Is this shot possible to do as VFX?

This is super easy compared to what I had to do for Saw3D! I used Mocha for all the tracking and comped in Shake.
 
I agree with generating the look in photoshop then compositing in AE. Just as tildenm said, some rotoscoping around moving hands if you need too, it's not that hard. Also, there are some great prekeyed footage of blood spurts, I think Action Essentials has some, you could add a little spray during the hit if you wanted.

Another trick I have used is shoot a still of a shirt in a similar position with blood on it, then use that to composite. If you have any noise in your footage, be sure to add a little in with the 'noise' filter on that layer so it will match. And if you do the blood by hand, make sure you pay attention to the sharpness of the image. If needed, use Fast Blur to bring the photoshopped parts down to the same resolution visually. Finally, when doing masks, feather is your friend on the rotoscoping. Using a bit of feathering to smooth the edges between parts.

Hey bgundu, do you have a good reference for a tutuorial on Mocha? I REALLY need to learn to use that, but not sure where to start. I am tired of using AE's built in motion tracker or doing to by hand. Results are not always that great for me.
 
Thanks for the replies,

Can Mocha track this successfully? presumably i make a x spline around the existing blood and track that surface? or do i need to look into 3d tracking, PFhoe or something?

I did have a quick go in After Effects with a red solid and changed the blending mode to classic colour burn and ended up with this yellow tinge to the edge after feathering.

What's the best way to make it look like it is seeping from under his shirt?

Many thanks
 
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Mocha is really good at tracking for any 2d elements. If you want to add 3D then I recommend PFtrack although all of them are very good I just like PFtrack for ease of use.


Pete B
 
After a bit of trial and error. here is my latest effort.

Still Frame

and a quick animation test

Blood animation


I'm having problems getting mocha to track it though, It's pretty solid up to just over half way and then the splines slip all over the place. I'm tracking the existing blood on the shirt. Would a 3d tracker handle this better?
 
Personally I'd say Mocha is the most solid tracker as it works on planes not pixels, like other trackers. The one thing you can't do with Mocha is use it to place 3D animation as Mocha is tracking from available camera info where as software like PFtrack is creating a 3D camera from that camera info so that you can then have your 3D elements move realistically. You can create a 3D illusion with Mocha but it will only work with flat planes like Minority report effects or as bgundu posted TV sets.

Not sure why it wasn't tracking for you. I tried looking at your tests but they were 404'd. You can play around with the pixel range and also remember that you're tracking planes so always try to imagine things in box form.


Pete B
 
Hi, sorry problem with server, links should be working again now.

I decided to have one last attempt before giving in...

Here's the dolly shot, the mocha track isnt perfect and there's a bt of flicker/strobing round the edges for some reason.

http://www.rockfallfilms.co.uk/fx/MVI_5354-19-05-11.mp4

and a still before the blood fx

http://www.rockfallfilms.co.uk/fx/beginning-of-shot.jpg


I also had a go at a CU but this one looks terrible, roto'd the hands and added solids for blood but they drift about and seem to strobe.

http://www.rockfallfilms.co.uk/fx/MVI_5351-cu-hands-19-05-11.mp4

Still frame Before

http://www.rockfallfilms.co.uk/fx/cu-still.jpg

Is there any way to get a solid to react to the changes in the layer below, so the blood moves when the clothes do?

Many thanks, Tony
 
There's a lot of issues here besides the track which in my mind is pretty straight forward. No 3D tracker needed. I would track the ground, not the person. take a still frame of the blood and paint in photoshop the way it's supposed to look. track a larger portion of the bloody area back on. You will have to animate the luminance of the composite as it moves into the distance. For the closeup, it's super tricky. It may be easier to replace the whole shirt because of how much the shirt interacts and moves. This route will require creating and adding her shadows back underneath her hands, but it avoids tracking to existing shirt.
 
Ah right fair enough, I'm not very good at painting in photoshop so I would make a right mess of it.

I'm not sure what you mean, you said track the ground and not the person and then track a larger portion of the bloody area back on.

With regard to animating the luminance, do you mean the blood should be darker as the camera moves back, to show it is being absorbed into the clothes?


Sounds like it would be easier to reshoot the closeup.
 
" do you mean the blood should be darker as the camera moves back, to show it is being absorbed into the clothes" I think bgundu meant that as the camera gets further away most things look less saturated and have a slight tint of the atmosphere to them, although he might of meant something else?

I agree with bgundu in that it may be easier to comp another shirt in completely. But I'd also add that in doing so you're going to lose her hands sticking to the shirt and pulling it, which in my opinion needs to be kept. You could get the actress of someone with similar size hands to re-act that bit. You can then either remove the new hands and rotoscope the rest of the new shirt around the old hands. Or keep the new hands and use Mocha and photoshop to remove the old hands using the cleanplate technique. You're hardest job would be colour correcting so it's lit the same as the original.

Edited to say, would it not just be easier to do the whole close up as a new shot completely. As far as I can tell there's nothing in that shot that gives away where you are or who the actress is. You could just shoot it some where with similar lighting and someone with similar hands (if she's not available)? Then just colour correct for any slight differences.
 
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