SKYLAB CHAT

[skylab]

The 1970 Yamaha freebie comes in green...and also a number of material errors as it is attempting to load, so thought I'd go ahead and re-assign the materials with Schurby GTO mats

 

[skylab]

Ever since seeing the Modern Times video, I've been pondering green screen techniques while working on preparing to do some beginner level modeling. That's pretty much how I work...I can ponder the side projects while doing the dishes or laundry...so here's what I've found so far. Naturally I was interested in either freeware, or software that I already owned. As for the software I already have installed, Sony Vegas will work, and big surprise, so will Blender. There are also freeware programs that I've not yet tested, but are reviewed at this link.

One thing I'm pondering is...could this technique be duplicated with a 3D character with the same results...that is, a created 3D character doing, for example, a walk cycle in Poser against a bright green background? Could this be a short cut to accomplishing complex animated scenes on a computer that is not loaded with lots of ram or an expensive graphics card? This has been a limitation for me in the past...when complex scenes are fully loaded, there's no way to create an animation with an already bloated scene. But if the character(s) could be green screened....hmmm. Perhaps space, and spaceship scenes are a good place to start with experimenting with this. Slon might be boldly going into new territory

10 BEST FREE GREEN SCREEN SOFTWARE

 

[Terre]

That sounds interesting.

 

[skylab]

These demonstrations are for filming green screen, but the basic technique information is still useful.

 

[skylab]

...and these tutorials demonstrate how to accomplish green screen editing in Sony Vegas Studio Platinum versions 11 through 13 (the cheaper versions, not the pricey Pro). Freeware editors would have similar settings and adjustments.

 

[skylab]

Hey Terre You caught me thinking way outside the box...again...haha

 

[skylab]

I'll be attempting to merge these two videos hopefully tomorrow...an old animation of Flisch re-rendered as a green screen, and a new animation of the Enterprise doing an earth fly by. We'll see how it turns out These are greatly reduced in size and frame rate in order to post them, so the Enterprise is a bit jumpy compared to the smooth, 120 frame original.

Have a good evening everyone

 

[Terre]

Good morning. That sounds like an interesting project.

 

[skylab]

Well, the chroma key test was successfully completed in minutes...but finding a video codec that was compatible with GIF Movie Gear...not so much. Also, the export to import reduced the colors, which I didn't care for, so will have to find a way to work around that. Sony Vegas yields nice results, but it's just too big for its britches to be compatible with .gif animation programs. So, guess I'll be testing some of the open source alternatives for green screening. The reduction in frames left the Enterprise a little jumpy...but the green screen itself worked perfectly. I chose Flisch intentionally because of his fine tuft of a do from the Poser hair room, and on the original large video, every strand can be seen clearly, and there doesn't appear to be any stray pixels around the masking. So...in answer to the question, will this work...the answer is...absolutely yes...once the workflow issues are solved.

 

[skylab]

Here's a second attempt, importing the individual frame images into JASC Animation Shop, which I normally use. The colors are better, but the jumpy Enterprise must have been due to the Sony Vegas export. I think in order to solve this, I'll have to search for a video editor that will export uncompressed .avi, since I know it works well with Animation Shop.

 

[skylab]

This a merciful, handy script for those of use who do pose work especially, but anything that requires frequently switching cameras.

Toggle Cameras 1.0

 

[skylab]

After testing the freeware video editors, I was surprised that VideoPad may be the best option. It allows for .avi export and does green screen with multi-layer videos. Here is a green screen specific YouTube demonstration below, and then a tutorial on the user interface.

VIDEOPAD FREE (for non-commercial use)

MORE VIDEOPAD TUTORIALS

 

[Terre]

Good find there.

 

[skylab]

Well, I finally successfully extruded something in Carrara

I found that I wasn't quite ready for Stezza's tire tutorial, since I was not yet familiar with the modeling room UI in Carrara. So I watched another tutorial that covered some of the basics, and then did some very simple experiments, exported them as .obj, and imported them into Poser 11. By the way, I read somewhere that to get .obj files to show in preview mode in Poser 11...you have to simply 1) make the ground plane invisible, and 2) choose SreeD in the Render Settings Preview tab.

My extrusion attempts might make background buildings. Time for my afternoon nap

 

[skylab]

If anyone is interested in trying the free companion landscaping program to Anim8or, called Terranim8or, go to this tutorial page. Link to download the latest version of Terranim8or is at the top of the Volcano tutorial page. The program can create animated terrains, clouds and oceans. Like Anim8or, it does not require installation, just unzip into folder of your choice. Below is a very cute movie called the Ugly Dino, created in Anim8or.

Terranim8or

 

[skylab]

Apparently green screening is another way of short cutting with water animation

Forum discussion page with sample Anim8or file downloads.

 

[Terre]

That looks useful.

 

[Terre]

Good morning.

 

[skylab]

Had to put aside playing with 3D for awhile in order to do some light preparations for being hit with rain possibly tomorrow night...folks on the east coast will have residual storms from Hurricane Michael. After flash flooding due to rains from Florence, our tap water was strong with chlorine for a couple of days....so this time I stored extra water in the fridge to get us past the heavy rains...and I changed the fish tank water ahead of the storm's arrival. Between doing these things and running last minute errands, I had to slip under the radar today. Hopefully our power will remain on...one wonders how much rain can the land take before shallow-rooted trees just give up. I saw on the weather channel where large pines were just falling over...which in turn causes power outs. Anyway...after the storm and accompanying distractions pass, I'll get back to 3D work.

I'm downloading f-clone, a motion capture program mentioned in another thread, to check it out later.

Have a good evening everyone...and east coast folks, stay safe!

 

[Terre]

Stocking up on water ahead of time is a good idea. If you still end up with some water later that has too much chlorine you can solve that by letting it sit for a while before using it. The chlorine will slowly evaporate into the air.