Matchmove setup with Red.

[Jesse Rosten]

I'm new to the match-moving scene and am struggling to get a good track. . Can anyone tell me if these settings are correct? I have a feeling that the back plate settings are not correct. Footage is 4k2:1
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Adam Glick]

What software are you using to solve/track your match-moves ?

What makes you think the issue with the live action plates you've transcoded?



Adam
BOXXlabs

 

[Helicon]

Matchmove quizzo

Matchmove quizzo

Hi Jesse,

Ya like BOXX said you're not being clear I think. Is this screenshot from the matchmove software? This looks like a Composition Setting in FinalCutHD. Thats asking you for the imager size really.

Unless you're more specific I don't know if anyone can help you but here's a few secrets that work across most all the Matchmove softwares:

Use a proxy footage. That is, generate a copy of the footage you are tracking that is a lighter file format like Sequential JPegs or an RGB compressed Quicktime. During motion track the softwares rely more on contrast than colors to diferentiate points in the imagestream. Keep the same frame/pixel size but whack up the contrast. (Some softwares like 2D3's Boujou will let you do this to the loaded file "live" as well as generate proxys with a few klix.)

Another of the big issues is careful attention to framerates. Pay very close attention to the timing of the output camera move. Check and recheck the preferences they have a habit of changing from job to job. One slip and wham nothing will ever "align" in that magic last step.

In extreme cases where you can't resolve sudden moves or shakes, run the raw shot through a stabilization like "Silver Bullet" (God I'm not trying to plug 2D3 here am I?) with no resize to the frame edge, let it wander, do the camera solve, do the cg then composite it all together THEN resize it up to lose the epileptic edge. If the director whines tell him to stop using a horse for a DP.

As for the backplate most of the softs will resove the size as long as the zoom and focal length are known, which some of these softwares do. Hahaha tell your DP to get on his notes!

Don't be afraid of that "fancy" Match-move stuff its like anything else: The more you do it the better you get, and after a few wheelys you'll make it look great.

Which reminds me: I got extremely good at this because of two shots. They were shot with a "Fig Rig" whose operator had just picked it up like 20 mins before and apparently, talk about "guy on a horse" again!

At least thats what I told the Director when I saw the raw stuff it was completely unuseable, and in fact would have been smoother handheld. Alas the poor Director pled "no more money" so I ended up sweating it out frame by frame for two weeks.

Go figure: We made it so smooth the DP got compliments!

 

[Jesse Rosten]

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I guess I'm a master at cryptic posts. This is the setup screen for Syntheyes. This is the screen you get when importing footage. Up until now I've just used an HD preset to set image aspect, pixel aspect, and back plate. I think I know what these values are for the Red, but can't seem to get everything to line up. For example, when I try to input the sensor size (back plate), my other values change to values that I know are incorrect. But, Helicon, you have some great pointers and maybe I'm just over thinking things. I'll try boosting the contrast and see if that helps get a better solve. And I'll be sure to give the DP an extra oat bag next time.

Thanks
Jesse

 

[Obin Olson]

ask amariah...he is working on a shot with syntheyes right now....PM him

 

[Jesse Rosten]

Thanks Obin. That's actually the first thing I did Waiting to hear back.

 

[Mitch Deoudes]

You might also try contacting Russ Andersson over at ssontech - he's generally a cool guy, and can probably tell you what you need to know, given the dimensions of the active area of the sensor, which you can probably search up here on the forums. (He might even be interested in putting Red presets in the next version.)

Of course, post your results back here, for the greater good!

 

[Ben A.]

Jesse,

Post this question over on the Syntheyes forum. I am sure Russ or someone else will have a quick answer.

Ben