What makes a memorable 3D title sequence? I've been looking at some of the title sequences created for 3D movies of the past in search of inspiration. In the 1950's, the titles didn't actually shoot at you - instead, they appeared as static three dimensional block lettering, hanging just infront of the screen.
During the 80's 3D wave, a company called Celestial Mechanix dreamed up the memorable 3D title sequences that streak toward the camera in JAWS 3-D, FRIDAY THE 13th PART 3, METALSTORM and THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE. I was reading an interview with them in an old Cinefantastique magazine that revealed their method of composition was to start the title at the screen instead of (dimensionally) behind it, and then to have it zoom towards the audience, with the streaks going back to the screen plane as a reference. Apparently, without that reference, your eye has trouble determining just how far off the screen the titles appear.
I have also examined the titles to SPACEHUNTER, (done by R/Greenberg associates, most famous for the SUPERMAN titles and the inviso-Predator effect), AMITYVILLE 3-D, and TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS, most of which start behind the screen before zooming toward the audience. Only SPACEHUNTER's title graphic makes use of the streaks, and in direct comparison, Celestial Mechanix's philosophy seems to be the simplest and most direct, producing the best results. (As a comparison with modern 3D titles - Robert Rodriguez's SPY KIDS 3-D title graphic starts behind the screen and streaks up to but not past it.)
After searching around (with no luck) for an After Effects plug-in that would create the streaking title sequence, I decided the best way to go about it would be to just create 3D object text in Bryce and animate the title graphic extending toward the camera on the Z axis, producing a long streak. The background of the sequence is a CGI cloud shot that I generated in Photoshop and After Effects, and composited in position of depth a few inches (or feet, depending of the size of your display) behind the screen. The inital credits - "Daredevil Films presents", etc - actually appear on the screen plane, but seem to hang in 3D space due to the fact that the clouds appear so far behind them. Then, the composited title logo materializes and shoots out toward you, and the dimensional effect is pretty dramatic.
The sequence runs about 20 seconds in total. It may not be the most original thing in the world, but hopefully it serves as a homage to those great 3D title sequences of the 1980's.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
New Entry and Minor Site Update
Posted field-sequential 3D versions of the two gallery photos for those of you with LCD shutter glasses for your PC (again, if you're into 3D TV, field-sequential systems are the way to go- Razor3D has a single pair (wired) for $39.95).
I just discovered the first legitimate, feature length field-sequential 3D DVD is now available - it's Full Moon's THE CREEPS, which I caught theatrically in a one-night only 3D showing a couple of years back. The movie itself is the same kind of B-movie stuff Full Moon has been cranking out for years (they're the compnay that brought you the Puppetmaster & Demonic Toys movies), but the picture quality is better than the bootleg features available on eBay. Hopefully, if this disc sells well, it may convince other studios to release field sequential versions of their library titles.
We are currently recording voices for Frankenstein vs the Wolfman; as of this writing we've got one part in the can, with others scheduled to be recorded in the following weeks. I haven't really been doing any new animation while I wait for the voice work, but our home PCs are hard at work cranking out final renders for the completed scenes.
Also, I've done a test with Lipsinc's Mimic software, which is a program that analyzes sound files & automatically generates Poser lip and expression data: I fed the Frankenstein Monster a line and have seen him talk for the first time. The surprise discovery was how much life the program gave to the facial features while the character talks - much more than just simply matching lip movements to words. Very cool.
I just discovered the first legitimate, feature length field-sequential 3D DVD is now available - it's Full Moon's THE CREEPS, which I caught theatrically in a one-night only 3D showing a couple of years back. The movie itself is the same kind of B-movie stuff Full Moon has been cranking out for years (they're the compnay that brought you the Puppetmaster & Demonic Toys movies), but the picture quality is better than the bootleg features available on eBay. Hopefully, if this disc sells well, it may convince other studios to release field sequential versions of their library titles.
We are currently recording voices for Frankenstein vs the Wolfman; as of this writing we've got one part in the can, with others scheduled to be recorded in the following weeks. I haven't really been doing any new animation while I wait for the voice work, but our home PCs are hard at work cranking out final renders for the completed scenes.
Also, I've done a test with Lipsinc's Mimic software, which is a program that analyzes sound files & automatically generates Poser lip and expression data: I fed the Frankenstein Monster a line and have seen him talk for the first time. The surprise discovery was how much life the program gave to the facial features while the character talks - much more than just simply matching lip movements to words. Very cool.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Ok, Here's the Plan
While working on some new shots, I've been rendering out the right eye version of the first couple of shots that were produced; I now have my first seconds of final 3D video. The 3D in motion works as well as my test frames suggested. I did make a sizeable goof in one 75 frame shot (about 3 seconds worth), which now needs to be re-rendered for both left and right eyes to correct the perspective problem.
Anyway, the plan... I'm trying to figure out how this thing is going to look in its final DVD incarnation, so planning has to be undertaken at this stage to ensure the best quality result. I'm producing all the images at 852x480, then importing the resultant right and left eye versions into a freeware program called Stereo Movie Maker. The program creates 3 AVI files for each shot - a 2D version (made from the left eye video file), an anaglyph 3D version, and an interlaced 3D version. This will probably cause me storage headaches down the road, as about 15 seconds worth of footage equals about a 400MB uncompressed AVI, per version.
Then, I take the 2D version into Adobe Premiere and edit it. The goal is to go straight from the Premiere timeline to a DVD-ready MPEG2 file without any intermediary steps, which would cause compression loss. To acheive this (since I'm using Premiere 6), I'm evaluating a program from Videotools called Premiere Video Server, which allows you to use an encoder, such as TMPGEnc, to produce a final video stream directly from Premiere. I did a test using Cinema Craft's MPEG Encoder, but was unsatisfied with the results, and have opted for the freeware TMPGEnc for the quality of its video output.
The 852x480 16x9 image is smashed into a 720x480 anamorphic frame, which is then decoded back to a 16x9 image by your DVD player. I haven't burned a test file for playback yet, but looking at it on a computer monitor displays no edge problems associated with most video scaling operations.
Once I have the 2D version finished, I can then have Premiere replace all the 2D clips with their 3D counterparts, while retaining all my edit decisions. The encoding process can then be repeated for each subsequent version of the movie.
So, there you have it. The initial tests of this process have gone well, so we're off to the races. For those of you interested in current stats, there is 1:14 of finished animation; 39 seconds of that is final, rendered 2D animation; and 17 seconds of that exists in 3D.
Anyway, the plan... I'm trying to figure out how this thing is going to look in its final DVD incarnation, so planning has to be undertaken at this stage to ensure the best quality result. I'm producing all the images at 852x480, then importing the resultant right and left eye versions into a freeware program called Stereo Movie Maker. The program creates 3 AVI files for each shot - a 2D version (made from the left eye video file), an anaglyph 3D version, and an interlaced 3D version. This will probably cause me storage headaches down the road, as about 15 seconds worth of footage equals about a 400MB uncompressed AVI, per version.
Then, I take the 2D version into Adobe Premiere and edit it. The goal is to go straight from the Premiere timeline to a DVD-ready MPEG2 file without any intermediary steps, which would cause compression loss. To acheive this (since I'm using Premiere 6), I'm evaluating a program from Videotools called Premiere Video Server, which allows you to use an encoder, such as TMPGEnc, to produce a final video stream directly from Premiere. I did a test using Cinema Craft's MPEG Encoder, but was unsatisfied with the results, and have opted for the freeware TMPGEnc for the quality of its video output.
The 852x480 16x9 image is smashed into a 720x480 anamorphic frame, which is then decoded back to a 16x9 image by your DVD player. I haven't burned a test file for playback yet, but looking at it on a computer monitor displays no edge problems associated with most video scaling operations.
Once I have the 2D version finished, I can then have Premiere replace all the 2D clips with their 3D counterparts, while retaining all my edit decisions. The encoding process can then be repeated for each subsequent version of the movie.
So, there you have it. The initial tests of this process have gone well, so we're off to the races. For those of you interested in current stats, there is 1:14 of finished animation; 39 seconds of that is final, rendered 2D animation; and 17 seconds of that exists in 3D.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Website Update
Back to work on movie. Taking a breather here to do some website reprogramming. Upgraded the Synopsis & Trailer pages, and added a working Photo Gallery. Posted two finished movie stilsl in both 2D and 3D.
Reworked the poster, which uses virtually the same artwork as seen on the main page of this site. Since the robe the Monster is pictured wearing broke repeatedly when I was trying to pose it, its been changed to Daz's Morphing Trenchcoat for Michael, which looks and works a lot better. Hopefully, you'll be seeing it soon...
Reworked the poster, which uses virtually the same artwork as seen on the main page of this site. Since the robe the Monster is pictured wearing broke repeatedly when I was trying to pose it, its been changed to Daz's Morphing Trenchcoat for Michael, which looks and works a lot better. Hopefully, you'll be seeing it soon...
Thursday, January 20, 2005
First Slowdown
I've been procrastinating about getting back to work on this sucker. For the past week, I keep circling the computer. It dares me to sit down at it and do some work. I had been working on a sequence that's come to be known as Scene #29, which is the opening of the final battle sequence. After completion a chain-of-events, I'm stuck now dreaming up how to handle the next section of the scene. I have in mind what needs to happen, but working on the same set, with the same characters lends it a feeling of deja vu.
I've come to realize that to keep my interest high on a project, there needs to be something new interjected into it at regular intervals. That can be as simple as the introduction of a new character, or something more complex, such as a change of scenery. In all the movies I've done so far, the fight scenes are the most challenging because they have to be done in short cuts and multiple setups, all featuring wild motions. For those of you who saw the terrible climactic fights in the two RAVEN movies, rest assured that the footage here is looking much improved. There's a better sense of fluid movement and physics, which hopefully will serve to make it a little more realistic and exciting.
Andy tells me that the basement recording studio is coming along. Prior to this, he, and his cohort Rob, had a mobil setup that allowed them to bring facilities to the talent. Now, with dedicated space available, they hope to make something more permanent. Once the equipment is all wired in, we can begin recording the actors.
I've been generating some headshots of the movie's characters, both in 2D and 3D, for eventual posting on the Characters page. I'm still holding out to see if we can get photos of the actors playing the parts to post along side them.
I've come to realize that to keep my interest high on a project, there needs to be something new interjected into it at regular intervals. That can be as simple as the introduction of a new character, or something more complex, such as a change of scenery. In all the movies I've done so far, the fight scenes are the most challenging because they have to be done in short cuts and multiple setups, all featuring wild motions. For those of you who saw the terrible climactic fights in the two RAVEN movies, rest assured that the footage here is looking much improved. There's a better sense of fluid movement and physics, which hopefully will serve to make it a little more realistic and exciting.
Andy tells me that the basement recording studio is coming along. Prior to this, he, and his cohort Rob, had a mobil setup that allowed them to bring facilities to the talent. Now, with dedicated space available, they hope to make something more permanent. Once the equipment is all wired in, we can begin recording the actors.
I've been generating some headshots of the movie's characters, both in 2D and 3D, for eventual posting on the Characters page. I'm still holding out to see if we can get photos of the actors playing the parts to post along side them.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Happy New Year
The holidays broke my forward momentum on the project, and I'm still trying to get back on track. I'm using my PC to do the animation, and my wife's computer to render it out. Unfortunately, the scene I'm rendering is so memory intensive that it keeps clogging up the system around frame 195 or so (about 3 days worth of work), and has to be restarted. I have set it to render out only to frame 190, after which I will render out the remainder of the 278 frames as a seperate file.
At some point here I have to do an encoding test to see what this will look like on DVD. I'm rendering the frames out at 852x480 widescreen, but DVD only accepts 720x480. The idea being that the widescreen aspect can be squeezed anamorphically into the DVD compliant frame size. We'll see if that holds water after I have a minute or so of completed footage to test it.
We still haven't done any recording. Hopefully, that will come together soon. I will post more artwork and the script to the website once the bulk of the voice recording is in the can.
At some point here I have to do an encoding test to see what this will look like on DVD. I'm rendering the frames out at 852x480 widescreen, but DVD only accepts 720x480. The idea being that the widescreen aspect can be squeezed anamorphically into the DVD compliant frame size. We'll see if that holds water after I have a minute or so of completed footage to test it.
We still haven't done any recording. Hopefully, that will come together soon. I will post more artwork and the script to the website once the bulk of the voice recording is in the can.
Monday, December 27, 2004
Why 3-D?
I have been obsessed with 3-D since childhood. Be it movies, comic books, ViewMasters, you name it. As a kid, with colored pencils, I would even make my own anaglyph perspective drawings. I actually missed the 3-D movie revival in 1982-83, and didn't see my first theatrical 3-D movie until the (now hard to find) sci-fi animated cartoon, STARCHASER: THE LEGEND OF ORIN, in 1985. That was the same year that a late night horror movie host sent us to the neighborhood 7-11 to get glasses for the special showing of the low-budget Canadian horror film, THE MASK (I still have them!). I tried to track down everything I could find that was 3-D related, including buying a Super 8mm camera attachment from Spondon Film in England, which allowed you to make anaglyph movies in-camera.
In case you're wondering what anaglyph is, it refers to 3-D images viewed using red and blue colored glasses. Theatrical movies, including all of the 80's features, use polarized glasses for a full color experience. Unfortunately, the polarizing system is fairly complicated to use. It requires a special projector lens, and some calibration - plus a highly reflective silver screen for best results. Recent big screen 3-D ventures (including FREDDY'S DEAD and SPY KIDS 3-D) have been distributed anaglyph - which is done in the lab, and requires no special modification to the projector.
As technology improved, the home marketplace saw the rise of a superior full-color 3-D system, known as field sequential 3-D. Field sequential systems use electronic shutterglasses to blink the right and left eyes alternately on and off so the viewer sees a full 3-D image. Although I believe it was primarily developed for the medial industry, the system was exploited by the Japanese in the late 80's, with a laserdisc format known as VHD, to release full-color 3-D versions of the early 80's 3-D movie wave. Titles such as FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3, JAWS 3-D, SPACEHUNTER: ADVENTURES IN THE FORBIDDEN ZONE, HOUSE OF WAX, etc, all found their way to this format, and have now turned up on DVD on eBay. Aside from catching a revival showing of one of these films in a theater, this is the best way to see them. Recent IMAX shorts, such as HAUNTED CASTLE and ENOUNTER IN THE 3RD DIMENSION, have turned up for sale domestically in this format. You can get more information on the system by visiting http://www.razor3d.com, who sells an affordable set.
Anyway... since I believe that every movie should be made in 3-D, I did some digging. What kind of 3-D could be produced with home made CGI? More specifically, could it be done in Poser? Well, low and behold, it can. I won't get into the technical specifics of that now (we'll wait for a slow news week), but basically what you're doing is rendering the movie twice, once for the left eye, and then again, 2-degrees to the right. These two versions can be combined in post-production to make field sequential 3-D, anaglyphic 3-D, or any other 3-D format that will eventually be dreamed up. And, the upside is (for all exhibition considerations), you have a perfectly acceptable 2-D version of your movie as well.
Before I started working on the movie (actually before I even started on the script), I made the FRANKENSTEIN VS THE WOLFMAN teaser trailer that you can find elsewhere on this website. I even have a field sequential version, in living color, and it rocks. So, the future bodes well. I have seen and studied a lot of 3-D movies, and it's resulted in a lot of theoretical knowledge. I've always wanted to make a 3-D movie - so here's my chance. Besides, 3-D is on the cusp of another resurgence. The 3-D POLAR EXPRESS is the highest grossing IMAX film to date. Robert Rodriguez is apparently doing another 3-D kids movie, THE ADVENTURES OF SHARK BOY AND LAVA GIRL, and James Cameron (who is currently making 3-D underwater IMAX movies) plans to return to the big screen with the 3-D sci-fi epic BATTLE ANGEL.
When I get the photo gallery up and running, I'll post anaglyph versions in addition to the 2D screencaps, so you can see how it looks.
In case you're wondering what anaglyph is, it refers to 3-D images viewed using red and blue colored glasses. Theatrical movies, including all of the 80's features, use polarized glasses for a full color experience. Unfortunately, the polarizing system is fairly complicated to use. It requires a special projector lens, and some calibration - plus a highly reflective silver screen for best results. Recent big screen 3-D ventures (including FREDDY'S DEAD and SPY KIDS 3-D) have been distributed anaglyph - which is done in the lab, and requires no special modification to the projector.
As technology improved, the home marketplace saw the rise of a superior full-color 3-D system, known as field sequential 3-D. Field sequential systems use electronic shutterglasses to blink the right and left eyes alternately on and off so the viewer sees a full 3-D image. Although I believe it was primarily developed for the medial industry, the system was exploited by the Japanese in the late 80's, with a laserdisc format known as VHD, to release full-color 3-D versions of the early 80's 3-D movie wave. Titles such as FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3, JAWS 3-D, SPACEHUNTER: ADVENTURES IN THE FORBIDDEN ZONE, HOUSE OF WAX, etc, all found their way to this format, and have now turned up on DVD on eBay. Aside from catching a revival showing of one of these films in a theater, this is the best way to see them. Recent IMAX shorts, such as HAUNTED CASTLE and ENOUNTER IN THE 3RD DIMENSION, have turned up for sale domestically in this format. You can get more information on the system by visiting http://www.razor3d.com, who sells an affordable set.
Anyway... since I believe that every movie should be made in 3-D, I did some digging. What kind of 3-D could be produced with home made CGI? More specifically, could it be done in Poser? Well, low and behold, it can. I won't get into the technical specifics of that now (we'll wait for a slow news week), but basically what you're doing is rendering the movie twice, once for the left eye, and then again, 2-degrees to the right. These two versions can be combined in post-production to make field sequential 3-D, anaglyphic 3-D, or any other 3-D format that will eventually be dreamed up. And, the upside is (for all exhibition considerations), you have a perfectly acceptable 2-D version of your movie as well.
Before I started working on the movie (actually before I even started on the script), I made the FRANKENSTEIN VS THE WOLFMAN teaser trailer that you can find elsewhere on this website. I even have a field sequential version, in living color, and it rocks. So, the future bodes well. I have seen and studied a lot of 3-D movies, and it's resulted in a lot of theoretical knowledge. I've always wanted to make a 3-D movie - so here's my chance. Besides, 3-D is on the cusp of another resurgence. The 3-D POLAR EXPRESS is the highest grossing IMAX film to date. Robert Rodriguez is apparently doing another 3-D kids movie, THE ADVENTURES OF SHARK BOY AND LAVA GIRL, and James Cameron (who is currently making 3-D underwater IMAX movies) plans to return to the big screen with the 3-D sci-fi epic BATTLE ANGEL.
When I get the photo gallery up and running, I'll post anaglyph versions in addition to the 2D screencaps, so you can see how it looks.
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