how to open a book

lhmaloney

lhmaloney

Well-known member
I want to just get a shot of nothing but blackness, a book lying their then it opens by itself. I could think of a couple of ways to do it, I'm just looking for the simplest way or maybe just confirmation. Many thanx.
 
Two ways:

Speacial FX:
Attach strings/wires to front cover, back cover must be glued down.
manually pull string back to open book.

Remove wire in post. (a rod may be needed instead of wire)


Visual FX:

Create Rigged CG book and and animate, render out.


Anhar
 
If it should be like a scary effect, maybe you could do like Anhar's Special FX, and then have something to blow on the pages so that the pages opens one and one after eachother very fast.

Very bad at english :) I'm swedish.
 
I've done a book in 3D before, with pages turning slowly. In fact, I'm doing another now thanks to your request. I'll post an avi when it's done.
 
You could use a wire to pull the book open suddenly then remove in post then use a hairdryr to flip the pages real quick and scary to the page u want. Glue or bluetack down the page u want to land on then this page will not blow like the others simple.
 
Thanks guys, I'll probably just try both, I'm not much of an artist, so I know if I do a cg book it would look crappy, lol.
 
How to open a book

How to open a book

In some cases the hair dryer method might not be able to "catch" the pages in order to turn them. I think it might work fine, but if not you could try this:

The fact that the background is black can work in your favor. Double-stick tape the book down onto the table (but I wouldn't advise this on the fine finish on a nice wood table). Then clamp the camera down firmly to the edge of the table by whatever secure means you have of doing so. Come to think of it, you'd have to fasten your lighting down to the table also with this method. Since you're in black there should only be minimal lighting, anyway. (Possibly on on-camera light?)

Anyway, now you can just tilt the whole tabletop until it ju-u-u-ust begins to fall open. If you want it to fall to a given page, of course you'd have to fasten that section of the pages down. For a creepier effect, you might slow it down so the motion seems more deliberate.

Hope that was some help. Good luck with your shot!

P.S. Unless you're very good at it (and I believe you said you weren't), it would be difficult to make a CG book look truly realistic, particularly making the turning of the pages look real (think of a hundred or more 3D objects that each curve in space, yet are constrained by the pages around them). More to the point, if you should need the book to match a practical prop used by actors, you could be in trouble. More than likely it would look like the CG book opening on that old afterschool program with "O.G. Readmore." I highly recommend one of the methods using an actual book. Better effect, a lot less work.

Cheers,
Mike Stone
 
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I guess nobody liked my book? I haven't gotten around to putting the bends in the pages yet, just wanted to test the textures first.
 
Capt Quirk said:
Just finished off the test render. Here's your book .
Click to expand...

You got the basic idea of what I want, I wanted my book to be a comic book though so it would be a little bit flatter, but other than that. Only thing is I envisioned it tilting down the first page turning, then it zooming in on the first page and the scene begins. But other than that you got it, lol.
 
Do you have the comic's art for a texture? A comic would be easy enough. Do a short story board and I'll even try to get your shot for you.
 
I notice no one's mentioned this yet. Start with the page you want to land on, the book open. Use a blowdrier to CLOSE the book. Then reverse the footage. This way, the page you want to land on wont be "stuttering" under the blow of the hairdrier. Anyone else think that'll work?
 
Light it, Hair dryer, close it with 2lb fishing test, lit not to show up... invert the clip.
 
FallenWyvern said:
I notice no one's mentioned this yet. Start with the page you want to land on, the book open. Use a blowdrier to CLOSE the book. Then reverse the footage. This way, the page you want to land on wont be "stuttering" under the blow of the hairdrier. Anyone else think that'll work?
Click to expand...

That's actually pretty smart, lol. Once, I start working on the project, I'll post something to get feedback/help
 
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