Brinkmann - The art and science of digital compositing: techniques for visual effects, animation and motion graphics

1. Tables in APPENDIX C

1. Figures in CHAPTER ONE
2. Figures in CHAPTER TWO
3. Figures in CHAPTER THREE
4. Figures in CHAPTER FOUR
5. Figures in CHAPTER FIVE
6. Figures in CHAPTER SIX
7. Figures in CHAPTER SEVEN
8. Figures in CHAPTER EIGHT
9. Figures in CHAPTER NINE
10. Figures in CHAPTER TEN
11. Figures in CHAPTER ELEVEN
12. Figures in CHAPTER TWELVE
13. Figures in CHAPTER THIRTEEN
14. Figures in CHAPTER FOURTEEN
15. Figures in CHAPTER FIFTEEN
16. Figures in APPENDIX C

Second Edition

RON BRINKMANN

Acquisitions Editor: Tiffany Gasbarrini

Publishing Services Manager: George Morrison

Project Manager: Mnica Gonzlez de Mendoza

Assistant Editor: Matt Cater

Cover Design: Joanne Blank

Cover Images: See page xii for full credits

Morgan Kaufmann Publishers is an imprint of Elsevier

30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

2008 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks or registered trademarks. In all instances in which Morgan Kaufmann Publishers is aware of a claim, the product names appear in initial capital or all capital letters. Readers, however, should contact the appropriate companies for more complete information regarding trademarks and registration.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning, or otherwisewithout prior written permission of the publisher.

Permissions may be sought directly from Elseviers Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, E-mail: ), by selecting Support & Contact then Copyright and Permission and then Obtaining Permissions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brinkmann, Ron.

The art and science of digital compositing / Ron Brinkmann.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-12-370638-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Computer graphics. 2. Image processingDigital techniques. I. Title.

T385.B75 2008

778.52350285dc22

2007053015

ISBN: 978-0-12-370638-6

For information on all Morgan Kaufmann publications, visit our Web site at www.mkp.com or www.books.elsevier.com

13 10 9 8 7 6 5

Printed in China

Stills from The Golden Compass courtesy of New Line Productions, Inc. Photo by Digital Domain.

MMVII New Line Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.

Stills from I, Robot courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox. 2004 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved.

Stills from King Kong courtesy of Universal Studios. 2005 Universal Studios. All rights reserved.

Images from Lost courtesy Touchstone Television. Touchstone Television.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King photos courtesy of New Line Productions, Inc. Copyright MMIII, New Line Productions, Inc. TM The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. Photo by Pierre Vinet.

Hubble Space Telescope images courtesy of NASA, ESA, M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team.

Stills from Sin City courtesy of Miramax Films Miramax Films. All rights reserved.

Stills from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow courtesy of Paramount Pictures Corp. Paramount Pictures Corp. All rights reserved.

Spider-Man 2 lighting pass images courtesy of Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. 2004 Sony Pictures Inc. All rights reserved

Underworld: Evolution images courtesy of Sony Pictures Inc. 2006 Sony Pictures Inc. All rights reserved.

Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-rabbit images courtesy of Aardman Animations Ltd. and. Aardman Animations Ltd. 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Stars Wars: Revenge of the Sith stills courtesy of LUCASFILM LTD, LUCASFILM LTD.

Images from Speed courtesy Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. 1994 by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

Images from Independence Day courtesy Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Image from Independence Day 1996 by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

Photos from the motion picture The Prince of Egypt & 1998 Dream Works L.L.C., reprinted with permission of DreamWorks Animation.

Images from Titanic courtesy Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. 1997 by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

Images from A Gentlemans Duel courtesy Blur Studio. 2007 by Blur Studio. All rights reserved.

Images of BattleStar Galactica courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing L.L.L.P.

The permission of Fosters Group Limited to reproduce material from The Carlton Draught Big Ad is gratefully acknowledged.

Images of Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc and Walden Media, LLC. 2005 Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Walden Media, LLC.

Images of The Incredibles courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc/Pixar. 2004 Disney Enterprises, Inc./Pixar

Ron Brinkmann

In the years since the publication of the first edition of this book (1999), there has been a continued growth and flourishing of digital compositing in the worlds of film, television, gaming, and online content.

But even though a great deal of new science has been added to the toolbox available to digital artists, the fundamentals of compositing and, more importantly, the fundamentals of the artistry behind the process of digital compositing, has remained the same.

And so, as with the first edition, this new edition is still intended to be a foundation worksomething that will give the reader a basic knowledge of digital compositings underpinnings rather than concentrate on a particular piece of software. New tools will continue to become available that extend the artists reach and (hopefully) make certain things easier, but the fundamentals are just as important today as they have been in the past.

If you already own or have read the first edition of this book, youre probably wondering what, specifically, is new for this edition. My original goal was to simply update the chapter that contains the case studiesto cover a number of more recent works and thus have the opportunity to discuss newer tools and techniques within the context of those case studies.

But as I was dealing with the acquisition of those various properties (a process that ultimately took well over a year, all toldtraversing the bureaucracies of major movie studios is definitely not recommended for the impatient!) I found myself continually coming across areas that I felt could use a bit of an update in the main body of the text as well. Although the book was originally written in a fashion that Id hoped would be reasonably obsolescence-proof, technology doesnt stand still and there were a number of areas that I realized could use further elaboration and some updating.