First Object Match-move and Composite

For my first 3D match move and composite of an object, I decided to try and create a 3D ball with a shiny mirror-like texture. I knew that there would be several elements to creating this including: a clean plate that was easy to track, a lighting scenario that was easy to replicate in 3D space, and a 3D image of the location I wished the mirror texture of the ball to reflect. Next i will break down the shooting, 3D element creation, and finally composing of the final video, which can be seen here


THE SHOOT:

Backyard HDRI image flattened

I shot a clean plate in my backyard, utilizing the brick patio as an ideal surface to provide a great deal of tracking information for the 3D camera tracker. I made sure to plan out my camera move in advance and "leave space" for where I intended to place the 3D ball. I also noted the time of day and where the sun was pointing in relation to the other real elements in the shot. I then took an environment map of the backyard on my phone using the Microsoft app Photo synth. The app stitches together pictures much like a panorama app would, but is able to create a 3D spherical environment. I made sure to take the pictures from the perspective of where I wanted the the place to be placed as it is going to later provide the information needed to create the reflected environment.


Editing:

The original clean plate and 3D track points and target

First, I took my footage into After Effects and conformed it to my composition so all of the sequence settings matched my original footage. Next, I used the 3D camera tracker to obtain information from the clean plate (the bricks turned out to be quite useful when using the camera tracker). I selected a number of track points to use that replicated the area I wanted to place the 3D solid on. I made sure to create a camera and a track solid from the 3D camera track, as well as set my origin and ground plane from the track points. This information would be used later on in Cinema 4D. In order to get all of this tracking data into C4D, I created a new C4D file from the original video track containing the 3D tracking information.

Cinema 4D screengrab 

Once in C4D, i was left with a blank canvas with a tracking solid at the origin of the composition (0,0,0), and a camera move in 3D space that directly mimicked the original camera move I had shot. This seamless integration between After Effects and C4D was incredible to me already. Next, I created a 3D sphere in C4D as well as a sky environment, and began to tweak the settings for each. I also applied the HDRI map of my backyard to my sky and created an infinite light where I believed my sun was during the physical shoot.

Frame 148 in Cinema 4D

 I then applied a metallic texture to my sphere and turned reflections on. This allowed the sphere to reflect the sky and therefore the HDRI map I had placed on my sky element. I finally moved to my render settings and enabled Multi-pass Rendering including: ambient occlusion, shadow, object buffer, and RGBA image. Then I saved my work and jumped back into After Effects.

Frame 148 in After Effects

Compositing:
Thanks to the smooth integration between After Effects and Cinema 4D, I was able to save my work in C4D, and then have the file in After Effects update automatically in my composition; they call this feature dynamic link and it is super powerful. I began to go through all of my layer files and work on compositing my elements into the comp. Through the C4D plugin for After Effects, I was able to bring in each element (ambient occlusion, shadow, object buffer, and RGBA image) as separate layers. This allowed me to target various elements individually when compositing them together. The final video took about 4 hours to render.

All in all I am happy with this first test and track of a 3D object. I feel as though the shadows need to be improved on, but otherwise I am very happy with the result.