Voodoo Doll

A second trial with the DIY camera dolly, with miniDV footage tracked in Voodoo and then post processed in Blender 2.5 including CGI elements and colouring. I've included some timelapse footage of the creation process in the video. Voodoo performs well with slow, forward motion, but there was some loss of tracking during a faster, lateral movement, so I had to base the second animation around a shorter clip than I'd hoped for.

Physically there are still some wobbles on the camera dolly but greatly reduced by using paint rollers at the track joints. A further addition to the dolly is an eye at the front so it can be pulled along from the side with a pole and hook.

Motion capture data taken from the Carnegie-Mellon Graphics Lab Motion Capture Database via cgspeed.

They Lurk

The Sci-Fi Gene blog will be 1 year old on the 23rd October. It's been a good year. I'm also currently gathering a crew for an entry in the Movieum's zombie-themed 48 Hour Film Challenge next weekend - more on that story later.

For now, here's the result of slightly too much time with Blender and Voodoo:

Work in progress: who do?

A few seconds of animation from a work in progress, produced while I familiarise myself with Blender and Voodoo matchmoving. The latter app is aptly named - generating 3D data from a 2D film clip is definitely a form of black magic.