Stereo Conversion of Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks"
I started by bringing a digital file of "Nighthawks" into Photoshop and selected the various layers I would need to produce a stereo camera move within the painting.
Next I used Maya to construct four obj files: the cafe front, back wall, door wall, and the background building. I then laid out these basic elements of the painting in Nuke using camera projections on these obj files. Thus establishing the composition of the original piece.
Using the Photoshop file the twenty remaining elements were then placed on 3d cards in the scene. The two most difficult elements of the painting to isolate were the round corner window and rear window. The corner window luminance and transparency were captured using a keyer node, which also removed elements of the background building. The rear window behind the couple needed three different elements: a layer of the interior reflections, a “clear” window of trace light elements, and then a background street element. The street element needed some creativity because of its mysterious nature. After resourcing the artists work two works seemed appropriate “Sunday Morning” due to its similar architecture and a much earlier work “Drugstore”. “Drugstore” seemed to fit the reflective nature of the window in addition to the original elements presented in the piece.
Aspects of the right camera controlled by expressive links to the “hero” left camera accomplished a simple stereo rig in aid in stereo image capture.
