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Question: Creating Butterfly

Hi,

In the next project of mine, I have a scene where a little girl chases a butterfly. As the butterfly flutters, the girl keeps following it, till it flies higher and vanishes in the open air.

How do i create this butterfly? I'm thinking of filming the scene with just the girl acting as if she's chasing the butterfly... and then in post use some s/w to have this butterfly and its sequence created.

Is this right? If so what S/W should i use for the butterfly sequence? And what should i keep in mind while filming the girl?

Please advise. Thank you
 
blender is a free 3d modeling and animation package http://www.blender3d.org

Another option is to take a picture of a butterfly wing and animate two of them in your NLE using keyframes and perspective tools. (I think this would be faster, but I think the other would look better YMMV).
 
I haven't, I was just trying to think the fastest and easiest way to do it. Butterflies are really just two flat flappy things attached in the middle...you can do that right within your editor...especially if you don't need a closeup of it.
 
My company can create an animated butterfly for you, film whatever shots you want (distances/angles) etc and provide all of it in any aspect ratio/format with greenscreen behind the butterfly for keying.

If you email me, I can quote you for the job... but something simple like this I can turn around in about 48 hours, so it's not going to cost a fortune.

All I'd need are some rough storyboards, a description of the butterfly and I'd need to know whether you wanted the end result in PAL or NTSC, HD or some other codec.

I can take payment via paypal and you'd receive the animation clips back via the internet as QT files.

I've looked at my archives and I've already got a Butterfly made... it would just be setting up the shots and creating the clips.
 
Last edited:
RE:

Hey Clive

Sorry didnt check the forum in a while.
I found a good animator in Philadelphia to do the job for me. I'm finalizing the screenplay right now, followed by a detailed storyboard so i can film appropriately for the 3D stuff.

The question i have is... How and where the compositing should be done? Most likely the HD footage will be cut in Premiere Pro CS3. The animation will be done using other tools. In where and how should i bring the actual footage and animation together? Also even if the animation looks real... how do i color correct the two together to make the butterfly look like it's fluttering around in the actual movie itself?

Any thoughts?

Thank you
 
Making the butterfly look at home involves at least the following things;
1) sharpness (CG tends to be very sharp, you might have to apply a subtle blur)
2) contrast (if the CG lighting setup has more or less contrast than the live shot)
3) light direction (hopefully the animator took this into account)
4) color balance
5) opacity (in real life a butterfly may only be 95% opaque; especially against something bright)
 
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