| Please note that this is an ARCHIVED document. All information presented here is considered obsolete, even if found partly relevant in the newest version of Aximmetry. |
Introduction
Hello! In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to use Aximmetry SE. We assume that Aximmetry and the Studio: Demo Sets content package is already installed on your PC. If not, then you can download and install them from our website. Open Aximmetry Composer. In the startup configurator, you can specify your video output needs. We will leave everything in default now. Once you finish, click ‘start’.
Loading an Aximmetry SE project
For this tutorial, we are going to use a virtual scene made entirely using Aximmetry. Let’s open the scene. In the file browser, go to Studio/Newsroom and open the Newsroom - VirtualCam_3-Cam compound by double-clicking on it. The scene will appear in the ‘Flow Editor’ and in our ‘Preview Window’. I am going to enlarge this preview window to better show you what we’ll do. In Aximmetry, the ‘Flow Editor’ is where all the programming happens, but for production, we use ‘Control Boards’ for their convenience.
Using the Control Boards
Let’s go to the ‘Cameras’ control board. On the Camera & Render Setup panel, click on the mouse icon to turn on the free camera mode. Use the mouse and keyboard to adjust the virtual camera angle to get a better view of the talent.
Adding a Video Input
Next, we are going to set up a live video input. Go to the ‘Billboards’ control board and turn off the Test property of the INPUT 1 panel. We can see a message saying ‘Device Not Found’. Click on the INPUT 1 panel, go to the ‘Pin Values’ on the right, and under the Input Devices parameter select your live video input device. We can see the video signal appearing in our virtual scene.
Cropping the Video
Next switch MONITOR 1 to ‘Cropped’ mode to crop the video. At the ‘Pin Values’, let’s turn off the ‘Portrait’ mode to switch the video back to its original orientation. Then using the sliders called ‘Left-Right-Top-Bottom’ crop out the unnecessary parts of the video input. After this switch the MONITOR 1 panel to ‘Keyed’ mode. Go to the ‘Pin Values’, and look for the ‘Monitor mode’ parameter. Set the Monitor mode parameter to ‘Input’ to see the unprocessed video input.
Removing the Green Background
Next, we are going to pick the color of the green screen. Open the ‘Background Color’ parameter by clicking on the colored rectangle. A color wheel will appear on your screen. In the bottom left corner of its window, click and hold onto the ‘Color Picker’, then drag it onto the live video stream you see in the Preview Window to pick the color of your green screen. Once you found the right spot, release the color picker, go back to the Background Color window, and hit okay. Still at the ‘Pin Values’, switch the ‘Monitor Mode’ to ‘Final’. Use the Low Cut and High Cut sliders to do a quick keying of the video input. We’ll talk more about the keying parameters in another tutorial. Once we finish adjusting the keying parameters, in the MONITOR 1 panel we can switch to ‘Final’ mode. Now we can see that the ‘BILLBOARD 1’ panel is selected.
Placing the talent
Next, we are going to place the talent on the ground. To make this easier we are going to turn on the ‘Edit Scene’ mode. Click on the little arrows icon at the top then click on ‘Preview 1’. Now we can move the billboard using the arrows of the transformation gizmo. Adjust the height of the Billboard right until you see the ambient occlusion patch appearing on the surface of the virtual floor. Hold Shift + Control for fine adjustments. After this, at the ‘Pin Values’ look for the ‘Lift’ parameter. Adjust it until the talent seems to stand on the ground. We can now place the talent in the virtual studio. Using the transformation gizmo, move it behind the desk.
Creating a Camera Path
Lastly, let’s create a new Camera Path. Go to the ‘CAMERAS’ control board. Here we have a number of camera path slots we can use. Some of them are pre-programmed but we can override any of them. In the CAMERA & RENDER SETUP panel, select the camera icon. In the ‘CAMERA 1 PATH’ panel select a camera path slot. Then in the ‘EDIT CAMERA PATH’ panel and click on A. A is the starting point of a camera path. Place the virtual camera in the scene, defining its new starting point for the camera animation. Once we finish placing the camera, click on the Copy icon. Next click on B, then click on the paste icon. B is the end point of the camera animation. Set up the end-point’s position as well. We can now click on the play button to see the new camera path. With this, we have finished the tutorial.
