Rotoscoping is one of the oldest animation techniques that allows producing realistic footages. Traditionally, animators traced over motion picture footage, frame by frame. In the visual effects industry, the process, even though similar, has a different purpose.
Rotoscoping is mostly used today to create a matte or mask for an element, so that it can be extracted and placed on a different background. It may even be masked out to change colours or any other set of reasons. It is widely used than you may realize. Rotoscoping helps filmmakers create scenes that would otherwise be impossible, challenging, expensive, or dangerous to produce in real life.
Read on, to find out about the industries that employ trained, skilled and certified rotoscoping artists for various job roles.
VFX studios
In bigger VFX companies, rotoscoping artists are sometimes attached to a show along with a Compositor or 2D Lead to direct them on the projects. If not on one show, then their services are used on different shows that the company is in charge of. In smaller companies, the roto artists gain experience by being a Junior Compositor and doing their own roto and prep work along with the compositing work.
Film Production Houses
There are more things than you can imagine that goes into the making of a film. Rotoscoping artist are often required at film production houses. Something as simple as tracing hair on an actor’s head is done by them. Even with the availability of advanced digital technologies, the makers of Guardians of the Galaxy used traditional rotoscoping techniques by using footage of a real racoon called Oreo to bring ‘Rocket’ to life.
Animation Companies
It was the legendary filmmaker Max Fleischer who invented the technique of rotoscope back in 1914 when he animated Popeye The Sailor and Betty the Boop. A few years later, when Disney used the footage to get a sense of a character’s movement, instead of tracing over the live-action footage. Many animators have come up with their own style of rotoscoping through over the years. And is still being used to create a variety of animated assets.
Gaming Companies
Game developer Jordan Mechner of Smoking Car Productions invented digital rotoscoping while creating the adventure game The Last Express. He had even used rotoscoping in his previous game projects Karateka and Prince of Persia. Since then, the gaming industry has always been another important sector where rotoscoping artists can build a career in.
As Rotoscoping continues to be a vital process within the animated and live action film production pipeline, there is huge demand for skilled roto artists. By completing a Vfx Film Making career course and getting the right skills, you can get hired by some of the top companies in the above-mentioned industries.
Whether you are an aspiring VFX professional or a superhero movie enthusiast, you are here because you are impressed by the visual effects of the original MCU series, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
The MCU, for more than a decade has been carrying the Torch of legendary CGI epics. But lately they have been trying to shift your attention from heavily CG-ed wars to grounded and realistic TV series like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. These shows have given us CGI scenes so perfect that none of us could have ever doubted it to not be real. From the aerial chase in the first episode and a few others that we would be exploring shortly. And who other than Weta Digital could have been trusted with such epic sequences amidst the global pandemic!
The show received a total of five award nominations including a nomination for a 2021 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Special Visual Effects. The VFX team involved was supervised by Charlie Tait who alongside Eric Leven have been part of the Weta digital team for over two decades. You may not have heard his name but we are pretty sure that you would have enjoyed his work, which includes Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool, Alita: Battle Angel, and Game Of Thrones Season 8. K
Meant for theaters, the production had a blockbuster budget with each of the six episodes reportedly costing $25 million and featuring a total of 2,500 visual effects shots.
Here are our top 3 favourite breakdowns of the VFX shots:
Madripoor
Establishing shots of Madripoor were entirely CGed with Hong Kong as the key reference for it. The uniquely shaped sky-scrapers and the dense slum was a mixture of on-set special effects and VFX. It’s amazing how they could show the stark contrast between the slum life and the riches all through CG, since Madipoor was essentially a pirate city.
Credits: (c)Weta Digital and (c)Marvel Studios
Canyon chase sequence
It was the first of the sequence to make us realise the brilliance of MCU’s execution of fight scenes. But what makes it unique from the ones we saw in the movies was the different visual language using the GoPro mount.
Credits: (c)Weta Digital and (c)Marvel Studios
Digital double of Walker
The Walker you saw running and jumping through the window was a CG John Walker. A stunt double enacted the fall through the window on the car but the dents, exploding car windows, and the smashing through the house window was CGed. It might seem simple to create it but calculating the intensity of the smash is challenging.
Some scenes had digital doubles of both Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. And since they have been in the MCU for a long time, they have become a few of the recognisable faces in the industry. Thus there wasn’t any room for the slightest of the mistakes in creating their CGs.
Credits: (c)Weta Digital and (c)Marvel Studios
Truck battle
The trucks were absolutely stationary! The only thing moving was the CGI-Ed road. The road was moved at the required speed (120km/s) while adding bits of rocks, dirt and dust being kicked up subtly to enhance realism in the scene. In addition to that the sequence was shot in Atlanta (USA) and thus sign boards and surrounding environment was required to be transformed to that of Germany.
Credits: (c)Weta Digital and (c)Marvel Studios via beforesandafters.com
Marvel is stepping up the game for other superhero franchises like The Boys (Prime) and the DCEU. We believe there are much more surprises waiting for us in ‘Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness’.
Unlike the olden days, creativity is now swiftly transitioning itself to digital. And in this era the price of software, hardware, and related camera equipment to capture creativity is relatively inexpensive. So much so that anyone with aptitude can learn VFX by joining a career course with a reputed VFX institute. The VFX industry is gaining traction and is becoming competitive for those who want to make a career in it.
In this article, we will discuss the two major questions that most VFX career aspirants ask, “Is it absolutely necessary for me to join a professional VFX institute to learn visual effects? What skills must I gain to become a VFX professional?”
Should You Join a VFX Institute?
In simple words, yes! Today, most recruiters value skills over qualifications. Even though one can learn VFX and CGI using free open source software like Blender, there are loads of other benefits that an institution provides. To know the intricacies of the field, one has to be involved with others who have mastered the game, and for whom it is not just some hobby. Rarely will you find others with whom you can collaborate at such a high level, for free, for extended periods. VFX training institutions are one of the few places where you can connect with others with similar passions and goals.
Apart from that, when you join an institute, you follow an industry-relevant curriculum, get assistance and advice from experienced faculty, develop social skills, gain hands-on experience through projects, and create your own demo reel. Most reputed institutions offer placement assistance thus boosting your chances of landing a job immediately after the successful completion of your course.
It is true that VFX and design are skill-based industries. Your portfolio and reel speak for you. Companies will look at your past experience, your showreel and will probably talk to people who have worked with you when they are considering you for a job vacancy. Venturing out alone as a VFX artist without any job offers at hand could be overwhelming and exhausting. When you are a part of a training institute, you will get ample guidance during every step of your journey to a VFX career.
What VFX Skills Should You Gain?
As for the skills needed, start with the basics such as digital illustrations, storytelling, and anatomy study. As your course progresses, you will start learning more complex concepts such as character design, audio-video editing, rotoscopy, matchmoving techniques, compositing, pre-visualization, and VFX filmmaking. Consider learning some of the most in-demand software such as Nuke, Blender, Houdini, and Autodesk Maya.
With the right skill sets and hands-on experience, you can start a career in the VFX industry in no time. All the best!
Pruthviraj Talanpuri was always creative in his mind. From kindergarten, he was fond of Toonami cartoons. Later on, with the advent of life, he started gaining interest in animations. He used to search google and try to learn many things. He got very confused. He thought his parents won’t understand his diversion towards animation, hence he opted for science and mathematics in his 10 + 2 studies. Like a normal science student would do, he chose engineering in graduation. But, computers could not be separated from him, hence completed his Bachelors in engineering and technology in the Computer Science branch from Babaria Institute of Technology, Vadodara.
While during engineering he came across an animators group in his college. He was highly influenced by them. He took help from them and found out that his dreams can get wings in Arena Animation Sayajigunj. Later he searched on Google about Arena Animation Sayajigunj and found out it was the best institute in animation and VFX.
The very next day he came to our institute and had counseling with us. After completing his engineering he immediately enrolled himself in the animation and VFX course with Arena Animation Sayajigunj which is a 3 years course. He enrolled for Advanced Animation International Program AAIP (VFX) here in the Arena Animation Institute Vadodara.
The faculties and mentors here in Arena Animation are so helpful that they cleared every doubt of mine at every step. Arena Animation Sayajigunj has Gujarat’s biggest infrastructure facilities including Green Room, Recording Studio, VR Gaming Zone, 5 Highly Advanced computer Labs, 1000 Student capacity to name a few.
The platform equips every student to represent their creative abilities and skills during the placement drives. They make us job ready professionals with appropriate interview training and relevant skills to kick start a successful career in the areas of Animation, Gaming, VFX, Filmmaking, Broadcasting Multimedia, and every other area that falls in the Media & Entertainment industry. Arena Animation Sayajigunj invites the top recruiters namely Pixel Studio, Shemaroo, Torrecid and more of such thriving companies in the VFX industry.
He states that “ My life was changed when I enrolled here in Arena Animation Sayajigunj and it was the best decision of my life. I consider myself lucky to get counseling from top mentors and to be a student under them. Earlier I had a vague knowledge of VFX. But here in Arena animation Sayajigunj, my mentors provided me with correct knowledge and guidance and it seriously helped me to kickstart my career in VFX and the animation industry.”
He also added “ I am thankful to Arena Animation Sayajigunj that I am working in JCB International as a 3D Lighting Artist. I earn money from what I love doing. I will always recommend Arena Animation Sayajigunj to all the like-minded people.”
We were overwhelmed by the response we got from Pruthviraj Talanpuri and by stating his example we can say that you can achieve anything in life if you have passion and patience for it. We hope Pruthviraj the best of luck and may he achieve the highest!
Amid Covid pandemic lockdown and disruption, Arena Animation Sayajigunj campuses, closed the final placement figures at 51 Students Placement till January 2021 end. The achievement comes at a time once industry saw mass layoffs and offer revokes. AY 2020-21 began with a bang with elite recruiters in the Graphic Designing, Motion Graphics, 3D Animation and 3D Designing.
Arena Animation Sayajigunj officials told the institution is looking forward to an aggressive hiring of 3750+ job openings for season ahead. Prospective admission seekers are requested and suggested not to lose a year and opt for admissions at the earliest to be in line with the current academic year.
Our Student Success Story – Atit Patel
Atit Patel comes from a small town called Halol after his initial attempt in the field of Engineering he realized that This is not He can Pursue as a Career Making Choice and Started Looking for Other Options. He always had an Interest in Watching Movies and was Curious about its Process keeping this in Mind He Decided to Pursue his Studies of Editing and Compositing with Arena Animation Sayajigunj.
He had no Designing study background But that wasn’t going to stop Atit. As he learned new skills, his confidence grew. Today, he is honing Editing – Compositing skills. He was Groomed and Trained from the Center for a good Job Opportunity as He was selected as Motion Graphics Artist in BYJU’s in Bengaluru and Continued to Excel and Perform as He Considered this as his dream Job and Now He Is Settled and Growing Steadily with his Profile and work. Genuine transformation isn’t easy, but Atit Patel shows us it’s possible. He Always Consider Arena Animation Sayajigunj as a Guide and Turning Point of His Career and Life.
Recruiter Testimonials
We have sourced some very good candidates from the Arena Animation Sayajigunj. We were amazed by the immense talent and skills these students possess. Not only the students we were very impressed by the quality of education and training the institute has provided them. The students were confident and very well prepared for the interviews. We wish to congratulate all the students for their future. — DipakPillai (Think Tank Advertising)
Our association with the Arena Animation Sayajigunj has been very fruitful. We have been able to pick out some very capable and confident students for our company. We are very impressed by the hard work that has been done on these students by the teachers. We would love to come back here for placements again. –ShwetaUpadhyay (Dream Foot Studio)
