Archive for February, 2009
VideoTrace: Creating 3D models from video
Posted by Shareef in CG, documentary, technology on February 28th, 2009
Researchers at the Australian Centre for Visual Technologies have created a tool that can allow users to plot points in 3D space to create a model, using a video as a point of reference. VideoTrace lets the user scroll through a sequences of frames in a video and trace the shape of an object. It will then get texture information from the polygons plotted and map them onto the model’s surface. In essence, it creates a textured shell. The abstract from their five page report states:
Each of the sketching operations in VideoTrace provides an intuitive and powerful means of modelling shape from video, and executes quickly enough to be used interactively. Immediate feedback allows the user to model rapidly those parts of the scene which are of interest and to the level of detail required. The combination of automated and manual reconstruction allows VideoTrace to model parts of the scene not visible, and to succeed in cases where purely automated approaches would fail.
Their demonstration video shows how fast the process actually is. Once they model the SUV you can tell which is the copy as the real SUV has a reflection from the sun on the windscreen. It is an amazing software.
Creating Brad Pitt at 60, 70 & 80 years old
Posted by Shareef in CG, documentary, movies, technology on February 24th, 2009
A fascinating talk at the TED conference 2009 by Ed Ulbrich, president and digital-effects guru of Digital Domain, on the subject of creating Brad Pitt at ages 60, 70 and 80 for the Oscar-winning film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Deeming traditional facial motion tracking inadequate, his team underwent the near impossible task of tackling the holy grail of the CG industry – the human face – and produced a jaw-dropping performance, with Benjamin being computer generated for the entire first hour of the movie.
After much research, a technique dubbed Contour was chosen, which involved painting Brad’s face with phosphorous so four special HD cameras could scan and produce a real-time 3D reconstruction of the surface movements of his skin. They also created three maquettes of Brad at ages 60, 70 & 80 and scanned them at very high resolution to create digital replicas. The digital maquettes were then transposed onto the contour scan to produce a CG character that mimicked Brad’s movements.
Effectively we created the digital puppet that Brad Pitt could operate with his own face. There are no animators necessary to come in and interpret behaviour or enhance his performance…. we ended up calling the entire process and all the technology Emotion-capture as oppose to just motion capture.
This is a huge break through for the CG industry and the team at Digital Domain were rewarded for their efforts on sunday with an Oscar for Best Achievement in Visual Effects category.
Disney’s Bolt- Real D Cinema Technique
Posted by Shareef in animation, movies, technology on February 23rd, 2009
“Real D Cinema” is a new 3D stereoscopic projection technique that seems to be popping up everywhere at the moment. Long gone are red and green 3D glasses as they have been replaced by a new improved type- Circularly polarized glasses. RealD uses a single projector that alternately projects the right-eye frame and left-eye frame, and circularly polarizes these frames, clockwise for the right eye and counterclockwise for the left eye, using a liquid crystal screen placed in front of the projector lens. The circularly polarized glasses make sure each eye sees only “its own” picture, even if the head is tilted.
And it works! I watched Disney’s new animation “Bolt” recently, a great film about an Hollywood-Dog-method-actor who travels across America in search of his owner who he thinks has been kidnapped. Along the way an alley cat reluctantly joins him along with an hilarious hamster named Rhino. The Real D effects takes 3D animation to a whole different level, even with aspects of the film that we would normally take for granted, such as a character walking down a corridor, as the extra sense of depth and prespective brings the scenes to life. Future releases that will be using the RealD Cinema technique include- Monsters Vs Aliens, Planet 51 and UP.
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
Transformers 2 looks awesome. Optimus Prime gets punched at 01:32 and his face shatters- let’s hope he doesn’t die. “Auto bots ROLL OUTTT!!!”
New video technique: Datamoshing
Posted by Shareef in music, music video, technology on February 21st, 2009
Kanye West’s latest music video shows a new craze in the video world- “Datamoshing”. With the removal of certain keyframes and tweaking to the compression, some very clever effects are created. When Kid Cudi comes into the shot while singing the chorus at 01:05 and the green glow of Kanye’s top at 03:26 it proved to be something fresh. The director, Nabil Elderkin, who has done videos for other music artists, is definitely someone to watch out for in the future. Another of his videos, “She’s a Star” by Will.I.Am, is a must see, especially as it is black and white, yet he manages to pull off some beautiful effects.
-
You are currently browsing the archives for February, 2009
Follow Me On...
