Blender3D

Here I discuss how to examine an image for channel info, and the formats that Blender supports and how to save your different channels and render layers in the available formats. Starting simple, I discuss loading an image into the VSE and converting its format, both in size and in format (JPG->PNG) and space savings comparison.

Also I discuss quality compression settings and the effect on disk space. I also talk a little about the Alpha and Z values, and what format supports which channels, and what buttons to click (RGBA) in Blender to be sure you save the channels you want, including the EXR format and the multilayer format, in the appropriate container.

I also have to discuss Image or Frame Sequences versus Videos. whew!

Prerequisite: Format theory from Intro

If you like the videos in this Conversion & Distortion series, please consider making a donation of US$4.99 at wickes.webs.com/compositingtutorials.htm

In this short but important video, I talk about how to get video/images into the Node-based Compositor in Blender using the RenderLayer and the Image input nodes, both for images and video. I also discuss the similarities between the controls in the UV/Image Editor, the Node, and the Texture sources. In fact, it might even be same/similar when using a video as a background in 3D view.

Prerequisite: Flying Camera

If you like the videos in this Conversion & Distortion series, please consider making a donation of US$4.99 at wickes.webs.com/compositingtutorials.htm

Blender is really cool in that you can mix your modes of editing between projections of that video in 3D space, 2D-based compositing, and 2D-based mixing in the VSE, all at the same time. An uber-cool idea is to use your video to texture something - a plane, or a sphere commonly, and then film that texture using the camera (orthographic or lens-based) to get all sort of very cool distortion effects. I came up with this simple but versatile rig that I use in a lot of the remaining tutorials, so set one up for yourself!

BTW, please <3 the tutorials you like, and subscribe, and contact me if there are any errata or other areas you want me to go into.

If you like the videos in this Conversion & Distortion series, please consider making a donation of US$4.99 at wickes.webs.com/compositingtutorials.htm

Cropping and translating images is a common workflow. I first use nodes and crop an image (same goes for a video) which is to only use a portion of an image, for example, taking a PC-sized portion of an HD image. I explain that the nodes do not scale and instead start at the middle of the pic. I compare this to the VSE Sequencer and how it works. Use this to re-size image resolutions. Also cover the Scale and Translate nodes in the Distort group.

If you like the videos in this Conversion & Distortion series, please consider making a donation of US$4.99 at wickes.webs.com/compositingtutorials.htm

I got out my jumbo dotless dominoes yesterday...
Actually the dominoes are computer generated. (That's why they're huge and have no dots.)

This amazingly fun to create piece of work was created with the Voodoo camera tracker and the open-source Blender 3d suite.