Has anyone done this in 3ds max? Does it look good?  Seems like it should if you keep your plate cameras movement simple with no tilts or pans.

Is there a tutorial or examples I could see.

I have a shot and I’m 75% sure I know how to do it. But a guide would be helpful...or advice.

Thanks.

*** max tutorial that comes with program callled “Particle tree Placement” looks like it could help. It is the same concept. Instead of tree images, just use people.

hi yes u can create crowd using max particles,i am not sure whether u r using animated maps or just still images , if it is still frame u can easily do it with P-Flow /( particle placement plugin will also help, but if u r talking about animated ones u might run into errors with camera animation as all particles will either face the cam or will remain flat(dust,debris, and other fx will not be noticable much, but using people shots will clearly show tat) These crowd scenes using matte shots can be easily done combustion or after effects . but if u insist on doing it with max, camera animation will giv u errors . i once did use 3d models(not texture maps) to create a crowd scene tat was really a heavy scene so i had to composite them using particles in after effects maybe u can try tat along with max....
(u can also try rpc people, animated ones )

hope it helps :)

See the sample clips at Hollywood Camera Work, there is one on Crowd Replication. You can download the green screen plates here.

I reviewed the tutorial and realised that he uses Maya to do the particle system, and does not go into a lot of detail about the setup.
But after watching it the first time, some weeks ago I did try, as an exercise to do it in Max with Pflow, using the footage from the site. So it can be done. I may post the scene when I’m back at work. But you will have to prepare the plates yourself. I keyed each one and rendered to PNG sequences with alpha to use as texture maps in Max. I don’t recall the exact setup for Pflow off the top of my head. I used Matchmover to get the camera move into Max. The render took a lot of memory with all those animated texures.

Good to know you set it up in Max.  It looks like it can be done in pflow but always worry about crashes with so many animated textures.

I was using the 64 bit version of Max with 8 GB RAM, that worked OK. I’m not sure how the 32 bit version would handle it. Be sure to use sequences, not video files (AVI/MOV) to save memory.

Would you reccomend max after you did the test or would you look more to a compositing solution such as after effects or fusion?

I depends on the shot. The video explains which to use in different circumstances. For a locked on camera or with motion control, move the people around and use a compositor. If the camera is static but panning and tilting, do the same and use a point tracker for the movement. If the camera is moving, without motion control, eg, tracking or stedicam, then use the particle method, shooting the people in the same place. Be carful shooting groups with this method, as mentioned in the video.

This is the file. you will get missing maps, they are too big to include. you will just have to replace them. It it not perfect, no shadows, and some feet seem to float a bit, a denser crowd that hides them would help with that, along with a more accurate tracking and modeling of the ground. I may give you some ideas.

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crowd.zip

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crowd0000_large.mov