While doing the rotoscoping of the man, I initially had a problem with choosing the mainframes for the roto. This prompted me to spend a lot of time fixing the individual head and arm frames. However, after practising it a few times, I started to see movement patterns and it greatly improved the speed of my workflow. Still, I had to check it frame by frame because I added too many points in the Roto nodes and overall it slowed things down more than helped with the details. I think with the Blur node I would still achieve precision even without such a detailed roto. Additionally, I wasn’t sure if I should roto closer to the edge (I shouldn’t as that would be adjusted later via the Blur node and motion blur options. I changed the parts of the roto between Bezier and B-Spline. I don’t think I initially chose the right tools for the right body parts, but again, after the task is done, I would say the head, feet and torso should be done with B-Spline and the arms and legs with Bezier.
Unfortunately, I ran into node Tracker issues and couldn’t export the video. It tracked the front parts of the bridge well, but the left-back one moved up and down at times. I think the problem with the export was connecting the previous Roto part.
Workshop notes:
Rotoscoping is the technique of manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate so it may be composited over another background. Via rotoscoping we can creating animated alpha channels “matte” to match the footage motion.
Rotoscoping is a core skill for a digital compositor. You need to be proficient and quick at it in order to be be a good compositor. Rotoscoping requires attention to details, patience and precision. It is most of the time a frame by frame job. Occasionally tracking can be used to speed the roto process.
Remember to use motion blur while rotoscoping.