Com Positing

Digital Compositing
CS5245 Vision and Graphics for Special Eects Leow Wee Kheng Department of Computer Science School of Computing National University of Singapore
Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)
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Introduction
Introduction
Digital compositing means digitally manipulated integration of at least two images to produce a new image. The new image must appear realistic. It must be completely and seamlessly integrated, as if it were actually photographed by a single camera.
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Introduction
Example: A scene in Saint (1997) shot in front from blue screen.
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Introduction
Main Topics Keying

Separate foreground elements from background elements.
Rig Removal
Remove unwanted elements in footage.
Alpha Blending
Blend foreground elements with new background footage.
Other topics: Refer to [Kel00].
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Alpha Blending
Alpha Blending
Basic equation C = F + (1 )B F : foreground image B: background image C : composite : opacity or transparency matte: an image of values The above operation is performed on each corresponding pixel. If = 1, then C = F , foreground is shown, i.e., foreground is opaque. If = 0, then C = B, background is shown, i.e., foreground is transparent. 0 < < 1: semi-transparent, e.g., shadow, smoke, etc.
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(1)
Alpha Blending
Example: No Background B.
foreground F
matte
composite C
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Alpha Blending
Example: With Background B.
foreground F
matte
background B
composite C
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Digital Compositing
Alpha Blending
Example: Foreground with shadow.
foreground F
matte
background B
composite C
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Digital Compositing
Alpha Blending
Important Notes of shadow should take intermediate value (0 < < 1). Otherwise, shadow looks unreal.
A bad matte results in a bad comp.
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Alpha Blending
at boundary should also take intermediate value. Otherwise, have dark fringes. Good matte has intermediate at boundary and in shadow.
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Alpha Blending
Real images have smooth boundaries, no fringe.
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Alpha Blending
with After Eects
Alpha Blending with After Eects

1
Create a comp with matte, foreground, and background stacked in layers. Composite using luminance-based track matte.
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Keying
Keying
Separate foreground elements from background elements, creating a matte of foreground. Also called pulling a matte (of foreground), or keying out (i.e., making transparent) background. Recall: A good matte has intermediate in shadow and along object boundaries.
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Keying
Basic methods Luma keying

based on luminance, i.e., intensity.
Chroma or color keying

based on color, i.e., blue screen, green screen.
Dierence keying
requires clean plate, i.e., background image without foreground element.
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Keying
Basic Ideas Compute dierence between foreground and background (based on luma, chroma, or color). Map dierence value to . Very small di = 0. Very large di = 1. Intermediate di intermediate .
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Color Keying
with After Eects
Color Keying with After Eects

Example images from The Saint (1997).
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Color Keying
with After Eects
Create a comp with background below foreground in timeline panel.
Select foreground, then select Eect Keying Color Key. Use dropper to select Key Color. Set Color Tolerance amount.
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Color Keying
with After Eects
Results: Some background remains, some foreground is removed.
increase color tolerance
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Color Keying
with After Eects
Results: Color keying in AE has limitations.
increase color tolerance
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Color Keying
with Keylight in After Eects CS4
Color Keying with Keylight in After Eects CS4

Keylight [Key] An Academy award winning blue and green screen keyer. Core algorithm was developed by the Computer Film Company. Further developed and ported to After Eects by The Foundry. Use Keylight in After Eects CS4 Create a comp with background below foreground in timeline panel.
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Color Keying
Select foreground, then select Eect Keying Keylight. Use dropper to select Screen Colour for keying. Screen Balance is adjusted automatically.
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Color Keying
Keylight performs color keying as follows: Compare intensities of primary components of a pixel and screen color. If small di, set = 0: transparent background pixel
If large di, set = 1: opaque foreground pixel If moderate di, set intermediate : semi-transparent edge pixel
Color Keying
Blue screen is keyed out. Foreground element is blended with background.
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Color Keying
Display Status view to check result.
White: opaque Black: transparent Gray: semi-transparent Car window is not very transparent. Hands and steering wheel are a bit transparent. Need to x transparency problems.
Color Keying
In Keylight, transparency can be adjusted using the following features:
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Color Keying
Lets illustrate their functions using these test images:
foreground image
foreground blended on green screen
background image
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Color Keying
Screen Gain more red more transparent
increase gain
default = 100
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Color Keying
Screen Gain default = 100
decrease gain
more opaque more blue/green
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Color Keying
Screen Balance
change color increase balance
default
decrease balance change color
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Color Keying
Click Black Dierences below Click Black are assigned = 0. Result: Aected foreground pixels become totally transparent.
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Color Keying
Click Black more transparent
increase clip black
default = 0
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Color Keying
Click White Dierences above Click White are assigned = 1. Result: Aected foreground pixels become totally opaque.
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Color Keying
Clip White
default = 100
decrease clip white
more opaque
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Color Keying
Apply to our example: increase screen gain.
Status
Matte
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Color Keying
Final comp:
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Color Keying
Handling Blue Spill
Handling Blue Spill

Blue spill is due to light reected from blue screen.
(a) (a) Hair looks blue or purple. (b) Skirt has blue color.
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Color Keying
Handling Blue Spill
Key out blue screen using Keylight and blend with background. Example images from Merlin (1998).
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Color Keying
Handling Blue Spill
(a) (a) Background not clear.

Increase screen gain to improve transparency.
(b)
(b) Hair looks purple: blue spill.

Adjust screen balance to remove some blue spill.
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Color Keying
Handling Blue Spill
(c) (c) Still have blue spill.

Uncheck check-box for Lock Biases Together. Select skin color for Despill Bias using dropper.
(d)
(d) Final comp.

Color Keying
Handling Poor Green Screen
Sometimes, the blue/green screen may be poorly done. Example: from Executive Decision (1996). The green screen has more red than green!
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Color Keying
When the image is keyed, the foreground looks transparent.
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Color Keying
To x the problem, need to tell Keylight to scale down red component so that the green component is the most prominent. Check check-box for Lock Biases Together. Select skin color for Despill Bias using dropper. Need to select from Source view, i.e., input image. Alpha Bias is selected automatically.
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Color Keying
Display Status view to check result.
Pilots mask is transparent. Cockpit glass canopy is not totally transparent. Need to x transparency problems.
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Color Keying
Increase Clip Black to make the glass canopy more transparent.
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Color Keying
Decrease Clip White to make the mask opaque.
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Color Keying
There are some spots on the foreground and background, most apparent in the Matte view.
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Color Keying
Increase Screen Despot Black and Screen Despot White to remove spots.
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Color Keying
Handling Fringes
Handling Fringes
Sometimes, adjusting Clip Black and Clip White can produce fringes. Adjusting Screen Gain usually doesnt produce fringes.
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Color Keying
Handling Fringes
One method of removing fringes is to shrink the screen matte. Set Screen Shrink to small negative value.
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Color Keying
Handling Fringes
Large negative value Shrink too much
Small negative value Just nice
Positive value Expand too much
Demo: keyed by Keylight, keyed by Ultimatte AdvantEdge.
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Dierence Keying
Dierence Keying
Key out background based on pixel-wise color dierence between foreground and background footage. Can be used when: Blue screen is imperfect. Background is not of uniform color.
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Dierence Keying
Require a clean plate: footage without foreground.
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Dierence Keying
with Ultimatte AdvantEdge
Dierence Keying with Ultimatte AdvantEdge

Ultimatte AdvantEdge is a plug-in to After Eects. Select foreground, then select Eect AdvantEdge. Specify clean plate image. Select screen colour using dropper of Sample Backing. AdvantEdge can use clean plate to do screen correction.
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Dierence Keying
If screen correction is imperfect, can use guide lines to limit area to be blended.
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Dierence Keying
Final comp:
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Rig Removal
Rig Removal
Rigs are equipment that support the actors or props. Sometimes, rigs cannot be removed by keying alone. So, have to apply masking technique to remove rigs. Need clean plates of background footage. If camera moves, then need motion-controlled camera. Computer controls camera to move the same way twice:
Without foreground objects; get clean plates. With foreground objects.
Basic Idea: Apply a mask to mask out the rig. Replace pixels in masked area by corresponding pixels in clean plate. If rig moves, then animate the mask accordingly.
Rig Removal
Example: Lets assume that this chess piece is a rig.
Show: Chess footage, clean plate.
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Rig Removal
Step 1: Align Clean Plate Check misalignment between foreground and clean plate. Motion-controlled camera cant be perfect. Dierence of foreground and clean plate can reveal misalignment.
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Rig Removal
Translate clean plate to align. Use real number coordinates get more precise alignment. Have to set layer quality to Best.
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Rig Removal
Dierence comp after alignment:
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Rig Removal
Step 2: Mask Out Rig Lock clean plate to avoid accidental change of position. Put a mask over rig, include rig shadow. Set mask mode to Subtract.
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Rig Removal
Rig removal result for rst frame:
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Rig Removal
Oval shaped mask may not work in general. May mask out part of foreground element.
Need to manually set the mask shape. Rotoscoping: manually set outline of mask, matte, or foreground.
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Rig Removal
3. Animate Mask Move mask to cover rig in subsequent frames. Make large mask to minimize the number of keyframes that need rotoscoping.
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Rig Removal
Rig removal result:
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Summary
Summary
Further readings and exercises: Other miscellaneous topics in compositing [Kel00]. Adobe After Eects CS4 User Guide [Aft]. Keylight User Guide [Key]. Do the tutorials in Keylight User Guide. Download test images from The Foundary [Fou].
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References
References
After Eects CS4, www.adobe.com/products/aftereects/. The Foundary, www.thefoundry.co.uk. D. Kelly. Digital Compositing In Depth. Coriolis Group, 2000. Keylight, www.thefoundry.co.uk.
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Digital Compositing

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

Example: A scene in Saint (1997) shot in front from blue screen.

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

Main Topics Keying

Other topics: Refer to [Kel00].

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

Example: With Background B.

Example: Foreground with shadow.

A bad matte results in a bad comp.

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

Real images have smooth boundaries, no fringe.

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

with After Eects

Alpha Blending with After Eects

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

Basic methods Luma keying

Chroma or color keying

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

with After Eects

Color Keying with After Eects

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

with After Eects

Create a comp with background below foreground in timeline panel.

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

with After Eects

Results: Some background remains, some foreground is removed.

increase color tolerance

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

with After Eects

Results: Color keying in AE has limitations.

increase color tolerance

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

with Keylight in After Eects CS4

Color Keying with Keylight in After Eects CS4

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

with Keylight in After Eects CS4

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

with Keylight in After Eects CS4

with Keylight in After Eects CS4

Blue screen is keyed out. Foreground element is blended with background.

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

with Keylight in After Eects CS4

Display Status view to check result.

with Keylight in After Eects CS4

In Keylight, transparency can be adjusted using the following features:

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

with Keylight in After Eects CS4

Lets illustrate their functions using these test images:

foreground blended on green screen

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

with Keylight in After Eects CS4

Screen Gain more red more transparent

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)

with Keylight in After Eects CS4

Screen Gain default = 100

more opaque more blue/green

Leow Wee Kheng (CS5245)