CGI Workshop

This workshop had to count as two and was split over two days, as obviously CGI is a very broad and complex topic, and there is no way one can realistically have a one day workshop in it.

We had someone come in especially to teach us, who was Florian who worked at Saddington Baynes. He did CG lighting for them, working in advertising predominantly with car companies.
We had some pre made CG models to work with, but we had to texture and light them ourselves, so we mainly learnt how to set up a scene through photography, and then place a 3D model in that space, and light it artificially.

We had to go to a location, take an image we called our "backplate", and this would act as our backdrop. We had to take careful measures, thinking of the most ideal camera angle for fitting in an additional object. We then needed a marker of similar size to our 3D object in the image, for instance we used a tripod in place of our 3D rabbit we would insert.
We had to measure the distance of our 3D object to our camera, the height of the 3D object, and we also had to measure nearby things such as floor tiles in order to gain reference measurements.

Our test backplate.

Using a fish eye lens, we then had to take HDR photographs, on a special tripod where we could rotate  exactly 90 degrees, for each HDR, in order to stitch together a HDR panoramic. This had to be taken in the exact spot our 3D model would go, the idea to this is to create a "light bubble" with HDR readings in order to light our 3D object accurately.

We chose our 3D model

Then using our own image we took as a 'backplate' we placed the 3D model in the image, matching up where we took our 'light bubble' panoramic and placed the model accordingly.

Using our 'light bubble' of information, we then lit our 3D model accurately and began choosing colour and texture.

With some extra adjustments to size and shadow we where then ready to render our final image.

And voila!

This was a very useful and insightful workshop, as where I do not wish to purse 3D model CGI as such, I am very interested in learning more about photo montage and image manipulation, where all of the same methods of measurements and lighting still apply, so this workshop should translate more skills towards my practice in photographic manipulation.

Studio Advanced Lighting Workshop

We did an advanced lighting workshop, which was quite interesting or a little funny, as Colin was our tutor and he began by saying advanced lighting isn't really a thing, as there's too many lighting set ups, and no magical tricks or techniques, every studio set up needs to be tailored.
So instead of showing us some studio "tricks" as such, we where more practising switching lighting setups and came up with a couple of on the spot lighting ideas, and learnt simple solutions to tricky problems, and how to observe different aspects of your model so that you can tweak your lighting to catch their best features.
So it was a really good day as it enforced good studio practice and got us more used to thinking on our feet in the studio so that we always got the best out of our lights.

Advanced Masks and Pathing

As part of our methodology workshops, we attended an advanced masks and pathing workshop for Photoshop.

It was essentially advanced ways to make selections and turn them into layer masks, by utilising the pen tool.

Using the pen tool, we created a rough structure around what we wished to have masked out.

We then added additional anchor points, that you can drag out to bend the lines, and using the side anchors to each point you can control the gradient of the curve.

Once we had the whole path around what we wished to have cut out, you would save your path, and use it as a selection to add a layer mask.

And then your chosen part of your image could be masked out from the rest.

This workshop was really useful as this method could be easily applied, not just for montage or for cutting, but also for creating precise localised lighting or colour adjustments via masks.