Test video with number of effects

Now that I have tested all of my effects, I wanted to do one final test video which featured all of the effects, or as many of them as I could with the footage I have. This video uses the moving background, the green screen footage, the black and white grading and the rotating 3D text. I couldn't do the underwear removal effect because, obviously, my model in this test video is wearing full clothing. I also didn't do the rotoscoping effect with the colour grading because it is time consuming and I didn't feel it was necessary to repeat again for the sake of a test. Below is one frame with the rotoscope effect on.

3D Text test

This test shows how I will use 3D text in my video. I used 3DS Max to create the text and then did the animation in After Effects using the cylinder tool. I like the effect, although in my final video I think I will try and make the text look more 3D, because I don't think it is that easy to see on this test video.

Thoughts on my project so far

So far I am really enjoying this project. I am glad that I chose to do visual effects that I haven't done before, because working on the test videos has been challenging but rewarding (when something goes right!) I think the best decision I made was to give myself time to plan and test all of the effects, because it has made me feel more comfortable and confident about the final effects for the final video. At this point the last effect I need to test is the rotating 3D text effect. I am confident that using the skills I have learnt while doing these test videos, I will be able to produce a project of a high standard for the end of the year :)

Background test in Maya

The video above is my test video for this project. I created a long square tunnel in Maya and textured it using the images in the previous post. I then added a light and camera and animated the camera to move out of the box. I rendered this image sequence and put it into After Effects, then into Premiere Pro so I could cut and paste the sequence so it would continue for the full 1 minutes 41 seconds of my video. I had to tweak the sequnce a little bit in order for it to run smoothly but I am happy with the results. The movement of the camera and the texturing aren't perfect and will be done much better in the final video, but atleast I know the techniques I need to use to create the background when I come to do the real thing next semester.

I am really glad that I have used this semester to test all of my effects because I will be able to do everything so much more easily and quickly when I come to produce the real video.

Print screens of textured model from Maya

Background tests

These images are texture plates for a 3D cube that I will be modelling for the background of my video. I looked at a few tutorials in an attempt to recreate the video below and determine the best way to create the effect I want it to use Maya to model a 3D cube, texture the back plate with the first image, and texture the walls, floor and ceiling of the 'room' with the second image (rotated for the floor and ceiling plates).
I will then animate a camera to start at the back of the box room and move out, therefore creating the effect of movement.

Green Screen Keying test (with background)

I used the footage I shot today to do a quick keying and background test. The key worked fairly well, although I will get a better result with the proper footage because my subject won't be wearing black, which created a slight problem in this case as there's a bit of a glow around the t shirt area.

I really like how the background works with the movement of the model (the model in the real shoot will be more professional!) I definitely think I will try and recreate this background to use in my final video, although I will experiment with colour in my version.

Music

As mentioned in my first posts, my intention with the music was to use the track I produced last year in Sound Design. However when I came to listen to it again I didn't like it, and so I asked my brother, who is talented in music production, to help my produce a new track. I still wanted to keep a similar sound a feel to the track, but just a bit better. We worked together for a few hours, collaborating our ideas and came up with this track, which I love and can't wait to use in my video.


Catwalk Music Track

Production test

Today I worked in the green screen studio on test set ups and shots for my project. I wanted chance to work out the lighting in particular before the real shoot because this can take up a great deal of time, and we only have 3 hours in the studio. Two friends assisted me and together we worked out a set up that gave my the desired lighting on the model and would make keying out the green screen as simple as possible. In the final set up we used a large kino and two dedo lights to achieve the correct lighting.

I shot a little bit of footage so I can use if in other test videos, for example the background and 3D test.

Underwear Test 1

Today I started working on the underwear removal aspect of my project. Firstly I downloaded some footage of women in underwear from Getty Images.com to work with. I then did a little bit of research and worked out that probably the best way to do the effect in After Effects was using the clone stamp tool. This tool allows you to take pixels from one areas of a shot and paste them somewhere else in the same shot. I spent a long time trying to use this tool to cover an entire bra, but because I was working with small areas and pixels, the coverage was not at all smooth and I couldn't get it to blend. After a while I thought I would try just removing the bra straps instead of the entire bra, and this worked much better.

Although I will continue to try and test the clone stamp tool and look for other techniques to use, I think I will taylor the costume of the model in my shoot so that I can just remove the straps.

Below is the test video.

I also did a blur test, as I will be blurring out the areas where the underwear should be, just to make the overall look abit smoother, and also to hide whatever I cant remove with the clone stamp tool.


Below is the test video.

Colour Grading test

In my video I want the model to be graded black and white, with colourful lips and eyes. Below are 2 test videos of this technique. The test was done in After Effects using duplicate layers and rotoscoping. This effect is really easy, just time consuming! 

Colour grading test 1

Colour grading test 2