Electricity: motive power systems – Positional servo systems – Program- or pattern-controlled systems
Patent
1993-02-08
1995-10-10
Ip, Paul
Electricity: motive power systems
Positional servo systems
Program- or pattern-controlled systems
318572, 318573, 364169, 36447411, G05B 1910
Patent
active
054573700
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to automated positioning and orientation of film and video cameras, related film making equipment and a system of control thereof.
BACKGROUND
Film making and in particular camera movement has heretofore been a skilful but imprecise art. Particular types of film making techniques require particular regard be devoted to highly accurate motion control of the image recording camera with the added necessity for the motion to be repeated many times to an equivalent degree of accuracy.
These types of motion requirements are determined by aesthetic and technically practical reasons. In particular the increasing use of digital graphics to enhance and enliven real world film images requires particular regard be devoted to highly accurate motion control of the image recording camera. To enable the digitally created images to appear to interact with the recorded real world film and video image, it is necessary that
(a) the digital image is in perspective with the surrounding image;
(b) the digital image has the same colour, hue and lighting as that in the surrounding image; and
(c) the digital image has a 3-dimensional shape which orientates itself according to the perspective provided by the image recording camera's position.
Only with highly accurate and repeatable camera motion can real world image recording be achieved to the accuracy required, and further by recording camera motion characteristics at the time, information necessary for constructing the digital graphics be achieved such that the real and digital images seemlessly interact.
Highly accurate and repeatable control of camera movement is also required for those situations where only a remotely controlled camera can be placed.
Therefore motion control is an electronic and mechanical technique that allows the physical motions of a camera and/or other objects in a scene to be recorded or preprogrammed with sufficient accuracy to make repetitions of those motions that exactly match each other and that then allow integration of digital graphics into the images recorded. It is a further desirable aspect of motion control that the control provided be as realistic as possible and that since the camera is under machine control the artistic demands that can only be achieved by real time motion are available to the camera operator.
As an example of real-time motion recording techniques, actors can be made to look like they are interacting with miniatures which are actually composited into the real-time scene at a later time. A camera used to record a real-time scene must be able to pan, tilt, track, crane, etc, freely as they would ordinarily do so but done in such a way that allows their motion to be plotted in an effects studio to create a basis for a digital motion file of the real-time scene and which in turn is used to create corresponding and interactive miniature model movement. By re-recording the scene without actors with miniatures or digitally animated characters created and viewed from the exact camera positions of the real-time recording the finished view seemlessly brings together the two disparate objects. This has heretofore been a cumbersome and time consuming process having inaccuracies caused by poor control equipment and techniques which ultimately degrade the quality of the result.
In addition to the above, camera motion especially that which is required to be preprogrammed cannot, even with the existing technology of motion control be provided with movement characteristics which mimic the effects of controlled vibration and damped oscillations as are experienced by real-life cameras under human control. Some special effects require fine camera movement during larger camera manipulation. This is especially so since this characteristic of camera manipulation cannot be accurately repeated even by highly skilled human operators but which is often required for the purposes of creating special effects.
As well as the above, much contemporary motion control filming is done using stop-motion techniques which comprise the fi
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Digital Arts Film and Television Pty Ltd
Ip Paul
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