JimH | 16 years ago | 16 comments | 10 likes | 8.8K views
aleman, kf_daddy, mufasaxx and 6 others like this!
The video is a "light" tutorial on how to create 3D looking animations from a simple 2D photograph. I also used the Soccer Ball animation from this great gallery for the intro.
Sorry, The BT file that contains the Bluff Titler parts is too big for the 250KB upload limit. Maybe this should be increased if we are to share shows like this.
Michiel. I love the way YouTube links show up as embedded videos. Can you do the same for Vimeo links?
JimH, 16 years ago
JimH, thankyou very much for your video-tutorial and for the link of its BT file. I will study it and try!!!
hidalgo, 16 years ago
Thanks Jim for the suggestion!
Vimeo links are now recognized and embedded, as you can see on this page!
michiel, 16 years ago
More details on the tutorial from the Vimeo site:
1. Cut each boy from the background using the mask tool and save as objects to separate PNG file.
2. Clone in any parts of the arms and legs that are obsured by overlapping bits. The shooter's obscured leg was created using the visible leg, flipped and rotated.
3. Create a mask from the objects and feather the mask edges "in" then save as PNG with transparancy generated from the mask.
4. Clone everything out of the original photo so that it's all grass.
5. Import a new soccer ball from any photo and adjust color and motion blur to suit.
6. Import each element - boys, ball and grass background into Bluff as "Picture Layers."
7. Set each Picture Layer to "3D in 3D Space."
8. Arrange layers in proper order in front of background. This takes some fussing around with Layer's "Size" and "Position." Background is tilted back on top in 3D space to increase the illusion.
9. Change the position of the camera to create the panning and zooming effect for the start and end points.
10. Render to the format of your choice and pat yourself on the back
JimH, 16 years ago
michiel,
How hard would it be to add a feature to Bluff where you could import a photoshop file with layers so that the layers would show up with the background in 3D space? For example, if I loaded a PSD file containing the soccer boys and background and have Bluff automatically arrange the layers in order of their appearance in the PSD file? Then all you would have to do is change their positions a bit and create this effect with a few simple steps? This would make Bluff an even more killer app! Hey you can't blame me for dreaming!
JimH, 16 years ago
That's the same idea Adobe had when they acquired Macromedia. Their idea is to use Flash to bring Photoshop created PSD files to live. What you're proposing is to use Bluff instead of Flash, right?
Supporting new file formats is never easy because of compatibility issues and limited documentation but we will see how far we can get. Thanks for your suggestion!
michiel, 16 years ago
I've been using After Effects to do the 3D photo effect mainly because it will import layered psd photoshop files. It's a tricky process to learn but the end results were always worth it.
I would love to see BT be able to add layered psd files just for some of the reasons you mentioned. One feature in AE that made the process a lot easier was it's ability to show different views of the scene, primarily the Top View where you could see the depth of each layer in relation to the camera. Another feature is the ability to change the pivot point of the camera thereby changing the perspective of the moving objects. IOW, imagine the camera at the end of a pendulum. The pivot point could be the background layer or any of the foreground objects
If you decide to move forward with Jim's suggestion, I would add those to my wish list of features to be included.
kf_daddy, 16 years ago
kf_daddy, the "the camera at the end of a pendulum" effect can be created by setting the ARM LENGTH property of the camera layer to a non zero value. The size of the pendulum is the length of the arm.
michiel, 16 years ago
son of a gun! There's always something new to learn in BT. Time to experiment. ;-)
kf_daddy, 16 years ago
"kf_daddy, the "the camera at the end of a pendulum" effect can be created by setting the ARM LENGTH property of the camera layer to a non zero value. The size of the pendulum is the length of the arm."
Is that what that feature is for? I always wondered why when I experimented with it nothing happens! Heaven forbid I read the manual! lol.
I like KF's idea regarding different axis views for the camera. I do find it difficult at times to create a camera move when the subjects jump out of frame and I have to play around to find them. Making fine adjustments would be much easier if you could switch views.
Michiel, I hope we are not drowning you with all these suggestions! But it's go great that you are receptive to new ideas.
JimH, 16 years ago
The arm length property of the camera layer is very useful if you want to rotate the camera around an object: position the camera at the same position as the object (for example by copying the position property of the picture layer to the position property of the camera layer) and animate the arm length and rotation properties of the camera layer.
This technique is used in this animation to rotate the camera around the earth:
michiel, 16 years ago
Very nice work, I've seen this done in AE before but not Buff.
TonyV, 16 years ago
i've alot to learn it seems! that looks great though
boothferrylegend, 15 years ago
