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Digital Compositing for Film and Video, 5th Edition

Name: Digital Compositing for Film and Video, 5th Edition
Author: Steve Wright
ISBN: 9781040002988

by Steve Wright

June 2024

Intermediate to advanced

554 pages

17h 23m

English

Routledge

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Cover
Half Title
Title
Copyright
Table of Contents
About the Author
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 – Getting Started
1.1 About the 5th Edition1.2 How This Edition Is Organized1.2.1 Part 1 – The Basic Comp1.2.2 Part 2 – Beyond the Basics1.3 Web Content1.4 What’s New in the 5th Edition1.4.1 Major New Topics1.4.2 New Content1.5 Gold Mines1.6 Retired Material1.7 Tool Conventions1.7.1 The Slice Tool1.7.2 Flowgraphs1.7.3 Color Lookup Tables1.8 Data Conventions1.8.1 Floating Point Data1.8.1.1 Banding1.8.1.2 Clipping1.8.2 Linear Light Space1.8.3 HDR Images1.8.4 Stops
Chapter 2 – Pulling Keys
2.1 Luma Keys2.1.1 How Luma Keys Work2.1.2 Making Your Own Luminance Image2.1.2.1 Variations on the Luminance Equations2.1.2.2 Non-Luminance Monochrome Images2.1.3 Making Your Own Luma Keyer2.2 Chroma Keys2.2.1 How Chroma Keys Work2.2.2 Making a Chromakeyer2.2.3 Making a 3D Chromakeyer2.3 Difference Mattes2.3.1 How Difference Mattes Work2.3.2 Making Your Own Difference Matte2.3.2.1 Making the Difference Image2.3.2.2 Making the Difference Matte2.4 High Bypass Filters2.4.1 Creating the Filter2.4.2 Digital Airbrushing2.5 Color Difference Keys2.6 RGB Edge Extension Technique2.7 Rotoscoping2.7.1 Overarching Strategy2.7.2 Control Point Coherency2.7.3 Shape Breakdown2.7.3.1 Hierarchical Articulation2.7.3.2 Organization2.7.4 Bezier or B-spline?2.7.5 Roto Keyframe Strategies2.7.5.1 On 2s2.7.5.2 Binary Multiples2.7.5.3 Bifurcation2.7.5.4 Motion Extremes2.7.6 Motion Blur2.7.6.1 Spline Placement2.7.6.2 Edge Decontamination2.7.7 Roto Inspection2.8 Conclusion

Chapter 3 – Working With Keyers
3.1 How Keyers Work3.1.1 Calculating the Color Difference Matte3.1.1.1 The Theory3.1.1.2 Pulling the Raw Matte3.1.1.3 A Simplified Example3.1.1.4 A Slightly More Realistic Case3.1.1.5 And Now, the Real World3.1.2 Matte Edge Penetration3.1.3 Scaling the Raw Matte3.2 The After Effects Keyer3.2.1 Step-by-Step Procedure3.2.2 Flowgraph of the After Effects Keyer3.3 Typical Greenscreen Problems3.3.1 Over Exposed3.3.2 Under Exposed3.3.3 Impure Greenscreens3.3.4 Uneven Lighting3.4 Preprocessing the Greenscreen3.4.1 Denoise and Degrain3.4.2 Local Suppression Keyer Assist3.4.3 Channel Clamping3.4.4 Screen Correction3.4.4.1 Fine Hair Detail3.4.4.2 Creating the Clean Plate3.4.4.3 Screen Correction Procedure3.4.4.4 Pictographic Flow Chart3.4.4.5 Flowgraph of the Screen Correction Procedure3.4.4.6 Nuke IBK Screen Correction3.5 Conclusion
Chapter 4 – Refining Mattes
4.1 Gamma Slamming4.2 Garbage Mattes4.2.1 Pre-Matting4.2.2 Post-Matting4.3 Filtering the Matte4.3.1 Noise Suppression With a Median Filter4.3.2 Softer Edges4.3.3 Controlling the Blur Operation4.3.3.1 The Blur Radius4.3.3.2 The Blur Percentage4.3.3.3 Masking the Blur4.4 Adjusting the Matte Size4.4.1 Eroding a Matte with Blur and Scale4.4.2 Dilating a Matte with Blur and Scale4.4.3 Blurring Out4.4.4 Sculpting Edges4.5 Creating an Edge Mask4.6 Merging Mattes4.7 Conclusion
Chapter 5 – Spill Suppression
5.1 Sources of Spill5.2 The Despill Operation5.3 Despill Algorithms5.3.1 Green Limited by Red5.3.2 Implementing the Algorithm5.3.3 The Spillmap5.3.4 Green Limited by the Average of Red and Blue5.3.5 An Adjustable Despill5.3.6 What About Blue Spill?5.3.7 Refining the Despill5.4 The Unspill Operation5.4.1 How to Set It Up5.4.2 Grading to the Backing Color5.5 Despill Artifacts5.5.1 Finding the Artifacts5.5.2 Hue Shifts5.5.3 Dark Edges5.5.4 Fixing Despill Artifacts5.6 Edge Grading5.7 Edge Extension5.8 Conclusion
Chapter 6 – Image Blending
6.1 Image Blending in Linear Light Space6.1.1 Image Blending Operations6.1.2 Compositing Operations6.1.3 Matching the Look of sRGB in Linear6.1.3.1 All sRGB Color Space6.1.3.2 sRGB Within Linear6.2 Alpha Compositing Operations6.3 Image Blending Operations6.3.1 The Screen Operation6.3.1.1 Adjusting the Appearance6.3.2 Weighted Screen Operation6.3.3 Multiply6.3.3.1 Adjusting the Appearance6.3.4 Maximum6.3.5 Minimum6.3.6 Absolute Difference6.4 Adobe Photoshop Blending Modes6.4.1 Simple Blending Modes6.4.2 Complex Blending Modes6.5 Slot Gags6.6 Retiming Clips6.6.1 Constant Speed Changes6.6.2 Variable Speed Changes6.6.3 Interpolation Methods6.6.3.1 Nearest Neighbor6.6.3.2 Frame Average6.6.3.3 Motion Estimation6.7 Conclusion
Chapter 7 – The Composite
7.1 Premultiply vs. Unpremultiply7.1.1 Premultiply7.1.2 Unpremultiply7.1.3 Not Premultiplied7.1.4 The Double Premultiply7.2 Compositing Operations7.2.1 The Over Composite7.2.2 The KeyMix Composite7.2.3 The AddMix Composite7.2.3.1 How It Works7.2.3.2 How to Build It7.2.3.3 How to Use It7.2.4 Processed Foreground Method7.2.4.1 The Workflow7.2.4.2 What to Watch Out For7.3 Compositing Inside the Keyer7.3.1 Adding a Holdout Mask7.3.2 Adding a Garbage Matte7.3.3 Off Screen Keying7.3.4 Grading and Grain Management7.4 Compositing Outside the Keyer7.4.1 The Basic Workflow7.4.2 The Uberkey7.4.3 Soft Key/Hard Key7.5 Virtual Production7.5.1 How Virtual Production Works7.5.2 The Effects on Compositing7.6 Conclusion
Chapter 8 – Compositing CG
8.1 Multi-Pass CG Compositing8.1.1 Lighting Passes8.1.1.1 Revising the Beauty Pass8.1.2 AOVs8.1.3 Normals Relighting8.1.4 ID Passes8.2 Cryptomattes8.2.1 How Cryptomattes Work8.2.2 How Cryptomattes Are Used8.3 EXR File Format8.3.1 Film Scans8.3.2 Linear Images8.3.3 Arbitrary Image Channels8.4 HDR Images8.5 Deep Compositing8.5.1 Deep Images8.5.2 The Layering Complexity Problem8.5.3 The Depth Compositing Edge Problem8.5.4 The Re-rendering Problem8.5.5 Deep Compositing With Live Action8.6 Conclusion
Chapter 9 – Tracking and Transforms
9.1 Geometric Transforms9.1.1 2D Transforms9.1.1.1 Translation9.1.1.1.1 Float vs. Integer Translation9.1.1.1.2 Source and Destination Movement9.1.1.2 Rotation9.1.1.2.1 Pivot Points9.1.1.3 Resize vs. Scale9.1.1.3.1 Pivot Points9.1.1.4 Skew9.1.1.5 Corner Pinning9.1.2 Managing Motion Blur9.1.2.1 Transform Motion Blur9.1.2.2 Motion UV Motion Blur9.1.2.3 Speed Changes9.1.3 3D Transforms9.1.4 Filtering9.1.4.1 The Effects of Filtering9.1.4.2 Twinkling Starfields9.1.4.3 Choosing a Filter9.1.5 Image Alignment9.1.5.1 Embossed Alignment9.1.5.2 Edge Detection Alignment9.1.5.3 Pivot Point Alignment9.2 Image Displacement9.3 Warps and Morphs9.3.1 Mesh Warps9.3.2 Spline Warps9.3.3 Morphs9.3.4 Tips, Tricks, and Techniques9.4 Point Tracking9.4.1 The Tracking Operation9.4.1.1 Selecting Good Tracking Targets9.4.1.2 Bad Tracking Targets9.4.1.3 Tracker Enable/Disable9.4.1.4 Offset Tracking9.4.1.5 Keep Shape and Follow Shape9.4.1.6 Preprocessing the Clip9.4.1.7 Coping with Grain9.4.1.8 Tracking Workflow9.4.1.9 Cleaning Up Tracking Data9.4.1.10 The Stability Test9.4.1.11 Reasons for Failure9.4.2 Matchmove9.4.2.1 2D Transforms9.4.2.2 The Reference Frame9.4.2.3 Corner Pinning9.4.3 Stabilizing9.4.3.1 The Repo Problem9.4.3.2 Motion Smoothing9.4.3.3 Stabilizing for Roto9.5 Planar Tracking9.5.1 The Planar Grid9.5.2 Drift Correction9.5.3 Exporting Data9.5.4 Roto Assist9.6 Conclusion
Chapter 10 – 3D Compositing
10.1 A Short Course in 3D10.1.1 The 3D Coordinate System10.1.2 Vertices10.1.3 Meshes10.1.4 Surface Normals10.1.5 UV Coordinates10.1.6 Map Projection10.1.7 UV Projection10.1.8 3D Geometry10.1.9 Geometric Transformations10.1.10 Geometric Deformations10.1.10.1 Image Displacement10.1.10.2 Deformation Lattice10.1.11 Point Clouds10.1.12 Lights10.1.13 Cameras10.1.14 Shaders10.1.15 Reflection Mapping10.1.16 3D Environment Maps10.1.17 Ray Tracing10.1.18 Image-Based Lighting10.2 3D Compositing10.2.1 Camera Tracking10.2.1.1 Step 1 – Tracking10.2.1.2 Step 2 – The Solve10.2.1.3 Step 3 – Build the Scene10.2.1.4 Placing the Geometry10.2.1.5 A Large Outdoor Scene10.2.1.6 Monitor Insert Shots10.2.2 Camera Projection10.2.3 Multiplane Shots10.2.4 Set Extension10.2.4.1 Step 1 – Camera Tracking10.2.4.2 Step 2 – Preps for the DMP10.2.4.3 Step 3 – Creating the Digital Matte Painting10.2.4.4 Step 4 – The DMP Render10.2.4.5 Compositing the DMP10.2.5 Pan and Tile10.2.6 3D Backgrounds10.2.7 3D Compositing From 2D Images10.2.8 Alembic Geometry10.2.8.1 The Simple Case10.2.8.2 Scenegraphs10.2.8.3 Advantages Over FBX10.2.9 Universal Scene Description (USD)10.2.9.1 The Scenegraph10.2.9.2 A Case Study10.3 Conclusion
Chapter 11 – Digital Images
11.1 Color Space11.1.1 Color Models11.1.2 Primary Chromaticities11.1.3 Gamut11.1.4 The Transfer Function11.1.5 White Point11.2 HDTV11.2.1 Rec. 709 Color Space11.2.2 Frame Formats11.2.3 Scan Modes11.2.4 Working With Interlaced Video11.2.5 De-interlacing11.2.5.1 Scan Line Interpolation11.2.5.2 Field Averaging11.2.5.3 Optical Flow Interpolation11.2.6 Color Subsampling11.2.7 Keying 4:2:2 Video11.2.8 Frame Rates11.2.8.1 Integer: 24, 25, 30, 60 fps11.2.8.2 Float: 23.98, 29.97, 59.94 fps11.2.9 Timecodes11.2.10 Video File Formats11.2.11 Film Scanners11.2.12 Anamorphic Video11.3 UHDTV11.3.1 Rec. 2020 Color Space11.4 Digital Cinema Images11.4.1 P3 Color Space11.4.2 Digital Cameras vs. Film11.4.3 The Bayer Array11.4.4 Sensor Crop11.4.5 HFR – High Frame Rate11.4.6 The DCI11.5 Working in Linear11.5.1 What Exactly Is Linear?11.5.2 Color Correcting11.5.3 Transformations and Filtering11.5.4 CG11.6 Log Images11.6.1 What Are Log Images?11.6.2 Why We Need Log Images11.6.2.1 Human Vision11.6.2.2 Data Compression11.6.3 Working With Log Images11.7 Metadata11.8 Artificial Intelligence and VFX11.8.1 A Brief History11.8.2 Terminology11.8.3 AI for Compositing11.8.3.1 Rotoscoping11.8.3.2 Speed Changes11.8.3.3 Upscale and Sharpen11.8.3.4 Inpainting11.8.3.5 Greenscreen Keying11.8.3.6 Image Generation11.8.4 De-aging With Deep Fakes11.8.5 Face Replacements11.8.6 The Future11.9 OpenColorIO11.10 ACES Color Management11.10.1 The ACES Workflow11.10.2 The ACES Gamut11.10.3 What About Video Productions?11.11 Conclusion
Chapter 12 – Color Correction
12.1 The Behavior of Light12.1.1 The Inverse Square Law12.1.2 Diffuse Reflections12.1.3 Specular Reflections12.1.4 Bounce Light12.1.5 Scattering12.1.6 Polarized Light12.1.7 The Fresnel Effect12.1.8 Spectral Emissions12.2 Gamma12.3 The Effect of Color Operations12.3.1 Lift12.3.2 Gamma12.3.3 Gain12.3.4 Offset12.3.5 Saturation12.3.6 Color Grading vs. Color Correcting12.3.7 Increasing Contrast With the “S” Curve12.3.8 Histograms12.3.9 Channel Swapping12.3.10 Unpremultiplied Color Correction12.4 Matching the Light Space12.4.1 Brightness and Contrast12.4.1.1 Matching the Black and White Points12.4.1.2 Matching the Midtones12.4.1.3 Gamma Slamming12.4.2 Matching Color12.4.2.1 Grayscale Balancing12.4.2.2 Flesh Tones12.4.2.3 Constant Brightness Color Correction12.4.2.4 Daylight12.4.2.5 Specular Highlights12.4.3 Lighting Direction12.4.4 Light Source Quality12.4.4.1 Creating Softer Lighting12.4.4.2 Creating Harsher Lighting12.4.5 Non-linear Gradients for Color Correction12.4.6 Colorized Gradients12.4.7 The DI Process12.4.8 A Checklist12.5 Conclusion
Chapter 13 – Camera Effects
13.1 Lens Effects13.1.1 Lens Distortion13.1.2 Depth of Field13.1.3 Vignetting13.1.4 Lens Defects13.1.4.1 Spherical Aberration13.1.4.2 Astigmatism13.1.4.3 Chromatic Aberration13.1.5 Glows and Flares13.1.5.1 Lens Flare13.1.5.2 Lens Filter Flare13.1.5.3 Diffraction Glows13.1.5.4 Veiling Glare13.1.6 Grain13.2 Lens Distortion Workflows13.2.1 CG Over Live Action13.2.2 Live Action Over CG13.2.3 CG Over CG13.2.4 Live Action Over Live Action13.3 Matching the Focus13.3.1 Using a Blur for Defocus13.3.2 How to Simulate a Defocus13.3.3 Sharpening13.3.3.1 Sharpening Operations13.3.3.2 Unsharp Masks13.3.3.3 Making Your Own Unsharp Mask13.4 Rolling Shutter13.5 Conclusion
Chapter 14 – Sweetening the Comp
14.1 Layer Integration14.2 Interactive Lighting14.3 Light Wrap14.4 Edge Blending14.5 Creating Shadows14.5.1 Edge Characteristics14.5.2 Density14.5.3 Color14.5.4 Faux Shadows14.5.4.1 Caveats14.5.4.2 Shadow Mask14.5.5 Shadow Warping14.5.6 Contact Shadows14.6 Atmospheric Haze14.7 Adding Glows14.8 Grain Management14.8.1 Grain Characteristics14.8.2 Regraining Techniques14.8.2.1 Grain Check Procedure14.8.2.2 Generated Grain14.8.2.3 Extracted Grain14.8.3 Workflows14.8.3.1 Live Action Over Live Action14.8.3.2 Live Action Over CG14.8.3.3 CG Over Live Action14.8.3.4 CG Over CG14.8.3.5 Still Photos14.9 Soft Clip14.10 Conclusion
Glossary
Index

Content preview from Digital Compositing for Film and Video, 5th Edition

Glossary

Writing a glossary for a rapidly evolving field with unstable terminology like digital compositing is a tricky but necessary task. A task that is further complicated by an infusion of terms from many other disciplines such as conventional opticals, special effects, photography, computer science, signal processing, and now AI. However, it needs to be done, so it is done here with the intent of being more helpful to the digital artist than the engineer. While many terms are very technical, the unabashedly technical definition is often less than helpful to someone trying to make a good composite than a more common sense, task-related definition, so the commonsense style prevails in this glossary.

Some of the words in the definitions are ...

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Digital Compositing for Film and Video, 4th Edition

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Digital Compositing for Film and Video, 5th Edition

by Steve Wright

Glossary

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
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