Additionally, I imported a rubber toy test geometry from Houdini and rendered the scene to test my matchmove.
This is the final render with geometry.