3D People: Rocketbox Libraries any good?

[Morne]

Hi all

I've got an upcoming animation with lots of character stuff and the client requested "realistic characters and motion".
Rocketbox came to mind and also AXYZ people. Some of the stuff will be closeup as in 2 guys shaking hands and the one smiling.

Any suggestions?

[joconnell]

For that stuff shoot it - you're not going to get anything that'll hold up properly. Buy a cheapy dv camera like a canon hv30 and then green screen it. Alternatively explain to the client what they're asking for, what it'll take to do it, the likelihood of the outcome and let them make a call on it.

[Morne]

won't the green screen studio, actors, lighting etc cost a lot more than animating it? (yes it will look better, but I'm worried about the cost)

[joconnell]

Shoot outdoors in similar lighting to what you're going to use in the 3d scenes - if it's outdoor sunlight you're in good shape. Animating that in 3d is gonna be a huge pain in the arse and I don't think it'll hold up.

[Morne]

I'm all for a live shoot. Just not sure what, where how since never done something like that. How will I key the background out? I will need to comp my actors into my 3d environment.

[Neilg]

If outside/on a tripod you could have your people walk out of shot and do a difference key on the blank frame.

[Morne]

If outside/on a tripod you could have your people walk out of shot and do a difference key on the blank frame.

Cool thanks for the tip!
(Also for John who hinted in that direction)

[tricky]

If outside/on a tripod you could have your people walk out of shot and do a difference key on the blank frame.

Have you had good results using this method? We tend to find even the smallest motion blur or variations in exposure, film noise/grain and any reflectivity spoil the results.

It is quite tough to set up.

[tammo]

Difference keying doesnt really work with normal cameras.
You could use it to extract something moving from a noise-free rendered sequence but not from a real camera.
Greenscreen is really hard to do if you want it to look professional.
You have to invest a lot in lighting and other equipment and learn how to do the software part.
There is no one button solution even if you have rented a commercial greenscreen studio with highend light and cameras.
Getting the people to interact with the 3D scene is difficult.
Even a simple shadow on the rendered floor is not easy if the people are walking or something like that. Sometimes you can pull the original shadow from the greenscreen with an extra key.
Doing multiple keying passes is always a good idea.
First a garbage matte, then a key for getting most of the green and another one for getting rid of the edges.
Always film in progressive mode, keying something with fields (interlaced) is very difficult.

[dapeter]

Check out Crowd Control at allbetsareoff.com - they have some great pre-keyed footage and a pretty thorough search engine. You end up limiting your camera move a bit, but they look great.