Roto?

[Tagger]

yes, rotoscoping is the "frame by frame removing/isolating of objects". in some cases it actualy is frame by frame (or every 2-3 frames), in other cases you can just animate your mask over a period of time to compensate/interpolate with the movement. Depending on the app you can use trackers and the likes to help you in this process.

If it were just BG removal it it's most basic form, a better solution would be blue/greenscreen. But sometimes you just don't have those options or you need rotoscoping to clean the greenkey up.
Another situation would be that you don't want to remove the object but rather change it's parameters (making someones shirt another colour etc etc).
Or you want to keep the original plate but have a CG character walk around in it's background (for which you need to roto the FG elements out to make it walk beheind it)
... the situations where you need to roto are pretty limitless unfortniatly :)

Roto'ing-keying-painting-mattes ... which one you use, or the combination in which you use it depends on project to project and shot by shot, i don't realy think there's a thumbrule on it.

[crisp]

Thanks Tagger,

I've been looking at shots like the ILM/ Pirates of the Carribean/ Vue shots that have been circulating around. In my mind I am probably making this more complicated that it needs to be. I assume the matting here is more of the same sort of thing, but more detailed of course. I've done some green screen work, but am always looking to broaden and improve my skills in these areas.

For those that might be interested, I found some articles this morning which clarified a couple things for me. I also think it's about time for me to pick up a copy of Shake. :D If I find any more good articles on this I'll post 'em up for anyone whose interested.

http://www.fxshare.com/shake/tutorials/general/17-1.html
http://www.fxshare.com/shake/tutorials/painting_roto/311-1.html

Thanks

[dprgb]

If you want the best 'quick description' of Roto (and what you have to deal with) there's a -great- featurette on the King Kong roto team here:

http://www.kongisking.net/kong2005/proddiary/

Go to the '16 Weeks To Go' and download one of the videos.

There's a new package from Imagineer Systems that is awesome help with roto:
http://www.imagineersystems.com/products/mocha/

The other main roto-specific product used is Silhouette Roto:
http://www.silhouettefx.com/roto/

fxphd had a roto class last term, I don't know if they'll repeat it next term but you could keep an eye out for it.

[JshuFX]

roto is essentially the creation of a matte to isolate or remove something.

yes you can applying tracking to roto shapes. each comping package is a bit different, but some allow you to attach trackers to individual points...some just the whole shape.

roto is usful for tons of things. for example, if you want color correct just an eye and not the whole face. you can either isolate the eye or use the roto shape and plug it into the matte channel of the color correct utility.

as far as books....look at the Art and Science of Digital Compositing
and Compositing for Film and Video(the blue book!)

dvds----too many to name, but the shake dvds by gnomon are a great start!

[jbills]

If you want the best 'quick description' of Roto (and what you have to deal with) there's a -great- featurette on the King Kong roto team...

ah... don't listen to those guys... they don't know anything. :)

hey - a great roto/paint resource that is fairly inexpensive nowadays are the old Commotion Complete DVDs by matt silverman. They were created for commotion, obviously, but many of the same concepts can be applied to Silhouette or After Effects - you just have to know where to find the corresponding button. DVDs can be found at Toolfarm for $99.

http://toolfarm.stores.yahoo.net/cocotr.html

Speaking of Silverman, he did a breakdown for fxguide called the "art of roto" which gives a pretty good rundown of all the history, techniques and tools.

http://www.fxguide.com/fxtips-243.html

good stuff!

[crisp]

This is great! You all are the best! It looks like I have some reading to do and then try it out for myself.

Thanks

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