Making a 3D image

This is the image I started off with.

Firstly, I had to duplicate the layer by selecting layer > duplicate layer...

Then, I had to select image > adjustments > levels...

When I clicked that, I had to change the channel to red

And then I changed the output level to 0, and pressed ok.

This made the picture look blue.

I then selected the other layer (Background)

Then, I selected image > adjustments > levels.. once again

And then changed the channel this time to green, and the output level to 0 again.

I did the same again by selecting image > adjustments > levels..

and changed the channel to blue, and the output level to 0 again.

I then selected the other layer (background copy), and clicked layers, and changed it to screen.

Then used the move tool on the left hand side on the toolbar.

Finally I moved the image down and right slightly, so that it can then be viewed through 3D glasses, to make it look 3D.

Evaluation

For this photography task, we had to create our own Stop-Motion video. We had to research Stop-Motion videos, and find some on the internet to put onto our blogs. We had to then create our own, from getting ideas from the ones we researched. To make our own Stop-Motion video, we all went into the studio, and set up a picture on the floor, with the camera placed above. To make a Stop-Motion video, we had to take photographs of the view from above, and move something a little bit on each picture, which are then all put together to make a video, which makes the object in the picture look like it's moving. The picture we made was a field, with pebbles and the sky, and a bird drops the seed,to make a flower grow, then Hannah picks the flower.

We also had to create our own individual video, with our own ideas,

X-box 360 Kinect

The Kinect is for X-box, which is a camera and Motion-Capture machine. It captures what the player is doing, and the player can either control what the character on the screen is doing, or copy it on certain games.

There are many games for the Kinect, such as Zumba Fitness, Kinect Sports, Kinect Adventures and many more. 

Zumba Fitness is a Fitness game and uses Motion Capture to play it. The game involves the player to move, by copying the dancer on the screen. It records your movement and shows whether you are doing it correctly. 

Other games like Kinect Sports and Kinect Adventures require the player to control the character. So the movements which the player makes, the character on the screen makes too. 

There are many different games within these, such as football, volleyball, bowling, and many more. There are also newer versions of the Kinect Sports, which includes sports like Skiing, Darts and Golf.

Kinect Sports: Season 2

Motion Capture

Motion capture, motion tracking or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics In film-making, it refers to recording actions of human actors, and using that information to animate digital character models in 2D or 3D computer animation. When it includes face and fingers or captures subtle expressions, it is often referred to as performance capture. 

About Stop-Motion Videos

Stop-motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frame is played as a continuous sequence. Clay figures are often used in stop motion for their easy of repositioning. Motion animation using clay is called clay animation or clay-mation.

Also, other techiniques of creating stop-motion are flip books, drawings and paintings on paper or buildings, which take a lot of time and effort, people making small movements at a time, and can create a method which looks like the person is flying etc, and many more.

There are many directors who use stop-motion within their films and programmes, such as Henry Selick, Tim Burton, Nick Park, Ray Harryhausen, Phil Tippett, George Pal, and many more.

Tim Burton is a well known famous film producer, he is very active in the field of stop-motion animation. One of Burton's first films, Vincent, is a six minute stop-motion animation about a young boy who wants to be Vincent Price. Several of his early live-action films such as 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure' and 'Beetlejuice' made use of stop-motion. In 1993, Burton produced the all-stop motion animation 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'. The film was in production for three years due to the length of the time it takes to shoot stop-motion. The main characters in the films were puppets, that in order to create realism in the film were structured hundreds of face models with different expressions. The film is based on a poem Burton wrote inspired by ' 'Twas The Night Before Christmas' - it was then directed by Henry Selick. Selick later directed the adaptation of 'James and the Giant Peach', a blend between stop-motion animation and live action film. In 2005, 'Corpse Bride' was released, another stop motion piece from Burton.

Making a Stop-Motion Video

Firstly, we went in the studio to produce our stop-motion video.

We equipment we used to produce the photos were;  

Canon 5D Camera with Canon 24 - 105mm zoom lens. 

 Cambo camera stand, 

Soft box wafers/ striplight wafer, 

Sync lead, 

Bowens Pulsar Radio triggers, 

Bowens 500w lighting,

Tom took the pictures while the rest of us helped create the scene for the photo. Hannah was the model in the photos, and we used materials and objects to create the picture, such as stones, bed sheets, paper and a flower. We layed out everything on the floor, and the camera was positioned above it, the scene looked like the sky and field.

The story of the video, is that the bird drops the seed, then a flower grows, and Hannah picks the flower.

There were problems with the lighting in some of the photos, as some were dark and had shadows on, and some were light with a clear picture with no shadows. 

If were were to do this again, I would make sure that the photos were all the same colour and brightness and ensure that there is nothing creates shadows in the pictures.

These are two examples of how the light in the pictures change, in the first one it is dark, and the second is the correct brightness.

After we took the photos, we went onto Final Cut Pro, to create the Stop-Motion video.

I then opened the file I wanted to go into, and put the photos on it.

These are the photos I needed to use to create my Stop-Motion video.

These are all the photos on Final Cut Pro after I opened them, so I could make the video.

These are all the files on Final Cut Pro, and I dragged them all to the bottom to put in a sequence, I then made them smaller so you could see them all together.  

These are all the files made smaller, and I had to change the duration they were on for, I changed them all to 00:00:00:06.