3D shadows in vegas?

Jim H wrote on 1/2/2008, 8:36 PM

I used Ultra2 to key this scene and render the 3D shadow:
http://www.vimeo.com/467264Shadow Sample[/link]
However, Ultra is bugging out on me and dropping frames (including the last 10) so it's real jerky. I don't know why it started doing that but I've rendered it in various codecs and I get the same drop outs.

I'm getting a pretty good chromakey in vegas so I thought I'd just do the keying there. Problem is I can't recreate the 3D shadow. I toyed with the 3d planes but I can't get anything that looks natural. Can anyone point me to the answer? or create a veg that would do this?

Here's a sample frame:
http://jameshoughtaling.com/images/framekeysample.jpgSample keyframe[/link]

Many thanks.

Jim

Comments

Grazie wrote on 1/3/2008, 1:35 AM

Dunno if this will work, but it is my first stab at it . ..

As you are wanting to a form a type of perspective, and yes 3-D does lend some perspective too - we'll come back to this - you might try out the SONY Deform Fx. This is much overlooked by us all, but one can get some truly "natural" looking perspective-like results.

1] Create a greying-out image of the rotating device (just WHAT is it?!??)

2] Apply the SONY Deform FX - I just did it with the "Squeeze Bottom" (kinda like that one!)

3] Apply the 3-D to the track to then position and LEAN over the . . er . .thing!

Now what you SHOULD have is a rotating grey-thingy leaning away from its base - like a shadow would - then it is just a matter of positioning it with and in sequence WITH the original.

Nice project!

Grazie

Grazie wrote on 1/3/2008, 1:40 AM

. . and if you got really nifty at it, you could also apply a GRAD that would have the "shadow" fade to the top too! And/or Gaussian blur!

Grazie

AlanC wrote on 1/3/2008, 3:00 AM

Grazie, I think it's one of them 'sit on' orbital sanders. You know, a bit like a 'sit on' mower!

Jim H wrote on 1/3/2008, 2:28 PM

Thanks Grazie, I'm trying the deform approach and it's got potential.
How do you apply the GRAD so that it fades out the shadow at the end? Are you referring to Gradient Mapping? I was able to do some fading with a mask and feather, but the feather won't give me a gradient over the full length of the device... just about 1/4 of it at the very end....which looks ok...is there a way to selectively set the transparency of an event at a specified angle and starting/end point? Like Corel Photopaint's interactive transparency tool?

I was having a problem relocating the shadow so it lines up with the divice. Using pan crop won't work as the object goes out of frame before the deformed version of itself (the shadow) gets to it's mark. I figured out I needed to use track motion instead.

BTW, the device is a leg simulator. It's used by amputees when they can't or aren't wearing their artificial leg. I'm doing some probono stuff for the developer.

Jim H wrote on 1/3/2008, 7:57 PM

I think I managed to get a reasonable shadow using just the deform tool... with some blur. The rotation still seems a bit jerky but I'm done playing with it for now.

http://vimeo.com/447481Updated video with shadow created in Vegas[/link]

The clip is just a little demo trailer... the final product is targeted for a website, probably flash and much smaller.

I'm loving Vimeo's HD capabilities.