Importing Footage
Digital tutor on how to render with image plane in Maya
Now that we've got our sequence files it's time to fire up Maya and import the footage. The first thing to do is to create a camera to project the sequence from. Once you've created a projection camera in Maya create an image plane. Now go to the render settings and make sure the render resolution has the same aspect ratio as your sequence files (16:9 for windscreen dv cam). I chose to use a resolution of 720*405.
Load up the sequence onto the image plane and check "use image sequence". Now try and scrub the timeline. Maya should tell you if something is wrong but hopefuly you should see your sequence being projected like a good ol moving picture. If you render a frame from the projection cam the footage should fill the render like a glove. Also while we're at it make sure to set the playback speed to the right fps depending on the digital camera settings (if this is uncertain make a playblast to see how it compares).
Settings for image plane
The "depth" setting controls the camera/image plane distance. This is important because you may get into situations where it is necessary to increase or decrease the camera-to-imageplane distance.
Setup for image plane camera
Clipping plane
When changing the "depth" setting of the image plane make sure to check the "clipping plane" of the camera. The "near clipping plane" should be very low and the "far clipping plane" should at least cover the furthest point of your scene. If things seems to be cut or missing in a scene it's always a good idea to check the clipping plane settings and make sure it is set to a long distance. This is a setting for scenes with a lot of geometry to be able to "cut" out sections to work more efficiently.
Angle of view
If you know the settings for the real camera you should use this as a guide to set the" focal length". If not, leave it for now.
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