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     Roger (Roger) New member Username: Roger Post Number: 1 Registered: 4-2006  Rating: N/A |
Also posted to my blog: http://www.puppetkites.net/329 Adobe After Effects has a few special, unique (and extremely important, IMHO) stereoscopic compositing abilities, which I don't think can be duplicated with any other software... at least not nearly as easily, if at all. The main two are 1) easy overlay masking for adjusting stereo window edges, separate from horizontal parallax adjustments (and can be animated) and 2) special red-cyan anaglyph conversions, which if are done "properly", along with avoiding excessive stereoscopic parallax in the original recording process (max 3% or so), can produce fairly decent compressed anaglyphs (DivX, Xvid, Flash, etc.) I can do some video explanations about any of my techniques, when I get a chance... I start out by making a parallel, side-by-side version from two separate left and right perspectives. This parallel version is what I render, and I use this parallel version for any other stereoscopic conversions, later. My basic setup for doing that is a Left Comp and a Right Comp, then a Masked Left Comp and a Masked Right Comp. Then I drag the Left and Right Comps into the Masked Comps, which nests them. The fifth Comp is my Parallel Comp, and the Masked comps are nested in that Comp. The reason I add the Masked Comps is because I adjust the stereo window edges with an over-sized black solid overlay, which is masked out. I shift the black solid to change the stereo window edges. I can freeview the stereo pairs, so because the comps are all nested, I can view the final results of any and all of the editing. I do all the image alignment, resizing, rotations, etc, to the first two Left and Right Comps. I also adjust the horizontal screen parallax with those two comps. The stereo window edges are then adjusted with the Masked Comps. Again, all the adjustments are monitored by viewing the final parallel Comp. Another area where AE really stands alone, IMHO, is in red/cyan anaglyph conversions. I do this by creating a Parallel for Anaglyph Comp. This comp consists of my pre-rendered parallel version, which has either already been rendered, or these additional anaglyph comps can also be "nested" (watch out CPU, here we come! ;-)) This Parallel for Anaglyph Comp has a Hue/Saturation filter applied, so that both the left and right perspectives are adjusted identically... one very important step in this process. The Next comp is a Left for Anaglyph Comp. The Parallel for Anaglyph Comp is nested in this comp, and cropped down to the only the left perspective. This Left for Anaglyph Comp is then totally desaturated with a Hue/Saturation filter. This comp is also lightened just a bit with a Gamma adjustment via the Levels filter. The next Comp is the Right for Anaglyph Comp, and it, again, consists of the nested Parallel for Anaglyph Comp, cropped down to only the right perspective. The final comp is the Anaglyph Comp, and I do _not_ use the 3D Glasses filter to create the anaglyph. I don't like the results. I use the Set Channels filter (Red to Source 1's Source Layer 2, Green to Source 2's Source Layer 3, Blue to Source 3's Source Layer 4, and Set Alpha to Source 4's Alpha. Now, as oddly as it sounds, the crucial color adjustments are made to the Hue/Saturation filter in the Parallel for Anaglyph Comp, while I am looking at the Anaglyph Comp with red/cyan glasses. This is where anaglyph art can be applied (and I'm still learning... trust me ;-)) You can approach this part of the method like you would a watercolor or oil painting... and this process can even be animated. More later... I probably missed a few things ;-)) Thanks, Roger Roger’s Adventures: http://www.puppetkites.net/ |
