ICVFX At Home 4 - First Test Shots
And now, we’re finally ready for the fun part! We have our nDisplay, we have LiveLink tracking, and we have our ElGato ready to capture. Now all we need is a subject and lighting. Although video lighting has not arrived yet, I wanted to test the setup with a stand-in to see how the system feels.
The fur test.
Actress was compensated handsomely in Greenies for her pivotal role.
The Glass Test
I used a rum bottle and curved glass as my stand-in subject to test reflection and refraction. To imitate the Sony A7’s auto focus in UE5, I placed a surface to represent a tabletop and be a focus tracking point for the CineCamera. This way depth of field should feel consistent between physical and digital elements.
Physical camera move
Camera tracked in UE5
General Impressions
As you can see from the short test clip, there’s a lot that can be improved, but the elements are there, and we’re compositing in camera! Building this workspace taught me a lot about the ICVFX process in UE5, and the major differences between this consumer-grade setup compared to the full-scale studio we assembled at LSU. I plan to continue working on environments and shots using this space, and will update this blog series as I generate new clips. Until then, here are some of my observations or next steps:
Physical Lighting Is the Next Rabbit Hole - The physical subject needs thoughtful lighting to truly sell the effect and make the objects feel grounded in the scene. (tunable RGBW panels will need to be the next investment for this space.) Additionally, lights need to be bright enough to balance with the intense television screen.
Background Frame Rate - There is an obvious frame rate issue visible on the TV screen. My initial assumption is that a single RTX 3080 is not sufficient to power dual 4K displays (the TV and the editing monitor) at the same time. This would not be an issue for a studio with dedicated Operator and Node workstations.
Vive Tracking is Smooth - Related to the previous bullet, when watching the camera tracking in UE5, the movement looks smooth, a second reason why I believe the background jitter is a frame rate issue.
Find the Sweet Spot in the Workspace - When working with a full size video wall like the ROE panels we used at LSU, the resolution is quite low. There is a pixel every few millimeters, are visible to the camera if the subject is too close and the video wall falls within the lens’ depth of field. With the 4K TV, I can place the subject and camera closer to the background. This almost makes up for the limitations of a smaller video wall surface. viewing angle and reflections on the screen are still an issue.