Category: Careers Research

Compositor.

VFX compositors seamlessly integrate computer-generated (CG) assets, matte paintings, and live-action footage to make a single moving image, known as a shot. They take all the different  assets used such as CG images, live-action footage and matte paintings, and match each layer in light and shadow, colour and grading, perspective, and depth while ensuring each shot maintains continuity within its sequence.

Compositor’s job is to consider the visual aspects of a scene. Realistic lighting is a key one of these. They relight to improve the image’s look and make sure that the CG looks like it is on the plate. Compositor’s work is the last part of the pipeline.

The compositor works closely with the Roto artist. The mattes which roto artists produce serve as important layers for compositors to work with. Prep artists create clean plates for compositors. Roto artists and Prep artists work towards being Compositors.

When I joined UAL, I didn’t know much about the different job roles in the Visual effects industry. I use to think that visual effects was a role. After going to throw all the jobs and their discretion, I realised that I would like to become a Compositor. It is ready exciting to add  CG to live-action footage and make it look like it was all shot in real life. Ultimately I would like to open a window into another world throw my work.

Weta Digital (2019), Avengers: Infinity War VFX | Breakdown – Compositing | Weta DigitalYouTube[Online Video]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2w1EaIrRpQ&ab_channel=WetaDigital [ 25th February 2023].

Fireball VFX (2018), Who is the Compositor & Visual Effects Artist and How to Become One | VFX | LESSON 01 [Online Video]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH9jp7RXoX4&ab_channel=FireballVFX [ 25th February 2023].

Prep/Paint Artist.

Prep Artists, also known as Paint Artists, work with composers to help them integrate all elements of an image, including CG and live action, to create visual effects movies. They remove unwanted objects from plate such as cables, rigs, crew, mocap people and tracking markers. Artists use specialized VFX software to clean up records. There are many processes that are used to perform this cleanup. 

They remove unwanted dust and scratches from the frame. Artists eliminate dropped frames when a camera was unable to capture all the frames in a given time, resulting in small jerks in the action. Prepare the artists, clean up the backgrounds of the live images so that the composer can overlay the effects

In the workflow, after master edits, the plate is handed over to that prep artist, or the prep artists work with the compositors and hand over their plates to the artists to begin work. They also work with Roto artists who cut objects and help clean up plates. In small companies, the work of the prep artist and the roto artist are combined 

Prep/paint artists usually use Roto Paint to clean up, so they need to be good at drawing and know how to use a graphics tablet and pen to clean up. They must have a sharp eye patch so they can edit even the smallest details so that no one can figure out that they have been working on the scene. Painters should also be familiar with programs such as Maya, Photoshop, Houdini and Nuke.

In this video, he brakes down the role of a Prep Artist and what is the workflow like. (Sorry it is in Hindi, I couldn’t find a video in English)

While working as a prep artist, opens a lot of doors as the job is an entry-level job it is better to understand the compositing department’s work and climb up the ladder. It is very important to know what you want to be before joining any department. I would love to work as a prep artist, I like how we can make wires, rigs, crew, mocap people, and tracking markers go away and this always use to fascinates me. While applying to the college I made a video where I used rigs removal, I will add the video below. 

PixelSpark Studios (2018), What Is A Prep Artist in Visual Effects? – VFX QUICKIE [HINDI] YouTube[Online Video]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyTmHG43aVE&ab_channel=PixelSparkStudios [ 16th February 2023].

Roto artist.

I will be discussing the role of a rotoscope artist. Roto artists manually draw around and cut out objects or people from the frames so that only the required parts of the image can be used. This creates roto mattes, similar to silhouettes, within the frame to allow for CG hold-outs. If the sequence involves camera movement, roto artists must work frame-by-frame to ensure the silhouettes continue to match the plate. The artists work on the areas of live-action frames where CG images or other live-action images will overlap or interact with the live image. This technique is known as rotoscoping.

The workflow of the Roto artist starts by getting the plate and then working on the rotoing and finalising the shot with the compositors if it gets a green light from the Compositing supervisor, it will then move to the Prep artist. The Prep artist will clean up the backgrounds and remove any unwanted dust and scratches from the frame. It is then moved on to the Compositor.

When I was researching rotoscoping and its process I came across the site “Into Film” which described more about the history and it was quite interesting. The whole reason it was built was to give film-like real movements to animation. So The technique was originally achieved by filming scenes in live action and then using a projector, hooked up to a car headlamp to amp up the brightness, and it showed each frame on a screen with tracing paper. Then they just played it back, frame by frame, so that an animator could trace the action in every frame, thus capturing the movement of the actors. It was a way to film real movements to create better animation. 

A Roto artist will need to know how to use Silhouette and Nuke to create and track roto shapes for various elements within a shot. Creating roto mattes for compositors and foreground mattes for animators with a comprehensive understanding of how these mattes will be used is vital. Shape creation/editing; shape animation by hand and with trackers; and shape compositing and opacity settings, maintaining consistency of visuals and style throughout the production. Basic green and blue screen compositing are various things that a roto artist will need to be skilled in.

At the beginning of the course, when I was speaking to Gonzalo about compositing and how to get into the industry he told me that an entry-level job will be as a roto artist. At that time didn’t know much about rotoing. after I came to know about it. I thought rotoing was only done frame by frame and I felt like it was a tedious job. After now having completed my first term, I understand that there are better methods and more comfortable ways to do roto like using a 3D camera which I used recently in one of our projects and also using tracks. While researching the topic got to learn a lot more about it like its history.

ActionVFX (2022), Nuke Rotoscoping Tutorial – Introduction to Roto Node. YouTube[Online Video]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELg9ncl-0Wo&ab_channel=ActionV [ 9th February 2023].

Vox (2019), The trick that made animation realistic. YouTube[Online Video]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS1hCSsmH1E&ab_channel=Vox [ 9th February 2023].