Preview

1. Project Setting in After Effects

Step 1

Open After Effects. 

Step 2

I have a live action footage which I have imported in After Effects. This is the footage which will be used as the background footage to composite with the robot animation.

Step 3

With the background footage layer selected, go to Animation > Track Camera. 

Step 4

The 3D Camera Tracker system starts analyzing the footage to get good tracking points. It usually takes a couple of minutes.

Step 5

When the tracking completes, you can see several tracking points in the scene. 

Step 6

With several tracking points selected, make a right mouse click and select Create Null and Camera as shown in the following image.

Step 7

You get a null object and 3D camera in the timeline. This null object is the placeholder and sticks with the footage and follows the camera.

Step 8

You can play with the rotation values of the null object to keep its Y axis upwards.

2. Exporting Camera Data to 3ds Max

Step 1

You can find a free script AE3D for After Effects in www.aenhancer.com. Download this script and paste it in the Script folder of After Effects. Now restart After Effects.

Step 2

Open the same composition again. With the null object and 3d camera layers selected, go to File > Script > AE3D_Export.jsx.

Step 3

In the AE3D window, select the 3ds Max option, set the file name to camera tracker.ms and then click on Export. It saves the 3ds Max script file on the desktop.

3. Creating Scene in 3ds Max

Step 1

Open 3ds Max.

Step 2

Go to MAXScript > Run Script.

Step 3

Browse for the camera track.ms script which was exported from After Effects. Select the script and click on Open.

Step 4

After running the script, you get a 3d camera and one dummy in the scene.

Step 5

Jump in the perspective view and press C key for the camera view.

Step 6

Right now the camera is upside down. You need to correct the coordinate of camera.

Step 7

With the dummy and the camera selected together, go to Group > Group and create group.

Step 8

Jump in the left viewport. Select the Rotate tool and rotate the group to the right side. The goal should be to put the dummy on the grid line. 

Adjust the dummy a little bit more to make it straight. 

Step 9

Jump in the camera view. Press Alt-B keys to open the Viewport Configuration window. Turn on Use Files and Animate Background options. Click on Files.

Step 10

Select the BG Footage image and click on Open.

Step 11

Turn on the Show Safe Frame option in the camera view. Alternatively, you can press Shift-F keys. 

You can put any 3d dummy object in the scene and put it on the grid around the dummy. I have put a box in the scene and you can see it follows the camera movement. 

4. Compositing Robot Animation

Step 1

In the last part of the tutorial, I have shown you how to animate the robot on a floor. So, now you can import the robot in the scene and animate it here. Or if you have already animated the robot, you just need to merge the robot animation file in this max scene.

Step 2

Put a plane beneath the robot. Apply Matte Shadow on to the plane. 

Step 3

Create a light as shown in the following image.

Step 4

Create a dome using sphere and apply the background footage onto it. 

Step 5

Render the sequence and you will get the diffuse pass as shown in the following image.

Step 6

You can also render the ambient occlusion pass which is required for contact shadow effect during compositing.

Step 7

Now you can composite the diffuse and ambient occlusion passes together to get the final composited effect as shown in the following image.