If I wanted to say flip a car over, could I shoot video of the car from all sides, and put all the sides together in 3D, then flip it within previously shot road footage?
Can I create a 3D object in After Effects?
- Thread starter harmonica44
- Start date
You'd be better off either "building" a 3d virtual car in Blender, or buying one from any number of sites that sell 3d virtual models.
What you're proposing would VERY difficult, if not impossible to make look good/real...
If you don't mind my asking, what purpose is being served in your film by flipping the car? Is it an accident? Because there are MANY ways to infer that without actually showing it...
What you're proposing would VERY difficult, if not impossible to make look good/real...
If you don't mind my asking, what purpose is being served in your film by flipping the car? Is it an accident? Because there are MANY ways to infer that without actually showing it...
After Effects is 2.5D software. It can animate flat stuff in a 3D environment, and with some lengthy workarounds and scripting you can fake a sphere or a cube shape, but that's about it.
Blender is free if you just want to goof around. Becoming good at 3D, good enough to build and animate objects to blend with live action, will take a LOOOOOOONG time and time commitment. Considering you're still learning film stuff, unless you want to completely shift gears, team up with a 3D artist or animator. Taking rendered 3D footage and blending it in After effects is one thing, starting from scratch is another. We did it for our car flip, teamed with someone, and it was well worth it!
Blender is free if you just want to goof around. Becoming good at 3D, good enough to build and animate objects to blend with live action, will take a LOOOOOOONG time and time commitment. Considering you're still learning film stuff, unless you want to completely shift gears, team up with a 3D artist or animator. Taking rendered 3D footage and blending it in After effects is one thing, starting from scratch is another. We did it for our car flip, teamed with someone, and it was well worth it!
If you want to practice with a specific make/model then poor-man's photogrammetry will be fine, otherwise there are lots of free models out there for you to use instead (if you wish). For quick & dirty previs, I'll often dig up a Sketchup model, export it as OBJs (in pieces) and suck it into Maya.
Are you compositing the car into a photographic image? If so, you'll be match moving all night. If not, then you don't need to bother with photographic textures. Just add some simple colors, and you are golden. Have a look at Hollywood Camera Works (Hot Moves) for examples of shots achieved with very simple models. It looks great, and you'll be working out shots instead of texturing & lighting.
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But, if photos are what you need:
The photos will have lighting baked into the original image. I'd suggest a couple of things to help it look a bit better:
- Take the photos with a long lens.
- Get an existing car model and adjust it to your images.
- Instead of walking around the car & taking photos, leave the camera in one spot & turn the car 90 degrees at a time. This will give you texture maps that look similarly exposed / lit.
- Shoot the photos on an overcast day to flatten out the lighting a bit. You can easily add highlights later, if you wish.
- You may consider shooting the car textures with a polarizer and then slap on a reflection map on the car model afterward. Nothing extravagant, but it'll give you something that looks a bit better, especially when it's animated.
It's not going to look 'real', but it may suit your needs.
ROK
Are you compositing the car into a photographic image? If so, you'll be match moving all night. If not, then you don't need to bother with photographic textures. Just add some simple colors, and you are golden. Have a look at Hollywood Camera Works (Hot Moves) for examples of shots achieved with very simple models. It looks great, and you'll be working out shots instead of texturing & lighting.
----------------------------------
But, if photos are what you need:
The photos will have lighting baked into the original image. I'd suggest a couple of things to help it look a bit better:
- Take the photos with a long lens.
- Get an existing car model and adjust it to your images.
- Instead of walking around the car & taking photos, leave the camera in one spot & turn the car 90 degrees at a time. This will give you texture maps that look similarly exposed / lit.
- Shoot the photos on an overcast day to flatten out the lighting a bit. You can easily add highlights later, if you wish.
- You may consider shooting the car textures with a polarizer and then slap on a reflection map on the car model afterward. Nothing extravagant, but it'll give you something that looks a bit better, especially when it's animated.
It's not going to look 'real', but it may suit your needs.
ROK
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Okay thanks. I want it to look real though. What's the best method to achieve the effect, if their is one?
Hire somebody who knows what they're doing with 3d software. That will make your scene look real.
Or spend 3-4 years mastering 3d software, texturing and camera animation to become good, then do it yourself.
Or spend 3-4 years mastering 3d software, texturing and camera animation to become good, then do it yourself.
I would love to have someone do it, but haven't been able to find many. But I will look more. I just need to know if it can be done. I don't want to shoot a movie with it in mind and then find out it cannot be of course. I will look around more and see if I can find someone who has done things that good before.
Of course it can be done. But it requires A LOT of skill set, talent and experience to make it believable.
Id suggest to shoot without the crazy car flip in mind.
Id suggest to shoot without the crazy car flip in mind.