Question about Rotoscoping for Visual Effects and Rotoscope Animation

#1

I’m newly acquainted with visual effects and I’m a little confused with the equivocal use of the term “rotoscope.”

In the realm of VFX roto or rotoscoping is creating a traveling matte, correct?..

Then what is the technique called that was used to create films like A Scanner Darkly with Keanu Reeves and Waking Life?

I’m just trying to sort out some terminology which I haven’t seen anyone do yet.
Cel Shading, Cels, Roto, Rotoscoping, traveling matte, etc…

When someone is looking for a rotoscope artist, what is the general understanding?
That the artist will trace mattes for objects in a scene for later compositing?
Or trace objects in a scene to create a fully animated cel look (like in Waking Life)?

Just wondering if these two types of “rotoscoping” are related/interdisciplinary and can be separated by more specific terms. eg… rotoscope animation vs matte rotoscope or rotoscope for vfx…

Just thought this might be a gray area.
Anyone please share your insight. It’s really bugging me. :banghead:
Thanks

#2

To help point you in the right direction,

Rotoscoping is the technique of cutting out, masking or isolating an object in the footage. Think taking a pair of scissors or art knife and cutting out someone’s face from a magazine… and you have the idea.

A Matte is a black & white image(s) that acts as a mask to hide or reveal something else. Mattes can be created in many ways including via rotoscoping. A traveling matte is a mask that moves.

A rotoscope artist is one who knows how to ‘cut out’ or create masks for the selected object so said object can be worked on for colour correction, compositing and so on. Depending on the software used, there are different techniques to rotoscope (i.e create the mask) but all techniques usually involve manipulating bézeir curves . If you have every drawn anything in Adobe Illustrator with the pen tool… it’s the same thing.

The film A Scanner Darkly uses a combination of rotoscoping, traveling mattes, cel shading—that are coloured using the rotoscope & traditional art techniques to achieve its look.

There are tons of information on the net to help you understand more. Continue researching.

#3

Thanks. I’ve looked many places online and I still see the phrase rotoscope used to mean both “pulling keys” & “cutting mattes with curves” but also referring to the art of this “cel shading.” as i think its called.

Cel Shading:
In my research, I have actually read that ‘cel shading’ is not a hand-made process at all, like you seem to be implying. The cel shading that I know about involves rendering 3d models a certain way as to make them appear to be using traditional animation. Somewhat more automated. Kinda like Viewtiful Joe.

So I came here wanting to hear from some top dogs who work with this stuff.
Idk if it’s me, or vfx talk is evolving.

This confusion came up when I saw a job posting on Craigslist for rotoscope artist.
What they were looking for were people skilled in creating the Waking Life look…

Rotoscope Animation:
I can rotoscope, but it seems like outlining objects in a scene is less tedious than the process of rotoscope animation in Waking Life, which I can’t do. I am still trying to separate the two with different terms. How can I consider myself a rotoscope artist but not be a ‘rotoscope animator’?

again, the terms i’m using like ‘rotoscope animator’ aren’t correct. Please help me better understand the difference between these two processes ‘rotoscope for vfx’ and ‘rotoscope animation’ and the correct terms associated with them.

Please, I know about Google, don’t refer me to it.
Honest opinions are enough. Thanks for your feedback people! :]

#4

I’m curious where rotoscoping started. It seems that it started with animators trying to use film as a traceable reference for their animation, which explains the Waking Life rotoscoping process…

There seems to be a little terminology overlap here.
There seems to be some overlap with vfx and matte painting too.
As matte can refer to a background painting or plate, as well as an outline that isolated objects from a scene. erm… :\

#5

Perhaps thinking of it like this may help you understand:

The rotoscope— or simply the act of drawing and manipulating the bézeir curves to create a shape or line, is the first step in a production process. Shapes and lines can also be painted in the computer to create the desired shape.

From there, one can use the bézeir shape/line as a matte or mask to cut out object(s), or fill it with a colour or gradient, or even combine it with other bézeir shapes.

If you rotoscope a still photo of an athlete running to place on a cereal box for example, this could be termed as you say a “roto-artist.” However if you take video of that same athlete running and rotoscope to place him in a different video then you’re a “roto-animator.” The difference being the mask needs to be animated to match the movements of the athlete.

Again, depending on the software one uses, there are varying techniques to create and animate a rotoscope shape. Once drawn and animated, then the process can be identified to its purpose. i.e it’s a rotoscope to be used as a mask/matte… or a rotoscope that is to be filled in with colour (a la Waking Life) .

Cel shading is simply giving an image a ‘cartoony’ look. Cel Shading in 3D production is done by input from the artist and rendered by the computer. Cel shading in Waking Life is all done by hand manually by the artist in the computer.

As for the history of rotoscoping I cannot assist you there. I do know however that shooting footage and then tracing characters to match the animation has been around for the last 50-60 years at least.

As you’ve come to realize, roto-artist and roto-animator are interchangeable depending on where it’s used. If you’ve never animated a rotoscope, but are familiar with how to use and control bézeir curves then you could say you know how to rotoscope a still image. But if you need to rotoscope a moving object then further training is required.

#6

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