Comments on: VFXHack Gear: How to Build the Perfect Kit Bag for Visual Effects http://www.vfxhack.com/2007/08/08/vfxhack-gear-building-the-killer-visual-effects-set-kit/ the real vfx deal Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:18:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: vfxhack.com » Blog Archive » Working Below the Line - A Visual Effects Supervisors Guide to Surviving On Set http://www.vfxhack.com/2007/08/08/vfxhack-gear-building-the-killer-visual-effects-set-kit/comment-page-1/#comment-28 vfxhack.com » Blog Archive » Working Below the Line - A Visual Effects Supervisors Guide to Surviving On Set Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:28:11 +0000 http://vfxhack.com/2007/08/08/vfxhack-gear-building-the-killer-visual-effects-set-kit/#comment-28 <p>[...] prepared As you can see from my earlier kit bag post, I like to come to set prepared for anything. This also extends to doing my homework and [...]</p> [...] prepared As you can see from my earlier kit bag post, I like to come to set prepared for anything. This also extends to doing my homework and [...]

]]> By: Andrew Orloff http://www.vfxhack.com/2007/08/08/vfxhack-gear-building-the-killer-visual-effects-set-kit/comment-page-1/#comment-27 Andrew Orloff Wed, 15 Aug 2007 21:03:35 +0000 http://vfxhack.com/2007/08/08/vfxhack-gear-building-the-killer-visual-effects-set-kit/#comment-27 <p>The jury is out on what tracking shape is best. It can really depend on what the camera is doing. FX guide has a pretty good article exploring this topic here..</p> <p>http://www.fxguide.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=212</p> <p>It also really depends on weather you are doing 2d or 3d tracks. Here's a quote from the article that sums up me feeling about 3d tracking marks nicely.</p> <p>"The advantage to the triangle in the circle is that it gives you three well-spaced, high contrast corners for boujou's automatic tracker to pick up. The crash test marker has a high contrast area in the centre, and lower contrast areas around the edge. When this marker gets small and pixelated the central region starts to give four noisy tracks instead of one stable one (the detected features get pushed away from the corners by the blurring of the image at lower scales). The triangle in the circle works much better throughout a wider range of scales."</p> <p>On the other hand, for 2d tracking you want to minimize the change in the shape of an object as the camera moves so a circle or sphere would be better in that case.</p> The jury is out on what tracking shape is best. It can really depend on what the camera is doing. FX guide has a pretty good article exploring this topic here..

http://www.fxguide.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=212

It also really depends on weather you are doing 2d or 3d tracks. Here’s a quote from the article that sums up me feeling about 3d tracking marks nicely.

“The advantage to the triangle in the circle is that it gives you three well-spaced, high contrast corners for boujou’s automatic tracker to pick up. The crash test marker has a high contrast area in the centre, and lower contrast areas around the edge. When this marker gets small and pixelated the central region starts to give four noisy tracks instead of one stable one (the detected features get pushed away from the corners by the blurring of the image at lower scales). The triangle in the circle works much better throughout a wider range of scales.”

On the other hand, for 2d tracking you want to minimize the change in the shape of an object as the camera moves so a circle or sphere would be better in that case.

]]> By: Xavier http://www.vfxhack.com/2007/08/08/vfxhack-gear-building-the-killer-visual-effects-set-kit/comment-page-1/#comment-26 Xavier Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:36:20 +0000 http://vfxhack.com/2007/08/08/vfxhack-gear-building-the-killer-visual-effects-set-kit/#comment-26 <p>I think tracking software likes circles or dots much more than any other shape (including triangles, squares, crosses, stars, heads of newborn babies, etc...).</p> <p>A dot or a small circle will mostly keep it's shape from frame to frame no if you rotate the camera. Other shapes won't.</p> <p>Just my 2 cents. I know everybody has an opinion on this subject...</p> <p>-- Xavier</p> I think tracking software likes circles or dots much more than any other shape (including triangles, squares, crosses, stars, heads of newborn babies, etc…).

A dot or a small circle will mostly keep it’s shape from frame to frame no if you rotate the camera. Other shapes won’t.

Just my 2 cents. I know everybody has an opinion on this subject…

– Xavier

]]> By: mattonium http://www.vfxhack.com/2007/08/08/vfxhack-gear-building-the-killer-visual-effects-set-kit/comment-page-1/#comment-25 mattonium Thu, 09 Aug 2007 22:01:02 +0000 http://vfxhack.com/2007/08/08/vfxhack-gear-building-the-killer-visual-effects-set-kit/#comment-25 <p>You really do hate the troops, don't you?</p> You really do hate the troops, don’t you?

]]> By: Nyarlathotep http://www.vfxhack.com/2007/08/08/vfxhack-gear-building-the-killer-visual-effects-set-kit/comment-page-1/#comment-24 Nyarlathotep Wed, 08 Aug 2007 23:09:37 +0000 http://vfxhack.com/2007/08/08/vfxhack-gear-building-the-killer-visual-effects-set-kit/#comment-24 <p>Always act like you know what you are doing, even when flailing. Your job is usually so technical no one can tell as long as you act like it is normal operating procedure.</p> Always act like you know what you are doing, even when flailing. Your job is usually so technical no one can tell as long as you act like it is normal operating procedure.

]]>