The Snazzies: Reverse Theatre Set/Video

Hey Catherine,

Another significant update for you to peruse today... it took a day or so longer then I wanted it to but I think I have gotten it to where I am kind of happy. In other good news Ross is getting on the Storyboards for this animation while I wrap up a few things then me and him are going to sit down and crack out your animation in a big shot. I had a feeling this part would be the nightmare and it wasn't easy but it works now so that's good.

The image above shows where I see the fixed camera from behind them sitting... I also sat down and added a normal map to the chair arms (they were quite smooth and shiny on the earlier renditions... something I have addressed now... it was just too shiny. I want to keep this camera still otherwise I have to add tracking which is another thing I didn't factor into our costs. I think its perfect at this angle though.

This image shows the Slinkies in the cinema seats from behind. The Slinky animation will work outside of the video which will be embedded in post. The television has no screen or background so it is essentially an alpha which means I can transpose anything through it. Best way I can explain it is its more like a window then a television. We can see what's going on through the scene because the area has no background.

This is a partial video (animated gif) of our animation running on its own. Notice the white space around it which is where our Slinkies are going to sit over the top of this screen. They can animate over the top because they are independent of what's going on in the background. In terms of layers the video sits at the bottom so everything can happen in front of it. This also has the advantage of allowing us to lay whatever video we want.

Last but not least here is the video again but with our Slinky still over-layed on top. Obviously our Slinkies will be moving but the point is this screen will always have a blank spot so we can put anything in there for them to discuss. This is how I see us handling the back end shots anyway. The reason I want to keep the camera movement still is because this changes the perspective of the whole in the screen...

Anyway I hope you like how it looks. Not long to go now.
xXStITChXx