Selections: The Key to Compositing

Selections:
The Key to Compositing

Selections:

The Key to Compositing

A particle physicist works with atoms, bakers and bankers

each work with types of dough, and compositors work

with selections—many different types of selections, potentially

thousands, each derived uniquely.

If compositing were simply a question of taking pristine,

perfect foreground source A and overlaying it onto perfectly

matching background plate B, there would be no

compositor in the effects process; an editor could accomplish

the job before lunchtime.

Instead, compositors break sequences of images apart and

reassemble them, sometimes painstakingly, fi rst as a still

frame and then in motion. Often, it is one element, one

frame, or one area of a shot that needs special attention.

By the clever use of selections, a compositor can save the

shot by taking control of it.

This chapter focuses on how a layer merges with those

behind it. Then Section II, “Effects Compositing Essentials,”

and in particular in Chapters 6 and 7, examines

particular ways to refi ne selections, create high-contrast

mattes, and pull keys.