jophus14

What is the easiest way to camera match a new architectural structure into an existing photo? I want to pull some photos off of google and build commercial buildings to place into the photos. How can I get the precise camera angle and lens to match the photo. Thanks.

Tommy L

unless you can work out where the camera was in plan, you just have to eyeball it.

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jophus14

Should I just use the image as my background then? Is there a way to lock the background so it doesn't move when zooming in and out? What about having the backgorund move up and down with the camera? Thanks

martin walker

a start would be to presume the photo was taken with a 35 mm camera, this will help with your perspective

Id agree with Tom though, a good eye beats any technical method

vizfx

Hi
There are some camera matching utilities but I prefer to use some reference objects which represent terrain and buildings from the surroundings. A good idea is to use a terrain scheme or at least some info about closer objects (buildings, trees, etc.). When you build those objects (just a few) distances and sizes are very important but the mistakes can be easily corrected from perspective. After this I choose my photo as background in viewport and I make the corrections from wireframe view. Using this technique you will be able to use latter Matte/Shadow material to have some realistic shadows even on surroundings. It`s very important to know the type of lenses from the photo or video camera.
Mihai

notamondayfan

also try to allign the horrizon / vanishing points in your 3d scene with the photo. the horrizon should be the same on both.

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Tommy L

Unless you have a site plan and some accurate height references, eyeball it. End of.
Mind you, eyeballing aint easy. And if the photo is your backgroud, whats all this moving up and down its zooming in and out malarky? Background should stay put. One thing is, make sure your render parameters are set to the same aspect ratio as the photo.

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anvaraziz

evermotion have a very good tutorial regarding camera matching.

http://www.evermotion.org/tutorials/compositing/arch/

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Matt Clementson

If your image has EXIF information attached to it you may get the lens details from that - remember that you have to correct from a digital lens length to the optical equivalent as well to get the correct settings for your scene.

jophus14

Thanks everyone. I tried the Evermotion tutorial a while back with nothing but a headache to show for it. I also tried the tutorial that came with Max/VIZ for the Camera Match option using the microwave and the background, but I still had no luck.