One problem I found however is that it is very slow having to walk the slider control to get the camera position you require. Once you place the cameras into the scene, you can move the camera in any real world position such as pan and tilt, you can even do crane shots for overhead views. It's also possible to create your own panoramas from location photographs and some basic image "stitching" software.Ĭlick on the thumbnail to view a larger image) Another cool feature is the Panorama backdrops that can be placed around the set for complete 360 degree background. The Military Expansion Pack features military vehicles including jets and tanks, even explosions and machine gun muzzle flashes. Thematic object packs are available such as the Crime & Justice Expansion Pack that includes courtrooms, SWAT teams, the Media, and Police Cruisers. The object library features a hefty set of buildings and wall textures for creating the virtual set.
I built a street with cars parked along one side, street lights and fire hydrants included. These objects include walls, cars, streets, lamps, trees.pretty much every prop one would use in a real world environment. By dragging and dropping objects from the object library onto the blank palette, you can slowly build a 3D mock-up of the location that you will ultimately be filming in. When first loaded, you are given a blank tiled floor for placement and construction of the virtual set.
The app ships with a very detailed user manual for the many options that it can handle and manage. Shot management can be accessed right from the script with a little image box that correlates to the action and scene occurring on the page.
The application also features support for integration into script writing programs such as Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter. The biggest benefit with using a product like FrameForge 3D is that those without drawing skills can now illustrate their ideas in a visual way. This is a very tedious process that can run into hundreds of individual cells, each hand drawn. This is a problem with meager cash flows that can't sustain the hiring of a professional artist to draw out every shot in a feature-length film.
One of the problems with most smaller budgeted features, shorts, or industrial projects is that you need to know how to draw in order to create storyboards. From there the Director and Director of Photography can work out and play around with the shots that will be needed when principal photography actually begins. Storyboards are essential in the pre-production process by taking the script to the next stage from the page into the visual realm. Storyboards, for those not familiar with the term, are comic book-like cell drawings of what a film project will ultimately look like when completed on the screen. Developed by Ken Schafer, creator of Movie Magic Screenwriter, the app is presented as a new way to previsualize film and video projects by being totally computer based instead of having to rely on hand drawn storyboards. Innoventive Software developed an application aimed at filmmakers called FrameForge 3D Studio.