Rotoscopy Reel 2010

Innostus · **Rotoscopy Reel 2010 -** July 22nd, 2010, 05:00 AM

hello,
Heres my recent rotoscopy reel. I have made this demoreel considering Rhythm and Hues' BGprep/roto apperntice program. All shots were done in 22 days.
Strong critics and comments are most welcome.

Thanks!

http://www.vimeo.com/12765051

DudeFest · July 22nd, 2010, 08:12 AM

Theres some popping of the roto in the eagles tail.

Gentle Fury · July 22nd, 2010, 08:45 AM

OK some comments. For the most part the roto is superb....better than most jr artists give me! I have to fight to get real articulated roto. The eagle has some issues on its back wing where it flickers for a frame and goes soft another frame....I don't know what dudefest is talking about with the tail tho.

The comp work is not very good throughout (but its not a comp reel so im not disappointed.) so I would actually leave it out. Show the base plate then show the plate on black....while its nice to see your splines can be placed on a new BG with little spill thru it doesn't matter because as a jr artist you will be handing that off to a comper who will then incorporate it into their comp as a holdout.

I would def lose the green screen shot, because when I watched it I was impressed at how well it was roto'd (since that is the theme of the reel) but it was a key....I personally don't want a jr that thinks they can key. I had a shot that went to 3 different jrs before they finally did what I wanted. I needed an articulated roto to holdout the body of 2 actors with major spill so I could do a proper key/comp. I kept getting horrible combination key/roto with hard edges on the hair that made it useless. If someone asks for a roto plate you roto it! No shortcuts! And this new rotobrush in after effects should be ILLEGAL!! It produces horrible wiggly edges and basically the same as a bad key.

I can see on this reel you are doing real roto which is great and what I would like to see from a Jr artist. To many jrs think they are compers right out of school and want to show off their mad after effects key skillz...and trust me, its not appreciated!

Also, what are you using to achieve these plates?

If you can learn to roto in Nuke, Sillohette or Mocha you will be highly sought after....I personally groan when I hear someone is using After Effects. Mocha 2.0 now outputs Nuke rotopaint....this is so preferable its insane!

Innostus · 09:29 AM

@Dudefest- thanks for comment, I got what ur saying. Actually in last frames Eagle's tail just filpped for a frame and there it had white feathers, So if i had removed tht out, it'd look bad.

@Gentle Fury- Thank u very much. Yeah I agree tht comps are not good but as a jr. artist I felt its worth trying.
As for the green screen shot, I was not actually putting it in this reel but when i asked people about BGprep job, they said a BGprep artist sometimes do a green screen thats why I've kept it here.

Most of the roto I did it in Fusion and Sillhouette. Sillhouette wasnt working well on the workstation i was working on, so I had to switch to Fusion.
I have used Nuke for keying and some comp touch up( volumetric rays in eagle shot )
I used Fusion for all comps and aftereffects only for demoreel presentation.

Thanks once again!
P.S. - one little question, in my main reel shall I put matchmoving shots? do you think a jr artist should do this? like u denied keying.

Gravy · July 22nd, 2010, 10:16 AM

It's probably not worth having purely matchmoving shots as it's not really what you're going to do.

However if you did a 3dtrack for a roto/paint fix you could always show this in the breakdown.

Gentle Fury · July 22nd, 2010, 02:41 PM

It's always best to departmentalize your reel. If you are starting out then roto/paint is your Dept. Unless asked you shouldn't have anything else. If you want to be a match mover than do a match move reel. If someone wants a comper show comp...etc.

Innostus · July 22nd, 2010, 09:48 PM

@gravy n gentle fury : Thanks! I will definately consider your point.
One last question, does it give bad impression if I put matchmoving in the end if my reel is for roto/paint, I mean if I can do it why not show it? Although, i've heard a jr artist, in India, does other jobs(like matchmoving) too along with roto/paint.
What do you say?

Thanks again!

Gravy · July 23rd, 2010, 02:56 AM

Well it would be on your Resume. I don't think you need to show it on a roto reel. Unless as I said before it was part of a paint fix.

.hel · July 23rd, 2010, 02:58 AM

If you plan on applying to big houses than no need to show any other skills than what the department wants - and that would be roto & paint.
If you plan/consider going into smaller studios then some versatility is good to have.

If you want to do both might be a good idea to have two versions of the reel.

Gentle Fury · July 23rd, 2010, 09:01 AM

Basically if its on there and doesn't apply to the job it will be fast forwarded thru anyway. And if there is something on there that is revealed at the end to not be what was expected (roto reel with green screen reveal at end) it might actually annoy a recruiter.

Innostus · July 23rd, 2010, 10:36 AM

Yes, Now I got it. If my reel says rotoscopy, it will have only roto shot for not more than 1 or 2 mins.
Thanks gentle fury, .hel and gravy for clearning my doubts.

metabug · July 24th, 2010, 10:14 PM

Decent reel Innostus. In my opinion you need not focus much on comp or mm if you're coming up with a pure roto reel. You can consider showing splines and even roto against grey bg. You've mentioned that you are applying for RnH apprentice..did you receive any response from them. Coz I've been called for couple of tests n interview there...I could not make it in the test though

Innostus · July 24th, 2010, 10:50 PM

hey Thanks metabug!
You were lucky tht they called you. Its been a month and I havent got any reply. Anyway, I am not much bothered, but still it was an honest effort from my side. I did what I could do in 22 days.
How was the test? what did they ask?

metabug · July 24th, 2010, 11:28 PM

Its okay if you have not heard from them this time. Your efforts are honest, you'll sure have a luck next time. Keep working and be positive. Opportunities are endless, what we need now is practice. Anyways,
it was very simple roto test out there, i gave my best in terms of quality but could not qualify the test since their quality expectations are too high. I guess i need to put in more efforts on details front.
Cheers

Innostus · July 25th, 2010, 07:11 AM

Yeah, I thought they would take somekinda knowledge based test.
Btw, it was my second attempt haha!
I dont mind it.

Cheers!