Hi McWannabe,
1. I think it means the cameras shouldn't directly look
at each other.
2. I think it depends on the type of performance. For my set up, I have the two outer cameras set higher and the two inside cameras set lower. But I'm wondering if the outer cameras shoudn't be lower because they tend to look at my profile more. Might have to make an adjustment when I have time, but for now my set up is working fine and I don't want to mess with it too much until I'm done with our project.
3. If they are high up, they should be angled down. IMO, this gives the system some overhead data which can improve turning motions. If all the cameras are flat, the system has to take more guesses about what's happening in three-quarter views. At least, that's what I figure.
4. Yes, you want to avoid hard cast shadows, so softboxes are ideal lighting for this sort of thing. I have three soft boxes, and they are set between the four cameras facing the performer to create a very even lighting. You can kinda tell how they're arranged by looking at the soft shadows on the backdrop in
this photo at our blog. I have a detailed diagram of my shoot space which I will post to my website very shortly. (I'm putting together a production log tonight for the website.) There are also two overhead florescent lights (standard garage lighting) to help soften shadows on the floor.
My new computer is a quad-core system with a GTX 260, an internal SATA3 drive dedicated to video and capture, and two USB 3.0 cards; with this I'm easily recording 640x480 at 60fps.
My Recorder configuration is two PS3 Eye cams plugged into on-board USB 2.0 ports and two PS3 Eye cams plugged into one of the USB 3.0 cards. The internal SATA3 drive is plugged into the second USB 3.0 card, which is also a SATA3 card.
I had a wireless card in one of the PCI slots and I had to remove it to make room for a USB 3.0 card. Because I still needed wireless (mainly to access Google Docs and to check for iPi and Animeeple updates,) I bought a USB WiFi stick, which seems to work fine.
I think 40fps is better than 30fps, but I'm not sure how it affects keyframes in your 3D program. Today I was surprised that my recent capture data actually come into Lightwave at 60fps, so I'll probably need to run keyframe reduction before rendering. (Of course I should not have been surprised since 60fps is the speed I recorded at. Duh!) :)
Hope this helps.
G.
