"Movement" In Pictures

Question

Long story short: I really just want to know if there's a tutorial for making a picture "move" or give it depth. I've seen this effect many times on commercials, ads, etc. The effect (I don't know if there's a name for it) takes a 2D pic and makes it essentially 3D by adding layers to it. So maybe the pews in a church seemingly move as the camera zooms in to the bride and groom, and the bride and groom seem to stand out just the same. The one instance I recall made it look like a pic of the bride and groom was actually a video of someone walking towards them. Very cool.

The longer version is that I think I have discovered some old files to test titled MOCO 3D. However, after long searches, I can't really find anything that points to MOCO 3D. I did discover that MOCO most likely stands for motion control, so that goes hand-in-hand with my original paragraph. The problem is that the current version of AE won't open the files I discovered and states that it needs an older version like v6.5 to actually open them. I don't have that, and I doubt I can find it to install. See attached example files.

In the end, it's a moot point if someone can help with the original paragraph.

Rick Gerard · Answer

First, you need to start with a layered Photoshop file with sufficient resolution so that when you are as close to the main subject as you are going to be the pixel dimensions match a standard video frame size. Say you want to move in on the bride until she fills the frame from her head to her waist in a standard HD comp the distance between the bride's waist and the top of her head should be at about 1080 pixels. The image resolution is the number of pixels, The PPI has nothing at all to do with resolution, that only determines how large the image will be when it is printed.

I looked at your PSD and it is way too small for anything but standard definition video. You have separated the elements just fine. The next step is to import the PSD as a composition retaining layer size, make all the layers 3D, add a camera with a lens that pretty closely matches the focal length of the camera used to take the picture. Your image looks like it was shot with a standard lens so I choose a 50mm lens for the camera. A 2 node camera is usually best for this kind of work.

The next step is to open up two views. I prefer the top and the active camera view to begin. Drag the layers out so that the foreground is a little closer to the camera, and the background is farther away. The next step is to scale all of the layers so they are back to their original relationship. There are a couple of ways to do this. You can use a 2D copy of the whole image on the bottom layer and then just eyeball the scale of each 3D layer until they line up with the reference layer. You can just look at the active camera view and take your best guess. I have an animation preset that automatically scales layers of any size so they perfectly line up with each other just as if they were all on the same layer. I add this animation preset then convert the expression to keyframes using the Keyframe assistant. Once everything is lined up I usually lock the 3D layers and animate the camera's position and point of interest. The amount of movement you can put in the camera depends entirely on the image and how well you have filled in the holes in the background.

This is what your setup would look like just before I convert the expressions for scale to keyframes and lock the layers.

That should get you started. The effect is called 2.5D or "The Kid Stays in the Picture" because it was made popular by a movie of the same name.

I will even share the animation preset that I use to scale the layers. https://www.dropbox.com/s/upnos8u34m10mvl/Fill%20camera%20frame.ffx?dl=0

That should get you started.

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