Third and the seventh compositing

[mitviz]

am looking into better compositing, is there anything out there in terms of a tutorial showing the decisions behind something as this done by Alex Roman? he used after effects which i really love because i hate nodes like in fusion or so for now (not used to it) but often when doing post processing on images rather than compositing (which i think is more the term when doing animations) and i setup the render elements its hard to decide what is the correct process to follow, is there a standard of some sort? do you guys use just the beauty pass and add the layers above it or you leave out the beauty pass and use all the elements instead, i know everyone mayb have their own way but is there a general rule for layering these elements and what elements you think alex use in this video for the breakdown, am trying to study these compositions even for stils because it really sets the render apart when all these tones are used. any insight is something i welcome. not sure if i asked all wanted correctly but i would love to have a render and see the layers coming together to give this effect.

https://vimeo.com/8200251

[Oleg_Budeanu]

Cannot really tell you about standards as i am not sure if they even exist. I think this is really related to the scope of the work. If you are showing details and space - you cannot use heavy contrast and that color correction used by Alex Roman. If it is all about impression - you can go that way. As you can see this short movie is all about impression and artistic eye and touch. Composition rules and colors, it's not about details.
I am mainly involved in static images and i am using Natron as it has everything i need and it is free (i love node editing, sorry )
So i created a template with nodes i need and what i do after first draft - i create color composition in Natron, all the corrections and etc.
After that i just change paths of bitmaps in nodes - and you have consistency in whole project.
After that image is exported in PS to make final adjustements, like corrections or mattepainting.
And yeah i am using all the elements with "simple" composing formula, as you have control over all the necessary things. You can check good description of the process here : http://www.compositing.ru/Research/M...ssCompositing/
Plus i am using mattes with script Effect ID Channel, i have pre-defined mattes there for interiors and exteriors (for example floor, ceiling, walls, windows and etc.), and my compositing template is being automatically configured to extract these parts of render for tweaking.
Sorry for jumping from one thing to another

[joconnell]

In his case it was largely magic bullet in after effects for the grading and Frischluft lenscare for the shallow focus from zdepth channels. Sometimes it can be a big glitchy where foreground and background objects meet so it can work better to break things into two passes so your edges are nicer. I'd say in a lot of cases he got a render that looked good enough and then played with it in post a lot to see what looked best. There's definitely a good knowledge of lenses and focus in there plus an appreciation for all of the dirt you get with old analogue images. There's a making of book available too!

[kosso_olli]

There's a making of book available too!

I have a signed first edition of that book. It really was worth the money.

[Neilg]

I wouldnt call what alex roman does compositing - it's heavy color grading and post depth of field.

A good way to get used to compositing is to do postwork on your image in photoshop first (where it's quicker and you think less about what the tools are) and then spend some time going through your layers one by one re-creating them in fusion/ae. you'll learn a lot about the software that way.

[lukx]

it's quite old work and here is how he did it. mostly magic bullet. https://vimeo.com/8217700

[mitviz]

its really old work but stil some of the best i have seen, amazing to watch these

[squintnic]

good use of presets
the book is really bad actually

[crazy homeless guy]

His work is less about the software (maybe with the exception of Magic Bullet) and more about making good decisions on concept, style, and composition from the start. His choice of AE was likely based solely on what he had and what he knew.

AE is commonly used for compositing in the visualization industry but it is not a compositor. Its strength is motion graphics. Compositing is just something it can do, but it doesn't do it well. Once you get used to a node based compositor the speed at which you can do things and the speed at which it renders puts AE to shame.

EDIT: I also wouldn't get caught up in trying to rebuild a beauty pass. What's the point? You already have the pass why go to the trouble of redoing it unless you have something very specific you are trying to accomplish. Use your beauty pass as a base and enhance it from there with additional render elements.