Jeffrey A. Okun - The VES Handbook of Visual Effects: Industry Standard VFX Practices and Procedures

• Margaret Adamic (Disney Publishing Worldwide)
• Paul Bloch (Rogers and Cowan Shangri-La Entertainment)
• Trinh Dang (Associate Manager, Clip Licensing Department, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation)
• Margarita Diaz (Executive Director, Content Licensing/Features, Sony Pictures Entertainment)
• Sharon Drake, (Senior Contract Administrator, Lucasfilm Ltd.) and Sarah Garcia (Contract Coordinator, Business Affairs, Lucasfilm Ltd.)
• Julie S. Heath (Executive Director, Clip & Still Licensing, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)
• Ryan C. Likes (Executive Vice President, The Halcyon Company)
• Roni Lubliner (Universal Studios Media Licensing)
• Susie Oh (Vice President Business & Legal Affairs, Sony Pictures Digital Production Inc.)
• Larry McCallister (Vice President, Licensing, Paramount Pictures)
• Miles Perkins (ILM)
• Stephen Strauss (Attorney)
• Martha Winterhalter (American Society of Cinematographers)
• The Entire VES Handbook Committee and all of the expert writers who contributed their talent and time to this book

• Marcus Alexander
• Bennett Cain
• Buf
• Compagnie
• Digital Domain Productions, Inc.
• Electronic Arts
• Harrison Ellenshaw, VES (Consultant)
• Tom Fletcher
• Alex Forsythe
• Beth Franco (Marleah Leslie & Associates PR)
• Robert S. Getman, Esq.
• Ben Grossman
• John Grod
• Jim Houston
• David Johnson
• Gradient Effects, LLC
• Steve Katz
• Laika, Inc.
• Andy Maltz
• Robert Molholm
• New Deal Studios
• RealD
• David Reisner
• Jay Schulte
• Don Shay, Publisher, Cinefex
• Fred Specktor (Creative Artists Agency)
• David Stump, ASC
• Summit Entertainment, LLC
• Technicolor Creative Services
• The Third Floor
• Ultimatte Corporation

• Chuck Schuman, Cinematographer
• Paul Vlahos for images from Ultimate Corp.
• Jon and Kay Erland for decades of advice and tireless efforts to improve visual effects composites
• Eric Roth, VES Executive Director
• Christopher McKittrick, VES Director of Operations Colleen Kelley, VES Office Manager

• Lisa Sepp-Wilson

• Linda and Valerie Squires

  and

• Susan Zwerman, VES, without whose tireless time and effort these pages would be blank

  and

• Jeffrey A. Okun, VES, whose creative, detailed eyes have worked over every word in this book
• Elisabeth Okun and our friends and families who have suffered through this process along with us, giving us the time, understanding and patience that made this book possible

(From Digital Cinematography in .)

(From 4K + Systems Theory Basics for Motion Picture Imaging in .)

(From 3D Compositing in .)

Result=FgA+Bg1A

where Fg is the foreground, Bg is the background, and A is the alpha, or matte.

Result=Fg+Bg1A

This operation is often referred to as an over.

(From American Cinematographer Manual.)

For these variables:

• O = object sizew
• D = distance from object to camera lens F = focal length
• A = aperture size

OA=DP

Distance=object sizefocal lengthaperture size

Object size=object sizefocal lengthaperture size

Focallength=distanceaperturesizeobjectsize

Aperturesize=focallengthobjectsizedistance

• 35mm film full frame sound aperture: 0.866 inch 0.630 inch
• 35mm film full frame aperture: 0.980 inch 0.735 inch

(See the American Cinematographer Manual for other film formats.)

Tangent12viewingangle=12AF

where

A = aperture size (width or height)

F = focal length in same units.

For anamorphic:

Tangent12viewingangle=12AsqueexeratioF

DN:camera to near limit=HSH+SF

DF:camera to near limit=HSHSF

where

H = hyperfocal distance

F = focal length of lens

S = distance from camera to object,

Total depth=DFDN

H=F2fCo

where

H = hyperfocal distance

F = focal length of lens

f = f-stop

CC = circle of confusion, where 35mm camera CC = 0.002 inch (0.0508mm).

(From Photography of Miniature EffectsHigh-Speed Photography in .)

Formula to determine proper frame rate for scale being used:

mr=f

where

m = miniatures scale

r = base frame rate

f = new frame rate.

Example: 1:4 scale at 24fps = (4) (24) = (2) (24) = 48fps

Formula to determine proper actual speed of a scaled object at a scaled frame rate:

rs/m=bbr=as

where

rs = real object speed

m = miniatures scale

b = base speed

r = frame rate factor

as = actual speed for filming.

Examples: 36mph 1:6 scale car = 8.8 feet per second

8.8 feet per second 2.5 normal frame rate = 22 feet per second

Right triangles are useful for calculating sizes and distances and for laying out 2D objects.

Figure A.1 Right triangle formulas.

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(Based on http://dunnbypaul.net/blends. Used with permission from Paul Dunn.)