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Texture Extraction
In the previous section, we described how you to use the camera-mapping-type texture coordinate generation capabilities of SynthEyes to be able to use the existing shot images as textures for meshes that model the set. Simple camera mapping is not ideal for set reconstruction, as the images
- have limited resolution,
- are subject to compression noise,
- require mesh texture coordinate values determined by the camera view, and
- may be partially obscured by moving objects.
The texture extraction system can use many frames to produce a more accurate texture at any practical resolution, and can use the mesh's existing texture coordinate values. With a suitably accurate mesh, the extracted texture can be good enough that you will have to pay attention that it does not look "too good" — you will have to add noise to renders to match the original shot.
With these capabilities, you can generate textures not only for objects visible and modeled in the scene, but also for far background imagery, such as mountains or clouds. When the shot is a nodal pan, you can create a panoramic background that is larger than any of the individual frames, by using a large mesh that the camera sweeps across. Similarly you can create extended textures when a vehicle travels down a road.
Important : You will need to create garbage mattes to block out any edges of the image that contain black margins, or any other area that does not contain valid image (eg time-code). See Garbage Mattes.
Warning : Texture generation requires large amounts of memory, many times more than a regular image of the same resolution, especially as 'undo' is considered. A 64-bit machine with at least 4 GB is recommended for texture extraction.
Note : The Intro version is limited to extracting at most 2K x 2K textures.
The texture extraction has different modes. An averaging technique produces low-noise textures when the mesh modeling and tracking are very accurate. An alternative approach produces sharper and noisier images when tracking and modeling are less exact; this mode is for traveling shots and shots where the object moves a lot relative the camera.
Tip : If you would like to generate animated texture maps, use the ViewShift system.
The texture display and extraction capabilities are controlled from the Texture Control Panel , launched from the Window menu or the button at the bottom of the 3-D Panel, which contains a small subset of the texture controls for information. There are also some preferences in the Mesh section.
Note that SynthEyes is a match-moving and set reconstruction tool, so it is not designed for more complex material specifications, repeating textures, lighting controls, and the like, which are used downstream for CGI creation.
©2024 Boris FX, Inc. — UNOFFICIAL — Converted from original PDF.