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They should have a CGI program like this.

H

harmonica44

It would be cool if one could buy a CGI program that instead of having to animate everything, it gives you prop options already available. Such as, if you wanted say a certain type of military helicopter or tank, but you can't afford it on a low budget, then the program could have several types of helicopters and tanks to choose from that would fit where your story is set. And of course, it would have other things, like if you wanted backdrops of say Rome, but couldn't afford to film there, it would give you several types of them from all over the world to choose from.

That would be very nice cause then a regular indie filmmaker can do what usually only the people in Industrial Light and Magic can do. Think they will come out with a program like that soon? I assume there is a high enough indie market for it, and I'm surprised that haven't yet.
 
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http://www.turbosquid.com/
http://www.the123d.com/3d-model.html
http://artist-3d.com/

...etc


There are tons of models out there for cheap/free in a variety of 3D formats.

Pre-animated stuff would look like crap, because there's no way to account for every possible scenario. The tools are available, if someone is willing to spend the time to do the work there's no reason REALLY high quality CG work can't be done with free tools. The reason CG pushes budgets super high, generally, is because of the deadlines, not so much the difficulty of the work. It's the same with anything. You compress a timeline, either quality has to suffer, or it has to cost more because it requires more people, longer hours, etc..
 
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Even if there we're a program that had stock models in it (which is essentially what you get if you have a program and a model bought from one of Will's links), say a helicopter for example, you'd still need the skill to be able to animate it and composite it correctly. It's not a case of simply dropping it on top of your footage.

Angles and distances would need to be accounted for. If the helicopter were just taking off, the wind would play a factor in its movements. Your biggest problem would probably be the light source and the shadows that the object would need to cast. All perfectly do-able, but you still need to know what you're doing.

It's a nice idea, but it's just not that simple.
 
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Then throw them in blender and animate the rotors and camera moves (that part is pretty easy - the texturing is a bit difficult to get looking REALLY good, but hey, if it was easy...
 
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Well, there's Poser, but I think it's only for animating human models, and you get beaten to death by CGI artists every time you mention it.
Wait, there's omeone behind me. AHHHHHHH-
 
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harmonica44 said:
That would be very nice cause then a regular indie filmmaker can do what usually only the people in Industrial Light and Magic can do.
Click to expand...

Then they wouldn't be ILM, would that?

I still it's the artist, not the brush.

ILM started with all physical models. They didn't have their first CGI until YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES when the 4 person crew that would later become PIXAR did a CGI knight from a stain glass window. Then came Willow in 1987 and THE ABYSS in 1989 and then Terminator 2 in 1991 with Jurrassic Park in 1993 to seal the deal that CGI is the way to do FX.

As LORD OF THE RINGS proved, sometimes, the miniatures are better than CGI, so it's all in the perspective of what YOU do with the tools YOU have.

No, I don't believe there will ever be a software that is the click of a button then there will be photorealistic effects because they are so complex. There might be some CGI equivalent to stock footage with premade animation, but you can place it in 3D space, but then where is your control and creativity along with customization?

The real artists will still be with the production houses because we need to learn the programs and learn to paint with those brushes.
 
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mad_hatter said:
Even if there we're a program that had stock models in it (which is essentially what you get if you have a program and a model bought from one of Will's links), say a helicopter for example, you'd still need the skill to be able to animate it and composite it correctly. It's not a case of simply dropping it on top of your footage.

Angles and distances would need to be accounted for. If the helicopter were just taking off, the wind would play a factor in its movements. Your biggest problem would probably be the light source and the shadows that the object would need to cast. All perfectly do-able, but you still need to know what you're doing.

It's a nice idea, but it's just not that simple.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know it's not that simple but it still would save a lot of work anyway, wouldn't it?
 
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Not really. If youre doing any animation to match a physical set you have to preplan everything, the level of detail on the models, the texture resolution, matching scene lighting, etc... When you watch DVD extras it looks like they just drop everything in and hit the magic render button. In actuality there is weeks or months worth of work to get to the level they are showing.

I do animation every day, and if there was an easier way I'd be doing it... :)
 
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I'm just a layman when it comes to 3D animation, but I would think truly user-friendly special effects software (capable of predicting and responding to camera movement and lighting) could find an enormous market. I don't think it would have to be much more sophisticated than the software that already exists, either; in fact, in many ways, it could be simpler, since software aimed at novices wouldn't require nearly as many features.

Uh... right?
 
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superamazing said:
...truly user-friendly special effects software (capable of predicting and responding to camera movement and lighting) could find an enormous market...
Click to expand...

As would the screenwriting software that writes a story for you after you enter a simple synopsis, or the NLE that takes all your footage and cuts the most awesome film ever made from it, or the music production software that actually watches your movie and composes the most emotional score ever heard...

As I said, it's a very nice idea, but it's way off!
 
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superamazing said:
I'm just a layman when it comes to 3D animation, but I would think truly user-friendly special effects software (capable of predicting and responding to camera movement and lighting) could find an enormous market. I don't think it would have to be much more sophisticated than the software that already exists, either; in fact, in many ways, it could be simpler, since software aimed at novices wouldn't require nearly as many features.

Uh... right?
Click to expand...

I'm sure what the end user saw of the software would have to be much simpler, but the backend would be much more sophisticated, as it would have to process information and make decisions that the software's user would usually manage (the placing of tracking markers, for example). Features like After Effects CS5's RotoBrush show that software can make our lives immeasurably easier, but I suspect the market for software that has very limited control of enormously powerful features is much smaller than you imagine.
 
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Just for fun, Im pretending that its a good idea and its possible.. so where to start?

  • Process the video data with techniques similar to boujoo 3d tracking.
  • Solve the camera moves
  • Extrapolate 3d planes from the 3d tracking and shape data
  • Create a "level map" similar to a 3d game engine.
  • Allow user to drop 3d models onto the now 3D world and have them drop in perspective correctly.
  • User tweaks defines where the light is etc..
  • Animate objects and their motions with key framing techniques
  • render
done?
 
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We're certainly not there yet, but the place to look for this kind of thing is in video games...

It takes a lot of time, skill and resources to build, texture and light a realistic scene - but once that's done it takes very little specialized skill to run around in it in a game. So I don't think it's unreasonable to imagine something like 'virtual sets' that are essentially video game levels into which you can composite actors. Likewise with certain types of content in the scene - need a fleet of helicoptors to fly over a scene? Load an aircraft expansion pack, point them in the right direction, and go... so technically I don't think it's unrealistic.

The problem with this scenario is demand - there simply isn't enough demand for it to make the work of building the app to do it, or the content, worth it from a commercial perspective. The primary appeal would be for people who don't have the budget to do it themselves - building a project aimed at a market of people without money is a difficult business proposition. So while I think it's technically feasible right now, I don't expect we'll see something like this for quite a while, and if we do it's likely to be a community-driven project which piggybacks off an existing game engine. Right now I'd look to the machinema community for the likely foundation of that type of project.
 
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wheatgrinder said:
Just for fun, Im pretending that its a good idea and its possible.. so where to start?

  • Process the video data with techniques similar to boujoo 3d tracking.
  • Solve the camera moves
  • Extrapolate 3d planes from the 3d tracking and shape data
  • Create a "level map" similar to a 3d game engine.
  • Allow user to drop 3d models onto the now 3D world and have them drop in perspective correctly.
  • User tweaks defines where the light is etc..
  • Animate objects and their motions with key framing techniques
  • render
done?
Click to expand...

Looks like you've got it all figured out! When can we buy it and how much will it cost?
 
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chilipie said:
…from the people who can't afford a post-house to do their effects? :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, man, but more like from people that are too lazy to figure out the technical details. This stuff is pretty freaking difficult to figure out, but everyone would enjoy doing it if it was simple enough.

Like, the Wii effect, where a simple-to-use console blows up beyond its normal base of 15-year-olds to retirees and soccer moms.

We need the Wii equivalent of After Effects.
 
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