Messing around with green screen...

http://www.cardenfilms.com/flip.mov

Enjoy!

Wow! That was really cool, good job!

Calvin Lauber

Grant,

I like the idea. That's a nice effect.

What are you using for the keying? It looks like you've got a little reflection issues on the back trunk and on the fenders. Also, I'd play around with the alpha opacity for the shadow.

Scott

I crushed all the shadows in this shot...the car isn't placed correctly but the shot happens so fast. I used motion tracking this time to track the car to the background...no fake camera movements.

http://www.cardenfilms.com/flip2.mov


Thanks guys,

Grant

Looking much better! Maybe soften the shadow's edges a bit with a gaussian blur. I'd still remove some opacity to the shadow with a second key pass, or at least color grade it a bit more towards the browns instead of pure black (kinda like you did for the car itself).

I see what you mean about the initial placement's perspective, but its not too bad and you're right about it going by fast enough. Also maybe cut a few frames sooner before the tracking slip.

Is this just play or for a project?

Great advice. I will tweak tommorow.

Just for play...

How do I soften the shadows without softening the whole car?

In the spirit of Cloverfield...

http://www.cardenfilms.com/flip3.mov

Thanks Scott!

I crushed all the shadows in this shot...the car isn't placed correctly but the shot happens so fast. I used motion tracking this time to track the car to the background...no fake camera movements.

http://www.cardenfilms.com/flip2.mov


Thanks guys,

Grant

Grant,

You can soften and color grade the shadow by isolating it in your comp program. I use Shake and have included a screen shot showing my node structure.

First, wrap a rough garbage mask around the shadow, then expand the color to isolate the shadow. Next, you use this mask to create the shadow.

You can see on the far right side of the shadow mask there is a greyscale, which will add variation in the opacity of your shadow. Then you can tweak to fit the shot.

I actually screened it back onto the ground, but what you would do, since you have the multiple layers, is use the mask layer of the shadow as a transparency mask for the shadow. Then you can adjust the levels of the shadow, with the street showing through.

Good luck!

Dude!

Before I started this project I tried doing it in Shake but (being a first time shake user) I gave up! I need to spend a week with that manual...

I ended up doing it in Final Cut and Motion (for tracking)...but I can't wait to knuckle down with Shake...

Thanks so much Scott!

Best,

Grant

That looks really cool man. I love it but can I also be so bold as to chip in with a suggestion?

I'd time re-map the car footage once its flipped onto its roof, slow it down a little, to add some weight to the car. It just seems to 'bobble' a little right now as opposed to the 'swagger' that the actual car might provide. (This is in reference to the first link you posted)

Also, as an aside, a nice tip to soften green screen edges that I was given is to add a very fine and soft grey/green stroke to the keyed footage. This assumes your screen is green of course. If it were blue then use a blue/grey stroke. You probably don't really need it here but maybe for a future project.

Awesome - should we request a new topic guys? 'The Magic of VFX'?

Dave.

Dave,
A VFX thread would be cool.

The edging just needs a light wrap: take the original and it is color graded so the green is neutral grey then the key from the original is added back in.

Then add an edge matte applied to the background plate in the shape of the border of the car.

This results in a thin edge around the car that takes the color of the background plate. This is then screen blended over the car. The effect is that the background colors wrap around the edges of the car just like in real life.

I agree about the remap. That would be cool.

Grant,
For just playing around, I thought it was very good and really cool.

Great advice from both Scott and David.

Keep them coming
~John

Duh. how do you get a picture of the car rolling over?

Here's how...

http://www.cardenfilms.com/carhow.mov

Thanks for sharing.