An experiment to see if a detailed model could be made in Sketchup then have the camera animated in such a way that short clips could be used in a movie to represent several outdoor shots without having to resort to finding a location. More

"The Chronos Project" (pic below) is a screenplay I wrote where The Dirty Dozen meets Groundhog Day. It is about six condemned soldiers who are trained to do a mission, little realizing that their mission is part of a scientific experiment in time manipulation. Full details for this project are on Amazon Studios where it is available for public scrutiny and comments Click Here

This was a fun editing exercise I undertook at SIT (Southland Insititute of Technology as part of a Diploma of Digital Film. All the clips, music and voice footage was supplied, while I added sound effects and a few other visual enhancements.

Here's not the way to video a moving train from a moving vehicle :)

On Sunday 21 October I became one of the elite group of people known as Train Chasing Nutters. I've got admit the leap frogging with other TCNs to get a good vantage point to watch a golden oldie locomotive KA 942, was actually quite fun. Being the passenger was even a lot better as I was able to get some great shots.
There is something about steam locomotives that diesel doesn't have; the romanticism of a past age, steam, smoke, and lots of moving parts. :)
Taking video from a moving vehicle is a learned art and I'm going to build a rig that keeps the camera steady. In all it was a great day. Chasing the train was, in my mind, a lot more fun than going for a ride in it... Been there, done that, when I was a kid :)
Raw footage with sound removed as I didn't have a external microphone and a windsock. See who was parked up for a looksee... at the end of the video.

Updated the film projects page here to reflect the site's new image. Added a new current project as the one I intended to work on has been put on hold. The new project "Ripley" is a comedy/action.

I did a writing course this year and that, and other commitments meant I had less time for video projects. Now the course is over I'm back into my projects and will hopefully have a clear run from now on.

* My book "Movie Props You Can Build" was one of the projects
on hold. I'm just adding a couple of Photoshop Tutorials and it will be ready for sale. There will be 3 versions: softcover print, Kindle ebook, and downloadable PDF. The Kindle and PDF versions will cost the same, but a purchase of the Kindle edition will entitle the purchaser to a PDF copy to download as the PDF will have the printable plans. PDF purchasers will also get a Kindle version. All purchasers will get free access to the Photoshop files to download.

* "Movie Props You Can Build" is the first in a series of prop making
books that I have planned. I will update this page as the project develops.

While SketchUp is a great tool for 3D modeling it’s built in texture mapping feature is not really up to the gaming standards of 3D Studio Max or Ultimate Unwrap3D where the UV map needs to be laid out over one or several texture maps. 

The following technique is the culmination of several attempts, all which have to some degree been successful.

 This tutorial presumes the user has intermediate to skilled use of SketchUp and understands the concept of UV mapping more

A Sketchup UV Mapping Solution

The following pictures shows a simple 3D scene, the camera views of 3 scenes, and the resulting animation of the camera transitions between the scenes. In all to create 10 seconds of video animation. The photos for the textures were taken on a lightly overcast day when the shadows were at a minimum. Several photos were taken of each building as straight on as I could get them. The Models were built from the photos and textures applied within Sketchup. The vehicle is a 3D model I made for VBS2, a military simulator. more

Wood Street Drive-by