INTRODUCTION TO SILHOUETTE
Rotoscoping is very much an invisible art form. For roto artists to do our jobs correctly is to avoid being seen. We are the ninja of the compositing world, and our stealth is near legendary. What we do can be challenging, but a perfect matte is its own reward. After you've tackled the edges, motion, and varying blurs of a complex focus object, creating a perfect black-and-white replica that clearly communicates the edge and movement of those elements, you can sit well with the knowledge that you've managed something great. The beauty of rotoscoping is that you can do it after the fact. All the creative decisions don't have to be made on set, that day, while the camera is rolling. Instead elements can be added changed, color corrected, or taken away once the shot is in the can, without reliance on a green-screen stage or reshoots. It gives a tremendous amount of artistic freedom to the creative forces behind the production. The flexibility that roto allows for altering shots, regardless of how they were originally photographed, means that roto art- ists play an essential role in any production, whatever its size Whether that endeavor is a small, independent film, a television pilot, or a summer blockbuster, rotoscoping is a vital part of any visual effects creation. Modern production pipelines are extremely reliant on the art of matte creation. No matter what the production or produc- tion house, a capable roto artist is a highly valued member of the visual effects (VFX) team. Large VFX companies have entire departments dedicated solely to creating mattes for elements so that the compositors will be able to correctly isolate and manipulate the images to the director's liking. Smaller, more streamlined companies probably won't have dedicated roto departments, so the responsibility will generally fall on a shot's compositor to generate the mattes for their own use. Even if you aren't destined to become a roto artist, it is an essential skill for any working compositor. This book will help you perform rotoscoping faster and more efficiently than ever before.
Patent drawing of the Rotoscope.
while a subordinate artist filled in the in-between animation. This practice is still used by modern 2D animation studios. Rotoscoping began to evolve, and not just as an animation tool. Filmmakers used the Rotoscope to create hold-out mattes so that other optical effects and images could be inserted behind ele- ments in the footage. Roto artists would trace the foreground ele- ments onto cels and then fill the traced area with a toxic-smelling black opaquing fluid so that the images placed behind them wouldn't bleed through. This technique was used frequently to add visual sophisti cation to shots. A director was no longer limited to what could be created on set and filmed. If a shot called for an actor to be chased by a pack of wild birds, the two elements could be filmed separately and put together after the fact. The moviemakers weren't required to try to wrangle all the elements of the shot together at the same time. This system of hand-painted optical mattes was used until digital compositing became the standard in the early 1990s.
HAIR ROTOSCOPING
ABOUT
FINAL OUTPUT
THANKYOU
