Rookie here needs tons of help
czar.kantor099
Posts: 3
So my imagination is going through the roof and wanted to ask many questions.
1. Is there a free (or cheap) software where i can use live action people to animate instead of doing it bit by bit?
2. Do i need green screen for it?
3. How do I turn it to a video file? Do i render it or do i have to do something else?
4. What other programs can i buy (That are cheap) to add backgrounds and effect other than Adobe Effects?
Thanks for the help I really appreciate and dont yell. Im still working on this as a hobby
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Comments
Live action people to animate... let's see... you mean you have a large room available (or preferably an empty warehouse) where you can get several friends to come and spend the afternoon posing for you, wearing those target things so that your laser scanning equipment can digitize them?
For hobby purposes it's probably better to use DAZ figures and props in your more VIRTUAL "theater" or stage, which will exist right inside your computer.
It is possible to obtain Poser figures fairly cheaply; for example there was a "trial" sort of package called "Poser Debut" that cost around twenty dollars and came with lots (eg. hundreds++) of models. At the very least you can use digital figures and props to work out some of your story boards, in advance of getting all of your friends to come over.
Also it can be hard to get some "actors" like babies and fidgety old people, dogs and horses etc. to stand still and be quiet... digital models really shine in this department.
The latest versions of Photoshop include modules for video and animation assembly and editing... the lines dividing some of this stuff are blurring. $9.95 a month for Photoshop CC the last time I checked.
Any one-pixel-thick, primitive rectangular shape may be placed in your virtual theater for free and you can put your own painted or photographic material onto this "backdrop". In this screenshot I am using the "Easy Iray Lights" studio which includes a sort of roll of paper upon which you can place your actors and props. There are lots more of these things sold as kits that usually cost less than, say, thirty dollars. There's lots in the DAZ Store; other people like Adam Thwaites and Renderosity have these sorts of things in their catalogs as well.
Are you talking about motion capture? If ti is I'm not sure cheap and free are synonymous. I haven't looked into it really but maybe iclone is something like what you are looking for.
Can't you use an Xbox Kinect to do some motion capture? Seems like I've heard of it. Not sure how to do it, but I'd start by looking into that. I don't think you actually need an Xbox either, just the Kinect.
As a matter of fact, you can.
There is a separate version of the Kinect sensor (Kinect for Windows -- I happen to have both) that I use with Visual Studio. I'm writing the application to read the Kinect data stream for motion-capture (this is the really icky part!)
The Kinect version I have, and the software development kit, is version 1.8; version 2.0 is for the XBox 1, and the hardware requirements for it are simply insane! (I'm a 100%-laptop kind of guy, since I travel a lot, and space is at a premium in my car. And I do have this big honkin' laser printer that I insist on hauling around with me.) And the SDK for it is not downward-compatible; at least, it wasn't when I got mine, a little over a year ago.
I'll let you know when I have something that's reasonably bug-free.... (Yeah, like that's ever gonna happen...!)
Well, if you didn't eat in your car, you wouldn't have so many bugs!
Actually, it's more 'drinking in front of the computer'....