The Focal Easy Guide to Combustion 4

The Focal Easy Guide to Combustion 4

by Gary M Davis
Released October 2012
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781136143090

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Book description

Software programs are complex, the books that explain them shouldn't be. This thoroughly illustrated, full-color guide explains everything you need to know to get up and running quickly with Combustion. Get a jump-start learning the major features or the software without bogging you down with unnecessary detail.

The author shares his professional insight and extensive training experience to ensure you'll get the most out of all the professional paint, animation, editing and 3D compositing tools Combustion offers. Also featured are many workflow tips which show how to tap into the full power of Combustion 4 in your effects and motion graphics work.

For useful tips and tutorials, visit the book's companion site at www.focalpress.com/companions/0240520106

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. About this Book
  7. Platforms
  8. About the Footage
  9. About the Author
  10. A Few Thanks
  11. 1. Preferences, UI, and Key Terms
    1. And So It Begins
    2. Quick Visit to the Preferences
    3. Major Project Components
    4. Main Interface Explained Graphically
    5. Data Entry Conventions
  12. 2. Workflow Basics, Footage, and Viewports
    1. RAM Cache and Caching
    2. The Cache Meter
    3. Display Quality and Caching
    4. File Menu Options
    5. The Thumbnail Browser
    6. Working with Footage
    7. Footage Controls (Source and Output Settings)
    8. Working with Proxies
    9. Missing Footage
    10. The Workspace Panel
    11. Working with Viewports
    12. View Modes
  13. 3. Paint and Text Operators
    1. Paint Preferences
    2. Applying a Paint Operator
    3. Non-destructive Paint
    4. The Paint Operator Toolbar
    5. Paint Object Pivot Points
    6. Control Points
    7. Two Types of Groups within Paint
    8. Bezier and B-Splines Tools
    9. Categories of the Paint Controls
    10. Vector Paint, Raster Output
    11. Working with Adobe Illustrator Files
    12. Text and Character Generation
  14. 4. Compositing in 2D and 3D
    1. 2D Composites
    2. Manipulating Layers
    3. Transformations
    4. Transfer Modes
    5. Layer View
    6. Effect Operators
    7. 3D Compositing
    8. Additional Notes about 3D Composites
    9. … and Finally, Nested Composites
  15. 5. The Schematic View (Go with the Flow)
    1. Accessing the Schematic View
    2. Applying Operators
    3. Notes on Nodes
    4. Further Points on Schematic View
    5. Schematic Hotkeys
    6. Duplicating (aka Creating Instances)
    7. Capsules
    8. Schematic Preferences
  16. 6. Selections and Masks
    1. Shared Terminology
    2. Selections
    3. Selection Operators
    4. Mask Operators and Alpha Channels
    5. Stencil Layer
    6. Preserve Alpha
    7. Preferences
  17. 7. Working with Color
    1. Color Spaces
    2. Color Channels and Bit Depth
    3. Color Correction
    4. The Discreet CC
    5. Color Matching
    6. The Store and Compare Features
  18. 8. Keying
    1. Keyer Types in combustion
    2. More than Just Making the Blue or Green Vanish
    3. Two Keying Operators
    4. Additional Keying Operators
    5. One Keying Workflow
    6. Additional Tips for Chroma Keying
    7. Additional Resources for Chroma Keying
  19. 9. The Tracker
    1. The Enigma Unveiled
    2. Two Questions to Consider
    3. Applications for the Tracker
    4. Let’s Make Tracks, Already!
    5. Trackers
    6. Picking an Element to Track
    7. The Tracker Interface in Depth
    8. Image Stabilizing
    9. Closing Tips
  20. 10. Animation and the Timeline
    1. When and How Much?
    2. Methods of Animating in combustion
    3. Creating Simple Keyframe Animations
    4. The Timeline
    5. Animation Channels and Filtering
    6. Object-Specific Channel Filters
    7. Creating Custom Channel Filter Presets
    8. Ease Curves
    9. Extrapolation
    10. Math Operations
    11. Markers
  21. 11. A/V Editing
    1. Audio
    2. The Filmstrip
    3. The Edit Operator
    4. Trimming Heads, Middles, and Tails
    5. Simple Editing
    6. Duplicating Segments
    7. Transitions
    8. One- and Two-point Editing
    9. Edit Markers
    10. Split Layer
    11. Additional Notes on Editing within combustion
  22. 12. Expressions
    1. ‘Quick Pick’ Link Options
    2. Editing an Expression
    3. Expression Browser
    4. Converting Expressions to Keyframes
    5. Ideas for Further Exploration
  23. 13. Integrated Particle System
    1. OpenGL
    2. Components of the Particle Operator
    3. The Preview Window
    4. Categories of the Particle Operator
    5. Closing Tips for Particles
  24. 14. Rendering and Output
    1. Output Format Considerations
    2. Render Dialog Window
    3. Output Settings
    4. Global Settings
    5. Statistics
    6. Log
    7. The Render to RAM Feature
    8. Commit to Disk
    9. Network Rendering with RenderQueue
    10. Network Rendering with Backburner
  25. Appendix I: File Sizes and Formats
  26. Appendix II: Glossary/Index of combustion Terminology
  27. Index

Product information

  • Title: The Focal Easy Guide to Combustion 4
  • Author(s): Gary M Davis
  • Release date: October 2012
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781136143090