What are Visual Effects?
Visual Effects are the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which are realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or simply impossible to capture on film.
Visual effects using computer-generated imagery (CGI) have become increasingly common in big-budget films, and have also recently become accessible to amateur filmmakers with the introduction of affordable animation and compositing software.
As a beginner to Visual Effects, the number of software applications and training programs available may intimidate you.
When deciding what program(s) to use and how to learn them, it is important to know what your long and short-term goals are.
Are you looking to break into the visual effects industry working on major motion pictures as part of a pipeline that includes a huge VFX team?
Are you a one man team looking to increase the production value of your YouTube channel?
Or perhaps you’re looking just to have a bit of fun with visual effects in your free time?
Visual Effects often involve working for clients with specific needs.
Although with increasingly capable and affordable technology there has been an emergence of filmmakers that can direct, edit, and do visual effects on their own projects.
Who can benefit from Visual Effects?
Anyone that benefits from advertising can benefit from visual effects.
Video has a unique appeal to audiences.
Most of us want to “see” something before we want to “read” something.
In the context of online marketing, visual effects can be used to enhance the consumer experience by educating the viewer about product or services, putting a face on a company, and building a company brand.
A quality video that demonstrates how a product works, with attractive visuals, would provide solid evidence that the product can indeed solve a certain problem.
It sets off emotional triggers that static text simply cannot, ultimately influencing buying decisions.
Different forms of Visual Effects
Green Screen – Green screening is a technique for compositing (layering) two images together.
A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind.
Also known as the chroma keying technique, it is commonly used in video production and post-production.
Motion Tracking – Motion Tracking allows the insertion of computer graphics into live-action footage with correct position, scale, orientation, and motion relative to the photographed objects in the shot.
The term is used loosely to refer to several different ways of extracting motion information from a motion picture, particularly camera movement.
Motion tracking is related to rotoscoping and photogrammetry.
It is sometimes referred to as match moving.
3d Modeling – A 3d model is a representation of any three-dimensional surface of an object (either inanimate or living) via a 3d modeling software such as Maya, Cinema 4d or 3Ds Max.
The product is called a 3D model.
It can be displayed as a two-dimensional image through a process called 3D rendering or used in a computer simulation of physical attributes.
Matte Painting – A Matte Painting is made when we combine two or more image elements into a single, final image.
Usually, mattes are used to combine a foreground image (such as actors on a set, or an environment) with a background image (a scenic vista, a field of stars and planets).
In this case, the matte is the background painting.
In film and stage, mattes can be physically huge sections of painted canvas, portraying large scenic expansions of landscapes.
