3D model into live footage test

Because I have been unable to obtain Boujou yet I decided to do a simple test this week on how to import 3D models into live footage.. I had never previously done this before so was important to find this out. Firstly I had to turn on the OBJ exporter in maya. For whatever reason it is turned off by default.

I then exported the OBJ files so I could use them in photoshop so I could turn it into a file that would be easily accessible in After Effects.

Not know to many is the fact that photoshop is capable of basic 3D effects, unfortunately this took quite a lot of quality off the rendering off the dragon but as this was just a simple test I decided to go with it and see what I could create.

In After effects I had a simplified version of my 3D model and decided to add it to some stock footage I had filmed earlier in the week. I then used after effects simple yet slightly effective tracking software to change the position and scale so it would kinda fit..

This is what I ended up with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_v67Lnomk0&feature=youtu.be

It still seems a lot out of place but as it was just a simple test I was quite happy with the results, I will try to get Boujou again this week and work on this some more perhaps with different footage.

As I was writing this I have just found a hopefully working Boujou file so will get started on that tomorrow.

How to move the model into real life footage

I have decided to research now how I'm going to put this dragon into real life footage, I have researched several video related tracking softwares so the model will look like it is meant to be in the footage and not look jerky or unrealistically put in.

I am looking at Boujou as a program to use to track the 3D model to the live footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PsGdjwht_A

I have decided to create some video footage today and try this tutorial to try and make it work. I am just going to have the dragon just there in the street not doing anything as a test and I hope to put it up on this blog by the end of the week.

My dragon will in all probability not be as frightening or anywhere near as realistic as a Hollywood production but I have singled out "Reign Of Fire" as my main source of inspiration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxJg7Gyxvhg

Would be amazing if I could make anything close to this.

Rigging the dragon

I found rigging this model quite hard as I had only ever had experience of rigging a humanoid model so  thinking about where to put the joints was quite hard. I took two screen shots off me rigging it t begin with and one of me painting the weights. I split the head and neck skeleton from the rest of the body as I found easier to animate this way, here are two screen shots of the rigging development. 

After that I started painting the weights of the joints so they only affected parts of the model that I wanted them too.. This was a very time consuming process as it was such a high polygon model. 

As you can see the body joints I decided wouldn't affect the neck...

And the neck and head joints wouldn't affect the body. 

The Dragon - early picture

Introduction

Visual effects or VFX is the process where something is edited, manipulated or created to change the effect and/or context of a live action shoot.

For this module I will be making a short video where vfx will be used, I have decided to mainly use Maya and After Effects for my project.

I have decided to attempt to integrate a 3D model into live footage, the 3D model in question being a dragon I have been working on since the end of July, I want to integrate it into live footage I have yet to record but I hope the outcome will be entertaining to make and to view.