5 ms·

I work in the animation/VFX industry, and I’m constantly amused by how camera and lens companies are constantly trying to make images more and more perfect by r

by ykl 4y ago

I work in the animation/VFX industry, and I’m constantly amused by how camera and lens companies are constantly trying to make images more and more perfect by removing imperfections from lenses and decreasing grain and noise, and meanwhile in CG we are working very hard to take our clean too-perfect CG renders and give them lens imperfections and chromatic aberration and film grain…

7952 4y ago
Maybe the future is to record perfectly and then add the imperfections later. That gives you the most flexibility and control. I think it is common for studios to record raw data from guitars and then routed through amplifier and effects later by a sound engineer.
nikau 4y ago
Its interesting, I watched a "how its made" type show about a car chase in a movie, it turns out it was all actual real footage and they had a bunch of elaborate moving camera crane setups to get footage from all different angles. It was so elaborate that my brain just assumed it was CGI.
ISL 4y ago
Our perceptions of what an image "should" look like are shaped by all of the images we have seen. It may not be surprising to see mainstream CG place less emphasis on those imperfections in fifty years (perhaps especially lens flare, which modern coatings largely eliminate).
- Animats 4y ago
  It's like old people thinking of 24FPS with grain as "real movies".
Synaesthesia 4y ago
Maybe because CG starts out as "perfect" whereas the real world is already filled with imperfections, details and texture.
rhn_mk1 4y ago
Chromatic aberration must be the most annoying effect I'm seeing in games recently. I don't want most of my games to look like photos or movies, that breaks immersion. I want them to look like reality!
- cardiffspaceman 4y ago
  I'd like to see a game or VR environment where the effect of extra long eyelashes affects the image. Or cataracts. Or dirty specs. That's your organic life right there.
  - rhn_mk1 4y ago
    Not quite the same, but driver's view in rally games gets dirty windows.
mgdlbp 4y ago
I wonder why animation hasn't enabled more experimental cinematography unhampered by physical limitations. So many possibilities: Long takes are exponentially more difficult to film IRL with increasing duration, yet come at no extra cost when the actors and camera are untiring and deterministic. Ray tracing allows for arbitrary virtual lenses, from prohibitively expensive to physically impossible. I saw this video demonstrating a lens that can continuously vary from endocentric to telecentric to hypercentric, where several comments are along the lines of, > Now I really want to see a scene in a horror movie, where in camera, using a MASSIVE one of these lenses, we get to see the killer is behind the person in shot, by adjusting the camera like this. Can you imagine how freaky it would be, at they seem to appear and then grow to loom over them, out of nowhere? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ4yL6kaV1A&lc=UgwgTANmFg7ozSKNC5t4AaABAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ4yL6kaV1A&lc=UgwgTANmFg7oz...) Since telecentric lenses must be as large as their subjects, that won't be happening in the foreseeable future. Yet even Blender can render a working ray-traced camera.[1] So why don't we see these things in CGI? Even if most films stick to conventions, there should be some art films, right? Why isn't there a single one-take animated short? Addendum: CGI also allows exposure times longer than the time between frames (i.e. shutter angles greater than 360°). So, 60fps can have the same motion blur as 24fps if desired, which those who very vocally condemn high-framerate animation seem to very much. I find it quite funny--shouldn't those most passionate about an art form be the most open to innovation? [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/gnea32/made_my_tlr_camera_yesterday_with_functional/ https://old.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/gnea32/made_my_tlr...
- hamilyon2 4y ago
  Birdman used exceptionally long takes and was a pleasure to watch.
- _aavaa_ 4y ago
  Thanks for sharing the YouTube link! That was a great watch
Animats 4y ago
Don't overdo. Never forget Star Trek, Into Lens Flare.

by ykl 4y ago

7952 4y ago

Maybe the future is to record perfectly and then add the imperfections later. That gives you the most flexibility and control. I think it is common for studios to record raw data from guitars and then routed through amplifier and effects later by a sound engineer.

nikau 4y ago

Its interesting, I watched a "how its made" type show about a car chase in a movie, it turns out it was all actual real footage and they had a bunch of elaborate moving camera crane setups to get footage from all different angles. It was so elaborate that my brain just assumed it was CGI.

ISL 4y ago

Our perceptions of what an image "should" look like are shaped by all of the images we have seen. It may not be surprising to see mainstream CG place less emphasis on those imperfections in fifty years (perhaps especially lens flare, which modern coatings largely eliminate).

Animats 4y ago
It's like old people thinking of 24FPS with grain as "real movies".

Synaesthesia 4y ago

Maybe because CG starts out as "perfect" whereas the real world is already filled with imperfections, details and texture.

rhn_mk1 4y ago

Chromatic aberration must be the most annoying effect I'm seeing in games recently. I don't want most of my games to look like photos or movies, that breaks immersion. I want them to look like reality!

cardiffspaceman 4y ago
I'd like to see a game or VR environment where the effect of extra long eyelashes affects the image. Or cataracts. Or dirty specs. That's your organic life right there.
- rhn_mk1 4y ago
  Not quite the same, but driver's view in rally games gets dirty windows.

mgdlbp 4y ago

I wonder why animation hasn't enabled more experimental cinematography unhampered by physical limitations. So many possibilities: Long takes are exponentially more difficult to film IRL with increasing duration, yet come at no extra cost when the actors and camera are untiring and deterministic. Ray tracing allows for arbitrary virtual lenses, from prohibitively expensive to physically impossible. I saw this video demonstrating a lens that can continuously vary from endocentric to telecentric to hypercentric, where several comments are along the lines of, > Now I really want to see a scene in a horror movie, where in camera, using a MASSIVE one of these lenses, we get to see the killer is behind the person in shot, by adjusting the camera like this. Can you imagine how freaky it would be, at they seem to appear and then grow to loom over them, out of nowhere? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ4yL6kaV1A&lc=UgwgTANmFg7ozSKNC5t4AaABAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ4yL6kaV1A&lc=UgwgTANmFg7oz...) Since telecentric lenses must be as large as their subjects, that won't be happening in the foreseeable future. Yet even Blender can render a working ray-traced camera.[1] So why don't we see these things in CGI? Even if most films stick to conventions, there should be some art films, right? Why isn't there a single one-take animated short? Addendum: CGI also allows exposure times longer than the time between frames (i.e. shutter angles greater than 360°). So, 60fps can have the same motion blur as 24fps if desired, which those who very vocally condemn high-framerate animation seem to very much. I find it quite funny--shouldn't those most passionate about an art form be the most open to innovation? [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/gnea32/made_my_tlr_camera_yesterday_with_functional/ https://old.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/gnea32/made_my_tlr...

hamilyon2 4y ago
Birdman used exceptionally long takes and was a pleasure to watch.
_aavaa_ 4y ago
Thanks for sharing the YouTube link! That was a great watch

Animats 4y ago

Don't overdo. Never forget Star Trek, Into Lens Flare.