Hi TCG,
The first step, clear in which resolution the RED is set. (Being a RED EPIC Dragon owner, I can share first hand experience.) RED’s various resolution are not taken from only from the full sensor, the smaller the resolution, the smaller the field of view, the smaller the used sensor area! With that, the given image uses a different are of the lens. Each lens, and that might be self explanatory, will produce a different result of the lens grid itself.
If you really want to make it perfect, get the lens grid as close to the used focus point as possible (lens breathing will alter the result). Cooke lenses have a long a great history, so the brand-name by itself will not tell what to expect. What ever you use, try to get the R3D files, so the meta data is given and you know what you are working with. (You can convert the footage with the free Red-Cine-X software.)
Cinema 4D can’t read R3D natively, so any format that is used should hold the full frame.
The lens-grid is discussed here inside of the series:
https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaylist/motion_tracking_object_tracking_inside_cinema_4d/motion_tracking_object_tracking_inside_cinema_4d_introduction
Typically the tracked footage needs to be without lens distortion to be trackable in the best way. To give the Motion Tracker the information to work with the un-touched footage, the lens profile is needed.
The footage that is rendered needs the same distortion as the original footage to fit into the same frame.
I have created here
https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaylist/integration1/1_integration_introduction_01
an overview about the needed parts to “integrate” the two (practical and CG).
Cooke has “Cinemascope” Anamorphic lenses, and sadly I had not the option so far to use nor motion track those.
I assume the shooting will be done with Prime Lenses, Cooke offers Zoom Lenses, which might be hard to track, given the combination of rack focus. If a zoom will be used, each focal length used needs to be profiled. I have avoided them with the Motion Tracker, based on previous trouble with other tracking software …
Some Cooke lenses have the option to add lens information electronically to the meta data, check if that is an option.
You can shoot the lens-grid wherever you feel most comfortable, as long as the settings (camera and lens) are the same. Please note that any use of filtration or extenders might alter the results. What is not working is any use of Split-diopters, and I would be careful with any special lenses, like the spherical focal-“plane” optics in many LensBaby options.
Some extra tips for tracking (sadly this series was done before the Lens-Profile option was given, so I shot with a lens that had very little “problems”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG8NxV_TWOQ&index=3&list=PLOLI4wu7NPsjGPK3BGKJpmAg9WqFodFHh
The original footage is normally untouched for quality reasons, the CG renderings are always superior in quality, given the same resolution, so the lens-distortion can be applied here and it comes even close to the practical, mostly Bayern-Pattern and OLPF (to avoid temporal Aliasing) based images.
Steve Wright, Digital Compositing for Film and Video, fourth edition (I have read all four editions in the past 1.5 decades) has a chapter about the lens workflow. I recommend to read the edition four, as it has as well as way more elaborate information of how to match lenses. (I missed so far only the flat vs spherical focal-plane as well as til/shift lenses.)
What I would suggest, is certainly to have measurements from the set, as well as notes of how the camera was moved (not only to evaluate if the tracking is spot on). Worse case, the camera is “locked off” means, it doesn’t move at all, or just around its own axis, which will give not parallax at all. Have survey shots if possible. If the camera is used in an nearly feature less environment, like on a windy day in a cornfield, or the background are just waves from the ocean, white walls, etc, mount a little camera on the RED pointing 90º down, to the side, etc. However, have someone shoot (even with an iPhone) any set up. Sometimes it helps if the camera moves before and after (as in longer), to gain more information.
If they use a Motion Mount, hand-held footage will be better (Rolling Shutter), you will see it in the Meta Data what was used.
In all cases, try to the storyboard, if they have one, to see what to expect.
All in all, these are just some hints on tips that came to my mind, it is not a complete list, and if you can, visit the set, or get in contact with the VFX-supervisor.
Let me know if I missed anything. I really happy to take a look into it.
Enjoy the pre-production!
