I've been watching biltongbru's clips with real humans in the cockpit and thought I would have a go cos it looks like fun. I used the Chroma Key (aka blue screen) which is a different method.

Here's what I got:
http://www.gamerztheatre.com/component/option,com_seyre...eodirectlink/id,878/

(low quality youtube version HERE)


I'll describe how I did this if anybody is interested? It took a lot longer than I thought to make it, as usual lol, and it's too late for now

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Joe-90,

That looks really, really good Mate

I can see this method being used a lot in future movies as it looks very convincing to see natural movement in the cockpit, even from a distance.

That really looks super, Joe! Just a few of those clips, from mid-distance, scattered throughout a movie would really bring "life" to the screen/movie!

Hi Joe;

You did it again, well done!

I would really like to know how it is done, but please step-by step as for your Vegas.

Can you give us a real close-up view to see the detail of the quality of the merge?

P.S. : I like the cool look of the pilot with shades and base ball cap….

Here's how I did it:

1. First, Frap the aircraft (a Spitfire MkIX in this case) in flight with a steady camera view. Note the angle of the pilot in relation to the camera and the light source (the sun).




2. Then, set up your camera for the human pilot. I didn't spend a lot of time on this as I knew the end result was going to be very low res. If you want a larger image you will need to pay a lot more attention to the lighting and use an even coloured backdrop. Heck, you might even want to iron the sheet you use to get rid of the creases, lol.

I just used my Kodak Easyshare C875 which does a not too bad job at 30fps sVGA. Sufficient for this experiment.




3. You then need to replace the blue screen (erm, well, slightly wrinkled turquoise sheet) with an empty cockpit. Use a stationary Spitfire IX clip. Again, the setup is not too important as the cockpit shot is going to be very low res, just as long as it looks pretty close.




4. Composite these two videos in Vegas using the Chroma Keyer. Sony's Chromo Keyer is very flexible and you can hide a multitude of sins in the raw footage by adjusting the settings. Once the background disappears, adjust the crop and rotation until the pilot looks the right size in the right place.

Adjust the Saturation (HSL filter) and Brightness and Contrast to match the pilot video with the game footage and render this out.



5. Now, you have to replace the cockpit in the actual Spitfire shot with green. This gets a little tricky, so bear with me. First, take a screenshot of the Spitfire in flight and copy it into Paint Shop Pro (or whatever graphics program you use). Colour in the inside with green, and outside the cockpit frame with blue.



6. Composite this image with the original Spitfire shot. This time, Chroma Key out the blue, and render out the video clip.



7. Almost there! Now composite the clip you just made with the clip you made in step 4, this time chroma keying out the green. Play around with the size and position and bob’s your auntie!




8. Here's a still from the video, a little closer than I would have liked for quality. Adding the final filters to the movie and some camera shake again disguises some minor blips. SFX and music are the final distractions so the viewer doesn't look too close! It's all sleight of hand, lol.

Hey Joe .. I spotted this at Stage 6 .. bloody well done with this.

I really would like to post this at Gamerztheatre, we now have a blog section there. Many of the lads there would love to see this too.

Gas

Joe
This is ground breaking stuff and allows new dimension (and challenge) for moviemakers! The method I described is definitely easier but restricted to 2 dimensional shoots where you have a clear view through the canopy, but this chroma key method opens the 3 D scope. Thanks for this man!

I used a piece of 3mm hard board painted white for the shoot background, no wrinkles!! (are you the actor? better shave next time!!!)

Hi Gas, sure go ahead. I haven't checked out your blog for a while. Must pop over again.

Biltongbru, cheeky bugger, you can't see bristle at low res

I liked your method for simplicity if you only want a hint of real pilot. Horses for courses, mate.

There you go Joe .. full rights given to you .. and this is fed directly to machifeed for all those who are linked to read.

Come in soon and have a deco ..

http://www.gamerztheatre.com/content/view/551/1/

Gas

Very very nice job Joe..

You are getting very good and comfortable using Vegas.

Thanks for sharing....


Best Regards

Cheers Gas.

Is it just my browser? The body frame is too small to view the large Vegas images? I'm using IE7

quote:

Originally posted by Joe-90:
Cheers Gas.

Is it just my browser? The body frame is too small to view the large Vegas images? I'm using IE7

I noticed that for the first time today .. I think Crazy messed with it .. lol .. I will get him to look at it tonight.

Hey that's pretty cool

Yeah I had a similar project that I was working on but had to give it up as it was taking tooo much time away from family and work.

I salvaged the part I really wanted to share and made it a smaller clip I am uploading to Mediafire file sharing. I will post it in another thread once it's done uploading.

~S~

Triad

This message has been edited. Last edited by: triad773,

Nice one Joe.

Great to see the FX overcoming the games shortcomings.

I like your comment about croma keying needing more work than expected. Me and Bob spent days on single shots for FHC, we know the pain.

And nice to see that at last we are realising why we never get considered for serious films, we have no fricking people in them.

Love it Joe, and love Vegas.

PS: finish working at Stansted Airport in one week so expect to see me around again until I get sent to Heathrow for another stint at scaring passengers.

quote:

I'm using IE7

Then stop using it and get mozilla

Hi BA. Now I know why it's been so tame around here

Vegas! The best move I made in a long time. Movibg from Premiere to Vegas was a hard learning curve, but well worth it.

Not sure if this vid was shown here before lads .. but this adds nicely to what you did here Joe.

http://www.gamerztheatre.com/component/option,com_seyre...eodirectlink/id,986/

Capt Quinn is a member at Gamerztheatre now, we have been trying to have a chat now for weeks but he seems rather rusty around PC's .

Hopefully once he gets this fixed up we can find out how did did all this work.

Aye Gas, it was one of the examples we discussed when trying to figure how to get a human (CGI or real) into a movie.

This was really cool, and a tremendous amount of effort must have went into it.

However, you need to have your cheesiness dampers turned right up to appreciate it

Awe come on ... lol

Cant you feel the love?

Hi Gas;

I viewed the movie you refer to : Mc Clusky:

In my opinion it is an artistic masterpiece; the combination of flight sim and real life shoots is done in a brilliant and super skillful way!!!
I cant imagine the producer being an amateur??
Thanks for the link!!

quote:

Originally posted by biltongbru:
Hi Gas;

I viewed the movie you refer to : Mc Clusky:

In my opinion it is an artistic masterpiece; the combination of flight sim and real life shoots is done in a brilliant and super skillful way!!!
I cant imagine the producer being an amateur??
Thanks for the link!!

He is an amateur like you and I, he is a fulltime musician from the States. I did read somewhere a while ago how he did it but cant find that link.
I am still working on him to give up more info on it, but as I said before his skills with PC and ways to comunicate with them fall well below his production skills.
I would love to have the HD or a higher res version of this at gamerztheatre.

Gas