Anyone here worked/stitched drivingplates.com footage for driving shots?

Thats basically it. Client wants to buy and have us comp these plates. www.drivingplates.com seems legit. I just have zeero idea/experience as to what it will take to stich these (and use).

-Best

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Wow. Really interesting service and footage. Some ideas:

  • use projectors in action and project inside a sphere
  • Stitch them manually using extended bicubics
  • there is a node in batch called (I think) map convert. Trying different modes might give something
  • Also if you ask them, they will probably suggest a workflow applicable in Flame
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I’ve looked at these but we’ve never ended up pulling the trigger on them for whatever reason. Are you going to use them for green screen - car interior - driving footage? If so then you might not need to stitch anything. They may be pretty much ‘ready to eat’.

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Yep, used them quite a few times. You just get seven camera angles (pretty sure 7), we’ve never had to stitch them together. Works pretty well. Stable, a big variety of different locations/seasons/times of day, perfectly usable for driving plates. Definitely had it be better quality than some of the stuff clients shot themselves.

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This is going to sound a bit critical and facetious so apologies in advance, if you were selling stock footage of driving plates, wouldn’t you want to ensure that all the comps on the landing page were seamless and look realistic? The majority of shots are good on there but there are some shockers as well. If you are reading this and it features some of your work then don’t worry, your shot belongs in the good category :sweat_smile:

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I blame the colorists. They deserve more blame. They can afford it. Just take it out of their beret and twirly mustache wax budget.

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When the dreaded question comes from the colourist “Can I have mattes” don’t you always want to answer “Only if I get to sign off on the grades on those shots”.

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We’ve used them, they’re ok, but have had to stabilise them.
If I recall, there are several quality options, which obviously is down to how much the client is prepared to spend.
As for mattes, don’t get me started!!

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I’m curious - I wonder how many of these datasets had shoot permits, and if all of the incidental data like landmarks, license plates, signage, etc has been anonymized?

Also - if those things don’t exist it’s possible to build your own run-and-gun, lightweight, weatherproof rig for 8k 360 degree footage for a only a few bucks…

MovMax Stabilizing Mount

Insta 360

No, they don’t comp out signage or anything like that. If there’s a Best Buy off the highway there’s a Best Buy off the highway.

@BrittCiampa - Oof, it sounds like they’re renting you a picket fence to paint…

I mean, the production would film the same Best Buy. The client pays us to remove it either way.

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@BrittCiampa - at this stage of the game, if this company ‘own’ the rights, it would seem that they could add value and increase prices, if they got machines to ‘tidy up’ the wallpaper that they sell.
Roto’ing this kind of footage is a bit mid 1990s.

I projected all 7 angles of them onto a sphere as an R&D project. You can get them to line up pretty well for one distance, but not at all distances, because the cameras are not all mounted in exactly the same spot. When a road sign or another car passes close to the cameras, they just don’t line up. It would be a big job to process those long clips so everything just works.

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