WEEK1- Introduction to compositing in Nuke

The first week of class introduces us to Nuke’s fundamental interface. When it comes to compositing, Nuke is a really good software. Nuke is more specialized and effective to work on a scene because it is based on a node system.

Experimenting with key frames and nodes.

 

Merge Node(M)

In this exercise, I attempted to use the merge node to combine the given images. That clarified the idea behind utilizing pipelines A and B. The background is Pipe B, while the foreground is Pipe A.

 

 

WEEK2- Organization And Roto

Rotoscoping, sometimes known as roto, is a fundamental component of the visual effects pipeline. It is used to either select or remove pixels from the Frame. A rotoscoping artist’s job is to eliminate characters and objects from the frame and provide a clean frame.

This week, we learn the fundamentals of rotoscopy. To begin creating roto, it is important to first view the whole scene before beginning work on it. This gives us an overview of the frames and allows us to analyze the object’s stability, which is where we can begin doing roto.

 

Exercise 01

After bringing the footage in and setting up the project directory the task was to create a basic roto around the stone. for that copy and the roto nodes are used. once you get the nodes in and after connecting pipe B of the copy to main pipeline and Pipe A of copy node to the roto node, the option to draw the roto would pop up.

Rotoscopy(O):

 

Premult Node:

Pre-multiplication, or just premult for short, is the process of multiplying the RGB channels of an input by their alpha123. This indicates that nothing happens if you multiply your RGB (0.9, 0.7, 0.6) by your alpha of 1, which is entirely transparent. On the other hand, if you follow the identical steps with an alpha of 0, all the values become 01.

 

Blur Node(B):

Motion blur can be added to the roto object by adding a blur node. The node is often connected to Pipe A of the Copy node and the Roto node. The properties tab beneath the blur panel allows one to modify the blur’s strength.

 

Deselect(D):

You can deselect or freeze a node from the pipeline by clicking the node you want to deselect and pressing the D key.

 

Original Video

 

Final Video

 

Rotoscope Showreel

 

Exercise 02

This second exercise involved rotoing a moving object, which was a little more difficult. After rotoing the hero and final frames, the aim is to keep the roto stuck to the item and tweak the roto as necessary.

 

To add motion blur as seen in the real video, use the blur node.

 

Premult multiplies the alpha of the input by the RGB channels.

 

As the grade is providing color to the pipeline, but since I connected the grade to the roto, it formed a mask and had an only effect on the roto.

After creating a Grade node, you can adjust the color by selecting the multipy’s color wheel in the properties tab under the grade panel.

 

Now that I had a constant node in place, I added a color to it, and then I put a premult node below the grade node to get the color of the roto building in. I linked it to the main node. As the background, pipe B is connected to the Constant node, and as the foreground, pipe A is connected to the Premult node.

I then roto out the other building and connected it to the main pipeline using a Merge node, directing another Grade node for the new roto, all using the same technique.

 

Original Video:

 

Final Video With BACKGROUND:

 

Final Video:

 

Rotoscope Showreel:

 

 

WEEK3- Complex Roto

We study more complex roto in this class. To do that, our objective was to set up the hero frame by quickly watching the footage of the hand wave. After that, we started by forming a little shape around the thumb. The primary guideline I learned is to divide the hand into little segments and roto it when doing a complex roto as we did this week.

Afterwards, I repeated the process for the entire hand, finding it difficult to maintain accuracy.

 

Original:

 

Outlines:

 

Roto:

 

Final:

 

Showreel:

 

 

WEEK4- Basic Keying

This week, we practice basic keying by performing a simple sky replacement exercise.

Exercise01: Sky Replacement

 

Process of using Luminance key which is also called Luma key. and to see what it is effecting , alpha must be turn on.

Excessive adjustments may cause details to be missed. Later on, I applied roto around the picture to achieve a matte white finish and remove the white areas in the upper right corner.

To remove the whites from the corner, however, I switched the operation in the Merge node which is linked to the roto generated for the white corner—to the Stencil from Over.

 

After the sky in image 02 was added, the edges of the trees appeared quite sharp, so a blur node was added and positioned underneath the keyer to soften the edges a little.

When keying, we wanted to put more attention on the edges, thus we created a merging node called Color Dilation. It is not available within Nuke; this is an extra file that was provided. A node is created by copying and pasting the text onto the Node graph. This node widens the borders to add extra color. We could observe the white halo effect if we don’t use it.

Another thing we learned is that we can add a Lightwrap Node that will take the color from the background and blend it in with the foreground picture.

Connecting LightWrap Node to the pipeline.

We can see how LightWrap is influencing the scene by heading to the properties tab and selecting ‘Generate Wrap Only’ and experimenting with the intensity and diffuse.

After doing that we need to plus the Merge over the top.

Then, through modifying the strength and diffuse of the Lightwrap, we can take the color from the backdrop and place it slightly above the trees so that it blends in with our  scene.

 

Final Image:

 

Exercise 02: Croma Removal

As the second exercise, we carried out Croma removal, often known as green screen removal. The aim is to get the lady off of the green screen and change the background from green screen to an office .

When you put the Keylight Node into the pipeline and connect it to the Forground Sequence, it will create a solid white matt over the sequence.

Later, to key out the green, choose the color pick box of the screen underneath the Keylight Tab, enter the Viewer, hold down CTRL+Shift, and drag to select

Then, flip to alpha and go to the screen matt, dragging the clip black and clip white to obtain the white within the lady. This is important because if it remains graynish or not completely white, the matte will become transparent. I also attempted to keep the hair details.

Following that, we cloned the Keylight node and pasted it as a new one on the pipeline, which we dubbed a trash key since it would make the region more clean. However, by modifying the Clip Black, the hair details were completely gone, therefore we switched the operation to mask from over in the marge node. also added the FilterErode Node, which will expand the white matte by adjusting the size and restore the hair details.

 

Later, we added another merge node to remove what we didn’t want in the scene, which was the green area surrounding the woman. We roto the region and converted the operation to Stencil from over underneath the new merge node that we added.

 

Inserting a premult node and blending it with the backdrop picture. However, the green around the woman remained visible as a reflection of the green screen. It is pretty common while working on Croma removal.

 

To remove it, we utilized the same extra node named Despill Madness that we used in the last example.

 

Original:

 

Final:

 

Showreel:

 

 

WEEK5- Color And Grading

Two crucial components are Color Correction and Color Grading. However, matching materials to the scene in Nuke is a major problem for VFX artists, and this procedure is known as Color Correction. It is necessary to match CGI or performers on greenscreen stages to the plate when adding them.

On the other hand, Color Grading is a step that comes after scene setup. It is often completed following the final edit stage, under the supervision of the director, before the project is handed over to the client.

Exercise01- Color Grading

In the first exercise, we will color grade a previous assignment in which we eliminated the Croma from the background and added an office image to the film. However, because the colors were not complementing the scene, we will now color grade to get it right, which is the following stage after compositing your scene.

 

To begin, we brought in a Grade node, named it LUMA, and changed the RGB to Luminance by pressing Y on the keyboard. This will allow us to view the black region in the backdrop scene as well as the black areas on the lady.

 

Adding another Grade node to control the warmth of the Foreground.

 

Because the foreground image was still overly saturated, we added a saturation node and adjusted it a little.

 

Finally, to add detail, we put a light from the left side on the shoulder using roto to a grade.

 

Original Image:

 

Final Image:

 

Exercise02- Removing the Patch

In this exercise, we learn how to animate a grade across the scene to remove a black patch from the footage.

We started by putting a grade node under the copy ni=one and taking the time liner all the way back to make it easier because that’s where it was readily evident. Then, in the Grade node, we set a keyframe on the multiplier.

To remove the patch, added more keyframes and tweak the multiply.

Final Image:

 

Original Video:

 

 

Final Video:

 

Exercise03- Color grading through LUMA and the Matte

We later conducted grading with  LUMA, and the matte to a window. In order to color the matte out, we roto out the window under grade node and tweaked the multiply. We brought the Keyer before that to see the brightest area of the footage.

 

Luminescence:

That is how you may color grade through Luminescence

 

Matte:

Now it’s time to grade through the matte. On the grade node, we roto out the glass window.

 

Exerciose04- Color Correction, Matching and Grading

 

 

1) Statue

 

Adding a keyer Node to add the highlight of the light from the sky in the background image to make it appear as if the light is bouncing off the statue. After that, I added a Blur node to smooth it out because it was too sharp.

 

Following that, we added a new Node called ColorLookUp Node and selected the Sample by holding down CTRL and clicking on the viewer where we want to select, and generally we edit RBG channels, however with this we can modify MASTER channel. By selecting the master under the ColorLookUp Node, a line will appear in the graph, and by holding down CTRL+ALT+SHIFT and clicking on the line, a point will be created that you may manipulate.

Final Statue in the Scene:

 

In the same way, I brought in more Elemnets and went through the Color Correction, Matching, and Grading process.

 

2) End Outpost

 

3) Settlement

 

WEEK6

Tracking in Nuke

This week, we learned how to use a tracker node to perform basic tracking. A tracker will be available in the viewer once you click the “add track” button after obtaining the node.

Exercise 01

We learned basic tracking with this exercise.

Adding the tracker.

 

 

Original

 

Final

 

Exercise 02

Two trackers are added to the scene.

Added a roto shape to the the spot which is getting tracked.

Tracking the Roto shape on the path by joining the Tracker Node to the Copy Node.

It’s crucial to enable match-move on in the transform menu in order to monitor the path and make Roto Shape follow it.

 

Exercise 03

Tracking Windshield – Planar Tracking

We initially begin by creating a roto shape on the windshield before tracking the car’s windshield.

Executing planar tracking in backward

Adding a corner pin.

Click copy to of the from section in the Corner Pin and later delete the animation.

Using a grade node and a roto shape to change the windscreen’s color.

add the corner pin node between roto and grade node and adjust the roto shape .

 

Original

Final

 

WEEK7

Cleanup and Patch repair

We learned this week how to clean and fix the scene’s patches.

Rotopaint

First, we start with roto paint, which is a widely used yet crucial technique in the VFX industry.

Later on, we discover how to clean up once unneeded objects are found in the scene. for that, we had an ascension in which the elderly man’s mission was to be removed from the scene.

Tracking the stair

Locate the spot where there are no moments after tracking, then change the transformation option to match-move 1-pt. and the frame as it appeared here, 1100

Adding a frame hold node and roto out the portion where the old man is in the frame, as the frame hold is set on the frame where there was no one in the scene, it shows as if the man disappeared.

Premult node added to be able to blend the patch in the scene.

Adding a multiply node, establishing a key frame on frame 1229, adding value 0, and setting a value on frame 1230

 

Original

Final

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK8

Logo removal and adding logo

 

 

WEEK9- Complex CleanUp

This week we learn how to do a complex clean-up by removing a small group of people from the footage.

For that, we just used the limited frames from 1001 to 1080 instead of using the entire clip until 1100 frames. To do so, set the timeline to 1080 and click on the little ‘O‘(circle) button, which will create a mark on the timeline and change Global to In/Out.

 

Assignment 01

Tim Walk:

We were given a list of tasks to complete for the first assignment.

–Taking the bag’s logo off.
-Remove the tracking markers.
-Removing the green screen and putting in a blue backdrop in its place..
-Changing the television’s screen while masking Tim from view when he passes in front of it.

 

I started by removing the briefcase’s logo, which required the use of the roto paint node as well as the frame hold node. I also had to track the movement of the suitcase, which required the use of the tracker node, which I then applied to a cornerpin2d. In order to ensure that the removed section blended in with the rest of the briefcase, I also had to make sure it was keyed at different points throughout the timeline using a grade node.

 

The second task involved eliminating background markers. To do this, I first roto them out and used a Rotopaint node, which eliminated every marker from the scene except for the one behind Tim the actor and the tracker from where Tim passes by the television. To accomplish this, I used a Stencil by changing the Merge node’s operation to become a stencil.

 

The next task was to remove the backdrop color and green screen. To do this, I used a constant node to get the blue color and a keylight node to complete the keying.

 

 

The final task I had to complete was attaching a color bar node to the TV. To do that, I modified the bars’ shape using the Transform Node and positioned them onto the TV. In order to accommodate the bar on the screen, I additionally roto it so that it becomes easy. The challenging aspect was that Tim, the actor, was walking past the screen. I had to rotoscope Tim’s head and utilize Stencil once more to draw him forward in order to make it look natural and bring him into the Foreground.

 

Nuke Script:

Final:

 

Original Footage

 

Final Footage

 

Breakdown

 

Assignment 02

Space walk:

I decided to do something artistic for the second task since we had to come up with something for the given clips. I decided to create an illusion of a space walk using the footage that was captured in a green screen studio.

 

 

I initially intended to use keying to remove the croma while starting this task. I used Keylight Node to accomplish this. To remove every green in the scene, I had to utilize two nodes. Additionally, I removed the extras that weren’t needed for the scene with the help of rotoscope

 

Following this, in order to create Astronaut in the space, I utilized a grade node; nonetheless, there was a frequent reflection of green screen surrounding the astronaut’s suit. I took the green out to an additional node called “Despill Madness” in order to accomplish that.

 

Finally, to make the background appear realistic, I utilized a stock image of the moon. Since the background image was not the same size as the foreground image, I used Reformat Node to resize it. In order to match the background and scene lighting, I also used a transform node. and I was able to make it appear natural in the foreground image with the aid of the grade node.

 

Original Video:

FInal Video:

Showreel:

 

EXTRA PROJECT

Original Video:

Final Video: