Workflow for compositing 2d people with moving camera?

[cgrant3d]

Can anyone give me some pointers on how I should composite 2d greenscreen people with rendered content / moving cameras? I have After Effects and Composite at my disposal but I'm unsure exactly how I should combine them together.

 

For instance - with AE I know I can import my 3d camera, lights, dummies (from Max) then bring in my base footage and add video footage of people. I'll have to use the rather clunky (IMHO) 3d functionality of AE to place / scale objects. Then I'd need to matte each one individually against an object id pass to get them properly placed in 3d space... Ok for one or two shots but I have a dozen or so to complete and this seems like it may be more trouble than its worth.

 

Alternatively I could just place planes in 3d with the people on em and render just those people *then* composite in AE. This mehod seems wrong to me because there isn't any way to adjust the timing after the sequence is rendered. The only upside I can think of is there aren't any issues with mattes for the people since they're being rendered in and I can use scripts in Max to automate some alignment issues that may come up. Plus this is a bit more predictable for me...

 

Any thoughts or input? What have you done when you've needed to do something like this?

 

Thanks,

Edited August 15, 2010 by cgrant3d

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

It might also be a possibility to render the people in the 3d scene on planes, but render them as a separate pass that can be comp'd into the AE or Composite footage. This might give the most bang for your buck speed wise, while also giving you control over the color and levels of the peeps.

 

However, I think this would be a good solution for background or distant people, but if they are foreground, I would get nervous about lack of control.

Edited August 16, 2010 by Crazy Homeless Guy

[lyca]

the first thing you hve to do is analyse the green screen movement, trace a compatible camera path in max. do some small test to check this.

 

i would definetly do the comp in after effects for the best control and render time