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3-D Titles

J

jigen08

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 24, 2006
27
0
I'd like to use a form of 3-D titles for a project.

The style of 3-D I'm interested in is not so much the sort with a top/side/bottom projection, rather a flat 2-D style that exists in a 3-D space. Similar to those used in the film, Stranger than Fiction - as the camera tilts or pans around something in the scene, the titles should also be tilted and panned around as if they are floating in the scene. I need a Z axis as well as X and Y.

Any suggestions for software? I have LiveType, FCP, Shake, Motion. I haven't used them for titling so I'm not sure their capabilities in this area. Do I need a different titles software package to bring me a Z axis?

Thanks in advance
 
I think you'll want a package that can project a shadow onto a "shadow catcher". This allows you to composite the output with live video and create a realistic simulation of the letters being in the same space as the objects in the video.
An example would be the spaceship in "independence Day" hovering over(and casting a shadow on) a video of a large building.
It's actually casting a shadow on an invisible primitive object shaped like the building.

Without this capability,(or another method) I doubt that the letters will actually "read" as being part of the scene.
Animation apps such as Maya will do this sort of thing.
 
thanks

Thanks everyone for the quick replies. I do have Maya, not After Effects. Maya is great, but I wanted to do this in a post-production way rather than rendering an iff sequence.

I'm less concerned with the shadow than the need for movement/rotation that matches the footage movement. I think a combination of LiveType (for the title and any animation it needs) and Shake (for the 3-D matching). I'll keep After Effects in mind and try to use what I have before purchasing a new program. Thanks again for the suggestion...
 
jigen08 said:
Thanks everyone for the quick replies. I do have Maya, not After Effects. Maya is great, but I wanted to do this in a post-production way rather than rendering an iff sequence.

I'm less concerned with the shadow than the need for movement/rotation that matches the footage movement. I think a combination of LiveType (for the title and any animation it needs) and Shake (for the 3-D matching). I'll keep After Effects in mind and try to use what I have before purchasing a new program. Thanks again for the suggestion...
Click to expand...

If you "know" Maya that's an easy thing to do. You can bring footage into Maya and match it there. Can't get around the iff sequence but I generally import it into After Effects and output it.
 
Motion should do this, I know Combustion does this very well and the features from After Effects, Motion and Combustion are very similar so you should have no problems doing what you want with what you already have.

Creative Cow might have some good inputs from this area.
 
ATD said:
Yes, After Effects will do that (2D planes in a 3D space). A whole lot easier than trying to do it in Maya.
Click to expand...

Woohoo! Score one point for me. I've played around a little with AE and have seen this kind of stuff done, but it's still above my head. I be a lowly print guy :p
 
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