Set Surveys - Part 3: How to Use Them

[@Vondoodle]

AT LAST - this was the most transparent look at set survey from multiple shots ive seen so far

[@KenedyTorcatt]

OMG, finally, I waitied for almost a year, and now I see the amazing video, thanks for compelting the series!

[@MatthewMerkovich]

Thanks Kenedy!

[@eias3d]

Hey Master Matt! The Mel Brooks joke was a plus :)

[@robertoneil.]

Always a great day when there’s a new MM video. Thanks for taking the time to do these!

[@MatthewMerkovich]

I’m just sorry it took so long! I’ve been stupendously busy.

[@danilodelucio]

My man, this topic about Survey Shots are really, REALLY useful. It's a tricky setup but the final result it worth all the effort. Don't worry about long videos, you have an incredible didactic to teach, so we gonna watch them regardless the length/time! Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge, we really appreciate it!! ♥

[@ABF_SJ]

That was great to see, thank you! I learnt a lot watching that. I never knew that you could lock trackers to stop the scene jumping around, the blips, and the benefits of doing a set survey! I'd be keen to learn more about how this can help shots with low parallax, I sometimes struggle with getting a decent, usable solve when there isn't any foreground objects and only a (greenscreen) backwall in shot.

[@MatthewMerkovich]

Having a set survey can be a lifesaver when there is little parallax in the motion picture photography! Glad you liked it.

[@KZLR]

Fill the paypal tip jar, people! Thank you Matt! I haven't watched it yet, but I did hit the jar :)

[@MatthewMerkovich]

Much love!!!

[@warrenography]

This has been so helpful, all of your tutorials have helped my skills develop and my knowledge expand. Such that I even did a few of my own tutorials/walkthroughs about using Syntheyes with Blender. (one on how to extend the camera into the cg space, beyond the end of the footage, with links to files, too!). I am currently slated to do the vfx for an independent action movie, and these three in particular are going to help me with that. Even though I've used Syntheyes a bit, there's still so much to know and I get so much from these. Thanks again!!!

[@scarabrae]

Cheers, Matthew.

[@MatthewMerkovich]

Thanks Pete!

[@Aroslanov]

Amazing tutorial, thank you!

[@JMilton5]

Fantastic series on set surveys. Any general tips on doing site survives not around any man-made items. I'm trying to add a CGI castle in an open field. I've tried putting down some branches of a known length to get known distances in the site survey.

[@MatthewMerkovich]

I'd love to see the castle when you have anything to show! About your branch idea: i like it. However; I'd probably place anchored tennis balls, or small boxes, or something stable as markers. Then I'd laser-measure the distances between those points, so there would need to be unbroken line of sight. And place them far apart, as I may have mentioned. Short distance-spanning constraints will contain errors as solved tracker positions move away from the constraint in the shot.

[@JMilton5]

@@MatthewMerkovich Great tip about the distance. I'm sure it was that since my branches were only around 4 foot long when the survey area was 100 foot or more across. The grass can be short to waist high so, I'll try light stands 10 to 20 feet apart. Craft stores sell Stara foam balls of different sizes. Going to paint them black or red since the default white can look like glare off of grass on a bright sunny day in a zoomed in image.

[@MatthewMerkovich]

@@JMilton5 Yeah, four feet would be a good distance when surveying a miniature set. LOL Whatever you use, they should be trackable. And remember, when you have a track, you can use the tracked points to generate automatic roto mates to paint out those tracking features.

[@JMilton5]

@@MatthewMerkovich Thanks for the roto advice. To make sure I understand. I'd use the tracked points from my tennis ball markers to roto them out in something like After Effects. I couldn't roto them out in Synth Eyes.

[@warrenography]

@@MatthewMerkovich I had a stick exactly 1 meter long that I'd use to set rock down, take the stick away and then I had my 1 meter. That helped in those cases anyway. all this info is so exciting.

[@mattl5402]

I as well appreciate the videos. Do you plan to do an QC export in the near future. Thanks.

[@MatthewMerkovich]

My whole set list is based on what training I need to impart to the company's own employees, but fortunately that is one item that is on the list. All I can say for now is thank you for your kind words!

[@baldwin180]

Hi, can you do a tutorial with a LiDAR scan from the iPhone and linking vfx shots with it? Thanks

[@millolab]

question: can you export each camera individually with its stmaps? what about if you have 3d geometry in your scene you want to export aswell?

[@MatthewMerkovich]

Absolutely. In the hierarchy view you can click the letter E next to each scene item and set it to export or not. Or you could duplicate the master scene into each separate shot folder in your company's directory structure and just delete the cameras and trackers for each other shot. ST map export is typically managed in the exporters for each export file format, Nuke or Fusion, for example.

[@Belfrahn]

Amazing series thank yous so much! Though I am a compositor I adore 3D tracking, bought my own syntheyes license and usually track my own shots. Quick question. On my second shot the corresponding tracks to the survey shot have already been solved and using the alt +click (I'm on PC) doesn't work. Do I have to retrack those points?

[@Belfrahn]

Ok so I figured it out (thanks to a Disccord server). Maybe its a Syntheyes 1905 thing but the linking didn't work until I switched over to the Coordinates tab. Then doing what Matthew here was showing (alt +click on pc) it worked!

[@MatthewMerkovich]

@@Belfrahn Yeah, that is no longer the case. It's always a good idea to keep up on the latest release version of SynthEyes for just this reason.

[@MrApollo222]

Does the survey camera/lens have to be the same as the various shots? (Can I take a survey using my canon still shot with a different lens?). In your example are all the shots the same lenses?.. can it be different lenses? Awesome video…thnx 👍🏻

[@MatthewMerkovich]

That question is covered in part 1, but the short answer is you can use any camera capable of shooting clear, high resolution video.

[@zander8713]

Awesome! Why is it unlisted? People should be able to find this! Edit: never mind you changed it lol. Thanks for the video!

[@MatthewMerkovich]

Thanks for pointing that out! I thought I changed it to public, and would have completely missed it.

[@带鱼带鱼]

Hi, I'd like to ask if there's a tutorial that analyzes both the camera's movement trajectory and the object's movement trajectory simultaneously.

[@MatthewMerkovich]

Funny you should ask. I'm working on that tutorial right now.

[@带鱼带鱼]

I'm really looking forward to your new tutorial. And thank you for your other tutorials as well, I've gained a lot from them.

[@clonkex]

What do I do if my main shot is actually longer than my survey shot? Do I just load up the main shot and create the master from that (i.e. merge in the survey shot)? I'm not familiar enough with Syntheyes to know if there's any side-effects that could result from doing it backwards to how you showed.

[@MatthewMerkovich]

Just like the survey can be shot on a different camera than the hero picture camera, the survey and the shot you are applying it to need not be the same length. In terms of how to do it, just link the trackers from your shot to your solved survey trackers as depicted in my video.

[@clonkex]

@@MatthewMerkovich Sorry, I just mean the fact that Syntheyes doesn't allow me to scrub past the length of my survey shot, so I can't see the full length of my main shot. I found that there's an End Frame setting in Shot > Edit Shot, but it doesn't allow me to change it longer than the survey shot. I'm currently intending to just merge my survey shot into my main shot, since I don't see any reason it can't work that way.

[@MatthewMerkovich]

@@clonkex Yeah, that's definitely covered in the series. You may want to go back for a rewatch.

[@clonkex]

@@MatthewMerkovich Wait it is? The three set survey videos you mean? I've watched them several times each and I don't recall that being mentioned. I'll re-watch though.

[@MatthewMerkovich]

@@clonkex Look for "freeze on this frame". It's kind of a big deal.

[@editorialbrain]

Okay I tried this with a survey and a tripod shot. Once I hit indirectly after pairing a bunch of linked tracker/features to from my tripod shot to the survyey, I got a fail with 105 hpix error haha. All 3 of your shot examples are shots with paralax..... How can I do this same idea but one of the shots in question is a tripod shot? Use case, let's say I get a survey shot, and there';s 10 vfx shots with parallex at that location, but also 3 handheld shots that would be a tripod solve. maybe even 1 ACTUALLY locked off shot, a true tripod shot. How can I use the survey shot master and apply that to my tripod shots so they inherit 3d information? Thanks a lot!

[@MatthewMerkovich]

Try solving the low parallax shots with the "indirectly" solving technique, or even "automatic." Just check the "constrain" checkbox. With this methodology, you can even solve static cameras.

[@editorialbrain]

NEVERMIND! I went to my tripod shot and realized I had runaway trackers. Once I cleared those, IT WORKED!!!!! Thank you for this tutorial. Really cool to be able to solve 3d for my tripod shots. This was bothering me for quite some time. Survey the set always, and then I can apply it to any shot in question. Amazing.

[@MatthewMerkovich]

@@editorialbrain FWIW, LIDAR is often even better, even from a phone.

[@editorialbrain]

Well... LAST step. I saved as, did lens workflow and tried to send to blender and it claims i didn't run it. I wonder if i need to save as a new syntheyes project, and then remove all the extra cameras and things, and THEN run the lens workflow and send out? Maybe that is needed. Otherwise maybe there's multiple cameras that have various lens distortion information that has or hasn't been run.... Would you recommend a save as and clear out the extra unneeded objects for so its JUST the stuff needed for t he tripod shot in question, THEN run lens workflow and then send to blender? Hey, I'll try it.

[@MatthewMerkovich]

@@editorialbrain Are you using the latest SynthEyes with the most recent Blender exporter? I'd possibly suggest putting in a support ticket. Multiple cameras, after running the lens workflow, should work.

[@bowserlm]

Do you talk about how Lidar is used specifically for the workflow in one of your videos?

[@MatthewMerkovich]

Probably this: "How I Align Photogrammetry to 3D Tracks in SynthEyes." kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHTFfmacgJ2gqtE It's basically the same process.