In 2007, I worked as one of the match move/layout supervisors on the first digital stereoscopic feature film, Journey To The Center Of TheEarth -3D. I would like to share my experiences from this production, especially concerning the use of 3D Equalizer and Maya for stereoscopic work. JCE (Journey Center Earth) was produced by Walden Media. Beginners tutor on 3D Equalizer easily explained. Basics and advance tracking tutor. Grid matching and export to maya and 3d software like max and blender.
This is a process flow guide for when you are working with 3DEqualizer and you need to add 3D geometry, make use of it while you get familiar with the application. This will be constantly updated as I refine the process. Questions and suggestions are welcome in the comments.
We will start as if you have tracked a shot either manually or automatically.
Creating a 3D Mesh
- Change the main panel to ‘3D Orientation Controls’ (F6).
- Use Left, Middle and Right buttons on the mouse to orbit, pan and scale the scene.
- Use Alt+Left-Click to select the points you want to make the 3D mesh out of. Shift+Alt+Left-Click will toggle the selected points if you need to deselect some.
- Click on ‘3D Models>Create>Mesh From Points…’
- Move the ‘Point Filter’ slider to ignore outlier points if you need to. Zero will keep them all.
- If you make an error you can Alt+Left-Click the mesh and press the delete key.
- You can remove polygons from the newly created mesh by turning on the ‘Remove Poly’ toggle on the left side of the main panel. Clicking on a polygon and/or edge will delete the sub-object. Remember to turn it back off before moving around / selecting other objects as you may inadvertently delete something.
Checking the Quality of the Mesh
- In the ‘Attribute Editor’ turn on the toggle ‘Map Footage on Polygons’.
- Reduce the mesh ‘Alpha’ to about 0.05 in the ‘Attribute Editor’ to see the texture mapping better.
- Remove the image plane by going to ‘View>Show Imageplanes>None’
- Zoom in close and look for deformation to the image as it should be static on the areas that have been ‘modelled’.
- If you have image movement near the edges of the mesh – you may just have lens distortion.
3d Equalizer Full Movie
Checking the Lens data
- Select the lens object and jump over to the ‘Attribute Editor’.
- Turn on the ‘Filmback Height’ and/or ”Focal Length’ (if you don’t have the survey data) to ‘Adjust’.
- Turn on the ‘Distortion – Degree 2’ to ‘Adjust’
- Add a new ‘Parameter Adjustment’ window (Config>Add Vertical Pane).
- At the bottom of the ‘Parameter Adjustment’ window press the ‘Adaptive All’ button.
- Followed by the ‘Adjust…’ button.
- Accept the transfer in the dialogue box that pops up.
- Now you can recalculate from scratch ‘Calc>Calc all from Scratch’
- Look again at the quality of the image on the mesh – is it more static around the edges?
- If you want to compare it with the undistorted (original) footage, toggle it by going to ‘View>Footage>Undistort’.
3d Equalizer Full Length
Fixing Outlier Points
- If you see movement more central in the mesh, rotate around and check if it is an outlier point sticking out in the incorrect position.
- Before you can adjust sub-objects of the mesh you will need to unlock the scene. Do this by pressing the ‘Locked’ button at the bottom of the window so it toggles to ‘Unlocked’.
- Alt+Left Click drag over the point you want to adjust.
- Click the ‘Translate’ button on the lower right of the window or press the ‘W’ key.
- Make sure the scene is playing and drag the point back to where is should be. Watch for the footage to become static.
3d Equalizer Full Free
Adding Subdivision
- You may to need to add points to give the mesh more data.
- Make sure any transform controls are turned off.
- Select two points and the mesh (Shift+Alt+Left-Click) and select the ‘Subdivide’ button above the transform controls.
- Jump back to ‘Manual Tracking Controls’ (F2).
- Turn on the ‘3D Distortion’ button on the lower right to see all the points.
- Your point will be selected still (if not select it through the Point Browser – it will be the last one) so go to the first frame.
- Go to the menu Edit>Reel in Points Current Frame [orange text is a script].
- Adjust the tracking box size and track forwards (turn on ‘Center 2D’ if you need it). If the point leaves the scene just go back to when it was in view via the playback bar and then press the ‘End Point’ button on the lower left side.
- ONLY CALCULATE THE NEW POINT by using the script Calc>Triangulate Points. The new point is marked as passive so it currently wont affect those around it, nor the camera solve. If you calculate from scratch you will lose any manual movements you have made.
- Remember to lock the scene when you are done.
Creating Simple 3D Geometry
3d Equalizer Software
- Go to the menu ‘3D Models>Create>Cube’ (3D Orientation Controls).
- In the attribute editor turn on ‘Map Footage on Polygons’.
- Go back to the ‘Manual Tracking Controls’ and make sure you are on frame 1.
- Use Ctrl+Left-Click to create a marker where you want the 3D geometry to align to (Change to ‘Marker’ type in the attribute editor if you need to) and press the ‘Gauge Marker’ to centre it automatically.
- Go back to ‘3D Orientation Controls’.
- With the point selected use the script ‘Calc>Triangulate Points’.
- You should still have the cube selected with the point. So use ‘3D Models>Snap to Point’. The cube should jump to the points’ location.
- Rotate the cube 90 degrees so that the bottom snapped edge becomes the front edge and matches the scene footage.
- Scale and rotate the cube into a closer shape to the scene geometry while you play the footage on a loop. You are trying to get it looking static.
This guide was created based upon 3DE’s wonderful intro tutorial: 3DEqualizer4 [exercise] – Set Reconstruction & Modelling