So… what are Visual effects?
Visual Effects are computer generated images applied to a video material already recorded. This kind of effects can’t be done during recording but they have to be carefully planned before shooting.
Visual Effects and Special Effects.
Special effects are the kind of effects that are performed
on the set, while visual effects are done after the recordings are finished. There are two types of effects.
-Optical Effects which are done by the play of the light and camera which in turn will make your scene look different than what it looks like to the naked eye.
-Optical Effects which are done by the play of the light and camera which in turn will make your scene look different than what it looks like to the naked eye.
-Mechanical effects
consists of plenty of elements that have to be performed on a set and their role
is to convince the viewer of being real phenomena. Propably most of the weather coditions you have seen in movies were part of mechanical effects. For example the rain stream can be easily created and controlled to fall in a specific area. That way it is much easier to work for a whole film crew.
The most common effects that are used nowadyas:
•Chroma keying•Rotoscopy
•Compositing
•CGI
Chroma keying;
This technique consists of replacing color background with any other image behind it. The color of the
background can be any but it has to be uniform. The most popular colors are blue and green ones. They are are easiest
to remove because they differ from the recorded subjects or
human skin colors most often. Otherwise some part of the subject in the same color as
background would be removed and covered with a background image.
Rotoscoping
Rotoscpoing is a technique characterized by tracking
over a real character movemet and converting it into animation. The artist have
to animate the mask frame by frame in
accordance with the character position and shape.
This
technique has the same role as chroma keying but it is much harder, more time
consuming and less effective. On the other hand not every shot can be done
using chroma keying and then rotoscoping comes in handy. The downside of this
solution is the time it takes, from several hours to even days to complete.
Compositing
Compositing is a proces of putting together several images
or layers in order to achive the final effect. It can be an animated character putted in a recorder clip or a recorded explosion placed in animation. This
method is ofthen used to create characters that aren’t real or show things that
are impossible to record. For example this technique was used in the latest Jurasic
Park movie where all dinosaurs were animated.
CGI - Computer Generated Imaginery
- Gives the ability to create characters or objects which wouldn’t be possible to achive by any other methods.
- This technique is far more safe than for example mechanical effects.
- It is faster and propably easier to create than by other methods.
- The quality is so good that sometimes it is easy to mistake generated models with real characters.
- It develops imagination and gives you the limitless possibilities.
Questions:
- Do you like vfx in movies?
- Did you know how many special effects are there in movies that you can't even see? (for example - changing background)
- Which of these techniques is most interesting in your opinion?
Comments
In my opinion special effects are great and improve films in many ways, but not always. Sometimes vfx are poor quality and can really damage the whole movie, so it is better to give them up.
Nolan is known for not using visual effects or rather using them as little as possible.
“Chris avoids full CG shots as much as possible and uses live-action elements as much as possible”
In my opionion it is a great way to achieve realistic scenes but certainly it isn't esasier.
Nowadays we cant really tell between VFX and SFX anymore, sometimes even between makeup and just normal preparation. Most of the techniques are quite innovative so so that they should be considered state of the art by themselves( not the whole movie some effects alone).
Probably a multitude, nowadays they are used practically everywhere. Computers can achieve what was once unachievable. The effects they create are so close to the real world that they can not be distinguished at first glance.
It does not look so much in computer graphics to answer the last question :) probably those that are the most effective.
I didn't know that. I'm sure, I'm not suppose to. That's the part of the magic.
In my opinion, CGI is the most interesting one. It requires not only graphical skills, but many others in order to be able to simulate different things.
I’m definitely not aware of all those effects that are used in the modern films, but I guess there are plenty of them.
CGI seems the most interesting for me, it looks that one can achieve very cool looking effects that can take a movie into another dimension.
I’m conscious of the fact that the audience (including me) doesn’t realize many special effects when they view the movie. In my opinion, that means that special effects creators did their job perfectly.
For me, the most interesting technique is motion capture combined with compositing. The modern technology allows artists to capture the smallest moves of muscles and wrinkles in order to translate that motion into computer-generated models of characters. This results in a very realistic experience.
To be honest I am not interested into it, I don't see special efects in movies for me its totally natural of course there are exceptions like Smoleńsk :D
I think CGI is awesome, its hard to imagine that almost everything we see in the movie is rendered by computer.
Do you like vfx in movies?
When they are well made, sure I like them.
Did you know how many special effects are there in movies that you can't even see? (for example - changing background)
If I don't see them, how can I know that I don't know about them? :D
But sure, I realize that I don't see most of them.
Which of these techniques is most interesting in your opinion?
CGI. It gives the most of abilities and each year it is better and better. But it must be very hard for actors to "feel" the character when everything around you is green.
2. I am not a specialist and I don't know a lot about special effects but for sure movies have much of effects like a VFX.
3. I heard a lot about changing background but everytime when I see such examples like in your presentation I am surprised how huge impact such effects have on scenes in movies.
There are several main technologies thanks to which perhaps similar "magic":
Chroma Key — the actor is removed against the background of a green or blue cloth of fabric (rir-screen), then instead of this cloth "put" the image. Thus in one pavilion it is possible to shoot almost whole film.
Motion Capture is "occupation of the movement". Special sensors (white balls or cubes) are attached to the real actor, and then on the computer there is an analysis of its movements. The actor who is completely dressed in a suit from sensors moves, and then these data of animation are transferred to the computer character. Thus the computer character moves the same as the person (smoothly and physically correctly). And sometimes occupation of the movement is used locally, for example, to add to the real actor something computer — a live beard or scales, for example.
I think that modern movies use from 0 to 95% of VFX created world because there is the only way to create extremely dangerous picture without damage for real actors or without grim.
I think that composing and CGI is most interesting techniques for film development.
No, I have never thought about number of special effects in movies.
Hmm, the most interesting technique.. I have heard about computer-generated imagery (CGI) and I will choose this option. It's refer to 3D computer graphics used for creating scenes or special effects in films and television.
2. I knew about the existence of the main visual effects that are used in the film industry. On the Internet you can find detailed videos, which show famous movie scenes and how they would look without processing. Nonam, the audience, you can only guess about the entire magical and time-consuming process that occurs when creating the next masterpiece.
3. For me, the most interesting technique is using CGI, in which objects and their movement are created with the help of computers - this is a very laborious process, you need to carefully work out all the details, know the physical movement of the object, choose the right colors. Each model is worked out from scratch, layer by layer drawn on computer screens.
2. I had a chance to hear about some or these yet im sure there's plenty for me to learn.
3. I'd guess cgi seems the most interesting as it borders with my history of making 3d models and animations using some open source programs available on the web.
Oh, I can imagine. Sometimes I’m trying to think about it while watching the film and then I’m checking on the Internet if I were right. In most cases - there’s still much more VFX than I thought :D
I’m interested in CGI, because it sounds like freaking magic. Doing magic from nothing - wow! And rotoscoping sounds like a hardest thing in the world, I admire those people for their work.
I like VFX in science fiction movies when you can't show this scene without visual effects. Also VFX exists different quality, I don't like a poor VFX which viewer can easily make out.
2. Did you know how many special effects are there in movies that you can't even see? (for example - changing background)
Yes, I watched some backstage videos from popular movies or TV shows. This is a huge job, people who usually do not see.
3. Which of these techniques is most interesting in your opinion?
These technology have been designed for different cases, for me CGI is most powerful.
If special effects are well made, of course I like it.
But script is more important for me.
2. Did you know how many special effects are there in movies that you can't even see? (for example - changing background)
I don't know exactly how many, but I think nowadays a lot.
3. Which of these techniques is most interesting in your opinion?
In my opinion the most interesting one is compositing and CGI.
I really love it when it's done with mind. I like special effects that comes naturally with enviroment or are just so amazing done, with quality!
2. Did you know how many special effects are there in movies that you can't even see? (for example - changing background)
yea I know I know... Sometimes it's even 99% of the movie... Kung Fury is the best example I can say! Even Hobbit series had a lot of green screen and effects added to the movie... From my point of view something like... 70% or more...
3. Which of these techniques is most interesting in your opinion?
As Marcin wrote above - Compositing and CGI! Why? I don't know, but when it's done with mind it fascinates me, when it looks profesional it's really mind-blowing!
I do like them, but I'm also scared of them - nowadays you can manipulate the movie as you want. It may lead to possibility of creating some false evidence, which could not be that nice :/ from a movie viewer point of view - they're nice, if they're done good :)
Did you know how many special effects are there in movies that you can't even see? (for example - changing background)
I did know, but I didn't realized how many of them were there. Just wow.
Which of these techniques is most interesting in your opinion?
Compositing looks very nice. You can do almost everything with it.
Yes, I know. Sometimes movie creators make CGI even simple things that obviously could be done using practical effects. Sometimes CGI feels so overused in the film that when you look behind the scenes footage, then all you see is a bunch of green or blue screens.
Composition and rotoscoping are probably the most complex and expensive ones to make in my opinion, but they allow to make the movie more realistic so no wonder why every sci-fi action movie use these technics.
To some point - I don't like when there's more vfx that actual actors play
2. Did you know how many special effects are there in movies that you can't even see? (for example - changing background)
Yes ! Or only I think that I know, but in fact there's a lot more...
3. Which of these techniques is most interesting in your opinion?
Compositing - I love to watch those comparisions as You pasted, when actors are playing in some weird suits, and later in post production all those effects are added
2. No, but I guess.
3. I think the most interesting is Motion Capture technique, which is used not only in film industry.
I didn't know there are so many of them but I was aware of some of the visual effects in movies that We can't see.
For me, the most interesting one is Compositing because I remember when I first saw this technique on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. It is one of my favourite film of all time.
A lot. Because our movies became more visually richer and also so many possibilities appeared for creators to make even more complex and interesting stories.
Did you know how many special effects are there in movies that you can't even see? (for example - changing background)
Yes, I do. Also stars and moon are usually added in post-production but this is so cool that effects are so advanced thet we cannot distinguish them from real life. It's even better than when you know that it was made on computer.
Which of these techniques is most interesting in your opinion?
I think possibility to create awesome locations is the most interesting. Because practical effects are limited in money and resources or just physics. But VFX is opening for us whole new world of what we can do.