[digital] Visual Effects and Compositing / Edition 1

by Jon Gress

Overview

In this latest book in the critically-acclaimed [digital] series from New Riders you’ll learn all of the techniques and skills that will take you from beginner to visual effects (VFX) professional in just one book. Seasoned visual effects producer Jon Gress has refined the teaching of the skills and techniques presented in this book for over a decade to distill them down to the most effective methodology, delivered in a way that’s both fun and easy to understand while being state-of-the-art for industry professionals. You’ll start with a solid understanding of the basics of visual effects and compositing, the fundamentals of bluescreen and greenscreen keying, 3D texturing, cloning, wire & rig removal, rotoscoping, 2D and 3D motion tracking, and matchmoving. And then experiment with a wide range of 2D, 2.5D & 3D visual effects, including 3D CGI, crowd replication, face replacements, faking shadows, reflections and Z depth, atmospheric, smoke, cloud & heat FX, sky replacements, day-for-night and digital 3D HUD FX. Building on this strong foundation of compositing and visual effects, you’ll be prepared for the advanced section of the book which teach skills, such as 2D, 2.5D & 3D digital matte painting and projections, film colorization, particle systems, fluid and rigid body dynamics, full digital environments, digital destruction, advanced lighting and rendering techniques, stereoscopic 3D, 2D to 3D conversions, and expert 3D and Photoshop extraction and modeling techniques that can only be described as magic! Throughout the lessons, you’ll glean insider advice on cutting edge methods that even experienced professionals will find amazing. You’ll learn everything you need to know to begin working in the world of visual effects as an industry professional.

• All the info you need to go from beginner to professional in one book

• Easily accessible teaching style from an instructor who has helped launch the careers of some of the best-known Hollywood visual effects specialists

• Includes companion graphics files and videos to follow along with the lessons

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780321984388
Publisher:	New Riders
Publication date:	11/05/2014
Pages:	552
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

With over 25 years of digital & visual special effects, film, video, audio, and multimedia production experience, writer/producer/director and visual effects producer Jon Gress is one of the new breed of independent filmmakers who can write, shoot, direct, edit, and produce Hollywood sized digital & visual special effects. Jon has been on the cutting edge of digital production technologies since their beginnings and has taught production and software applications courses in Visual Effects, Compositing, Filmmaking, VFX Supervision, the entire Adobe Production Suite, Nuke, Fusion, Lightwave 3D, 3D Studio Max, PF Track, Boujou, Mocha Pro, RealFlow, Turbulence FD, Digital Matte Painting and UDK & Unity game engines. He has trained hundreds of visual effects artists, who have gone on to secure jobs in top visual effects companies all over the world and have worked on movies, including Titanic, The Expendables, Harry Potter, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Avengers, Avatar, Gulliver's Travels, Beowulf and many more. He has created productions for many multinational and Fortune 500 clients and is writer/producer/director of the upcoming independent sci-fi feature trilogy Anunnaki - The Movie.

Table of Contents

Introduction

PART 1: CONCEPTS OF VISUAL EFFECTS AND COMPOSITING

Chapter 01 - Film and Video Primer Bootcamp for VFX

The History of Visual Effects

Principles of Motion Pictures and VFX

In The Beginning - In Camera and Special Effects

Visual Effects (VFX) Concepts

Chapter 02 - Intro to VFX - Advanced Photoshop for 3D and VFX - Digital Compositing

Basic Compositing

2D VFX

Compositing Applications

Keying Types and Concepts

Chapter 03 — Rotoscoping, Motion Tracking and 2D Matchmoving

Roto

2D Motion Tracking

2D Matchmoving

Chapter 04 - 3D For VFX

3D Applications

3D Motion Tracking

3D Motion Tracking Applications

3D Matchmoving

PART 2: VISUAL EFFECTS TECHNIQUES

Chapter 05 - Basic Integration VFX

CG Lighting and Integration

2D Motion Tracking and CG Integration

Roto VFX - Energy Weapons

Basic 2.5D VFX

Fake Shadows and Reflections

Chapter 06 - Advanced Integration and Card Trick VFX

Advanced Procedural Color Matching Live Action Footage

Fine Tune Integration - Grain Match and Light Wraps

2D and 2.5D Crowd Replication

Face Replacement

Card Tricks

Chapter 07 - 3D VFX

3D Tracking and Matchmoving CG

Hand 3D Tracking - Matchimation

3D Object Tracking and Replacement

Faking Z- Depth and Ambient Occlusion

Chapter 08 - 2.5D VFX

2.5D Atmosphere FX

2.5D Smoke - Cloud FX

Fake Birds

2D and 3D Displacement FX - Water, Heat, Cloak

Multipass Rendering and Compositing

2D, 2.5D and 3D Particle Systems and Voxelbased Rendering

Chapter 09 - Bread and Butter VFX

Sky Replacements

Day for Night - Winter for Summer FX

Digital HUD Creation

Wire and Rig Removal

Time Ramping

PART 3: ADVANCED VISUAL EFFECTS TECHNIQUES

Chapter 10 - Digital Matte Painting and Environment VFX

2.5D Compositing

Digital Matte Painting and Set Extensions 2D - 3D - 2.5D

Advanced 2.5D Camera Movement

2.5D Digital Matte Paintings and Camera Projections

Digital Environments

Digital Environment Applications

Virtual Studio

Chapter 11 - Beauty and Restoration VFX

Film Colorization

Digital Beauty

Advanced Lighting and Rendering

Chapter 12 - Dynamics and Simulation VFX

Intro to Fluid and Rigid Body Dynamics Simulations

Specialized Fluid Simulation and Dynamics Applications and Plugins

Rigid Body Dynamics

Bullet Dynamics

Soft Body Dynamics

Chapter 13 - Particle, Crowd and Destruction VFX

3D Particle Based Crowd Replication

3D Particle Based Debris Systems

Digital Destruction

Digital Amputation

Chapter 14 - Advanced Displacement Modeling VFX

Advanced 3D & Photoshop Magic

Displacement Modeling

Chapter 15 - Stereoscopic 3D and Deep Compositing VFX

Stereoscopic 3D

History, Background and Core Concepts

Creating Stereoscopic 3D

2D to 3D Stereoscopic Conversion - Methods of Stereoscopic 2D to 3D Conversion - Technologies and Implementations

Deep Compositing

Appendix: The VFX Compositor's Checklist