Universidade do Minho

Compositing, composing worlds

Nelson Zagalo, University of Minho, Portugal

13th May 2011, University of Maribor, Slovenia

Nelson Zagalo

Contact me
nzagalo@ics.uminho.pt
www.facebook.com/nelsonzagalo

My Work
nelsonzagalo.googlepages.com
www.engagelab.org
Film Compositing

King Kong (1933) Superman (1978)

Defining compositing

What is it?

Compositing is the combining of visual elements

from separate sources into single images,
often to create the illusion that all those elements
are parts of the same scene.

What do we use it for?

. to create special effects in visual arts;

. to help us connecting real images with
artificially created ones;
. to correct photographic mismatches (e.g. color);
. to change or substitute backgrounds;
. to change or substitute foregrounds;
. to create illusion of depth.
Compositing techniques

Film (analogical)
1. Physical compositing
2. Multiple exposure
3. Rear projection
4. Matting

Digital
1. Blend Operations
2. Keying
3. Alpha Channels
4. Mattes
5. Masks
6. Nesting
7. Color Correction

3d Compositing
8. Motion tracking and match moving
F1. Physical - Glass, Statues, Paintings

The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980)

Clash of the Titans (1981)

F2. Multiple exposure

Multiple exposure of Alfred Hitchcock directing during

rehearsals for Shadow of a Doubt (1943).

video

L´Homme Orchestre, George Melies, 1900

F3. Background projection

North by Northwest, 1959

2001, Space Odyssey, 1968

Sunset Boulevard, 1950

F4. Matting

The Birds, 1963 video

Compositing techniques

Film (analogical)
1. Physical compositing
2. Multiple exposure
3. Rear projection
4. Matting

Digital
1. Blend Operations
2. Keying
3. Alpha Channels
4. Mattes
5. Masks
6. Nesting
7. Color Correction

3d Compositing
8. Motion tracking and match moving
Digital Advantages

video

Omaha beach scene “making of”, belonging to the BBC series “Timewatch:
Bloody Omaha”. Created by Colin Thornton, Neil Wilson and Steven Flynn
from Compost Creative.
3 persons + 4 days + 1 camera + pop up greenscreen + after effects
D1. Blend Operations

Multiply

Screen

Overlay

Darken

Lighten

Difference

Exclusion

Luminosity
D1. Blend Operations
D2. Keying
AE: Color Key, Edge Thin, Color Tolerance, Luma Key, Matte Choker

Color Key

Luma Key

Edge Thin

Color Tolerance

Matte Choker
D2. Keying

The Chronicles of Narnia (2005)

King Kong (2005)

D2. Keying
Preserve
reflexes

The Saint (1997)

D3. Alpha

32-bit image carries a fourth Alpha channel that stores transparency (or
alpha) data. The alpha channel’s 8-bit data is reserved to give an image or
video clip shape and transparency when composited.

Software as Photoshop creates content on transparent backgrounds

retaining background transparency when imported into motion applications.
This is because an alpha channel matte is automatically generated.

Object on
transparency Alpha Channel Final composition
D3. Alpha
D4. Matte

Luma Mattes
luma mattes
External image that is used to make portions of another
image transparent. Luminance mattes should not be
confused with alpha mattes, which are internal mattes that
are derived from alpha channels.

Both alpha channel mattes and luminance mattes can be

composed of solid shapes, feathered shapes, gradients,
typography, entire images.

solid mattes

feathered mattes
D4. Matte

video
D5. Masks

Masks are defined by splines - paths that consist of interconnected

points that form a line segment or curve, around the subject, an art also
knoww as Rotoscoping. Masks can be animated.
D5. Masks

Forrest Gump (1994)

video
D6. Digital Color Correction

Color grading is the process of altering and enhancing the color of a motion picture, television
image, or still image either electronically, photo-chemically or digitally.
 D6. Color Correction
High Dynamic Range images

Before After

High Dynamic Range images (HDRi) are a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic
range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard
digital imaging techniques or photographic methods

Mente Magica - http://mentemagica.com/wp/2009/12/31/hdr-reactor/

D7. Nesting and Parenting
Nesting – means building compositions and put them inside other compositions.

nesting
D7. Nesting and Parenting
Parenting - permits the association or control of animation settings through different layers.
video

Parenting
From “Animated type tutorial 3: anchor points and parenting”, by Gareth Smith, http://vimeo.com/22582326
Compositing techniques

Film (analogical)
1. Physical compositing
2. Multiple exposure
3. Rear projection
4. Matting

Digital
1. Blend Operations
2. Keying
3. Alpha Channels
4. Mattes
5. Masks
6. Nesting
7. Color Correction

3d Compositing
8. Motion tracking and match moving
D8. Motion track and match moving

Motion tracking and Match moving, are techniques that allow the insertion of computer
graphics into live-action footage with correct position, scale, orientation, and motion relative to
the photographed objects in the shot.

video video

2d Tracking – track objects only 3d Tracking – track camera position

Can be done in After Effects. It’s different from
Parenting in the sense that parenting only synchronizes
layers, albeit Tracking synchronizes content within the
image.
D8. Motion track and match moving

It is not related with motion capture, and needs special software as Boujou or NukeX to
extrapolate three-dimensional information from two-dimensional photography. Tracking
information is then transferred to computer graphics software such as Cinema 4d, 3ds Max or
Maya and used to animate virtual cameras and CGI objects.
video video
D8. Match moving

video
Compositing break down for "The Third & The Seventh", a short-film entirely modeled in 3d, which has gone
through intense compositing.
Bibliography

Ron Brinkman, Art & Science of Digital Compositing, Morgan Kaufmann, 2008
Richard Rickitt, Special Effects: The History and Technique, Billboard Books, 2007
Krasner, J., Motion Graphic Design: applied history and aesthetics, Elsevier, 2008

References

Leow Wee Kheng, Digital Compositing, CS5245 Vision and Graphics for Special Effects, National University of
Singapore, www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~cs5245/lecture/compositing.pdf

Matte Shot - a tribute to Golden Era special fx - http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2010/11/leigh-took-matte-

painter-portrait-of.html
 Universidade do Minho

Compositing, composing worlds

Nelson Zagalo
nelsonzagalo.googlepages.com
engagelab.org