Blender for Visual Effects

158 Pages·2015·50.67 MB·English

by  Sam Vila

X
Computer Science & Engineering / Computer Graphics V X
I X
L X
A XBlender for
X
X
Blender for X
X
Visual Effects
Visual Effects
Bringing concrete examples from industry to light, this book explains how
to use Blender to create visual effects for video/film production. It supplies
readers with a practical way to learn how to use Blender’s tools across a
wide range of scenarios in video/film production, including setting up
cameras on a stage, lighting, and other production processes.
B
L
Maintaining a focus on composition, the book not only explains how to use E
the most common tools, such as tracking, rendering, and compositing, but N
D
also explains how to deal with software limitations and sort out problems.
E
R
Since the best way to learn something is with a practical example, this
F
book follows one of the author’s own projects, starting with how to prepare O
the elements that will be needed later on. The example illustrates how to R
use Blender tools and features for scene tracking, setup, rendering,
V
masking, and other post-production functions—from start to finish in a I
professional workflow. S
U
A
The book examines all the compositing nodes that can be used in Blender. L
It details time-saving tips, features such as the motion tracker, and rendering
E
techniques so readers will have enough information to accomplish the F
most common tasks encountered in the creation of a professional visual F
E
effects composition.
C
T
By following the example project presented in the book, you will gain the S
practical understanding required to use Blender’s tools in the most common
scenarios in video/film production. You will also gain industry insights into
the limitations of the software and how to sort out the problematic scenarios
that may come up through the various stages of your project.
• download the ebook to your computer or access it anywhere with
an internet browser
• search the full text and add your own notes and highlights
• link through from references to PubMed
K25731
ISBN: 978-1-4987-2450-0
90000
Sam Vila
9 781498 724500

Blender for
Visual Effects

Blender for
Visual Effects
Sam Vila
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
© 2015 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business
No claim to original U.S. Government works
Version Date: 20150421
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4987-2451-7 (eBook - PDF)
This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been
made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the valid-
ity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright
holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this
form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may
rectify in any future reprint.
Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or uti-
lized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopy-
ing, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from
the publishers.
For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www.copyright.com (http://
www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923,
978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of users. For
organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the CRC Press Web site at
http://www.crcpress.com
Contents
Acknowledgments xi
BiogrAphy xiii
chApter 1 proBlem definition 1
Introduction 1
Approaching the Task 1
Additional Materials 2
Summary 2
chApter 2 prepArAtion 3
Getting Ready 3
Setting up Blender 4
Shooting 5
Calibration 6
Summary 7
chApter 3 trAcking 9
Basics of Tracking 9
Preparing the Footage 10
Working with the Tracker 11
Calibration inside Blender 12
Placing the Marks 14
Solving the Tracking 16
Applying the Solved Camera 19
Plane Track 21
Summary 24
v
vi Contents
chApter 4 scene setup 25
World Creation 25
Setting up Elements 26
Lighting 29
Summary 31
chApter 5 rendering 33
Internal Render vs. Cycles Render 33
Internal Render Pros and Cons 34
Cycles Render Pros and Cons 34
Rendering with Layers 34
Understanding the Render Passes 37
Combined (RGBA) 38
Depth (Z) 39
Ambient Occlusion (AO) 39
Shadow 40
Vector 40
Normal 41
Object Index 41
Material Index 42
UV 43
Formats 43
Basic Channel Format 43
Multichannel Format 44
Render Settings 44
Render Device 44
Dimensions 46
Sampling 46
Light Paths 46
Film 46
Overscan 46
Summary 50
chApter 6 mAsking 51
Starting to Mask 52
Clean Plate Preview 54
Refining the Mask 55
Tracking the Mask 57
Frame-by-Frame Painting 59
Summary 61
chApter 7 compositing 63
First Steps 63
Nodes Overview 64
Inputs 64
Render Layers 66
Image 66
Contents vii
Texture 66
Value 66
RGB 66
Time 66
Movie Clip 66
Bokeh Image 66
Mask 66
Track Position 66
Outputs 67
Composite 67
Viewer 67
Split Viewer 67
File Output 67
Levels 68
Layout 68
Frame 68
Reroute 69
Switch 70
Group 71
Distort 71
Translate 72
Rotate 72
Scale 73
Flip 73
Crop 74
Transform 74
Displace 75
Lens Distortion 75
Map UV 76
Stabilize 2D 76
Movie Distortion 77
Plane Track Deform 78
Corner Pin 79
Matte 80
Difference Key 80
Color Spill 81
Distance Key, Chroma Key, Color Key, and Channel Key 81
Keying 82
Luminance Key 82
Double Edge Mask 83
Keying Screen 83
Box Mask and Ellipse Mask 84
Converter 84
Combine and Separate (RGBA, HSVA, YUVA, YCbCr) 85
Alpha Convert 86
Math 87
viii Contents
ID Mask 88
Set Alpha 89
RGB to BW 89
ColorRamp 90
Filter 91
Filter 91
Blur 92
Directional Blur 92
Bilateral Blur 93
Vector Blur 94
Dilate/Erode 95
Inpaint 95
Despeckle 96
Defocus 97
Glare 98
Bokeh Blur 99
Pixelate 99
Sun Beams 100
Vector 100
Normal 101
Vector Curves 102
Normalize 103
Map Value 104
Map Range 104
Color 108
RGB Curves 108
Mix 109
Hue Saturation Value 110
Bright/Contrast 110
Gamma 111
Invert 111
AlphaOver 112
Z Combine 112
Color Balance 113
Hue Correct 114
Tonemap 114
Color Correction 115
Compositing the Scene 115
Film Grain 122
Fake Grain 123
Real Grain 126
Vignetting 129
Preview 130