Digital Compositing for Film and Video (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation)
Must have if you want to understand compositing - This book changed my life. Thanks to it I was able to face a huge challenge which was completing 45+ visual effects shots for my first feature film. Before then I had done VFX work but I was just another enthusiastic user of compositing software. This books allows mere users to become real professionals: no software is going to make you a pro, you need to understand what you are doing and, more importantly, what you can do. And the reasons why are quite simple: logic and maths. Don t be scared: it is not a cryptic maths book, on the contrary, the maths involved are clear for anyone who understands basic functions. But the mathematic perspective itself makes the whole thing suddenly become logical and manageable. It is not attached to a particular software but Shake users will find the workflow graphs very natural to Shake s node-based compositing engine. It is both theoretical and practical, explaining the higher concepts first, landing on real-life situations later. Down to earth maxims like The wise digital compositor will try the simplest solution first and, only if that doesn t work, move on to more complex techniques will make you realize you have entered the path of Compositing Wisdom!The colour ilustrations and the attached CD are just great: you ll be able to experiment directly every basic concept explained, even more easily if you do it with Photoshop.You want to make a career in Digital Compositing? Then you need this book.
The Ultimate Advanced Compositing Book! - This book is not for beginners nor is it for those people who are looking for a baby s step-by-step tutorial guide which shows you where to move the mouse and where to click.In my opinion this book is for people who have some experience in the field of basic compositing work and would like to expand their skills to an advanced level. There is no messing about in this book, and everything is straight to the point. Each page contains enough information to keep you playing around with his methods for about an hour or so.Everything in here is theory (and a little maths) which can be put into practice by anyone who is familiar with a compositing package. I thought I knew a lot about compositing until I read this book, and realised I knew nothing!Steve Wright not only teaches you how to manually degrain, defocus, de-spill, etc, but also shows you methods of manually overcoming serious problems and challenges you never thought you would understand. Most of his methods do not involve the use of expensive plugins.There s far too much to go into, and my honest opinion is, if you already do compositing for a living, and want to advance your skills, then GET THIS BOOK!!! YOU WON T REGRET IT!!!
Covering it all ! - If you`re in the VFX industry or trying to get into it, or justwant a great troubleshooting book which is applicable on anypiece of modern post-editing/compositing software...this one should be on the top of your wish list for this christmas. Itgets you from the basic level to the more complex level whereyou`ll be able to solve various compositing problems. Great book !