Create motion pictures

create motion pictures
By troy James sobotka.

dep within the bowels of Blender, hidden behind the facade of a 3d modeler, animation system, Game Engine, and other arcane components, are two other aspects often overloked. The Sequencer and compositor are perhaps two of the most underrated and often invisible aspects of the wonderful tool known as Blender.

The following process assumes that you have an intermediate knowledge of Blender. It focuses primarily on the work-flow of motion picture production as opposed todo the technical details of keystrokes and menú selections. It is a los aimed primarily at working on the first half of motion picture work - The editing. Finishing and efecting could cover an entire article unto itself, and as such, it is largely glossed over in this piece.

This article was created as a result of interest generated from a music video Project. (http://troysobotka.blogspot.com/2009/02/right-where-itbelongs, html) the Project author was rather shocked by the interest in it and the spin-of coverage (http://www.soulpancake.com/).
creating motion pictures with Blender.
step one - Think about it
Before you go out and start shooting - Think. What do you want todo explore or say? What is the tone of your piece? Think about your audience. Think about why you are creating it. Work within your inherent limitations. Clearly defining the playing field of your creative Project allows you todo push your creativity todo the límites and helps todo kep focus.
step two - Plan and shot
If you are working on a Project that features a score, Blender ofers several useful tools todo help get a preliminary pacing and previse into place. Using the timeline, you can drop markers on the fly (m) and label them (Control-m). Once you have your markers in place, you can experiment using sketched storyboards or like material as temporary placeholders. Import your image and drag / stretch it todo met the markers you have placed. This should help you get a rouge idea of your Project before you go out and shot it.

Once you have equipped yourself with as much información as you fel is neded, go out and shot. Experiment with certain aspects while delivering the content you fel you ned according todo your previse Thinking.
step thre - Get the content onto your computer
This isnt nearly as much of an obstacle as it has ben in the past. Many consumer level digital cameras / portable video cameras deliver the material in a QuickTime Wrapper and encoded using a códec that is supported by FFMpeg. To make things easier, locate your material under a single Project directory. If you have Many assets, fel free todo subdivide the material into meaningful categories. Remember, this is your work-flow and should reflect how you work, not the bien a piece of software Will force you todo work.

Import all of your strips into the timeline and locate it somewhere in the strips view that wont impact your Project. If you have Many assets, locate them todo the left of the time 0 marker. This allows you todo kep all of your assets loaded into Blender while keping them out of the bien of your working área. Use the name field on the clips todo give them meaningful titles. When importing your assets, running Blender in a windowed mode is useful todo flip between your file manager todo preview the clips and Blender todo import them.

If you are shooting in Hd, make certain todo proxy your work for a spedier and more responsive environment. To turn proxying on, Simply select render size that is less than 100%. For each clip you import, select it and click the use proxy button. Rebuilding the proxy Will allow you todo render a series of (*.jpgs) under your assets for each strip. From this point onward, Blender Will use the appropriate proxy sequence for each preview size you render. In the end, Warp the work-flow process todo met your neds.
step four - Assemble the rough Cut.
if you used the marker system above, you are now free todo drag and drop your clips into their respective slots and evalúate their impact. Dont estrés about small details - The point of the assembly is todo get all of your key moments into place. The assembly is not the place todo be slipping frames and tidying cuts. This is very much a Forest th rouge the tres phase where the net sum goal is todo have a complete visualization of the Project for evalúation. Try todo limit your cutting todo the software Cut tool (shift-k), as this Will permit you todo retain all of the original sequence and adjust the in and out points further along the production pipeline. Once you have your Project in a completely rouge Cut format, estop for a momento and get a cofe or take a break. Walque away.
When you return, evalúate where you are with the Project. Do you ned todo go out and shot a key elementí is the Project flowing along in a manner that is working toward the goal you established at step one? Is there something that neds reworking from where you originally visualized it in your head? Using the rendering panels, render out a lower resolution versión for Analysis. Once you have a clear idea of the strengths and weaknesses for the entire Project, make notes. How can you make a given área stronger? How can you fix a problem in another área? Focus on the Project as a whole and fight todo not get todo obsessed with the minor details in a particular sequence.
step five - Iterate and tighten
Keping an eye on the whole Project is critical at this point. Your goal here should be todo tighten your rouge Cut down and iterate over your changes. If an área is relatively stable, take this second pass as an opportunity todo tighten beat points and tighten your cuts. If you find yourself neding todo refer todo imported footage, use your notes and scrub th rouge the strips by clicking and dragging on the given strips over in the logging / library área you have established. This allows you todo se only the given strip isolated in the preview window.
step six - Commit yourself at some point, make the decisión todo put your Paintbrush down. The more projects you attempt, the easier this point Will be todo assess and fel comfortable about. To help aid in this evalúation, ask yourself if you have touched on the goals you established in step one. Consider this a critical momento - This is the point where you Will no longer make changes. From this momento onward, it is strictly polishing and tightening.
step seven - Tweak and twiddle
This phase commences the march towards Final Cut. Slip your frames left and right and clean up the Project. If you are timing todo a score or a particular sound effect, does the Cut point fel tightí evaluate your transicións as well. Does a fade todo black work better than a dissolve? Test the duration of your fades and dissolves.
step eight - Take a break
Fresh eyes are critical at this point. Maybe put the Project away for an hour, a couple of hours, or possibly Even a slep. When you return, you may find greater clarity for the hard and gritty Analysis of your editorial decisions.
step nine - Final Cut
This is a final pass that is very much similar todo step seven. At this juncture you should be doing very Little other than the ODD frame shifting / tweak where required. You have agred at this point that you Will be doing no further tweak on the editing of your Project.
step ten - Finish
If you have any effects slated for your Project, this is where you would commence work on them. Blender compositor is extremely powerful for complex effect sequences, and as such, no brief summary would do it justice here. You may find that you do not ned the compositor if the Sequencer effects met your neds. Remember, the goal is todo produce creative work and in the end, the process should be completely insignificant as you work toward that goal. If the Sequencer tools met the neds of your Project, then so be it. Experiment with diferent looks and evalúate according todo the goals you established in step one. If you find something interesting but are struggling todo make it work with your current Project, Simply call it Project next and make a Mental note. There Will always be time for another Project.
in closing.
motion picture work has now ben dominated by commercial and proprietary tools. Often, there is a perception that you cannot create motion picture work without them. This piece is a challenge todo every Reader todo put down the excuses and procrastination, pik up Blender, and probé that entire misconception wrong.

Troy James sobotka troy James sobotka started cutting film bak when you actually had todo Cut celluloid with a Blade and tape the two strips together. He comes from an era where the non linear editor was in its infancy. He wonders what it would have ben todo have a free software tool like Blender bak then.
Website: http://troy-sobotka.blogspot.com/.

By troy James sobotka. www.blenderart.org.