Shaggy Takes A Stroll In The Real World

[Tralfaz]

Downloaded the Iccarus software which analyzes video and re-creates a camera tracking solution which can then be imported into A:M.

 

The video clip is from the Iccarus tutorials. I followed along with the documentation to create the tracking solution and exported the track into an A:M v9.5 project. The project loaded just fine into A:M 13. Then took Shaggy and added him to the chor and had hip skip merrily through the scene.

 

For a first shot at doing this, I think it turned out fairly well (as far as the camera tracking goes). I know the lighting does not match the scene and Shaggy is too crisp and sharp compared to the video, but it was just a test.

 

C&C always welcome...

Al

 

[attachmentid=23211]

 

[attachmentid=23210]

test2.mov

[Paul Forwood]

That was good!

I liked the feeling of low gravity!

 

Very reminicent of Zach Brewster-Geisz's, "Shaggy Attack".

You should post this in the live action thread that someone started recently. They were looking for examples.

[Tralfaz]

Thanks Paul.

 

I am more and more amazed at what this software is capable of.

 

BTW, I posted a link to this thread in the live action thread.

 

Al

[gazzamataz]

Tralfaz

 

I can only seem to download half of the flick…

 

It does look good, bit like a slow motion home video with camera shake like in real life.

 

I did notice one little thing though, Shaggy's hand twist un-naturally when he rises up. This might be IK popping or whatever it is called.

 

Usually I find there is a rogue frame in the action where the bone flips out and back again which is fixed by adding a new key frame to bring the 'flipping' inline.

[agep]

Nice looking. I just recently started to play with icarus myself, might need it for a personal project I'm currently working on. It work fairly good when I analyzed a clip where I've used a tripod, but not when I tried to analyze a clip where I hadn't. that means, It looked good in Icarus, but when imported into A:M it was very offset, but its probably some settings for it, or it could be the quality of my clip.

[dre4mer]

Cool Al! I've downloaded Icarus at some point but have never gotten a chance to play with it. I almost wish I could see shaggy just standing there scratching his head so that you could see how well the sync was. With him sliding along it's a little hard to tell if the sync is good or not, but it does seem like he's fairly locked to the picture.

 

Thanks for posting the example,

 

-Ethan

[Tralfaz]

gazzamataz:

 

Not sure why you would be able to download only have the video. The skipping that Shaggy does is the standard Skipping Action that comes in the Action library.

 

agep:

 

I used the Icarus pdf User Guide when I created the camera tracking solution. It was well laid out and pretty easy to follow. I first used their Distortion app to remove any distortion that was present in the original video. Next, I used the undistorted in the Calibration app to calibrate the camera, determine the focal length and create the tracking solution. The solution was then used in A:M.

 

Ethan:

 

Here is a video example of Shaggy skipping along with a stationary "Lazy Dude". The tracking solution looks pretty good with a stationary object in the scene. Starting to get pretty excited about playing around with this stuff. My next test will be take some video that I shoot and try to integrate the CG into it.

 

Thanks...

Al

 

[attachmentid=23239]

test2b.mov

[dre4mer]

Sweet! thanks for posting the example with the stable chair for reference. It is very cool that a free program is capable of working so well.... hmmm. the possibilities!

 

-Ethan

[andyg]

Yeah Icarus is great, I just downloaded it recently... tons of fun. Here is my tester with the footage

 

Cheers AndyG

alien.mov

[elliotclem1]

Hi can't seem to find the download file for icarus, page seems to have gone.

 

Could someone send it to me. (i have the plugin).

[Tralfaz]

Hi can't seem to find the download file for icarus, page seems to have gone.

 

Could someone send it to me. (i have the plugin).

 

Try this link

 

http://www.peerlessproductions.com/tuts/pages/Icarus.html

 

There is both a Mac and Windows version as well as video tutorials in both Divx and QuickTime formats. Also has some video files like the building in the test I did earlier.

 

And here is the link for the A:M plugin.

 

http://www.kci-group.com/z/icarus.htm

 

Hope this helps...

Al

[Luuk Steitner]

Those are nice examples. Is every one here loading their Icarus data directly into A:M?

In case people have forgotten I wrote a program some time ago that converts Icarus files into A:M project files, with camera tweaking possibilities. The main reason I wrote this program was that I for some reason the Icarus data did not work in A:M back then, apparently it works again with current versions.

Anyways, if you guys like you try my converter, you can find it here: www.zigncreations.com/icam