In this lesson, we’ll take a look at how Onset Data Acquisition fits into the VFX Pipeline and give a rundown of what we pack in our kit bag.

This lesson is an extract from our Onset Data Acquisition course, of which you can find out more about and enrol here:

• Onset Data Acquisition 1001

A huge thanks to the fantastic team at Clear Angle Studios for providing all the kit and making this tutorial possible.

The VFX Pipeline and Onset Kit Overview

To start, let’s take a quick look at how Onset Data Acquisition fits into the filmmaking process and cover what I generally like to pack for onset work.

CAVE Camera Kit Breakdown

Throughout the course, I’ll be using the following kit. By no means do you need to have the exact kit as listed below but ideally, you would have something similar to practice with.

• Camera: Canon 5DS, Ricoh Theta Z1
• Lenses: 8mm fisheye, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 100mm (a zoom lens would also be useful 70 – 300mm for example)
• Remote shutter release
• Ninja nodal panoramic head (I use the Ninja Nodal 3 or 6)
• Manfrotto tripod (1 or more)
• 20cm grey and chrome reference balls
• Macbeth colour charts (1 x standard, 1 x passport)
• Slates (1x large, 1 x small)
• Tape measure
• Sekonic LiteMaster Pro
• Gaffer tape, lots of gaffer tape
• Notepads, lots of notepads
• 2 x softbox lights for travel (I have the following light kit and also this kit)
• In the studio, I have the following lights: Elinchrom rotolux, square and rectangular softboxes
• Rosco polarising filter for 2 x softbox lights
• Grey photo studio paper
• Sandbags

Introduction to the Kit

Cameras and Lenses

Additional Kit

Sphere Kit

Tripods

Lights

Cables

Software

The focus of this course is not to demonstrate how to process the data. However, we recommend at every stage to test the data you capture to ensure it is pipeline friendly. Just a quick note, some of these tools I do not use in production and are purely used for quickly assessing the data. Later on, we’ll cover in more detail our production processing workflow, which you’ll find under the Data Processing docs.

• Adobe Lightroom – image processing
• RawTherepee – image processing
• PTGui – HDR processing and image stitching
• Photomatix – HDR processing
• Photoshop – image cleanup
• Nuke – image cleanup
• Agisoft Metashape – photogrammetry processing
• RealityCapture – photogrammetry processing
• AliceVision Meshroom – photogrammetry processing free alternative
• 3DF Zephyr – photogrammetry processing alternative

Onset Training

For more information on all things onset related, you can check out our courses here:

• Onset Data Acquisition 1001
• Introduction to Cameras and Lenses 1001
• Shooting HDRIs and Panoramas 1001
• Shooting Texture and Look Development Reference 1001

The Connection Programme

If you are a fan of mixing science with art, or maths with creative thinking, then join our Connection Programme, where we’ll be exploring VFX, animation and games from the core fundamentals:

• The Connection Programme

Support CAVE Academy

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