Camera Matching

[squeegie]

I have been running into this on more than a few occasions, and I was wondering how some of the LW veterans handle it.
I do a lot of photo composites, andwhat I have been doing in the past is just matching up the grid with a known reference point in the photo. This take a long time to get the angle and the zoom of the camerain the right spot.
Now..
I have noticed the "Real Lens" & "Perspective" camera have much more inputs than the others. Is there a way to enter EXIF data (I have the focal length -18.00mm, and the max appeture value of f/2.8) from a photo into LW and just move the camera in the right distance, height, and angle to match the original? If so, what number corrospond to teh LW camer? Mine never seem to be in the right spot. Since I shoot most of the photos myself, I can measure the height, angle, & distance to the subject. I just didn't know if there is an easier way to get the job done. Any suggestions?

[bjornkn]

I used to do it by eyeballing, setting the focal length to approximately the correct value and positioning the camera as close as possible to the correct location.
But nowadays I mostly use SketchUp, because that's where I model the buildings anyway. It comes with a nice PhotoMatch utility that lets you position camera easily. It alo lets you easily build textured models directly from one single (or more) photo(s).
Then I export as 3ds and use Deep Exploration or NuGraf to convert to lws.
I always make some simple Monopoly models of the existing buildings that are visible in the photos, which makes it a lot easier to get the alignment correct. Usually I only need to change the focal length slightly in LW on those SU-photomatched scenes.

[wavk]

why dont u use Fi'sCmatch?!..



mlon

[ColinSmith]

I'd try with the real lens setup. If you set the right camera in there and the focal length you used to shoot the photo it should get pretty close.

It may not be working well if you are just putting the focal length in without setting the right camera format, as a smaller sensor size (aps-c or similar variation that dslrs mostly use) changes the angle that is covered by a, for example 18mm, lens.

Otherwise pull in rough place holders for as many of the existing buildings and land features you can from the drawings and tweak away by eye for the final match.

[squeegie]

why dont u use Fi'sCmatch?!..



mlon
got a link?

[wavk]

erhmm... the site seems down.

anyone?...

i could upload the plug.

lemme know.


mlon

[Vujaka]

upload it! upload it! upload it!:agree: :hey:

[arsad]

http://www.lwplugindb.com/Plugin.aspx?id=c71a8c69

[squeegie]

http://www.lwplugindb.com/Plugin.aspx?id=c71a8c69
Awesome!!
Thanks!

[arsad]

you are welcome ;-)

[-EsHrA-]

lwplugindb huh?!... didnt know that one.

nice!


mlon

[walfridson]

http://www.newtek.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52416

[arsad]

yep recently got that info on www.frenchwave.org. As flay is not the best for actuality... the more plugin database we have the better.