The world of digital compositing (very important process in 3D configurator projects) is complex. Regardless of whether you are a beginner or an experienced compositor. There are many tips and techniques that not only speed up your workflow, but also help you get better results.
As the number of Visual Effects (VFX) projects has increased dramatically in recent years, the need for great compositors has never been greater. Whatever your application, this article will give you some great compositing tips to get better results.
The following video includes tips on 3D compositing specifically for Cinema 4D:
Check the footage.
Whether you`re doing 3D effects in live action or something else. To spice up stock footage, you should always check the type of footage you`re working with. Don`t just start without getting into the clip intensively. Take the time to find the task and the best way to accomplish this particular composite. Observe the camera movements. If there are no marks for matchmoving in the material, which elements in the video are sufficient? As a digital compositor, you may find that the material provided to you could be much better. You won`t always be provided with the simplest footage. So you should try to figure out how to get around it.
Save presets.
Most compositing applications, whether After Effects, Nuke, or Fusion, offer users the ability to save custom presets. This can range from a simple color correction to a grainy film effect. Find the things you use most in a compositing project and create custom presets for them. Custom presets save you a lot of time by eliminating the need to recreate the effect. Of course, you can also customize the presets as needed by incorporating them into different elements of your compositing. These presets give you a good starting point for creating them.
Be organized.
This tip is often overlooked. Nothing is more confusing than many different names within a composite. If you save your file and resume work after a long interruption, you will most likely be more than confused. This is especially important if you are working with very complex compositings that can result in a large number of layers. It is best to name and organize the layers the way you create them. And this is best done right away and not after 1 or 2 hours. This way you can give them the right name. You should pay particular attention to this tip if you still have to pass on your film material in the graphics pipeline. Working without a proper naming convention can be frustrating for the right people.
Create your own Lighting Passes.
If you integrate 3D elements into your shots, it`s a great idea to render each liminaire separately. Separate lights give you much more flexibility and you can assemble all the lighting passes. So you can easily customize each individual luminaire and have much more control over your finished compositing. You`ll never be able to predict what kind of changes will need to be made if you render separate passes. This avoids time-consuming rendering in a 3D application. The same principle can apply to any other element of 3D rendering, such as a global lighting pass or Ambient Occlusion, which allows you to make adjustments to each render pass without destroying any of the other passes.
Automatic saving.
The following tip is probably a piece of cake, but still important enough to be mentioned. Take advantage of automatic saving in your used application. Nothing is more devastating than spending hours on a project just to suddenly crash your computer or application. Almost every artist has been affected by this situation before. To avoid frustration, you should deinitely use an automatic memory function.
Fuzzy 3D elements.
With embedding computer graphics in live action footage, try to avoid the sharp and perfect look that computer graphics bring. One of the most common mistakes in integrating computer graphics into Live Action is that it is often ignored that users quickly realize that computer graphics are not an essential part of the footage. With a real camera, it is extremely difficult to achieve the perfect sharpness that is an important part of computer graphics. There are several factors such as depth of field and motion blur. Once you insert a crystal-clear computer graphics element into this realistic material, it stands out like a wonderful thumb. This allows you to incorporate blur and small imperfections into the computer graphics, allowing you to mix much more convincingly with the live action material.
Become a team player.
VFX is the result of a joint effort. As a rule, you will work together with numerous other employees from various departments such as modeling. The ability to communicate between different teams is important. Strong communicative exchange processes between members working within the graphics pipeline will lead to better results,
I hope we have been able to help them a little with this contribution. The following link will take you to our basic section on compositing.