Bricks in Motion
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What is the easiest way to do like what NXT did in his Halo video, where he made multiple spartans out of just one?
Thanks,
Mighty Wanderer
Either by chroma-keying or by masking. There are benefits with both, and down sides with both.
Positives with chroma-keying is that it is much faster to do than masking, being that you just have to detract a color rather than trace by hand. The negatives are that you have to camera match the position of the foreground with the background, which is something that is much easier said than done. Another thing about chroma-keying is that you have to light it perfectly, along with shadows and reflections, otherwise it will turn out terribly.
The positives with masking is that you can be more precise, and that you have no fear of camera matching, because it was filmed in shot. The negatives with masking is that it takes an extremely long time (As you probably already knew), because you have to go frame by frame (Unless you're using a modern version of AE or other professional software). More downturns are that it might turn out with jagged edges, because you can't trace it exactly.
If I were you, I'd mask, because it's just much simpler and you don't have to worry about lighting the screen in the background (That's what NXT did- here is an in-depth break-down of his Halo film and how he made the effect).
Okay, thanks. But how exactly do I do the chroma-keying?
Not many. Which one(s) would I need?
It'd be easier if you told me what you use. 
Sony Vegas Pro & After Effects are some editors capable of chroma keying. One type of masking NXT use was inside of after effects, where he basically shot a video of one character on one side and another video with the character on the other and 'Spliced' them together.
http://insomniacanimations.com/vfx/halo/maskrun.jpg
Last edited by 1011Ev (February 3, 2012 (05:22pm))
The 'splicing' (I guess masking ) you're talking about, that's what I was wanting to do, but I'm still not quite grasping the concept. I mean, I sort of am, but I need more details on how exactly to do it.
The editing programs I have are Photoshop, Gimp, VirtualDub, and Wax 2.0.
if you wanna greenscreen for free, use Wax 2.0, thats what i use, and it has allot of features
if you wanna greenscreen for free, use Wax 2.0, thats what i use, and it has allot of features
Actually, Wax 2.0 doesn't have many features for chroma-keying; it's actually one of the most basic compositors out there.
If you're still looking for a keyer Mighty Wanderer, then you might wan to try out CineGobs, as it's free and has many useful features.
So how exactly would I want to do the keying?
Chroma-keying varies from each screen, but the same principles are used. For CineGobs, I suggest looking at Rsteenoven's chroma-keying tutorial, because it shows you the basics on using the program.
Okay, I'll try out CineGobs. But my real question is, how do you key not on the background to duplicate minifigures?
On all the tutorials, they have the background being chroma-keyed. But I want my duplicates to be on the foreground.
How do I do this?
I think your minifig and your background have to be shot seperately. The minifig is up against a green/blue screen, you key that out and paste the minifig more than once onto the background.
I still don't understand. Should I just draw a big colored blob on each frame and key that multiple times for each character?
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