Digital Compositing for Film and Video is a hands-on, practical, how-to guide that addresses the problems and difficult choices faced by the professional compositor in real-life situations. It presents techniques, tricks, and solutions for dealing with badly shot elements, coloration artifacts, and mismatched lighting that bedevil actual compositors working on real shots. Readers are offered in-depth practical methods for matte extraction, despill procedures, compositing operations, and color correction--the "meat and potatoes" of all digital effects.
Compositing is the artistic blending of several disparate elements from a variety of sources into a single image while making all the component elements appear to be in the same light space and shot with the same camera. When confronted with a bad composite any observer will recognize that something is wrong--the artist will know what is causing the problem, and the technician will know how to fix it. A good compositor must be both an artist and a technician.
Written by a senior compositor with over ten years' experience in both feature film and broadcast television, this book offers a broad range of alternative solutions that will save hours of fiddling with composites trying to get them to look right when the basic tools aren't working. A companion CD-ROM provides examples of the many topics covered in this book.
Review quote:
"One of the best compositing books out there..., If you consider yourself an upper intermediate level user or less, I'd recommend this book. Among many other things that it does quite well, it explains what procedural keyers like Primatte are doing and shows you how to accomplish the same kinds of processes manually. You will know what each of the many keyers in After Effects (and other compositing apps) are doing and the logic behind each. You will also learn where best to use each based on the situation at hand. It also takes you through many other areas like matte extraction, despill procedures and color correction. After reading it, you will understand scientifically what is going on under the hood of your favorite imaging and video apps. To me, this is the "Photoshop Channel Chops" of 2001. What David Biedny's legendary PCC book did for Photoshop artists a decade or so ago, this book will do for compositors today. I have seen other books handle this subject, some do it well but none as good as this one. Well-written and very easy to understand --though there are definitely places where you will have to reread passages to understand what's being said. But if you commit to reading it with more than a cursory perusal, you'll walk away a master. Highly recommended. Five Cows." - Ron Lindeboom, creativecow.net
Table of contents:
Introduction; Pulling Mattes; Refining Mattes; Despill; The Composite; Matching the Lightspace; Matching the Camera; Matching the Action; Gamma; Video; Film; Log vs. Linear
Compositing is the artistic blending of several disparate elements from a variety of sources into a single image while making all the component elements appear to be in the same light space and shot with the same camera. When confronted with a bad composite any observer will recognize that something is wrong--the artist will know what is causing the problem, and the technician will know how to fix it. A good compositor must be both an artist and a technician.
Written by a senior compositor with over ten years' experience in both feature film and broadcast television, this book offers a broad range of alternative solutions that will save hours of fiddling with composites trying to get them to look right when the basic tools aren't working. A companion CD-ROM provides examples of the many topics covered in this book.
Review quote:
"One of the best compositing books out there..., If you consider yourself an upper intermediate level user or less, I'd recommend this book. Among many other things that it does quite well, it explains what procedural keyers like Primatte are doing and shows you how to accomplish the same kinds of processes manually. You will know what each of the many keyers in After Effects (and other compositing apps) are doing and the logic behind each. You will also learn where best to use each based on the situation at hand. It also takes you through many other areas like matte extraction, despill procedures and color correction. After reading it, you will understand scientifically what is going on under the hood of your favorite imaging and video apps. To me, this is the "Photoshop Channel Chops" of 2001. What David Biedny's legendary PCC book did for Photoshop artists a decade or so ago, this book will do for compositors today. I have seen other books handle this subject, some do it well but none as good as this one. Well-written and very easy to understand --though there are definitely places where you will have to reread passages to understand what's being said. But if you commit to reading it with more than a cursory perusal, you'll walk away a master. Highly recommended. Five Cows." - Ron Lindeboom, creativecow.net
Table of contents:
Introduction; Pulling Mattes; Refining Mattes; Despill; The Composite; Matching the Lightspace; Matching the Camera; Matching the Action; Gamma; Video; Film; Log vs. Linear
"This book covers both the basic fundamentals and the advanced techniques of compositing, but Steve also presents the reader with a deeper background on the task at hand. You're not just getting a how-to manual, but an understanding of why you do it."
-Patrick Tubach, VFX Supervisor, Industrial Light & Magic
"Digital Compositing for Film and Video is the must have book for all compositors at all levels. I always keep copies close on hand for my artists to use and still refer to it often myself. The book covers the skills all compositors must know and the techniques needed when you are fighting tricky shots."
-Jeffrey Jasper, CTO, JTS Productions, LLC
"What's astounding about this book is that, for the last 16 years, every edition has been ahead of its time in terms of teaching and explaining the different techniques, technologies, and tools used on a daily basis by compositors around the world. Steve Wright has managed, once again, to stay ahead of the game and spearhead the education of current and future compositors."
-Ara Khanikian, VFX Supervisor, Rodeo FX
-Patrick Tubach, VFX Supervisor, Industrial Light & Magic
"Digital Compositing for Film and Video is the must have book for all compositors at all levels. I always keep copies close on hand for my artists to use and still refer to it often myself. The book covers the skills all compositors must know and the techniques needed when you are fighting tricky shots."
-Jeffrey Jasper, CTO, JTS Productions, LLC
"What's astounding about this book is that, for the last 16 years, every edition has been ahead of its time in terms of teaching and explaining the different techniques, technologies, and tools used on a daily basis by compositors around the world. Steve Wright has managed, once again, to stay ahead of the game and spearhead the education of current and future compositors."
-Ara Khanikian, VFX Supervisor, Rodeo FX