Confused by Camera projection Techniques in Maya by Darin Hilton

[Jones Vfx]

I bought Camera projection Techniques in Maya by Darin Hilton and right at the beginning of DVD I got confused, with how to line up geometry with image plane perspective?
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/dhi01.html

In introduction to Camera Projection Part 1 (projection Crate),part about how to line up geometry in Maya with image plane photo, not clear. He explains how to do create Image plane, retouch photo in Photoshop, but most important is how to build properly line up geometry in Maya he did not covers, he opens Maya file and simply says that he already created file briefly says few words and simply continues on.

Any help?
:confused:

[accelerator]

yeah same with me....i got confuse with that too...i kept on accidentally move my objects and again align it again with the image plane...and how did Darin make the image plane on top of the polygon objects?..cause when im modeling a polygon it is on top of image plane so i can't see my image plane clearly...sigh...need help for this...

[accelerator]

or for aligning the objects...maybe he uses tracking software to align the image plane..

please help...explain what's going on...

[redwavestudios]

No offense but, I think fxPHD (http://www.fxphd.com/) has THE MOST ADVANCED/Easy to understand/Production oriented/best tutorials on the planet ;) It's pricey but worth it. Always blown away - what they showing / how they showing - amazing tutorials/classes fxPHD.
I watched Gnomon few times - and dislike them right away, they have too much talking / lots of talking - theories / no actual movie footage etc. going on, and very few mouse movement.
I would never buy them. CMIVFX is also - well done "to the point".

You can find great CAMERA PROJECTION techniques in fxPhd as well.
Or check Google.

cheers

[rumorsai]

I bought Camera projection Techniques in Maya by Darin Hilton and right at the beginning of DVD I got confused, with how to line up geometry with image plane perspective?
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/dhi01.html

In introduction to Camera Projection Part 1 (projection Crate),part about how to line up geometry in Maya with image plane photo, not clear. He explains how to do create Image plane, retouch photo in Photoshop, but most important is how to build properly line up geometry in Maya he did not covers, he opens Maya file and simply says that he already created file briefly says few words and simply continues on.

Any help?
:confused:

What I would do is create a new camera, and not use the perspective camera to line up geometry. Within that new camera you just "import file..." and then adjust the camera settings.

[Jaist]

i don't know how the gnomon workflow is but i usually create a skydome(squeezed sphere) and a big plane. Then i project the image on these elements, turn on the edges of the objects and move the cam until i get the perspective right. Then i freeze the camera, create another and start putting elements in the scene, trying to match them in space.

[rumorsai]

When you create the sphere and plane to line up the elements are you then changing camera settings to vertical or horizontal...? I was just wondering, cause I figured that the direction of which way the camera is panning determines that part...

[dhilton]

Hey everyone,

Being the creator of the DVD I'm sure there may have been a couple of things I might have skipped over, it's been a while and I'll go back and check.
As far as how to see the image plane over the geo, I generally either adjust the transparency setting on the shader so I can see through the geo to the image plane or use the Xray shader setting on the camera panel. It can also be handy to have backface culling on too.

accelerator: I didn't use any tracking software since it was a still image. if you have the EXIF data from the image you can set the lens properly in Maya or just guess based on the image. Bear in mind that if it's a cropped digital camera there will probably be a multiplier you will have to factor in. Then I just line up the image using the roll/tumble/track/dolly tools in the camera settings. If the image is a wide angle shot then you also may want to undistort the image in photoshop or similar app.

Most big shops provide an artist with a tracked camera and an undistorted plate, even some rough geo. Something less to worry about. I'm currently working at ILM -their solution for projection mapping doesn't even involve Maya or any other off the shelf software and is a dream to use.

rumorsai: the vertical and horizontal settings on the camera shouldn't be touched unless your trying to work some kind of mojo with a misplaced camera film back and plate. Work with a prepped plate in a standard format with square pixels (NTSC, HD, full app, expanded anamorphic) and set your film back to the proper aspect and your image plane to fill. You should be AOK after that and if you're rendering for reprojection make sure it's square pixels or the render and proj camera wont' line up.

As far as fxPHD goes, I can't vouch for how good/bad they are. This was my first DVD for Gnomon and probably my last for various reasons. I think they have some great titles but the price can be high for most. Bear in mind that the creators see a VERY small percentage of that money, I may create a new downloadable tutorial in the future if I feel really ambitious.

-Darin

[rumorsai]

Cool, thanks Darin I forgot all about the square pixel part :smirk:

[sunnie_cgchutney]

thanx Darin....

but i guesss, having a good knowledge of perspective drawing and vanishing point will help to figure out ne perspective plane from an image.

So if u're a beginner, start wid sum basic perspective drawing tuts...

[eev776]

It's a great DVD, used it a lot when I started, DVD reveals most confusion to me, thanks Darin!

[drutter]

I've got to agree, your DVD really gave me a handle on the convoluted process of camera mapping in maya. I didn't have any problems with it at all.