[digital] Visual Effects and Compositing

In this latest book in the critically-acclaimed [digital] series from New Riders you’ll learn all of the techniques and skills that will take you from beginner to visual effects (VFX) professional in just one book. Seasoned visual effects producer Jon Gress has refined the teaching of the skills and techniques presented in this book for over a decade to distill them down to the most effective methodology, delivered in a way that’s both fun and easy to understand while being state-of-the-art for industry professionals. You’ll start with a solid understanding of the basics of visual effects and compositing, the fundamentals of bluescreen  and greenscreen keying, 3D texturing, cloning, wire & rig removal, rotoscoping, 2D and 3D motion tracking, and matchmoving. And then experiment with a wide range of 2D, 2.5D & 3D visual effects, including 3D CGI, crowd replication, face replacements, faking shadows, reflections and Z depth, atmospheric, smoke, cloud & heat FX, sky replacements, day-for-night and digital 3D HUD FX. Building on this strong foundation of compositing and visual effects, you’ll be prepared for the advanced section of the book which teach skills, such as 2D, 2.5D & 3D digital matte painting and projections, film colorization, particle systems, fluid and rigid body dynamics, full digital environments, digital destruction, advanced lighting and rendering techniques, stereoscopic 3D, 2D to 3D conversions, and expert 3D and Photoshop extraction and modeling techniques that can only be described as magic! Throughout the lessons, you’ll glean insider advice on cutting edge methods that even experienced professionals will find amazing. You’ll learn everything you need to know to begin working in the world of visual effects as an industry professional. • All the info you need to go from beginner to professional in one book • Easily accessible teaching style from an instructor who has helped launch the careers of some of the best-known Hollywood visual effects specialists • Includes companion graphics files and videos to follow along with the lessons

Table of Contents:
Introduction PART 1: CONCEPTS OF VISUAL EFFECTS AND COMPOSITING Chapter 01 - Film and Video Primer Bootcamp for VFX The History of Visual Effects Principles of Motion Pictures and VFX In The Beginning - In Camera and Special Effects Visual Effects (VFX) Concepts   Chapter 02 - Intro to VFX - Advanced Photoshop for 3D and VFX - Digital Compositing Basic Compositing 2D VFX Compositing Applications Keying Types and Concepts Chapter 03 — Rotoscoping, Motion Tracking and 2D Matchmoving Roto 2D Motion Tracking 2D Matchmoving Chapter 04 - 3D For VFX 3D Applications 3D Motion Tracking 3D Motion Tracking Applications 3D Matchmoving PART 2: VISUAL EFFECTS TECHNIQUES Chapter 05 - Basic Integration VFX CG Lighting and Integration 2D Motion Tracking and CG Integration Roto VFX - Energy Weapons Basic 2.5D VFX Fake Shadows and Reflections Chapter 06 - Advanced Integration and Card Trick VFX Advanced Procedural Color Matching Live Action Footage Fine Tune Integration - Grain Match and Light Wraps 2D and 2.5D Crowd Replication Face Replacement Card Tricks Chapter 07 - 3D VFX 3D Tracking and Matchmoving CG Hand 3D Tracking - Matchimation 3D Object Tracking and Replacement Faking Z- Depth and Ambient Occlusion Chapter 08 - 2.5D VFX 2.5D Atmosphere FX 2.5D Smoke - Cloud FX Fake Birds 2D and 3D Displacement FX - Water, Heat, Cloak Multipass Rendering and Compositing 2D, 2.5D and 3D Particle Systems and Voxelbased Rendering Chapter 09 - Bread and Butter VFX Sky Replacements Day for Night - Winter for Summer FX Digital HUD Creation Wire and Rig Removal Time Ramping PART 3: ADVANCED VISUAL EFFECTS TECHNIQUES Chapter 10 - Digital Matte Painting and Environment VFX 2.5D Compositing Digital Matte Painting and Set Extensions 2D - 3D - 2.5D Advanced 2.5D Camera Movement 2.5D Digital Matte Paintings and Camera Projections Digital Environments Digital Environment Applications Virtual Studio Chapter 11 - Beauty and Restoration VFX Film Colorization Digital Beauty Advanced Lighting and Rendering Chapter 12 - Dynamics and Simulation VFX Intro to Fluid and Rigid Body Dynamics Simulations Specialized Fluid Simulation and Dynamics Applications and Plugins Rigid Body Dynamics Bullet Dynamics Soft Body Dynamics Chapter 13 - Particle, Crowd and Destruction VFX 3D Particle Based Crowd Replication 3D Particle Based Debris Systems Digital Destruction Digital Amputation Chapter 14 - Advanced Displacement Modeling VFX Advanced 3D & Photoshop Magic Displacement Modeling Chapter 15 - Stereoscopic 3D and Deep Compositing VFX Stereoscopic 3D History, Background and Core Concepts Creating Stereoscopic 3D 2D to 3D Stereoscopic Conversion - Methods of Stereoscopic 2D to 3D Conversion - Technologies and Implementations Deep Compositing Appendix: The VFX Compositor's Checklist

About the Author :
With over 25 years of digital & visual special effects, film, video, audio, and multimedia production experience, writer/producer/director and visual effects producer Jon Gress is one of the new breed of independent filmmakers who can write, shoot, direct, edit, and produce Hollywood sized digital & visual special effects. Jon has been on the cutting edge of digital production technologies since their beginnings and has taught production and software applications courses in Visual Effects, Compositing, Filmmaking, VFX Supervision, the entire Adobe Production Suite, Nuke, Fusion, Lightwave 3D, 3D Studio Max, PF Track, Boujou, Mocha Pro, RealFlow, Turbulence FD, Digital Matte Painting and UDK & Unity game engines. He has trained hundreds of visual effects artists, who have gone on to secure jobs in top visual effects companies all over the world and have worked on movies, including Titanic, The Expendables, Harry Potter, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Avengers, Avatar, Gulliver's Travels, Beowulf and many more. He has created productions for many multinational and Fortune 500 clients and is writer/producer/director of the upcoming independent sci-fi feature trilogy Anunnaki - The Movie.