The role that interests me in the visual effects industry is compositor.
Compositors create the final image of a frame, shot or VFX sequence. They take all the different digital materials used (assets), such as computer-generated (CG) images, live action footage and matte paintings, and combine them to appear as one cohesive image and shot.
Series compositing is combining different elements that were filmed separately or created separately and combining them into one scene and making it look as if it was filmed in one location at the same time.
So let’s say you are the compositor who works on the project, before you receive any files they are send it to a different department where they are cleaned and prepared for you to be composited later. if there’s a green screen that needs to be removed in the scene, the shot first is being sent to the King Department who removes the green screen prepares the image for you.
And then they sign it out to you to be composited,sometimes there are scenes without the green screen and maybe the object needs to be cut out from the background separated in this case, there’s a rotoscoping department they cut the object frame by frame from the background and send it to you afterwards for you to integrate it later, sometimes there are objects in the scene that should not be there like tracking points or maybe the boom microphone, it sticks out in the shot but needs to be removed that is done in a retouching Department what they do they just paint out the objects that should not be there and then they create the clean shot for you without these objects. all these three are called prep paint that stands for preparation and painting basically cleaning out the shots so we overview the part of preparing the footage for the compositor.
Compositors must be highly competent in Nuke.
VFX compositors may be required to use some or a combination of the following software:
- Nuke
- Adobe Photoshop, After Effects
- Shake
- Maya
- Combustion
- Inferno
- Flame
- RenderMan
Compositors work as the last part of a VFX ‘pipeline’ (the name given to the VFX production process). They can be employed by VFX studios or work as freelancers.
Compositing is a challenging job. Firstly,A solid understanding of composition, color theory, and image properties. Secondly,Strong understanding on the visual effects pipeline and extensive Nuke knowledge and experience.Also need Photographic skills – understanding depth of field, shutter speed, lighting, aperture, composition, and framing an understanding of stereo (3D) and anamorphic compositing in Nuke.
For digital artists, compositing is equally important.Combining different elements is an interesting job. Some objects that exist and do not exist in reality, and some irregular figures model through sculpture, are placed in the same picture to present a surreal style.