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1. nmajmani92
   Member

   

    Ok, so here's the dilema.  I'm doing a video produced entirely in a chroma environment, with there only being one live-action character.  The key color is a light brown/pink mix.  Before someone says that that will clash with human tones, the subject isn't organic, but mechanical.

   Now, I have a couple problems for this video.  One, I need to find a way to make shadows of this character in the CG environment.  Preliminary tests make a very unrealistic no shadow appearance, so I was wondering if there was any other way.

   Also, I have a problem with making camera movements match the movement of CG sets.  There always seems to be an off somewhere, and smooth keystoning doesn't make it match up perfectly.  Is there any way to create a more perfect realistic match for this.

   If it has any help, I'm working in Final Cut Pro and have two camera's available (one 8mm Hitachi, and one record to DVD Sony Camcorder).  

   Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks. 

   Posted 3 months ago # Login to Send PM

2. trekkie1701D
   Member

   

    I use Serious Magic's Ultra 2 (it's now sold by Adobe) and it can create shadows, rather realisticly. I'm not sure if there are other programs that do the same thing

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3. nmajmani92
   Member

   

    Although that sounds like a good way to do it, I've already maxed out my budget for this film.  I need a free way to get this done.

   I will keep Ultra in mind on my to-buy list for the future though. 

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4. Dallas
   Member

   

    Shadows in FCP? Duplicate the layer with the key, add a "color corrector" filter, turn down brights, mids, and darks all the way. Also turn down the saturation all the way. make y the layer say 50% transparent, and use the distort tool to lay it on the ground. Add a blur filter. As long as the BG isn't to complicated, that should work.

    

    I assume you are using the tracker from Motion? It will made a difference weather you are tracking a close object or a far off object. Try and track a point closest to where your keyed mechanical thing will end up being in the scene. And by closest I mean depth wise, not up, down, left or right.

   Posted 3 months ago # Login to Send PM

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