The Art and Science of Digital Compositing

Front Cover
Morgan Kaufmann, Jun 2, 1999 - Computers - 364 pages

Computer-generated visual effects are now used extensively in feature films, commercials, music videos, and multimedia. The backbone of this process, the final and most important step, is known as digital compositing. The Art and Science of Digital Compositing is a comprehensive reference that provides a complete overview of the technical and the artistic nature of this process. This book covers a wide range of topics from basic image creation, representation, and manipulation, to a look at the visual cues that are necessary to create a believable composite. Designed as both an introduction to the field as well as a valuable technical reference, this book should be of interest to both novices and professionals alike.

Written by a working professional in the visual effects industry, the book provides over 250 different images and illustrations (including a 40-page color insert) as well as a complete glossary of compositing and visual-effects terminology. Also included are in-depth case studies from well-known films such as Speed, Independence Day, and Titanic.

Balances fundamental "hard science" topics with the more qualitative/artistic challenges which face anyone involved in a digital composition project
Provides examples and illustrations from motion picture work
CD-ROM contains additional composition examples, illustrations, and development software
Includes 32 pages of colour

 

Selected pages

Contents

The Art and Science of Digital Compositing
xix
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
2
TERMINOLOGY
5
ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK
6
The Digital Representation of Visual Information
12
Pixels Components and Channels
13
Spatial Resolution
15
Bit Depth
16
Specialized Film Formats
154
VIDEO FORMATS
156
Fields
157
Color Resolution
159
Gamma
160
PAL
161
OTHER FORMATS
162
WORKING WITH NONSQUARE PIXELS
163

Normalized Values
18
The HSV Color Representation
19
IMAGE INPUT DEVICES
20
DIGITAL IMAGE FILE FORMATS
21
Vendor Implementations of File Formats
22
Choosing a File Format
29
Nonlinear Color Spaces
30
Basic Image Manipulation
31
TERMINOLOGY
32
COLOR MANIPULATIONS
34
Gamma Correction
36
Invert
37
Contrast
38
Channel Swapping
39
HSV Manipulations
40
Lookup Table Manipulations
41
Expression Language
42
SPATIAL FILTERS
44
Blurring
45
Sharpen
48
Median Filter
49
GEOMETRIC TRANSFORMATIONS
50
Panning
51
Rotation
53
Scale
54
Warping
56
Filtering Algorithms
58
Basic Image Compositing
63
THE INTEGRATED MATTE CHANNEL
65
MULTISOURCE OPERATORS
66
Over
67
Mix
69
In
70
Atop
71
MASKS
72
ColorCorrecting and Combining Premultiplied Images
73
Luminosity
75
Matte Creation and Manipulation
77
Keying Based on Luminance
79
Difference Matting
80
The Color Difference Method
82
Specialized Keying Software
83
MATTING TECHNIQUES
84
Edge Mattes
86
Combining Mattes
87
Time and Temporal Manipulations
91
TEMPORAL RESOLUTION
92
TEMPORAL ARTIFACTS
93
CHANGING THE LENGTH OR TIMING OF A SEQUENCE
94
KEYFRAMING
97
Image Tracking and Stabilization
101
TRACKING AN ELEMENT INTO A PLATE
102
Choosing the Feature to Track
105
Limiting the Search Area
107
Using Tracking Curves Manually
108
STABILIZING A PLATE
109
TRACKING MULTIPLE POINTS
111
Interface Interactions
113
WORKFLOW
114
ONLINE VERSUS BATCH
116
METHODS OF REPRESENTING THE COMPOSITING PROCESS
119
Compressed Trees
121
Timelines
122
CURVE EDITORS
124
WORKING WITH PROXY IMAGES
128
Image Viewing and Analysis Tools
131
IMAGE STATISTICS
133
Histograms
134
Formats Media Resolution and Aspect Ratios
139
ASPECT RATIO
141
Nonsquare Pixels
142
DECIDING ON A RESOLUTION WHEN YOU HAVE AN ASPECT RATIO
144
FORMAT CONVERSION PIPELINE
145
A Format Conversion Example
147
FILM FORMATS
150
35mm Formats
151
16mm Formats
153
COMBINING FORMATS
168
Quality and Efficiency
171
EFFICIENCY
172
MINIMIZING DATA LOSS
173
Internal Software Accuracy
176
CONSOLIDATING OPERATIONS
178
REGION OF INTEREST
182
WORKING IN A NETWORKED ENVIRONMENT
183
PRECOMPOSITING
184
Learning to See
187
JUDGING COLOR BRIGHTNESS AND CONTRAST
188
THE CAMERA
190
DISTANCE AND PERSPECTIVE
191
Depth Cues
193
Combining Depth Cues
197
LENS FLARES
198
FOCUS
199
Creating Elements
201
LIGHTING
202
Interactive Lighting
203
MATCHED CAMERAS
205
THE REFERENCE STANDIN
207
CLEAN PLATES
209
FILTERS
211
CHOOSING A FORMAT
212
LIGHTING AND SHOOTING WITH BLUESCREENS
214
Bluescreen versus Greenscreen
217
SHOOTING ORDER
219
Integration Techniques
221
LIGHTING
223
SHADOWS
224
LENS FLARES
226
ATMOSPHERE
227
CAMERA MISMATCHES
228
CAMERA MOVEMENTS
230
FOCUS
231
FILM GRAIN
232
BLUESCREEN INTEGRATION
234
DIGITAL INTEGRATION
236
Advanced Topics
239
White Point and Black Point
241
NONLINEAR COLOR SPACES
243
Working with Nonlinear Color Spaces
248
WORKING WITH 3D ELEMENTS
251
ZDepth Compositing
253
RELATED 2D DISCIPLINES
259
Digital Painting
262
Editing
264
Case Studies
267
SPEED
269
INSURRECTION
271
CON AIR
272
BUDWEISER LIZARDS COMMERCIAL
274
INDEPENDENCE DAY
276
FIGHT THE FUTURE
278
BACK TO THE CRETACEOUS
279
THE PRINCE OF EGYPT
283
TITANIC
286
Digital Compositing Software Tools and Features
289
COLOR CORRECTION
290
SPATIAL FILTERING
291
GEOMETRIC TRANSFORMATION
292
MISCELLANEOUS
293
CONTROL
294
FIELD CONTROLS
295
IMAGE GENERATION
296
OTHER
297
Digital Compositing Software Manufacturers
299
Digital Image File Formats
301
THE CINEON FILE FORMAT
304
Common Film and Video Formats
311
VIDEO
315
HDTV
317
Bibliography
319
Glossary
323
Index
353
Copyright

Other editions - View all

The Art and Science of Digital Compositing
Ron Brinkmann
Limited preview - 1999
The Art and Science of Digital Compositing
Ron Brinkmann
Snippet view - 1999

Common terms and phrases

actually algorithms amount animation applied areas artifacts aspect ratio background plate basic bit depth bits per channel blue bluescreen brightness capture cel animation Chapter Cinemascope Cineon color correction common compositing artist compositing process compositing system compositor compression created curve deal depth of field digital compositing digital image discussed disk edge encoding example file format filter foreground element frame gamma correction garbage matte grain graph greenscreen HDTV image sequence imagery IMAX layers lens flare look manipulating matte channel matte image method modify motion blur Multiply negative NTSC number of different object operator original image packages paint particular photographed piece of film precomposite premultiplied image problem produce referred result rotoscope run-length encoding scan scene script sequence of images shadows shooting shot shown in Figure shown in Plate shutter angle simple spatial specific speed standard stored techniques term tracking usually Vistavision visual effects Z-depth

Popular passages

Page ii - States origin software is subject to the United States laws under the Export Administration Act of 1969 as amended. Any further sale of the product shall be in compliance with the United States Department of Commerce Administration Regulations. Compliance with such regulations is your responsibility and not the responsibility of AP. The Art and Science of Digital Compositing Ron Brinkmann Morgan Kaufmann Cover image: "The Two Ways of Life‎
Appears in 13 books from 1993-2006

References to this book

About the author (1999)

Ron M. Brinkmann has been working in the field of Computer Graphics for over a decade, involved with both hardware and software design, development and use. His primary field of expertise is in visual effects for feature films, and his personal feature-film credits include: Contact, The Ghost and the Darkness, James and the Giant Peach, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Speed, Hideaway, Tall Tale, Last Action Hero, and In the Line of Fire. He has had articles published in a number of magazines, and has lectured on the topics of digital compositing and visual effects in the U.S., Europe, Australia and China.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe Art and Science of Digital Compositing
Computer graphics / Multimedia
Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics and Geometric Modeling
The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics
AuthorRon Brinkmann
Editionillustrated
PublisherMorgan Kaufmann, 1999
ISBN0121339602, 9780121339609
Length364 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Computers / Design, Graphics & Media / CAD-CAM
Computers / Software Development & Engineering / Computer Graphics
Design / Graphic Arts / General
Photography / General
Technology & Engineering / Structural
  
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