Rediat Abayneh
Node-Based Compositing :
One has to have an understanding of channels to know about Node_Based compositing.
Channels (Digital Image Channel): digital video has two fundamental ways of breaking down colors:
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The RGB model (3Colors Red,Green and Blue.
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The Y’CbCr model (3Components Luma(Y'), Chromas (Cb and Cr)
These 3 colors or components are values, and each of colors are called channels
So, what is a channel? A channel is a set of values of any part of an image.
The fourth-most widely used channel is the Alpha Channel.
It is a channel that contains transparency information. We use the grayscale values to tell the program how much transparency we want in that pixel The White gray box tells the computer to pass all the RGB values as is, while the black box blocks them all.
There are many instances where many more channels are useful.
Node based compositing softwares: Apple Shake, Blender, eyeon Fusion, and The Foundry's Nuke...
Imagine each arrow carrying as many channels as you want from one node to the next. The second node can choose which channel it wants to manipulate and only perform that operation. Then, it chooses which channels will proceed to the next node, and so on.
A Node is anything that changes a signal.
Node-based compositing represents an entire composite as a tree graph, linking media objects and effects in a procedural map, intuitively laying out the progression from source input to final output.
Sources:
http://wolfcrow.com/blog/layer-based-vs-node-based-compositing/
https://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/nuke/about-digital-compositing/
Layer-Based Compositing :
Simply, layers of video on top of each other. There’s a timeline, with each video on its own track, and so on.
Adobe After Effects is the ultimate layer-based compositing application.layer-Based compositing wouldnt exit if it wasnt for Adobe
After Effects.
Digital Compositing is the creative process of assembling and combining filmed or rendered elements from multiple sources, to create a final lifelike illusion or fantastical visual effect, delivered as a set of still or moving pictures.
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The Art and Science of Digital Compositing by Ron Brinkmann (pub. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers)
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Digital Compositing by Steve Wright (pub. Butterworth-Heinemann)
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Visual Effects in A Digital World: A Comprehensive Glossary of over 7,000 Visual Effects Terms by Karen Goulekas (pub. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers)
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How to Get a Job in Computer Animation by Ed Harriss
Suggested Books;
I liked the school's facebook page so I can get to see their updates and studetns new works for inspiration.
The school offer analog (traditional) art classes and digital classes using the tools in demand by the industry today. Gnomon is located in the heart of Hollywood and offers a full curriculum for careers in 3D, professionals in need of specialized training, custom training for production studios and online courses.
Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood.
Essential Reading:
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For a hands-on, practical, how-to guide that addresses the problems and difficult choices faced by the professional compositor in real-life situations: "Digital Compositing for Film and Video" - Steve Wright (My recommendation)
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If you are more into theory-land then this is a good read: "The Art and Science of Digital Compositing" - Ron Brinkmann
Apple's Shake interface. Node based compositing is very intuitive, time saving and is a favorite among compositors. Shake is the software of choice for feature film compositing and is taught at many film, video and computer graphics animation schools worldwide.
Location: more abundant in bigger markets(city life)
Freelance: always have to be networking and looking!
The work, pay and hours: the pay can be good, but only after you've paid your dues and earned a demo reel and reputation to merit it. There are many factors that determine pay, including:
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Specific type of job (ie, compositor, modeler, animator, TD)
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Experience
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Physical location of job
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Industry of job (games, film, industrial design, internet)
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Job requirements
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Budget
Pros and cons of being a compositor
It can really take a big chunk of time out of your life. Because this career can be so demanding of you, it's ever so important to go into it for the right reasons. Do it because you're passionate about it!
Compositing 3D elements. “Stuart Little 2” was an exceptional body of work by dozens of artists working together to make Stuart's adventure a believable one. This shot consists of compositing computer generated characters and a CG airplane into a live action photography background. A dull sky was also re-placed with a more scenic blue sky with clouds during the compositing stage.
Compositing would be as the process of combining multiple footage layers or “elements” to make them appear as if they were shot with the same camera, at the same time. As a recording engineer is technically responsible for weaving all of the different pieces of music together, so that they make sense to the ear, the compositor is responsible for weaving all of the pieces of visuals together so that they make sense to the eye.
Acompositor has to have an ability to solve a problem and be resourceful and also also has to be familiar with things like camera movement (matching it or stabilizing it), depth-of-field shifts, lighting, shadows, keying, color (grading and matching), contrast, atmospheric perspective, (objects closer to camera have more contrast than objects in the distance, where blacks appear more gray), composition, key-framing and animation, motion blur, grain, etc.
Article written by John Lafauce Jr.
How to become a feature film compositor
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/lafauce_john/film_compositor.php
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have the talent to make artistic judgements
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have the technical skills to make practical decisions
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be able to analyse and solve problems
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possess extensive knowledge of current compositing software such as after effects
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have knowledge of various other programmes including Photoshop
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understand the 3D animation process, particularly lighting
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have a good eye for composition, colour, light and shadow
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have good knowledge of the keying process
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have a methodical and thorough approach to work
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pay close attention to detail
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have good communication skills
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be able to work as part of a team
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be able to take direction and be willing to address constructive feedback
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be able to work with a minimum of supervision
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be able to deliver on schedule, working calmly and efficiently under pressure, if required
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have respect for the procedures and requirements of a particular studio, production or pipeline
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have knowledge of the requirements of the relevant health and safety legislation and procedures
http://creativeskillset.org/job_roles_and_stories/job_roles/358_compositor
Compositor?
I have downloaded the free version of NUKE to teach my self with the help of their online tutorials. This will help me to get an skill on working in Node-based compositing system other than Layer-based. This will increase my empolybility as I will have more skills.
NUKE
Node-based VFX, editorial & finishing tools
Visual Effects Artist
Visual effects artists are responsible for much of the post-production work in the television and film industry who ensures that all visual effects are woven together seamlessly.
Below is a key notes from a letter sent to someone who wants to work in special/visual effects industry.
By Steve Biggs, Mechanical Animator
https://www.fxsupply.com/features/careers.html
PREPARATION: Other than education and work experience the key thing is to study and experiement. You dont have to have the right material to do it. As the writer says '.. just imagine what they can do with the right materials and equipment.'
PRESENTATION: cv,showreel, portfolio...(Proffessional practice)
CHARACTER and PERSONALITY : Pesonality matters! even if you get jobs, character is needed to keep the job.
TALENT: Explore your own talent!
THE BIG SECRET: 'The secret of success is to do one thing better than anyone else, period!'
The research in this section is referred back from my research for first semister. I will be looking at it more in depth.
Special Effects (SFX, SPFX or FX)
An illusion created for films and television by props, camerawork, computer graphics, etc.
Many different visual special effects techniques exist, ranging from traditional theater effects, through classic film techniques invented in the early 20th century, to modern computer graphics techniques (CGI). Often several different techniques are used together in a single scene or shot to achieve the desired effect.
Special effects are often "invisible." That is to say that the audience is unaware that what they are seeing is a special effect. This is often the case in historical movies, where the architecture and other surroundings of previous eras is created using special effects.
http://www.cinemateca.org/movies/special_effects.htm
Two of the more common types of special effects that are used today are Computer generated imagery (CGI) and Chromakey (Green Screen). CGI is not only used to construct virtual characters but can also be used to alter colour and lighting.
Notable special effects companies:
Cinesite -
Computer Film Company
Digital Domain -
Industrial Light and Magic
SGI
Weta Digital
Richard Edlund:US special effects cinematographer.
He attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts in the late 1960s while he was in the United states navy. He worked as a cameraman at the embryonic Industrial Light & Magic on the production on Star Wars for which he shared an Academy Award.
In 1983, Edlund founded a visual effects company called Boss Film Studios, whose maiden project was the film Ghostbusters. Thoug it was closed in 1997.
Here is his official website link :'http://www.richardedlund.com/home' where you can find his photography and titles of the films he works in.
Ray Harryhausen an American visual effects creator, writer, and producer
BIG NAMES
Derek Meddings
Ken Ralston
Douglas Trumbull
"Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. Originally, recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator. This projection equipment is called a rotoscope, although this device has been replaced by computers in recent years. In the visual effects industry, the term rotoscoping refers to the technique of manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate so it may be composited over another background."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotoscoping
Rotoscoping was invented by the animator Max Fleischer, who used this technique to animate life-like motions for Koko the Clown from the Out of the Inkwell and Betty Boop cartoons, as well as other characters from the Fleischer cartoons like Betty Boop hula dancing in "Bamboo Isle", the dancing ghost Walrus from "Minnie the Moocher", and the titular Old Man of the Mountain.
https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120312132230AAiXJgP
Rotoscoping
Matte Painting
Green Screen
Green screen technology is the basis of the effects seen in everything from the latest Hollywood blockbusters to the weather forecast.
Rear Projection Effect
It is the effect of combining the foreground with an existing background that could be filmed beforehand or painted or computer generated images (CGI). This effect is to create an illusion that the characters are in a place they are not in, very similar to a blue/green screen effect. The actors would have to stand in front of a giant screen while a projector is positioned behind it to show an image for the necessary background.
‘A matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that is nonexistent in real life or would otherwise be too expensive or impossible to build or visit.’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matte_painting
http://www.shadowlocked.com/201205272603/lists/the-fifty-greatest-matte-paintings-of-all-time.html
Ages ago, extremely talented artists painted these realistic scenes on large sheets of glass. It really is a lost art nowadays. The painting included blank areas that would get filled in with live action. The filmed segments were optically composited with the painting for the final result. A matte is a solid shape that is used to block out areas of the film frame so that no image gets exposed there. A simple matte shot would require a shot of the painting with a matte to block out the live area, the film sequence with a matte to block out everything but the live area, and a final piece of film for everything to be exposed onto.
hotoshop has become an integral part of the process. The simplest matte paintings are ones in which the camera is stationary throughout the entire sequence. This is called a locked-off shot. Creating a matte painting for this kind of shot can be fairly easy. Only one frame, or plate, of the footage is needed. It can be opened in Photoshop and the new areas painted right on top.
http://design.tutsplus.com/articles/basic-principles-of-digital-matte-painting--psd-8970
Special/Visual Effects
To put it simply, special effects are carried out on set during production, and visual effects are done in post-production. That isn’t to say that the visual effects team isn’t involved in production and the special effects team isn’t involved in post, but the creative decisions made by each team generally pertains to their respective phases in the film-making process.
http://filmescape.com/whats-the-difference-between-special-effects-visual-effects
Special Effects:
Optical
Camera lenses, lightings, camera movemnts...
Mechanical
creating fake enviroments like, wind, snow ...
Visual Effects:
It could be filling in a green screen, creating computer generated imagery (CGI), 3D rendering or animation. The visual effects supervisor (not to be confused with the visual effects producer or coordinator) makes all the creative decisions and works directly with the director off and on set to make sure he/she gets the visual image desired. The visual effects coordinator works for the visual effects supervisor in post-production, and the visual effects producer works like a line producer and manages the cost of the visual effects which can get outrageously high (sometimes over half of a film’s budget).
Both of these effects could be applied at the same time. Infact most movies do that. The move Gravity is a good example for this. The special effects applie on the set design and the camera movement gave an impression of the people the around. the artists didnt stop just there, they had a CG models of the bojects and the actors costumes then they put them toghether. which gaves an amazing illusion.
Motion Capture:
(Mo-cap for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision[2] and robotics. In filmmaking and video game development, it refers to recording actions of human actors, and using that information to animate digital character models in 2D or 3D computer animation.
Vican Cara
Vicon Cara is the world’s first out of the box 3D facial motion capture system. With a custom made HeadRig built for actor comfort, four HD cameras and optional on-board lighting, Performance Capture has never been so easy.
Visual Effects Techniques
Physical Simulators
Physical simulation softwares uses the law of physics to generate motion of figures and other objects. They are also used to create Dynamical simulations without having to know anything about physics.
Physion is a good example of an phusical simulation software. Please click this image to see how it works.
his name stands as a landmark in the history of a genre and cinematic art, the art of dimensional stop-motion animation. His most memorable works include the animation on Mighty Joe Young (1949), with his mentor Willis H. O'Brien, which won the Academy Award for special effects; The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), his first color film; and Jason and the Argonauts (1963), featuring a famous sword fight against seven skeleton warriors. His last film was Clash of the Titans (1981), after which he retired.
He is a British film and television special effects designer, He is well know on his work "Supermarionation" TV puppet series produced byGerry Anderson, and later for the 1970s and 1980s James Bond and Superman film series. Derek Meddings design every major vehicle for the hit British television series Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and UFO.
https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/biography_derek_meddings.php3
currently he is a Visual Effect Supervisor and Creative Head at Sony Pictures Imageworks. he worked on over 150 advertising campaigns in his career at Cascade Pictures in Hollywood. In 1976 he was hired at Industrial Light & Magic by Dennis Muren to help George Lucas create the effects forStar Wars.
Douglas Trumbull is an American film director, special effects supervisor, and inventor. He is the son of Donald Trumbull who created visual effects for the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz as well as later movies including Silent Running and Star Wars.
He contributed to, or was responsible for, the special photographic effects of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Blade Runner and The Tree of Life, and directed the movies Silent Running and Brainstorm.