Plugin for Hash Animation:Master.
This plugin can import Icarus 3D Camera Motion Tracking files into A:M.
This plugin is freeware. Please mail (mbricman@kci-group.com) me a link to your work if you use it !
Zevel is available for PC and Mac. The PC version is compatible with A:M 9.5 and higher, the Mac verison is compatible with A:M 10.0 Beta 8 and higher.

A:M 10.5 requires a new version of this plugin (1.2). THis version is currently only available for PC.

Icarus software makes it very easy to track camera motion just by the footage itself.
It identifies "Features" and tracks them through the movie to automatically place these Features in 3D Space and create a 3D camera path (Camera Calibration).
Icarus Software is available at http://aig.cs.man.ac.uk/icarus/.
It is free for non-comercial use.

Icarus can save the calculated Path and Features to a File (Project > Export 3D Motion ... > Human Readable (*.txt)).

This Plugin is able to read these files and re-create the Path and Features in A:M.
The Plugin consists of two parts: the import for the Features and the import for the Path.
For the Camera Path the attributes

• Position
• Rotation
• Focal Length

get transferred into A:M.

To import the Features

1. create a new Model
2. right-click > Plug-ins > Import > Icarus Camera Tracking (*.TXT)
3. select the file you created with icarus, hit OK

Small Splines will created in the Model where the Features in Icarus were.
The lower CP of each Spline indicated the feature position.
You can add the geometry that you'd like to re-create into this model.
If you do, i'd advise you to group the imported splines, to be able to easily freeze/hide them while modeling.

To import the Path

1. create a new Choreography
2. right-click > Plug-ins > Import > Icarus Camera Tracking (*.TXT)
3. select the file you created with icarus, hit OK
4. insert the Model containing the Features into this Choreography

The Camera of the scene will now have keyframes for Position, Rotation and, Focal Length.
You can also add the source footage as a rotoscope for your camera.
Tip: match the frame rate of your A:M project with the frame rate of the movie!
Tip: convert the source footage to a standard format before importing (Easy to do in Icarus: Project > Export Movie > With Tracking Overlay ... > then export as quicktime).
Tip: decrease the size of the input footage before importing to A:M.
Tip: disable the rotoscope in your final render and use a compositing software to add the background, this way you can add blur and grain to your animation to better match the source footage.

The sample scene that comes with Icarus calibrated, exported and imported into A:M.



A short movie by B.Ng.
http://www.freewebs.com/bao_ng/icarus_am.avi
mirrored here http://www.kci-group.com/z/images/icarus_am.avi.



A short movie by matt camp
http://greenwith.envy.nu/
mirrored here http://www.kci-group.com/z/images/icarus_airplane.avi.
mov version http://www.kci-group.com/z/images/icarus_airplane.mov.



A short movie by matt camp
http://greenwith.envy.nu/
mirrored here http://www.kci-group.com/z/images/icarus_mack.avi.



A short movie by matt camp
http://greenwith.envy.nu/
mirrored here http://www.kci-group.com/z/images/icarus_redwings.avi.
mov version http://www.kci-group.com/z/images/icarus_redwings.mov.

1.0 9. Dec. 2002
initial release

1.1 10. Dec. 2002
the focal length works correctly now (thanks to Jon Cook from the icarus team for helping!)
the 1.0 version posted here was a corrupt build

1.2 9. Aug. 2003
fixed crash on import in chor in A:M 10.5

Download Version 1.1 icarus.zip for PC (A:M version 9.5, 10.0)
Download Version 1.1 icarus.sit.hqx for Mac (only for A:M 10.0 Beta 8 and higher)
Download Version 1.2 icarus12.zip for A:M 10.5 and higher on PC

Close A:M.
Unzip, copy the icarus.hxt to your A:M HXT plugin folder (like C:\Program Files\Hash Inc\V10\hxt)
Run A:M.

Use this plugin at your own risk, i did not have any kind of problem aside the above mentioned ones while using it, but its always a good idea to save often. especially before using a plugin.