This month’s free tutorial is a sneak peak of a workshop presented at the VIEW conference in Turin, Italy. Earlier this month one of our VFX tutors, Daniel Shutt, led a 6-hour workshop to demonstrate camera mapping, transforming a still photograph into a photo realistic animated shot. A technique used in film, commercials and broadcast television, it’s now time to apply this process to your own projects.

Taking a still photo of Battersea power station, Dan illustrates the camera mapping steps required to convert a still image into an animated shot, with little to no fuss. Camera mapping is a technique whereby you take a still or moving image and project it onto low-poly geometry to create a virtual set. So to see this process in action, make sure to check out this free tutorial.

Highlights from this month’s free tutorial include:

• Bringing a still image to life using camera mapping techniques in Maya
• Learn how to create an animated shot with less fuss
• The fundamentals of aligning geometry and cameras to a backplate
• Advice for applying these camera mapping steps to your own projects

To start learning the process of camera mapping in Maya, access October’s free tutorial here.