Book description
Wisdom from the best and the brightest in the industry, this visual effects bible belongs on the shelf of anyone working in or aspiring to work in VFX. The book covers techniques and solutions all VFX artists/producers/supervisors need to know, from breaking down a script and initial bidding, to digital character creation and compositing of both live-action and CG elements.
In-depth lessons on stereoscopic moviemaking, color management and digital intermediates are included, as well as chapters on interactive games and full animation authored by artists from EA and Dreamworks respectively. From predproduction to acquisition to postproduction, every aspect of the VFX production workflow is given prominent coverage. VFX legends such as John Knoll, Mike Fink, and John Erland provide you with invaluable insight and lessons from the set, equipping you with everything you need to know about the entire visual effects workflow.
Simply a must-have book for anyone working in or wanting to work in the VFX industry.
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- About the VES
- Mission Statement
- Foreword
- Image Advances
- Chapter 1 Introduction
-
Chapter 2 Pre-Production/Preparation
- Overview
- Breaking Down a Script—Budgeting
- Working with the Director and Producer
- Production Departments
-
Designing Visual Effects Shots
- Guidelines for Directors
- Storyboards
- Previs
- Objective of the Shot
- Concept Art
- Continuity
- Photorealism
- Original Concepts
- Budget
- Reality and Magic
- Camera Angles
- Framing
- Scale
- Detail
- Speed
- Scaled Images
- Depth of Field
- Sequence of Shots
- Camera Motion
- Less Is More
- Action Pacing
- CG Characters
- Creatures and Character Design
- Powers of 10 Shots
- Visual Effects Techniques
- What is Previs?
- Development of Previs Techniques
- The Applications of Previs: Who Benefits From it and How?
- Postvis
- Cautions and Suggestions for Good Practice
- Previs: Advanced Techniques
- Camera Angle Projection
-
Chapter 3 Acquisition/Shooting
- Working on Set
-
Common Types of Special Effects
- What Are Special Effects?
- A Brief History of Special Effects
- The Special Effects Supervisor
- Working with the Visual Effects
- Visual Effects in Service to SFX
- Special Effects Design and Planning
- Storyboards and Previs
- The Elements: Rain, Wind, and Snow and Ice
- Smoke, Fire, and Pyrotechnics
- Mechanical Effects
- Flying Wire Rigs and Stunts
- Safety
- Front and Rear Projection Systems for Visual Effects
-
Greenscreen and Bluescreen Photography
- Overview
- Function of the Backing
- Negative Scanning and Digital Conversion
- Backing Uniformity and Screen Correction
- The Alpha Channel
- The Processed Foreground
- The Composite
- Recommended Specifications and Practices
- How to Expose a Green Screen Shot, and Why
- Setting Screen Brightness
- Choosing the Backing Color
- Floor Shots, Virtual Sets
- Foreground Lighting
- Controlling Spill Light
- Lighting Virtual Sets
- Tracking Markers
- On-Set Preview
- Cameras for Bluescreen or Greenscreen Photography
- Underwater Photography
- Working with the Cinematographer
- Compositing Software
- On-Set Data Acquisition
- Lidar Scanning and Acquisition
- On-Set 3D Scanning Systems
- Lighting Data
- Clean Plates
- Monster Sticks
- On-Set Animation Capture: Witness Cam (IBMC)
- Real-Time Visual Effects and Camera Tracking
- Triangulation as a Method of Recording Camera Data
- Photographic Reference
- Rules, Setup, and Testing
- Digital Cinematography
- VFX Photography
-
Filming Live-Action Plates to be Used in VFX
- Camera Position (Station Point)
- Angle of View
- Lighting Considerations
- Camera Tilt
- Background Quality
- Moving Plates
- Scouting the Camera Positions
- A Case Study
- Camera Cars
- Camera Car Safety Issues
- Purpose-Built Crane Cars
- Vibration and Camera Stabilization
- Road Speed
- Precautions
- Panoramic Rigs
- On the Water
- Air to Air
- Cable Systems
- Shooting Elements for Compositing
- High-Speed Photography and Filming Elements
- Supervising Motion Control
- Acquisition of Motion/Still Photographic Textures for Mapping onto CG
- Stop-Motion
- What are Miniatures?
- Forced Perspective Miniatures
- The Fabrication of Miniature Effects
- Incorporation of Mechanical, Practical, and Pyrotechnic Effects with Miniatures
- Photography of Miniature Effects: Motion Control
- Photography of Miniature Effects: High-Speed Photography
- The Use of Miniatures in the Digital World
- Special Effects for Miniatures
- Chapter 4 Performance and Motion Capture
-
Chapter 5 Stereoscopic 3D
- How 3D Works
- Stereoscopic Design
- Virtual 3D Photography
- Native 3D Photography versus 2D to 3D Conversion
- On-Set Stereography
-
2D to 3D Conversion
- Depth Creation Preparation
- Visual Analysis of 2D Depth Cues
- Pre-Production and Previs for Conversion
- Source and Target Perspective
- Shared Shots/Shared Workflows
- Main Stages of 2D-to-3D Conversion
- Major 2D-to-3D Conversion Workflows
- Special Cases
- Reprojection Mapping Workflow
- Pixel Displacement or Pixel Shifting
- Other 2D-to-3D Conversion Workflows
- Is “Real” Always Right?
- Stereoscopic Visual Effects
- Stereoscopic Digital Intermediate Workflow
- Stereoscopic Window
- Producing Movies in Three Dimensions
-
Chapter 6 Post-Production/Image Manipulation
- Resolution and Image Format Considerations
- Academy Color Encoding System (ACES)
- Image Compression/File Formats for Post-Production
- 4k+ Systems Theory Basics for Motion Picture Imaging
- Film Scanning and Recording
- Color Management
- Digital Intermediate
- VFX Editorial
- Editorial Workflow in Feature Animation
- Communication with Artists
- What Makes a Good Visual Effects Artist?
- The History of Compositing
- Compositing of Live-Action Elements
- Rotoscoping and Paint
-
Matte Paintings/Creative Environments
- Matte Paintings: Art of the Digital Realm
- What Is a Matte Painting?
- Matte Painting Pioneers and History
- Visualizing the Matte Painting Shot in Pre-Production
- On-Set Supervision for Matte Painting Shots
- Basic Skills and Tricks of the Trade
- Miniatures and Computer-Generated Sets
- Finding the Best Frame
- Re-Projected Photo Survey
- The Need for Creative Compositing
- 3D Matte Painting
-
Chapter 7 Digital Element Creation
- Digital Modeling
- Rigging and Animation Rigging
- Texturing and Surfacing
- Digital Hair/Fur
- Digital Feathers
- General Geometry Instancing
- Dynamics and Simulation
- Particles
- Rigid-Body Dynamics
-
Digital Lighting
- Light in Reality and in Computer Graphics
- Case Study of Reality Compared with Simple CG Simulation
- Visual Sophistication through Texture Mapping
- Physically Derived Shading Models
- Beneath the Surface
- Goals of Lighting in Visual Effects
- Work Flow for Successful Creative Digital Lighting
- The Technologies of Lights in Computer Graphics
- Direct Lighting: Source to Surface to Camera
- Reflections
- Photographed Reflections
- Shadows
- Image-Based Lighting
- Rendering Occlusion
- Ambient Occlusion
- Reflection Occlusion
- Creating Light Sources from Environment Maps
- Physically Based Rendering
- Physically Plausible Rendering
- Volumetric Lighting Effects
- Shader Basics
- 3D Compositing
- Crowd Generation and Simulation Techniques
- CG Prosthetics and Actor Enhancements
- 3D Products, Systems, and Software
- Chapter 8 Interactive Games
- Chapter 9 Complete Animation
- Chapter 10 Other Workflow Considerations
- Acknowledgments
- Appendix A: Charts and Formulas
- Appendix B: Credits/Titles to Be Submitted in Accordance with VES Guidelines
- Appendix C: Glossary
- Index
Product information
- Title: The VES Handbook of Visual Effects, 2nd Edition
- Author(s):
- Release date: July 2014
- Publisher(s): Routledge
- ISBN: 9781136136214
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