Artefact Three
Mar 8th
Third instalment of a ongoing Uni project looking into the key techniques of compositing. This time I looked at 3D camera tracking aka match moving.
This is something that I am fairly familiar with as I did some camera tracking last year for a personal project. This time round I managed to get much better track results probably due to the fact that the shots are clearer.
First part of the video shows the examples of successful camera tracks, second part is a brief run through of the tracking process.
Note that this project was focused on getting a good track and not realism of the final composite, artefact four will focus more on the realism of a composite with the use of HDR maps, texturing etc..
Artefact Three from Rob Antill on Vimeo.
Music by:
The Flashbulb – Sangari 7
SPP3 – Task B: Four post-graduate courses
Feb 26th
The second part to this module is to find four post-graduate courses that I could apply to.
This was a little harder to find the relevant courses. However after talking to course mates I looked at the courses they had found and I noticed that the same institutes did courses relevant to me.
I would most like to get on a course at Escape Studios because this looks like a great place to work and the chances of getting a job afterwards are really high, the down side is that it cost £8,750
Bournemouth – Digital Effects
Escape – Full time compositing course/ Evening compositing course
Teesside – Animation, Games & Computer Graphics
NFTS – SFX/VFX
I will be mock applying for the course at Escape although NFTS has an application form you can download and fill out. This is useful to see what the requirements are likely to be to get on a post-grad course.
SPP3 – Task A: Find Four full-time jobs
Feb 26th
For this module I have to find four real world jobs and produce a mock application to one of them. I have a spent quite a lot of time looking at the companies that appeal to me most. I have found six companies based in London that are currently offering places as 3D artist/compositor.
At the moment Framestore or Lumiere are the most likely the ones I will ‘apply’ for although the work Jellyfish produce is really cool but there isn’t an application form or any advertised vacancies available at the moment.
The Mill – Nuke Compositor/ Runner
Double Negative – Compositor/ Runner
Prime Focus – Junior compositor
Frame Store – Compositor
Jelly Fish – Compositor
Lumiere – 3D/ 2D compositors
This task has been useful, I have realised that if I actually want to apply for one of these jobs and have a chance of getting in I need to learn Nuke and Maya as these seem to be industry standard and essential. Something to do after I graduate I think.
100 DVDs
Feb 25th
In the new year I went on the Nottingham Trent Snowsports trip to Tignes in France. I was responsible for documenting all the crazy stuff that went down.
Since we got back I’ve been busy editing all the footage and producing a DVD. Kane has also given his creative input. He created the cover, Menu and provided some cool animations.
Over all the main video is 16 minutes long with 6 minutes of extra features and 195 high res images.
That’s what 101 DVDs looks like. Looks a lot more than I was expecting.
After I had finally settled on the master copy (after 6 different versions made) I sent the art work and master copy to a company called http://www.vponline.co.uk/. I was really pleased with this service, very professional would highly recommend if you ever need DVDs or CDs replicated.
I decided to get the discs thermally printed and get the full size cover, this was more expensive but it looks a lot nicer.
Here’s the cover design and menu design, created by Kane. I created the DVD artwork using a Stereographic image I took at the top of the mountain.
So over all I’m really pleased with the results! It’s taken up sooo much of my time but I think it has paid off… well I now need to sell them all for it to actually be paid off but I have enjoyed the process at least.
Pixel Motion – Stop Motion Technique
Feb 16th
I came across the following video the other week and was amazed by the effect mustardcuffins had created. I spent a long time trying to think how it was done.
Drift from mustardcuffins on Vimeo.
I was producing some work for a project when I came across the pixel motion frame blending option in After Effects. I realized that this is what gave this stop motion that awesome smooth blending transition effect.
The next day I went out and took some photos to see if I could recreate that effect.
All these shots were taken with the Nikon D90 and the 18-107mm kit lens.
First test. Not quite as smooth mustards but its nearly there.
More examples and a tutorial after the break.
Artefact two
Feb 14th
This is the second (of six) mini projects I’ve set myself that involve the key techniques of compositing.
The first Artefact was focusing on layers and how to manipulate sill imagery.
This time I’ve looked at 2D motion tracking and stabilization. I’ve also briefly looked at Keying and masking, but i will go into those in more detail in future projects.
Artefact Two from Rob Antill on Vimeo.
Mouse Path
Feb 8th
Joe T showed me a really cool Java App the other day. It’s called Mouse Path and it basically tracks where your mouse pointer has been over a certain amount of time. You can also have it draw a circle when the mouse is inactive, the longer you leave it the larger the circle.
Here’s my mouse path over about 3 hours while I was setting up this new blog.
Here it is overlaid on the background to get an idea what I was up to. You can see I was using tabs quite a bit.
If you would like to have a go download it here
Credit to Anatoly Zenkov
Want more??
Feb 8th
This is the all new home for the Digital Anthill. But If you would like to see my older posts please head to my old blog @ www.digitalanthill.blogspot.com or click the image below.
Nice one..
