One night, as I wandered alone through the streets of Antibes, a shimmering portal burst into existence before my eyes. Never had I imagined that such a phenomenon could manifest in the town I had called home for so many years.

Production notes:

This is a tracking project I wanted to complete, partly for my own enjoyment and partly to meet the requirements of my Houdini courses. I set out to add an FX effect to live-action footage, so I shot several videos in the streets of Antibes, France, where I live. I then used Blender to perform the tracking and generate a virtual camera. After that, I refined a magical portal effect I had previously created in Houdini. Finally, I imported the Blender scene and camera into Houdini and worked on the lighting and integration.

Problems found and solved :

Achieving reliable tracking from a video shoot that was very shaky.
Ensuring consistent camera settings between Blender and Houdini, since the original physical camera was non-standard.
Managing the 3D objects that received lights and shadows, and aligning them with the shaky footage.