Get rid of the CGI look... how?

#1

Hello everybody
I’m pretty new to after effects, so I don’t know much about it expect some very basics.
My question is:
Does anyone knows tips, tutorials, etc., how I can get red of the typical CGI Look of a rendered animation?
How can I get a more ‘real filmed’ look with AE?
Lets say with saturation, noise, etc.
Is there a good tutorials about that? “How to get rid of the CGI look”? :wink:

Hope you guys know what I mean.
Thanks a lot for any advise, tutorial link, etc :slight_smile:

Cheers, Oliver

#2

Show us what you got so far, it’s easier to guide from there on.

#3

When you say the “CG look” what do you mean? If you’re saying what I think you are it has nothing to do with After Effects. It has to do with your lighting, materials, detail, etc. from the 3d file. If you have a crappy model you can tweak it as much as you want in After Effects and it will still look like a crappy cg model. If you’re trying to match the model with real footage though I would recommend grain and color correct it then show us what’s the matter. Hope this helps!

#4

Well yes, sure thing.
What I mean is the ultra clean look a rendering usually has.
Lets say you have to integrate a CG car into filmed footage… what do you have to do?
I mean, to smoothly blend the CG into the real cam footage. You know, a real camera has those things like chromatic aboration, noise, lens effects, etc…
Is there a AE tutorial about how to get a CG element into filmed footage?

#5

http://www.subdivisionmodeling.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13176

above link has a ton of good stuff in it… specifically the bits about brightness and saturation ranges.

After Effects CS4 Professional Studio Techniques has lots of great stuff in it about mixing different footage also. The one tip I frequently use is to use “levels” to see what is going on with the individual channels of your background footage. Once you’ve got an idea of what your background is actually made of, apply “levels” to your CG element, and try to match the highs and lows of each channel to the background numbers. It won’t be perfect at first, but it’ll give you a great place to start with matching elements for your composites.

I can’t recommend this book enough… if you’re doing actual “compositing” in AE, it’s super-helpful.

HTH.

Scott Sp.

#6

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