Stop-Motion 3D with PC (Perspective Control) Lens at DVinfo.net

Graeme Hay · March 21st, 2010, 09:37 AM

Hi, I have a PC lens which has 1" of travel on the shift portion. I'm wondering if I can use it for my stop-motion animation whereby I take 2 photos for every frame.

I know for normal video the distance is 64mm (2.54") but since my people will be around 8" high, I think I'd only do 7mm adjustment? (I'll have to do the math on this later, but the concept stands that I should be doing less than 1" travel on a minimized set - That is the distance between the eyes of my manikins).

Then how do I put the Jpegs into post as a 3D image (red-green shift) assuming I use FCE or FCP on my mac (or is there a special 3D mixing program). I also have Photoshop.

Ken Hull · March 22nd, 2010, 05:09 PM

I think that technique would work, however you'd have the convergence at infinity. According to articles I've read about the making of Avatar, its best to have the convergence set to the main subject (whatever you're focused on). And the IO distance can be adjusted somewhat to increase or decrease the stereo effect. Of course, you could adjust the convergence in editing, if you're willing to lose a bit of resolution by cropping and shifting.

One thing about perspective control lenses .... they shift rather than aim, so that parallel lines at one extreme will still be parallel when the lens is shifted to the other extreme. I don't think this is quite the way our eyes see the real world, since each eye is aimed in a slightly different direction..... so parallel horizontal lines for one eye would not be quite parallel for the other eye. (But maybe I'm just nit-picking.)

Ken

Aric Mannion · March 25th, 2010, 01:36 PM

You'd have to preview in 3D as you were composing your shot. You wouldn't want to shoot a stop motion just to find the camera angles weren't aligned correctly. Maybe you could take a picture through each camera and bring that into photoshop to preview.

If you bring your left and right eye footage layered on top of each other in After Effects you can use the 3D filter. There's probably other programs that will do this for you as well.

March 21st, 2010, 09:37 AM	#1
Graeme Hay Major Player Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 202	Stop-Motion 3D with PC (Perspective Control) Lens Hi, I have a PC lens which has 1" of travel on the shift portion. I'm wondering if I can use it for my stop-motion animation whereby I take 2 photos for every frame. I know for normal video the distance is 64mm (2.54") but since my people will be around 8" high, I think I'd only do 7mm adjustment? (I'll have to do the math on this later, but the concept stands that I should be doing less than 1" travel on a minimized set - That is the distance between the eyes of my manikins). Then how do I put the Jpegs into post as a 3D image (red-green shift) assuming I use FCE or FCP on my mac (or is there a special 3D mixing program). I also have Photoshop. __________________ Independent Filmmaker in Canada's Capital

March 22nd, 2010, 05:09 PM	#2
Ken Hull Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 240	Might work ... I think that technique would work, however you'd have the convergence at infinity. According to articles I've read about the making of Avatar, its best to have the convergence set to the main subject (whatever you're focused on). And the IO distance can be adjusted somewhat to increase or decrease the stereo effect. Of course, you could adjust the convergence in editing, if you're willing to lose a bit of resolution by cropping and shifting. One thing about perspective control lenses .... they shift rather than aim, so that parallel lines at one extreme will still be parallel when the lens is shifted to the other extreme. I don't think this is quite the way our eyes see the real world, since each eye is aimed in a slightly different direction..... so parallel horizontal lines for one eye would not be quite parallel for the other eye. (But maybe I'm just nit-picking.) Ken

March 25th, 2010, 01:36 PM	#3
Aric Mannion Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 616	You'd have to preview in 3D as you were composing your shot. You wouldn't want to shoot a stop motion just to find the camera angles weren't aligned correctly. Maybe you could take a picture through each camera and bring that into photoshop to preview. If you bring your left and right eye footage layered on top of each other in After Effects you can use the 3D filter. There's probably other programs that will do this for you as well.