Week1: Intro to Nuke

Nuke . we started exploring some nodes and how they connect together , the way they work is A over B

Here is an example of viewer and how to connect it to the plate so we can see what is on the screen 

 

Those are 4 exercises that we did in class using the knowledge we had to connect those alphas to the merge.

Week 2: Organization and Roto

Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, live-action movie images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper. This projection equipment is referred to as a rotoscope, developed by Polish-American animator Max Fleischer.^[1] This device was eventually replaced by computers, but the process is still called rotoscoping.

We started using new nodes as Roto node – the way it works is with a copy node and premult , also we used a node that was used as mask its a grade node that has been used on the roto mask to change the color of the building .

Here is the example of what we done in class

shortcut for roto is – O and for grade is G, for copy is K

Here is an example of how the roto is connected to the copy and premultipy merged to the plate

Week 3: Complex Roto

This is the task we did in class to rotoscope the hand of the man , the challenging  parts was to make the different rotoshapes when needed and to match the motion blur of the moving hand

 

Then we lean how to organize the rotoshapes in different folders so we can quicky acces them when needed for exaple different finger parts

At the end we rotoscope the whole body of the man

Here is my example and how I separate the different parts

 

Week 4: Basic Keying

First, we Identify Problem Areas Before we start to key what we want, so we  look at the footage

We used a Keyer and we looked at the luminance channel and the alpha so we could in this case replace the sky.

then before the premult, we added a new node called Color Dilation to fill those areas of soft edge with a color that closely matches the foreground of our Alpha. Also, a new node called Light Wrap creates a reflection of light around the edges of the foreground object by blending in with different kinds of backgrounds.

Here it the example of how we replaced the sky with a new cloudy sky. 

Also one more examples of work exercise done in class

 

Week 5 Colour and Grading

color grading refers to the process of adjusting the color properties of an image or video to achieve a desired look, mood, or aesthetic. we can use a wide range of tools and techniques for color correction and grading. Color grading is very important.

We use Color Correction  typically to fix color disbalances, such as making whites appear truly white or compensating for different lighting conditions in different shots. We often focus on achieving a natural, balanced image.

Color Grading, on the other side, is more artistic. It involves enhancing or altering the color palette to create a specific mood or style. This can include adjusting contrast, saturation, and hue, and manipulating shadows, mid-tones, and highlights to get a desired visual tone.

The Grade (G)  node is the most used color grading tool in Nuke. It allows us to have detailed control over:

• Lift: Shadows or dark areas of the image.
• Gamma: Midtones or midrange brightness.
• Gain: Highlights or bright areas of the image.

In order to achieve what we needed for the task in class we used all different nodes like grade colour correction to balance between

Here is the example of color replaced on different parts of the image.

 

 

Week 6: Tracking in Nuke

We used a Tracker and Planar tracker

1 we attached the tracker to the plate

then we looked for a shape that is standing more and different from the other so the tracker could easily recognize and follow,

Here is how we use the single tracker

 

and here is the result when we removed the sign with the help of the tracker

We need to look at the footage and see if we have to use the follow rotation and scale of the options we have inside the tracking settings, we can use as much trackers we like to stabilize or follow the object

then we set the tracker to match-move and we chose the frame

we add the tracker after the alpha and premult so it will follow the new alpha.

Here is an example of how we used different trackers to follow the different parts of the image I have changed the colors of the objects followed by the tracker

We also used Planar Tracker to change a color on the car window , we added the rotoshape to the car window with 4 points in order to access to planar tracker we need to be in Nuke X version.

Create a Planar Tracker node.

Draw a shape (polygon or roto shape) around a planar surface that you want to track in the Viewer.

Adjust the Track Mode and Correlation settings for better accuracy.

Track forward and backward across frames.

I found that before we exported the tracker data we had to readjust a bit of keyframes so it would perfectly match the animation of the car window because we had a bit of a scaling and the shape was moving in some parts

Use the tracking data to either stabilize the shot, attach 2D or 3D elements, or apply other effects.

Then we extract the animation onthe  corner pin (absolute baked) and in settings that says from we removed all the animations

Here is the end result.

 

 

 

at the end of the class session we have very fun exercise of finding the problems and solve them to the provided script , there was a lot of different problems like disconnected nodes and etc…

Week 7: Cleanup and Patch repair

for this, we used a rotopaint node (p) and grain node

roto paint can be used on different backgrounds by selecting them it will paint on them

In this exercise we had to remove the tracking markers, we started by clone painting on the roto paint that we could match the background and remove the marker, then we added a tracker by extracting the animation from it to the roto paint, the lifetime of the roto paint brush is important so we can see them in all frames. it needs to be setup on all. A few of the markers had different issues so we needed to readjust the tracking for them by using different tracker starting at different frame.

The clean-up – this is the example of nuke clean-up we did in class, the task was to remove the old man from the shot.

We started with the frame hold and we found the frame where the man was missing, the we created an alpha of only this part of the building and we added it on top of the man but also we followed the side as we had a green tree moving so we needed to carefully keep this

 

Then we had another problem of not matching the grain as the framehold is static and there is no grain on it we needed to match the grain .

so the way we did it was denoising the whole plate and bringing the correct grain at the end

we started by selecting the point where the denoise to work. In this case, it must be applied thru alpha.

Then when we bring the grain back we can see the difference by watching thru the original and the new grain

In order to make this perfect we have to go through all different channels and adjust accordingly

R,G,B

We had a perfect match at the end and patch repair.

 

Week 8: Complex Cleanup

 

Week 9: Key Skills recap

 

In week 9 we done some skill recap on cleanup , color correct and tracker , for this example we used a corner pin set to input and a cornerpin tracker set on absolute baked  so we can track the 4 points of the roto, then we graded the patch so the logo color matches the other logo on the box

also, we recap the keying skills, we extracted the alpha from the green screen, with different key lights , removed the tracking marks, make a clean mask, added a background ,and corrected the new alpha to the background

 

 

Week 10: Advanced Keying

we used , IBK keyer ,Pixel Fudger

, and technique for Additive Key

 

 

and additive keyer to bring back the hair details

 

Assessment 1 – Replicate the shot

 

Assessment 2 – Creativity

 

 

MASTERCLASSES

also at the end of the semester, we had 2 days of amazing masterclasses with Josh Parks – which I was so happy to attend here is my shot idea at the end of the second day