real video as vback ground

[leptophis]

Hiya

 

am a beginnner to this so please bear with me, i want to use a live video as a background, could you give me some advice to this using version 13 as it seems difficult to ad it and when using a rotoscope or layer it doesent seem to work.

 

pete

[Rodney]

am a beginnner to this so please bear with me, i want to use a live video as a background, could you give me some advice to this using version 13 as it seems difficult to ad it and when using a rotoscope or layer it doesent seem to work.

 

Hey Pete,

Welcome to the A:M Forum!

 

The most often missed requirement for importing video and sequential images is to make sure you've checked the box that tells A:M you are importing a sequence of images. If you don't do this you may just get the first image.

 

To test that your sequence imported correctly double click on the image (in the Project Workspace) and press Play on the scrub bar at the bottom of the screen. This'll let you know if its ready to be added as a Rotoscope or other image for use in A:M.

 

I've had the most success by converting the video into a sequence of image files (I like Targa format best for this).

As long as your images are sequentially numbered they will be set to come into A:M.

 

Example:

Image001.tga

Image002.tga

Image003.tga

...

 

Many video utilities allow you to export to sequential images. (Just make sure they name them correctly or it will terminate the sequence)

You can use movie formats such as AVI and MOV but make sure they don't have extraneous data attached such as proprietary compression or audio.

Test this out simply by saving a few images from your video as still images with sequential names (as mentioned above).

 

 

The current version has some improved Non Linear video Editing capability over v13.

[steve392]

I don't remember having probs in v13 ,Im on 15e but this is how I got it in .import image sequance . as targa files ,go to chory side view drag and drop image sequance into chory window then in the box that comes up pick layer ,you got it .it may be diferant in your version though edit ,just triede it and it allso works with .movie files

[leptophis]

thanks for all your help, let me explain what i want to do, i own a reptile shop so i have some footage of it and i want to have a t rex come through the door and also a shot of outside, whats the best way to use this and accomplish it

[robcat2075]

thanks for all your help, let me explain what i want to do, i own a reptile shop so i have some footage of it and i want to have a t rex come through the door and also a shot of outside, whats the best way to use this and accomplish it

 

Here's a tut done for a previous version of A:M but I think it all still applies.

 

http://www.hash.com/users/ed/tutorials/fpm/fpm.htm

[Rodney]

At the bottom of the tutorial by Ed Lynch that Robert linked to is another useful tutorial on the subject. Don't miss that!

 

 

Here is a direct link:

http://www.hash.com/Camera_Guy/lighting.html

 

The 20MB of video footage isn't there any more but the project file is.

 

 

Edit:

HeHe! Looks like CameraGuy is still alive and kickin' (the model file and running action still works!)

[Rodney]

I don't mean to drone on here but thought this was a pretty decent render of CG.

CG is something of a mascot for CG-Live Action.

 

If nothing else it demonstrates a basic Toon-look that could be used with CG-Live action.

 

What's he doing here?

I dunno. Looks like he got bopped in the head or something.

[leptophis]

I apologise if i come across as stupid, but, followed directions but i dont see the video as a background its like its invisible, heres what i did, i made a new choreo, then clicked on shortcut to camera and added a new roto which is the video, in the timeline i then get a list of frames, but none of them are visible and if i click on a frame, and render to view or make a render the video isnt there. I would appreciate all your all help

 

pete

[leptophis]

after playing with images and video, i have made a img sequence through premier and loaded that this seems to work, though i still dont really understand what i was doing wrong with video

[HomeSlice]

It may have been something as simple as the codec or compression you were using. Not sure. TGA sequences have always been the most hastle free way to deal with moving images as decals/rotoscopes/etc...

Another possible factor is Quicktime. It used to be a bastion of simplicity and stability, but in the past few years it has gotten kind of flaky.

[Walter Baker]

Hi All, Same problems here. I have been able to get my video into a chor. window, but to be able to work on it I get lost. As soon as you change camera angle the image is gone and am unable to get it back into view. So my question is. In the tut. of the boy walking across the street, models were made of the tree and car! how do you do that and get them placed so the models and video can be animated. hoe do you change you view without loosing the images in the window? Example. (same process I think) Victor Navone and his Alien were placed together into a photo (very cool by the way) done with layers (still cant figure out because of the same problem, when moved you lose the images and cant figure out how to get them back where I can visually work on them.

What am I missing? Settings? Layers? Rotoscope?

Bet it's a simple thing.

[Rodney]

Hi All, Same problems here. I have been able to get my video into a chor. window, but to be able to work on it I get lost. As soon as you change camera angle the image is gone and am unable to get it back into view. So my question is. In the tut. of the boy walking across the street, models were made of the tree and car! how do you do that and get them placed so the models and video can be animated. hoe do you change you view without loosing the images in the window? Example. (same process I think) Victor Navone and his Alien were placed together into a photo (very cool by the way) done with layers (still cant figure out because of the same problem, when moved you lose the images and cant figure out how to get them back where I can visually work on them.

What am I missing? Settings? Layers? Rotoscope?

Bet it's a simple thing.

 

I think its a good thing to separate the whole idea of compositing still images from that of sequential images. While there are simularities to be sure the still imagery usually has factors involved that the video sequences don't (and vice versa).

 

Victors image with his alien Blit was still imagery.

Understanding how he did that will give you good insight into how you will have to prepare objects in your scene for traveling mattes should you ever need them with video.

 

For his composite, Victor used a paint program to remove parts of a copy of the background image for use as an overlay. He then placed the Blit model in between the background image and the foreground overlay so that he could create depth and overlapping of a 3D character in a photograph. To really sell the shot he then brought part of Blit's hand up and over (... no not really... the hand actually went through) the overlay. Two images, otherwise exactly the same, but one with some parts of it made transparent. The same effect can be accomplished with model images, rotoscopes or layers. You get to pick and choose.

 

 

First things first I would recommend that anyone having trouble with adding video into A:M to first render out a movie from A:M that you can use as a test. Don't make the movie black... put something in it. (Lathe a vase or something)

 

If you can get video into A:M then you know you have to spend a little more time troubleshooting the external video you want to bring in.

 

Similarly, if you have problems bringing in the video you created with A:M then you know where you need to focus. The breakdown is in how you are trying to bring the sequence into A:M.

 

Most of the successful CG Live Action shots I have seen made with A:M have used sequential images (as opposed to video) if for no other reason that separating the images out helps manage and reduce usage of realtime memory.