Camera Frame blocker

[detbear]

Hey Everyone.

 

Often when I am trying to set up that "perfect" camera shot in my scene, I get deceived by the fact that I can see too much of the camera angle. In other words,

things beyond the edges of the camera can be seen while placing the camera at a good angle. Then when I render I realize that I got too much or too little in the view.

So I made a simple 16:9 "View Blocker" model so that when I'm setting up my camera, I'll have an easier time seeing only what will be rendered.

 

Maybe some of you could use this little help. Here it is.

 

Attached is the model and a choreography with it set up on the camera

 

Also the two pics show with and without cover.

 

16_9_camera_framing_Helper.cho1280x720_camera_frame_cover.mdl

 

Cheers,

 

William

[detbear]

Actually You guys probably have an easier way to do this. This is just a simple help I came up with.

Hope this helps if anyone has use of it.

 

Cheers,

 

William

[Rodney]

There may be other ways but I like the way you think William!

 

There are several reasons to use the approach you have for augmenting a camera's view.

One example is to facilitate camera effects such as fades, cross-dissolves, wipes, etc.

[robcat2075]

It's like blinders on a horse!

 

I like the armor in the screen shots, too!

[Rodney]

I would think this would shorten render times considerably as well (in realtime and when test rendering).

We should investigate.

 

For instance, would using an 'on top' rotoscope work better/faster/slower than using a model?

Could further realtime optimizations be made so that A:M wastes little/no time because it knows the cover is there?

I believe the old 'Eggslice' utility use to use a similar method for-up rez'ing renders to the nth degree but blocking out areas of the screen and then piecing them backtogether later.

 

I'm not trying to complicate your innovation unnecessarily. If it masks unneeded areas perfectly then it's accomplished that goal here.

[robcat2075]

It shouldn't affect render time since it sits outside the render area, right?

[Rodney]

It shouldn't affect render time since it sits outside the render area, right?

 

Yes, No and not necessarily.

 

I'm thinking in all cases here, including some applications not considered by William (for instance, rendering from any angle in a Modeling or Action window)

 

In the case of a realtime render the entire* 'on screen' frame gets rendered to include William's outer frame.

 

In the case of a final render some of the frame might render if it is not exactly aligned or within the renderable frame.

 

 

 

*Note: I say 'entire' but this isn't quite the case. It seems the right/left boundaries are maintained but the top and bottom are not.

I'm not sure why that is.

 

I've attached a render using William's project where we can see the top and bottom of the added camera frame blocker in the rendered frame.

This is what might happen if the user was not fully zoomed in on A:M's renderable area/frame.

[detbear]

Hey Guys,

 

Thanks Rodney.

 

I'm not familiar with the "eggslice" thingy. As Robcat said, the actual render area

is un effected by the "Blinders(I like that comparison Rob)".

 

I imagine that something could be created that worked in the camera itself to basically put

a "Blinder" area outside of the camera's render space. My model Blinder was just a workaround.

 

BTW....Robcat. Nancy G. created the Armor texturing on "Goose Knight" for the Boomer project.

Did a great job. Thanks Nancy Such talented people here.

 

Rodney....Would be cool if somehow this type blinder could help someone's render times for tests. I'm not sure

how it could be used for fades, cross dissolves, etc.

 

Cheers,

 

William

[detbear]

Rodney,

 

Just a thought. May not be much..... For a single frame, on screen, test render. I wonder if you could scroll the view

back so that the renderable area is further away/ smaller.....Then the actual render area may be smaller/ render faster.

Not sure if that would even work.... I'm away from my workstation so I haven't tried it.

 

William

[Rodney]

Rodney....Would be cool if somehow this type blinder could help someone's render times for tests. I'm not sure

how it could be used for fades, cross dissolves, etc.

 

This has been stewing for about five years so I might get it back on the burner again.

 

One way to think of this might be to consider what would happen if you were to place a grid in front of the camera rather than a hollow patch such as you have where A:M 'sees through' the hole and is obstructed by the matte, i.e. your camera frame blocker ™.

 

The standard response should be... 'Um... Rodney. If we put a grid in front of the camera... it will mask the entire scene.

In this you would be correct.

 

Now, align that grid in such a way as to emulate your camera frame blocker (it can help t think in terms of something like a 'Rule of Thirds' overlay here).

 

Now, select that center patch of the grid and change it's transparency to 100%.

You will now have (more or less) the same setup as what you have in the camera frame blocker.

The difference is that the center patch is still there and... can be used in a variety of interesting ways.

 

It can, for instance be colored black and then the transparency can be animated to fade the scene captured in the window to black, out of black to another color... too many options to list here.

 

But there's more... add a patch image to that Name Group... add fifteen if you want. Add Decals/brandings also if you are into that sort of thing.

Now you've turned A:M into a customizable compositor.

You can edit your entire movie right there in the camera frame by adjusting the transparency of each patch image.

Add layers and overlays to better control ambiance, bump, normal maps, etc.

Add customized filters (wipes, zooms, etc.) from previously rendered sequences.

 

You've given me a lot more food for thought here because I've been considering such a thing in two dimensions only and not particularly focused on the angle you are here. Simplicity is also key. In that I've been failing to see the forest for the trees.

[detbear]

Wow Rodney,

 

That does sound cool. I would also think that a quick and dirty version of that process could be done with a single patch also.

Kinda like a real time/ editable post effect. You could make the patch a red tint with transparency and get a real time tint overlay. Add a layer

with other properties, etc. But I'm sure what you have in mind there is much more detailed and would work much better.

 

That is so cool. I bet you could attach a few of those concepts on a grid constrained to the camera fairly easy.

 

William

[robcat2075]

As far as optimizing render time... I would be VERY surprised if A:M is not already optimized to spend no unnecessary time on things that will not show in the rendered frame.