CompuServe Thread

#How 2 get best key 4 3ds

6 messages in this thread
#130157From: mike dawsonOct 20, 1994 11:02 AM
I have a .gif image of some mountains in the distance. I also have an object that I want to place in between those mountains, animate it to move around the mountains and come up to full screen. I get the animation part, but how can I put that object into the .gif from just 3dStudio? Do I need Photoshop or some other type of program to accomplish this feat? In broadcast, they call this keying. This is sort of what I want to do, but I need to make the object appear behind a range of hills and then in front of it, and I don't kow if keying will work in this manner. Anybody have any suggestions? I'm using rel 2 and waiting for rel 4 to arrive. mdawson
#130210From: Don LandisOct 20, 1994 2:47 PM
I don't think simple keying will do it for you but a form of rotoscoping will. I would take your bitmap into photoshop and create some clips from that image separating the foreground and background mountains. Then I would place the foreground mountain as an object in my scene using a combination opacity and texture map. In this way you can render the moving object going around one of the mountains.
#130288From: mike dawsonOct 20, 1994 9:04 PM
Cool! I'll give it a try. Thanks for the reply! mdawson
#130374From: Brandon BartlettOct 21, 1994 9:49 AM
Hi, If you have access to a magazine called 3D-Artist, an article in Issue # 14 a couple months ago, covered your situation exactly. The article was actually written as a how-to for Real-3D, but the concept will work just the same in 3D-Studio. Call 3D-Artist at (505) 982-3532 for that back issue or to subscribe (its a cool 3D magazine, lots of practical info). Basically what the article said was to create an object which, from the camera's viewpoint, matched the outline of the mountains, then make that object a "matte" object (see your manuals to see if this is possible in R2, I think it is, but I have never actually used R2, only R3). Then all you have to do is animate your moving object using the "matte" object to hide it while setting up your image of the mountains as the background for your animation. This and Don Landis's suggestion work out to basically the same results, just two different approaches. Don's might be a little easier, but I figure its always good to hear as many ideas as possible. Regards, Brandon
#130526From: mike dawsonOct 21, 1994 8:52 PM
This and Don Landis's suggestion work out to basically the same results, just two different approaches. Don's might be a little easier, but I figure its alwayse the parts of the scene as texture mapped objects in the keyframer.
#130390From: Yost GroupOct 21, 1994 10:46 AM
You're talking about compositing, which is the main purpose of Video Post. Use a paint package to chop your mountain images into two or more pictures and then assign them as layers in the Video Post Queue so you can animate your object in front or behind them. Take a look at the Video Post tutorial for more on developing the proper transparency, etc. for the images. – Jack