Gray Ball

[luke stewart]

Gray Ball. Does anyone have any info on making one of these. Or even where to buy one?

[pmark23]

I'm in the process of making a slate with a white, gray, black, and mirrored balls attached. The mirrored ball (for CG lighting and relighting in post) is a large bearing polished and cut. The white is a ping-pong ball (cut and glued to the slate), and the gray and black are painted ping-pong balls.

[Jason Miller]

Pmark, you're going to need a larger chrome and gray ball than that, some people get by with balls that are about 2 inches from center, but most use balls that are about 6 inches from center.

Luke

shop around your local garden supply store, there are grey and chrome "lawn balls" that many use.

the chrome sometimes has a bit of distortion, but tends to work well.

Jason

[pmark23]

I'm going to try the polished bearing first. If that doesn't work then go for the bigger garden ball.

I was initially going for the bigger ball, but I think it's too big for what I'm doing (and doesn't fit on the clapper). I just want to see where the light-sources are, and maybe do some simple mapping. I'm not using the ball to create a light map to merge a CGI image into the scene.

[Jason Miller]

I'm telling you, you need a larger one, you have to be able to get close up at multiple stops, without the camera being to large in the reflection, its the only way to make the hdri.

[pmark23]

I'm not using HDRI. I'm just using it to see where the lights are setup to more accurately re-light in post (if needed). The white gray and black balls are to quickly judge lighting ratio, falloff, and direction. There's also full colour references on the clapper.

I'm planning on doing HDRI, but later (and with the garden ball of course). Are you doing HDRI now?