TV Commercial 3D?

[gladesman]

What procedure do they use on the new TV still commercials to simulate 3D? It looks like they're separating a foreground image or images from the background to create an effect of varying distances.
I'm interested in playing with the idea.

[gladesman]

No ideas? The commercials I'm referring to are all stills.

[mushmush]

I'm sorry but I'm not familiar with the commercials to which you are referring.
Do you recall the product?

[gladesman]

One is, Memphis Beat. Another is the show, Roselli and Isllis, I think that's the title.
More and more commercials are using this effect.
The style looks 3D realistic.

[Doug Nelson]

Are you talking about bullet time and its variants?

For example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5yhxqkJiAQ

The "making of" is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teoSDTJDjF4

Used on CSI:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONP8Z4AtmQ8

The "making of" for this one (by Zoic):
http://idesignyoureyes.com/2009/11/0...-csi-premiere/

The first commercials I thought when reading your question were the TNT spots for "The Closer" and "Rizzoli & Isles" (both at the :25 mark):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLK_dIPe6V4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8ZF0wRuB1s

[gladesman]

Thanks for the links, Doug. I did mean the TNT spots for The Closer and Rizzoli and Isles.
Watched the "Making of..." link you provided, but it shows the character setups, as opposed to producing the 3D effects in a 2D image like a photograph.
Any ideas on how they set the figures apart from the backgrounds?

[Doug Nelson]

I don't know, but I suspect they shot each actor on a green screen, the background with a dolly, and composited them using a 3D app such as Maya.

[gladesman]

Ah, maybe so. Guess I'll start with CS5 Extended 3D and see what can be done there. I'd like to integrate some of my nature photos into just a hint of 3D if that's possible.

[Doug Nelson]

You can try the improved Ken Burns effect: cut your foreground subject to a new layer, then either enlarge it slightly or use content-aware fill to close the hole it left on the background layer. Blur the background layer a bit, then you can move the foreground subject independently of the background (a la every History Channel documentary ever).

Steve Caplin showed me that he's had some success using Repousse (in CS5) to turn 2D subjects into 3D, but so far they have to be pretty simple shapes (he has a very dramatic one he did of a beetle).

You might want to check out the Scott Valentine show I just uploaded to youtube.com/retouchpro. It doesn't cover this topic precisely, but it does give a good foundation for CS5 Extended's 3D compositing capabilities.

[Doug Nelson]

Attached is a plain photo I took of a wild rose and a quick-and-dirty 4-frame animation I made using the technique I just described.

[gladesman]

I'll check out your info. Btw, that's an impressive animation. Sets the rose apart nicely.

[LQQKER]

Just making an example.
In the movie Avatar, which was probably one of the best 3-D movies to date, you can see obvious differences in filmography by watching the regular Blu-ray (which I liked better). Until I seen the blu-Ray, I did not realize how much detail I missed due to the 3-D effect, even though I seen the 3-D version in 70mm format at Imax. This may be due to the fact I was mesmerized by the 3-D.

If you take note, all of the film was shot to compliment the 3-D effect by exaggerating the linear perspective (the distance between objects) and arial perspective (the sharpness between distant objects) to a degree along with stronger foreground contrast. Having the closer colors slightly more vivid would enhance the effect as well. Of course these techniques could be applied to regular photography.

[gladesman]

LQQker,
Enhancing the sharpness between objects and the vividness is no problem. It's the linear perspective that bogs me down. How do you enhance distance on a 2D photo plane? Illusions are easy in vector drawings, but photos... that's the tough one, the nut I need to crack. Any more thoughts on it?

[Steve13]

The "Master" painters throughout history would make the farther object hazier like this example. Might have some applications in PS.
http://www.allartclassic.com/author_countries.php?id=14

[gladesman]

Good point, Steve.

[creativeretouch]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5yhxqkJiAQ

I think you need to take a basic video footage (moving camera), than you will take photographs in each place to keep same lighting and finally you will use a 3d software for same scenes (for example the broken glass in the air with changing light on itself) and than you will put everything together in SHAKE or MOTION or similar compositing software ??? I am not sure but I think I am close

[Temujin]

why dont you just search on youtube for "Philips Carousel - Making Of" ?
there is at least two of them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teoSDTJDjF4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0MjC4mh0aw

[creativeretouch]

Hi Temujin,

this is still not clear enough. As you can see, there is a combination of 2D & 3D objects, isn't? Are you aware of the software which was used? Could it be Shake? They show just very basic corrections - I am sure there is much more work behind ... And this is really not easy to shoot so long sequence and avoid any movement in the scene ... mozna se nam bude lepe komunikovat v nasi reci

[Temujin]

creativeretouch: i think its pretty clear after seeing that making of videos, they just shoot whole scene by camera mounted on advanced rig. Actors just stay still in positions (they mentioned hiring people who is physically able to hold still position long enough)..also actors are supported by objects under them and wires (you can see it on cop smashed trough glass in entrance hall, he is basically sitting and his leg is supported by glass).

Other things (explosions, effects, additional CG parts) are inserted in postproduction (it actually doesent matter which compositing software you use)
with help of tracked camera to fit movement of additional parts.

They basicaly did something very simple, but its just good idea which looks expensive at the end.
personally i think that hardest part was preparation of whole set and all details before actual shooting.

I think you need very good equipment to make this, if you noticed that camera rig, tats not something you can rent for couple of bucks Sw is not that important.
You need some compositing sw (fusion, nuke...) 3d sw (maya, xsi, 3ds max...)
tracking sw (PF track, Boujou)...and maybe couple of plugins.

Kdyby neco, tak radsi napis na skype
kontakty na me jsou tady: http://www.temujin.cz/kontakt.htm

[creativeretouch]

So I was pretty close. People in few positions look like a 2D photograph used in the final movie. It confused me

Do you really think you will get same result with iMovie as with Final Cut for example? Or iPhoto & Photoshop?

This is a professional advertisement which looks expensive as it is very expensive.

... ja ted hodne cestuji a jsem mimo republiku, az budu v Praze tak muzeme zajit na kafco nebo obed

[Temujin]

creativeretouch: of course profesional stuff is involved, i think toys like imovie is out of question for projects like this

[gladesman]

Originally Posted by Temujin

why dont you just search on youtube for "Philips Carousel - Making Of" ?
there is at least two of them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teoSDTJDjF4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0MjC4mh0aw

My question was, and is, how is the 3D effect accomplished? These youtube clips show how the actors stayed in various positions while the camera roamed a track. The clips do not indicate how the 3D effect was done.

Temujin, I looked at your portfolio-very impressive. The composites show some dimensional work very well and I see that the rim lighting helps the models stand out from the background, but the tv commercials in question have even more of a 3D effect, and that's what my query is about.

[Temujin]

gladesman: sorry, but i don´t know what you are asking for...you want to know how to work generaly with 3d? that cant be explained in one post...you want to know some specific cg part used in this commercial? for instance broken glass around policeman in hall, or explosions? you need to be more specific with your question....

[gladesman]

Temujin,
When there are 2 or 3 actors in the tv commercial still scene, each seems to stand in varying positions from the background and from each other, creating an illusion of varying space. This is what makes me sense 3D.

My question is how is it done in the still photograph?

[Temujin]

gladesman: sorry, maybe im stupid, but i still don´t get what do you asking about

[pixel_monkey]

gladesman,

Are you referring to this kind of effect?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeaWy...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XDruwtrs0s

[creativeretouch]

this is exactly what I thought they have used there ...

[Hotmama]

I know exactly what you mean with the "still" looking 3d on tv. I thought it looked really cool, would love to use that same effect on an ad, looks like the characters are popping out from the background, like cutouts, but they still belong there.

[gladesman]

Great. Someone knows what I meant.
As you say, Hotmama, the effect looks terrific like it's natural yet 3 dimensional. I realize they're using a light wrap of some kind, but they're doing it almost perfectly.
Would really like to know how they place the subjects into proper perspectives as well.

[Hotmama]

Yep, I am going to try and create something like it, I left the dvr recording on that channel hoping to freeze frame it! - so I can take a closer look.....I'll take a snapshot if I can...