Compositing

What's new...

  1. How do I cast shadows from an invisible object in A:M 2000?
  2. Bluesky2 is listed as the camera's rotoscope, but the image being used is still Bluesky1!!!!
  3. How can I create a shadow layer in Animation Master?

Here's a tutorial Raf did that has never been "released to the public" it was for our bundle deal with the ADS Pryo card...

Camera Guy Tutorial

Hash, Inc.

Are there any problems and or conflicts in using AM and Adobe After Effects? What is the best format to save and than import from AM into AE?

I use AM and AE together all the time. They're two great tastes that taste great together :)

You're generally best rewarded if you output sequential targas, and import them directly into AE. This has several advantages:

  1. As somebody said on this list at some point, a pile of targas in the hand is worth ten interrupted AVI files
  2. Targas will most easily accomodate Alpha channels (when AE asks, they're "Straight" alpha channels, not premultiplied).
  3. The word "Targa" is keen... though not as good as "Smock".

And also note that you can use AE's "Time Remapping" function to easily and quickly work out the timing of an action, without the bother of rerendering a lot.

-- Tony

How do I cast shadows from an invisible object in v7.1?

For the current versions of A:M (V7.1) if you want to cast a shadow or reflections from an invisible object do not uncheck the ACTIVE setting in the CHO model properties.

What you want to do is uncheck the white wireframe button on the DRAW MODES in the CHO model properties.

And maybe a note to check out Shadow Pass Rendering by Donnie Weaver. This can be found at Sherwood's Forest. Donnie demonstrates the steps needed to render your object and its shadow in separate passes, which you can then composite together against a background.

Glen Crowell

However, the image remained unchanged! Bluesky2 is listed as the camera's rotoscope, but the image being used is still Bluesky1!!!!

This one gets me on a regular basis. First, name it something completely different. Anyfiles that are file#.tga are treated as an image sequence, so file1.tga is used on frame 1, file2.tga on frame 2 etc. Also, you'll need to adjust the sequence property for the rotoscope so that it does use the sequence. At least that's the way decals work, with a default of start at frame 1, end frame 1, so you always have to edit this, otherwise you are stuck with the first file forever. Also, make sure you uncheck the 'cached' option to make sure you are looking at the latest file. Also, I don't believe that the sequences work with the real-time render, so you might try using the final quality and see if that works better.

... but it change my sky from blue to green!!

This I haven't seen. I have seen colors messed up on me because I picked the wrong transparent color. Doesn't really sound like your problem, but you might check.

John-

How can I create a shadow layer in A:M?

This is a quick tute for creating a shadow layer in Animation Master. It does not require MultiPlane, but you do need to have the software to actually composite the final images. It is the result of all the great advice that's been on the list recently. I hope it helps. If anyone sees any errors, please let me know so they can be corrected. Zero, if you like this, I have all the images as .JPG's, ready to go onto your site. If you want them, let me know.

  1. Render your foreground object alone, with the following settings:
    • Alpha Buffer ON
    • Shadows OFF
    • Reflections OFF
  2. Render your ground plane object (With whatever texture you want to have) alone, with:
    • Alpha Buffer ON
    • Shadows OFF
    • Reflections OFF
    • Flat Shaded ON
  3. Render the shadow layer. This has the following ingredients:
    1. The ground plane with NO texture on it. Set the color for the ground plane at 255,255,255 (white) and ambiance at 0%. This will give you a very nice, dark shadow which you can lighten or alter at your leisure later. Set "Active" ON, "Recieve Shadows" ON, "Flat Shaded" ON. All else off. In the render to file panel, just set your shadows to ON, and reflections to OFF.
    2. The foreground object.
      • Active OFF
      • Cast Shadows ON
      • all else is set to OFF.

This has given you the 3 ingredients needed to create a shadow composit in MultiPlane or Photoshop.

The next section involves using Photoshop. After that it's over to MultiPlane for final compositing.

  1. In Photoshop, open the shadow layer. The shadow image will be in your background layer.
  2. In the layers tab, SELECT ALL, and COPY.
  3. Open the Channels Tab. PASTE into CHANNEL 4. This is the last 8 bits of the 32 bit .TGA file format. It becomes your Alpha. With channel 4 still active, INVERT the image (ctrl I). Re-activate the RGB channels, and de-activate the Aplha channel.
  4. Back in the Layers Tab. Create a new layer, and fill it with BLACK (0,0,0).
  5. Select the background layer (the origonal shadow image), SELECT ALL. It's done it's job, and now it's time to bid it a fond fare-well. DELETE it. (At this point it should be observed that the creation of this black layer makes a much more defined shadow layer. Try it without adding the black layer or deleting the origonal shadow image. It does make a difference, but I don't understand how.)
  6. You should see a purely black image. The shadow alpha information is hiding in the 4th layer. Out of site, but not out of mind. Save it as a 32 bit .TGA

That's the Photoshop portion done. For single images, doing this in this way works rather well, and if you do it enough can become quite quick. However, if you've got hundreds of images in a sequence to do, you'll probably get the screaming heebie geebies just thinking about it. Thank God for ACTIONS. Record yourself doing the shadow conversion, and the Photoshop can do it for you at the touch of a button. I love Actions.

And now onto MultiPlane. This bit's easy. Just import in whatever order you like, play with them till you've got them where you want, and you're done.

Tuck Silver