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trackmatte · Joined: 24 Jul 2009 Posts: 3

Is it possible to track a Hitchcock-style push/zoom? I was told it might work with a Red camera since the metadata will contain the focal length info which I could feed into SynthEyes.

Thanks.

GraphicsKid · Joined: 25 May 2009 Posts: 480

You don't need a Red camera for that. All you really need to do is just try to get the effect done in camera as well as possible, then you stabilize it in Syntheyes.

I've done one of these before (but with AfterEffects as I didn't own Syntheyes at the time).

trackmatte · Joined: 24 Jul 2009 Posts: 3

More info... I don't need to stabilize... we will have a professional crew to get the shot perfect in-camera. I am looking for a 3D tracking solution to recreate my camera in Maya so I can insert elements into the scene.

I want to shoot an actor slowly walking down a street. The camera will slowly dolly back as it zooms in, creating the surreal Hitchcock effect. The question is, if I want to insert 3D models into this background in Maya, can SynthEyes accurately solve both a camera move and zoom at the same time and get this data into Maya? Will using Red and having the focal length metadata help? (irrelevant in this case since we will shoot Red anyway... just curious).

In the past I have always avoided zooms when dealing with 3D tracker shots, since we only own an old copy of Boujou Bullet. I've heard great things about SynthEyes, so I'd rather switch over than pay the crazy $2500 Boujou upgrade. And a lot cheaper than the $100k to upgrade my flame. Wink

Thanks.

LFGabel · Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 7:30 pm Post subject:

Download the demo and throw some sample footage at it.

Zooming Lens is a lens type in SynthEyes, and it works well for rack focus adjustments. I'd expect it would work for you as well.

trackmatte · Joined: 24 Jul 2009 Posts: 3

I currently do not have a camera to test with... just ordered one to test with and should be here tomorrow.

Last time I demo'd syntheyes I found it pretty useless since it would not export to Maya to check the matchmove. Does it now give a few keyframes? If not, is it possible to get a temp license?

LFGabel · Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 9:14 pm Post subject:

It exports to Maya just fine. I've been doing that for several years on all sorts of high profile projects. I wouldn't worry about that aspect of it. You can check the matchmove within SynthEyes by adding primitives.

The better thing to do would be to examine if you like its workflow and if it can solve a shot like you're talking about. You could even try tracking a shot from a Hitchcock film.

GraphicsKid · Joined: 25 May 2009 Posts: 480

He means the demo version doesn't export to maya. Sorry about resurrecting an old post.

LFGabel · Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 1:19 pm Post subject:

I realize that the SynthEyes demo doesn't export.

My point was it doesn't need to, in order to evaluate it.

That's what the built in primitives in SynthEyes are for. And you can play it back in full speed with primitives inserted, unlike having to playblast.

GraphicsKid · Joined: 25 May 2009 Posts: 480

Yea that's what I did. I just played around with the primitives, and I thought it was an awesome program! So I got it.