Author: pholmesphd

In the 1700s magicians used many different optical effects within their performances to fool and entertain their audiences. One of the most used effects during this time was known as ‘spiritism’, or ‘the summoning of the dead’ An image is projected onto the back side of a light fabric material capable of billowing movement. The … Continue reading Camera Projection

I have a broad knowledge and skillset in Nuke, Maya and Cinema 4D, which is sufficient to execute all but one of the camera projection techniques seen in my review of widely available learning materials. The only exception was a ‘patch projection’ technique, used to resolve pixel smearing, covered in the Camera Projection Techniques in … Continue reading Initial Training Needs Analysis

At the outset of this project, it seems appropriate to offer some kind of indication as to what can be assumed as ‘common knowledge’ within the domain of camera projected digital environments. To do this, I have performed a search and basic analysis of relevant learning materials, within the subject area, and that are widely … Continue reading Review of Available Learning Materials

I have established the need to undertake experimentation and personal learning around the projection fundamentals and have decided to use Nuke as the tool for this, primarily due to its flexibility and speed. Also, because I will be using simple geometry at this stage, there is no advantage in using fully-fledged 3D software. I have … Continue reading Introduction to Projection Tests

During my initial experimentation with projection types, I have encountered three projection artefacts that the matte painter must be able to deal with. Smearing Smearing is synonymous with a streaking of the texture across the glancing angle of an object. It occurs when the movement of the shot camera reaches a point where the projection … Continue reading Projection Artefacts

During my initial experimentation with projection methods, I encountered an issue when attempting to perform a coverage projection on the inside of a sphere (skydome). The perspective distortion created a small area in the overlap area (top and bottom) where coverage was missing. We can see the result in the display area I explored the … Continue reading Overscan & Camera Projection

To make the projection workflow more streamlined and reduce the risk of error, I developed a series of tools. Focal Length Finder My first iteration of the tool was a relatively simple equation in the form of an expression in NUKE, which essentially adjusted the width and height of the image in response to manula … Continue reading Development of Projection Rig Tools

Initial construction of the artwork. Based on the same topology as the original concept artwork but the camera has been lowered and rotation on x axis reduced to give a slightly different perspective. Artwork created initially as a daytime shot to allow all the disparate source images to be brought into a common colour and … Continue reading Development of Artwork

This involves a the creation of a number of overlapping layered projections, set along the path of the camera path I have attempted to describe this visually (below). Think of a shot camera sweeping from left to right revealing a panorama. Unless you have a full 360° panoramic image of the environment then you will … Continue reading Coverage Projection