The Filmmaker’s Guide to Visual Effects: The Art and Techniques of VFX for Directors, Producers, Editors and Cinematographers: Second Edition

The Filmmaker’s Guide to Visual Effects offers a practical, detailed guide to visual effects for non-VFX specialists working in film and television. In contemporary filmmaking and television production, visual effects are used extensively in a wide variety of genres and formats to contribute to visual storytelling, help deal with production limitations, and reduce budget costs. Yet, for many directors, producers, editors, and cinematographers, visual effects remain an often misunderstood aspect of media production. In this book, award-winning VFX supervisor and instructor Eran Dinur introduces readers to visual effects from the filmmaker’s perspective, providing a comprehensive guide to conceiving, designing, budgeting, planning, shooting, and reviewing VFX, from pre-production through post-production. The book will help readers: * Learn what it takes for editors, cinematographers, directors, producers, gaffers, and other filmmakers to work more effectively with the visual effects team during pre-production, on the set, and in post; use visual effects as a narrative aid; reduce production costs; and solve problems on location * Achieve a deeper understanding of 3D, 2D, and 2.5D workflows; the various VFX crafts from matchmove to compositing; and essential concepts like photorealism, parallax, roto, and extraction; become familiar with traditional VFX workflows as well as virtual production; and learn how to plan effectively for the cost and complexity of VFX shots * See visual effects concepts brought to life in practical, highly illustrated examples drawn from the real-world experiences of industry professionals and discover how to better integrate visual effects into your own projects The Filmmaker's Guide to Visual Effects offers a practical, detailed guide to visual effects for non-VFX specialists working in film and television. In contemporary filmmaking and television production, visual effects are used extensively in a wide variety of genres and formats to contribute to visual storytelling, help deal with production limitations, and reduce budget costs. Yet for many directors, producers, editors, and cinematographers, visual effects remain an often misunderstood aspect of media production. In this book, award-winning VFX supervisor and instructor Eran Dinur introduces readers to visual effects from the filmmaker's perspective, providing a comprehensive guide to conceiving, designing, budgeting, planning, shooting, and reviewing VFX, from pre-production through post-production. The book will help readers: Learn what it takes for editors, cinematographers, directors, producers, gaffers, and other filmmakers to work more effectively with the visual effects team during pre-production, on the set and in post, use visual effects as a narrative aid, reduce production costs, and solve problems on location; Achieve a deeper understanding of 3D, 2D, and 2.5D workflows; the various VFX crafts from matchmove to compositing; essential concepts like photorealism, parallax, roto, and extraction; become familiar with traditional VFX workflows as well as virtual production, and learn how to plan effectively for the cost and complexity of VFX shots; See visual effects concepts brought to life in practical, highly illustrated examples drawn from the real-world experiences of industry professionals, and discover how to better integrate visual effects into your own projects. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 CONTENTS 8 Preface to the 2nd Edition 14 Acknowledgments 16 Introduction 18 Who Is This Book for? 19 Visual Effects on a Shoestring 19 About This Book 20 PART 1: VFX FUNDAMENTALS 22 Chapter 1: Core Concepts 24 Special Effects or Visual Effects? 24 What Does CGI Really Mean? 25 2D, 3D, and Stereoscopic 3D 26 Realism and Photorealism 27 The Danger of Overindulgence 29 Animation, Games, and Visual Effects 29 Digital vs. Film 32 Film vs. Television 32 Chapter 2: VFX as a Filmmaking Tool 35 Common Types of VFX Shots 37 Fix-it Shots 37 Screen Inserts 40 Driving Shots 41 Rig Removal and Period Cleanup 42 Set Extensions 43 Crowd Augmentation/Crowd Simulation 45 Action Elements 47 Advanced VFX 48 Case Study: Changing a Camera Move in Post 48 Chapter 3: From 2D to 3D: The Quest for the Lost Dimension 52 Camera Movement and VFX 52 Parallax 53 Perspective Shift 54 2D Workflow 55 The Missing Dimension 56 Recreating the Camera 57 3D Workflow 58 3D vs. 2D 59 2.5D: The Hybrid Solution 60 Case Study: The Opening Shot of 61 Chapter 4: Separation: Roto, Green Screens, and the Challenges of Extraction 65 Rotoscoping 66 Green/Blue Screens 68 The Challenges of Extraction 69 Background Matching 69 Spill 72 Non-solid Edges 74 PART 2: THE INSIDE LOOK 78 Chapter 5: The VFX Workflow: An In-depth Look at the Various Crafts of Visual Effects 80 Pre-production Crafts 81 Previs 81 Concept Art 82 Camera Tracking 83 Layout 85 Modeling 86 Technical Modeling 86 Organic Modeling 87 Procedural Modeling 87 Cost-saving Alternatives 88 Texturing and Shading 89 Shaders 89 Textures 92 UV Mapping 92 Case Study: Uncut Gems-Inside the Opal 93 Rigging 95 Animation 96 Motion Capture 97 Lighting and Rendering 97 CG Lighting Essentials 98 Key and Fill Lights 98 Sky Light and Image-Based Lighting 98 Global Illumination (Indirect Light) 100 Outdoor Lighting vs. Indoor Lighting 100 Ambient Occlusion 101 Rendering 101 Compositing 102 Matte Painting 104 FX: Particles and Physical Simulations 106 Rigid-body Simulations 106 Cloth Simulations 107 Fluid Simulations 109 Liquids 110 Cost-saving Alternatives 110 Particle Systems 111 Crowd Simulation 112 Remote Work and Cloud-Based VFX Facilities 112 Chapter 6: Workflow Case Studies 114 Shot 1: Background Cleanup 114 Shot 2: The Homestead Strike 115 Shot 3: Piranha Attack 117 Asset Work vs. Shot Work 119 Shot 4: Tsunami Mayhem 119 PART 3: VFX IN PRODUCTION 122 Chapter 7: Pre-production 124 Preliminary VFX Breakdown 125 The VFX Supervisor and VFX Producer 125 Model 1: Dedicated Production VFX Supervisor and Producer 127 Model 2: Company In-house VFX Supervisor and Producer 128 Preliminary Bidding 128 Inside the Bidding Process 129 Storyboarding 130 Previs and Concept Art 130 VFX Production Meetings 132 Tech Scouts 132 Detailed Budget and Schedule 133 Case Study: Ellis Island 133 Chapter 8: On Set 136 Collaborating with the VFX Supervisor 136 On-set Data Acquisition 138 Camera Information 138 Lens Grids 139 Color Chart Reference 140 Chrome Ball and Gray Ball 141 On-set Reference Photography 142 Spherical HDRI Light Domes 143 Lidar 3D Scanning 144 Photogrammetry 144 Green/Blue Screens 145 Action Coverage 145 Screen Consistency 146 Dirt and Tears 146 Folds 146 Non-green Parts 147 Cast Shadows 147 Tracking Markers 149 Smoke and Atmospherics 150 Reflections 151 Lighting Green Screens 152 Roto or Green Screen? 153 Shooting VFX Elements 154 Camera Movement 156 Camera Angle and Position 156 Lens Type 157 Framing 158 Choosing the Right Background 159 Frame Rate 160 Case Study: The Crane Dare 161 Shooting Driving Plates 165 Crowd Tiling 166 Setting up the Camera 166 Locked-off Camera 166 Moving Camera 166 Setting up the Crowd 167 Moving and Rearranging the Extras 168 Roto or Green Screen? 168 Shooting Sprites 169 Case Study: Multi-camera Crowd Tiles 169 Screen Inserts Setup 171 Stunts and Visual Effects 172 Special Effects and Visual Effects 173 Chapter 9: Post-production 175 The Post-production VFX Workflow 175 VFX Basic Color Workflow 176 Image Formats in VFX 178 Bit Depth (Color Depth) 178 Video Formats 180 Color Space and ACES 181 The Spec Sheet and Pipeline Test 182 VFX and Editorial 182 The VFX Editor 183 When to Deliver Shots to the VFX Team 183 Handles 183 Edit Refs (Offlines) 184 Editorial Temps 184 Budgeting and Scheduling 185 Budget Updates 185 Change Orders 185 Scheduling 185 The Reviewing Process 186 Mockups 187 Style Frames 188 Animation Versions (aka Playblasts) 188 Turntables 189 Comp 190 Final Approval 190 Communication 190 Providing Feedback 191 Chapter 10: Real-time Rendering and Virtual Production 194 Real-time Rendering in the Studio 194 Real-time Previs 195 Augmented Reality and On-set Previs 196 Virtual Production 197 A Little Perspective 197 Old Technique—New Technologies 198 Virtual 3D Environments 200 Understanding the Limitations 201 The Bottom Line 203 Chapter 11: The Future 205 Machine Learning 205 Technical Assistance 206 Face Replacement 207 2D to 3D Conversion 207 Creative Assistance 208 Volumetric Capture 209 Marker-less Motion Capture 210 Photoreal Intelligent Digi-doubles 210 On We Go 211 Index 212 brainstorm;,digital;,team;,vfx;,shots;,work brainstorm,digital,team,vfx,shots,work