Mar

06

CG Lighting for Cinematograhpers – Night Interior Breakdown

Previs

Night Interior CG Lighting Cinematography

This year I’ve worked on some really great commercials that have taken full advantage of my previs work. I’ve successfully integrated lighting into my workflow and I love lighting in CG. There was a relatively steep learning curve that I’m still riding, but I have a lot of the basics figured out.

The diagram at the top shows a quick Night Exterior scene that I created as a demo. I approached lighting this 3d scene just like I would in real life, based loosely on a spec from an upcoming job. There is a large soft source outside of the windows, about 18′ high and angled down. In the kitchen there is an warm source (2′ 4 bank kino 3200k) and the actor is being keyed with a 4×4 Area light (1k Through a 4×4 of Bleached Muslin or Full Grid).

On a real job, I would create several iterations exploring different moods/angles, based on my discussions with the director and he could pick the one he liked the best or at least we could start a discussion. After that I would make a technical diagram showing where the lights should be placed and my best guess at the unit and gels needed.

Weta’s Mattias Menz on New Trends in CG Lighting
http://www.cgchannel.com/2012/10/wetas-matthias-menz-on-new-trends-in-cg-lighting/

This is a great article talking about how CG artists are thinking about CG lighting much more along the lines of how a traditional cinematographer would. Keeping the camera movement and lighting based on reality can make for a more believable and potentially engaging CG film.

My goal this year is to get my CG lighting completely on par with my real world lighting. After I read a treatment/storyboard, I immediately open Maya and start throwing together a scene, finding angles, making camera moves, and starting to light it.

I’m looking forward to sharing my last two projects which involved doing lighting previs for cars in a studio environment.

Cheers,

Matt

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Feb

26

Light Iron + Lily Pad + Commercial Shoot

Behind the Scenes
Light Iron Lily Pad - Cart

Light Iron Lily Pad – Cart

Today was my first experience with the infamous Light Iron “Lily Pad” On set Creative Suite. We were shooting with a RED Epic 5k Full frame and we used the system to generate dailies with a “normal” LUT, while preserving the REDCODE for the online.

The cart itself is running off a Mac Pro and is one sexy configuration. My favorite part of the suite is the “Live Play 2.0″ feature, that allows any iPad to view all of the shots during the day at any time. One can also enter pre-made meta data fields or create their own. I wish I had this system on my last shoot honestly.

Light Iron Lily Pad - Live Play 2.0 App on an Apple iPad 2

Light Iron Lily Pad – Live Play 2.0 App on an Apple iPad 2

I’m told that the system can handle ArriRAW, REDRAW, CanonRAW, Sony sLOG2, etc. I’ve had mixed experiences dealing with all digital workflows so far. Some times we finish spots at Company 3 off the RAW. Others, they don’t have the time/budget and we finish off the dailies. Now I can create LUTS for the dailies in DaVinci and send them as reference for the colorist, if there is any online.

I’ve been looking for a solid workflow for handling on set color correction for dailies and for communicating with the colorist. After seeing the system running in person I have more confidence moving in to an ArriRAW and any RAW workflow really.

The future is now. :)

Cheers,

Matt

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Jan

29

RGBD Toolkit + Canon C300 + ASUS Xtion Pro

Behind the Scenes
Canon C300 + ASUS Xtion Pro + RGBD Toolkit

Canon C300 + ASUS Xtion Pro + RGBD Toolkit

Welcome to the future – depth based photography is in it’s infancy now, but it will change how we think about photography/film forever. In the world of depth based photography, the traditional camera (5D, Alexa, 35mm, etc.) is only used for their 2D color data, the REAL camera is the depth sensor that captures the world in three dimensions.

Last month, I discovered a company called RGBD Toolkit. They have developed a software solution using a DSLR and a Microsoft Kinect sensor that captures point cloud data and maps color texture on to it. I met with the creators/developers last week and got to speak with them about using the RGBD Toolkit for commercial purposes.

Their software allows you to re-photograph the point clouds and animate the camera angles, depth of field, and rendering of the point clouds. There are some pretty amazing demo videos already on vimeo showing what is possible, but there are so many possibilities with this technology.


This is a video created by Pierpaolo Valetto, in Italy using the RGBD Toolkit.

The toolkit is already capable of generating rough 3d geometry that has an abstract interpretation of real life. Depth based photography has a lot of promise and as the technology develops, we may see the need for green/blue screen compositing fade because the depth data would allow for a more accurate alpha matte.

One of the creators of RGBD Toolkit, Jonathan Minard, introduced me to a concept where cameras in the future would capture an entire area as a point cloud. The framing, lighting, depth of field, etc. would be all done in post in 3D. This is an interesting concept, and the RGBD toolkit brings a glimpse at that future.

The most exciting part of this RGBD Toolkit is that you can do it with any SLR and a Kinect, both of which are very accessible and affordable. The software is open source and developed with OpenFrameworks.

Featured above is my beta rig for my C300 using the ASUS Xtion Pro sensor, which is a little smaller.

I’m going to be doing some beta testing and importing into Maya for rendering, but then I want to use it on some real jobs in the near future.

Cheers,

Matt

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Jan

28

2013 First Post

Behind the Scenes / Previs
Handheld with the Alexa

Handheld with the Alexa

Welcome to 2013, it’s crazy how fast 2012 went by, but I feel proud of what I’ve accomplished. It was the beginning of last year that I got into Google SketchUp and started using previs on my commercial jobs. Now I’m using Maya on every job and doing full blown 3d character animation, camera blocking, motion control visualization, set visualization, and some very fun new lighting visualization.

I haven’t posted many photos from my last shoots due to NDA stuff, but I shot a campaign for the New Jersey Lottery, a commercial for EHarmony, and a PSA for Wild Aid with a famous basketball player. I’ll post all of the spots when they are out and I’m especially proud of the previs and execution for the NJ Lottery shoot. It was my first time I used 3d character animation in my previs.

This year I have a new focus and a I’m working with some new exciting companies and tools that I believe will redefine how we approach filming and lighting in the future.

More to come.

Cheers,

Matt

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Dec

13

Click3x + Canon 30-300mm

Behind the Scenes
Red Scarlet Click3x Canon 30-300mm mini worrall head

Red Scarlet + Mini Worrall gearhead from Click3x Canon 30-300mm

Fun shoot with Click3x and their Scarlet. I got try the new Canon 30-300mm, which was exciting. The lens is beautiful and has a similar range to the deFacto commercial industry Angeniuex Optimo 12x 24-290mm. I’d definitely like to bring this lens on a location shoot and really put it through a more testing. Bokeh, flaring, breathing, etc.

I’ve been doing a lot of previs and I’m spending a lot of time learning how to animate 3d characters and add real time lighting. Looking forward to sharing it when it’s out!

Cheers,

Matt

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