Day 12: Projection Mapping

Learning Goals

Students will be able to:

1. Goal camera map a simple box.

Agenda

Note: The exact timing and topics covered may shift.

Dailies: 10:10am-10:20am

1. Homework Review: Lighting

2. Q&A: Have any questions come up since last class?

Subject: 10:20am-10:50am

• 1. Watch: Deserted by Bernd Montag

1. Watch: NFL Network IDs & Making Of

2. Theory: What is Camera Mapping? Where is it used?

3. Technique: Camera Map a photo of a toolbox.

4. Exercise: Recreate the toolbox camera mapping exercise.

What Makes for a Good Camera Mapping Scene?

1. Clear Perspective: If you've got an object made up of a bunch of right angles that's taking up the majority of your view you're going to have a pretty easy time calibrating the scene. A cube or box in the scene will make this especially true. However, if you've got an organic object with a blurry background, you're going to have a much harder time setting up your camera and projection.

2. Simple Shapes: The simpler / more geometric the shapes are in your scene, the easier it will be to recreate them.

3. Clean Edges: Objects that have clean edges will be easier to recreate than objects that have very distressed/furry edges. Also, blur caused by shallow depth of field will make your job much harder. Try to start with scenes that were shot at something like F11 or higher so the scene remains sharp.

4. Minimal Movement: The less you have to move your camera or your objects, the more successful your shot is going to be. The only shot you can do that won't require any extra patching work in photoshop is a subtle push-in/pull-out.

Projection Mapping Technique

1. Get your image. Ideally uncropped.

2. Match the Image Resolution

   1. Create C4D Scene

   2. Adjust render settings to match resolution.

3. Match Your Camera's Perspective

   1. Add a Camera

   2. Add a Camera Calibrator Tag to the camera

   3. Calibrate Camera

      1. Add planes for the sides and top

      2. Shift-Click to set axis directions

      3. Set a known length

      4. Add a pin for the world origin

4. Create Materials

   1. Click on Create Background

   2. Click on Create Camera Mapping Tag

   3. Create a Null to hold your scene objects

   4. Drag the texture tag from the Camera to the Null

5. Add a floor plane

   1. Drag inside of the Null, the texture should auto-apply to it

6. Add key objects

   1. Look through your Camera Mapping Camera

   2. Add a Cube to your scene

   3. Try to size it to match the object in your scene

7. Project your textures

8. Animate & Render

Homework 11:55am-12:00pm

What:

1. Project: Take a Still Image and Animate your Camera using Camera Mapping

Due: By the start of our next class session on your Course Projects Blog.

Recommended Reading / Viewing

• Cinema 4D Online Manual

  • Projection Man Manager

  • Projection Man Workflow

• Victorian Set Extension by Joseph Herman

• Camera Mapping and Projection in Cinema 4d by Greyscale Gorilla

• Camera Mapping with Cinema 4D R14 by We Are Pitch Black

• Cinema 4D Projection Man Basics: The White House by MoGraph Candy