Category: Group

After our camera tracking workshop, we were all given the task to camera track the room using 3D Equaliser that we were going to be using for our Group Project.

I started by opeing the footage on 3D equakiser, setting the image input settings such as the gamma level to what we were taught to set it at, and then began tracking the tracking marks.

Tracking the marks sucessfully individually took roughly a few hours, as I made sure each mark kept within the green area of bar when tracked. This meant changing the contrast, saturation level and brightness for different areas in the room, for example some areas have way more shadows within them, and the pattern of the cross and the green need to be emphisised to make tracking more accurate, so it can easily recognise the pattern through movement.

I then calcualated the tracking and viewed the camera movement in 3D.

There were no breaks in the line, and you could see where different parts of the room were. I decided to use result and then bring up the deviation browser to see the average accuracy level.

As you can see the accuracy number was quite high and needed to be brought down to as close to 0.5 as I could. Also, I was unsucessful at tracking the top of the table as it always turned out to be innacurate, these were the two factors I needed to change before exporting this scene.

I then remembered I could apply the lens distortion to the footage which would create more accuracy, I changed the lens to the correct camera option and copied the data of focal length, lens distortion and quartic distortion to be adjusted in the Parameter Adjustments tab. I then clicked adjust and this brought the accuracy to 0.7.

I then went through the waves on the deviation browser to pick out the points that were lowering the average accuracy, andn re-tracked these. I also decided to track the top of the table which was difficult but with changing the image levels such as contrast I was able to track them.

This brought my average to 0.6 which was much better than what I had started with.

I then used the 3D model tool to mesh the points together uaing ‘legacy’ and create a 3D structure of the room, camera tracked.

I then exported the lens data to a Nuke node, and exported the scene as a Maya file, including the 3D models.

However, when I opened the mel script file in Maya, there was only the tracked camera, with no models or footage.

This is something I will have to solve and re-export this file from 3D Equaliser.

This week we established a main style of the lo-fi technology seen in ‘Alien Isolation’, the group were more than happy to go along with this as the screenshots I presented fitted perfectly with the design and concepts we all had in mind.

This led us to have several meetings mapping out which assets the Look Dev artists will do. My idea to make a terminal for the room was granted by all members as this was a crucial asset for our design plan, and the references I showed the others would fit the room perfectly. We went over the brief again and designated the compulsary assets to other Look Dev artists to ensure we did everything we needed to.

Our CGI lead also gave us a scale reference file of a man in Maya to ensure we are all making models to scale.

He also made a rough plan of the layout of assets, giving me a clearer picture of where my terminal will be, and what they layout will be in terms of design and scale.

Going ahead with all of this new information, I decided to start making the basic shape of ther terminal. Using my reference picture earilier, I made a basic shape of a terminal and practiced more of using the sculpting tool, and the bevel mesh tool, to create a rounded screen.

My aim is to make this terminal very detailed with appropriate texturing, and if I have time, to model another asset for the project that me and my group may need to improve the overall project.

Our group had picked the genre ‘low-fi’ for this project. I wanted to try this out as I have never experienced VFX of an old fashioned aesthetic, and I already had ideas and referneces I wanted to input to this project. Our task is to take a 10 second shot of an empty corridor and input tracked CGI assets and other visual ammendments to create a lo-fi styled corridor.

I chose the role of a Look Dev Artist, as modellling is something I want to develop especially in my personal and final project, so any development in this field is very helpful for my portfolio and future in VFX.

We decided on the sub-genre of ‘Cassette Punk’. Old fashioned technology that was thought of to be ‘futuristic’ in the past. I immediately thought to the game ‘Alien Isolation. When I had played this one of the things that stood out to me was the technology in the game on board the spacehip.

When it came to making our mood board I decided to take screengrabs from this game I had found during my research online and input these for inspiration. Our moodboard is here:

Here we can see we have established our consistent aesthetic we want to portray.

We then had our first meeting to talk about what each one of us should work on. As a modeller, I had to think about what my main asset to design would be. Given I was so passionate about lo-fi technology in games, I decided to say I wanted to create a terminal for the shot.

I used an ‘Alien Isolation’ screengrab as my main inspiration as to what I would like this asset to look like: