Project 4: Week 2 - Testing out Compositing on a Photograph.

he first thing I did, was set up cinema 4D, where I created a new material. I added a pre-taken photograph to the “Colour” section of the material and made sure that “Specular” was unchecked, as I didn’t was a shine to appear on a rather organic looking image. I then created a “background” piece, where I clicked and dragged the material onto its layer on the right hand side of the screen. At this point, I went on to add a camera to the composition. I adjusted the view of the camera using the small icons on the top of the screen which control the angles and viewpoints on the screen. The advice I was given when using this tool was “If it looks right, then it will be,” which gave me a bit more confidence when ensuring that this tool was in the right position. I then went onto the timeline along the bottom of the screen and added a key-frame to it using the red button with the key symbol. This was to ensure that I could move the angles around in order to edit small bits and pieces, and then still be able to go back to the original and correct viewing later on.

I then added a simple “Plane” to my composition, this would be the basis for what the abstract object would sit/cover/float over. I then went to “Panel>All Views,” to see my setup from different angles to find and manoeuvre the plane into view and in the correct location. Once my Plane was in place, I clicked on the “Projection,” which is hidden under the list in the image, and clicked on UV mapping, which make the image un-distort and become the same image that was below it. I then went just above the list and licked on “TAGS>CINEMA 4D TAGS>COMPISITING.” This brought up a selection of options, of which I made sure that “Compositing Background” and “Receive Shadows,” were active and “Cast Shadows,” wasn’t, this means that the plane wouldn’t cast any shadows onto the background, but would receive shadows off something else.

After I had completed my layout for the scene, I went onto add in a simple 3D cube and turned it onto an angle to it looked less static. I went onto “All Views,” again in order to place the cube in the correct place on my composition, and the resized/shaped it as I saw fit.

I then added a light to my composition, this was artificial light that would a substitute sun in my image. I chose to place the light to the right and slightly in front of the object, but out of sight of the camera. The

distance and size of the light, compared to the cube, would ultimately determine the shape, size and contrast of the shadow. However, I went on to edit the shadow more by clicking on the “Light,” layer an further down the page, I found the “Shadow,” option, which enabled me to choose different formats of shadow to choose from, I chose “SHADOW>SOFT,” then adjusted the density of the shadow using the scale option, which goes both under and over 100%. I also used the “Shadow Mapping,” tool to either soften or sharpen the edge of the shadow, and the higher the number, the harder the shadow would be. I adjusted all of these settings until I felt happy and was confident that the shadow looked realistic enough. As there weren’t many other shadows on the photograph to begin with, it look a little bit of time, fiddling around with these options in order to create a natural looking shadow.

Because the shadow was being cast onto a flat surface, I would have to change the shape and surface of the Plane so that the shadow looks as though it has been cast more evenly. This will also make it look as though the object I have put into my composition is an actual part of my photograph. To do this, I made sure the “Plane,” level was highlighted, and then I went onto the top right of the screen where it says “Layout,” and clicked on “Sculpting,” from the drop-down menu.

This brought up a list of things I could use to sculpt this composition, I subdivided the layer by 4, and then used the “Pull,” tool which would normally pull up bits of the layer. However, I learned that when holding CTRL, the “Pull,” tool actually pushes the layer down, to create bumps and crevices in the image. I used this tool and followed the edge of the tree trunk, along with small cracks and divides in the image, to make the shadow follow the shape of the photograph, which in turn, added a more realistic feel to the fact of the 3D object in the photo. It also made the image look much more professional, as having a completely flat shadow on such an obviously rigid object would look ridiculous.