User:Roger/Compositing

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  • Note: dont expect this anytime soon*--Roger 22:51, 27 February 2007 (CET)

This page discusses the theory behind a possible rewrite of the User Manual, and the rationale for why it should be organized and written in the manner proposed. Specifically geared toward compositing, of course. However, the thought process documented provides a rationale for reorganizing some sections of the current manual, and can guide wiki authors in making sure that they are addressing the needs of their audience.

Actors/Audience

There is a wide array of talented people that use Blender, each of whom may be a:

  • 2-D artist that produces single image art or enhances single images
  • 2-D artist or team that produces cartoon/caricature animations
  • 3-D artist that works alone or with another person to produce short CG animations, possibly featuring some live action.
  • 3-D team that produces an animated (100% CG) movie.
  • 3-D team that works together to produce live action movies that include some CG.

We can divide the 2-D and 3-D teams that produce movies and animations further into individual job categories that include:

  • Author-Comes up with the idea, the plot. Writes a book.
  • Producer-finds the money, picks the best talent available. May fund a short or animatic to get money interested in funding the effort. Finds time to code and enhance key tools, like Blender.
  • Script and ScreenWriter-Takes the story/book and makes a play out of it with dialog
  • Director - turns the script into something visual. Works with location scouts to find a place to shoot the live action. Oversees the whole production. Drinks lots of coffee.
  • Storyboarder/Sketch Artist - works with Director to lay out action, camera angles, shots. Sketches/clay models main actors and props.
  • Modeler - Makes a virtual reality. Specialities include Character, Prop and Landscapes/Stage modelers
  • Camerman, Director of Photography (DP): sets up the camera and its motion, shoots the live action, renders the output frames.
  • Material Painter - paints the set, the actors, and anything that moves. If it doesn't move, they paint it anyway.
  • Animation and Rigging - makes things hop about using armatures
  • Special Purpose talent - Fluids, Motion Capture, Cloth
  • Lighting and Color Specialist - Lights the stage and sets, adjusts colors to look good in the light, adds dust and dirt to materials, scenes, and textures.
  • Matte painter - paints the backgrounds, broad views
  • Camerman, Director of Photography (DP): sets up the camera and its motion, shoots the live action, renders the output frames.
  • Recording Editor, Foley effects - records voice talent and takes, selects the best ones, introduces special sound effects.
  • Editor - takes all the raw footage from the DP and sequences it into an enjoyable movie. Cuts out unnecessary stuff.
  • Musician - creates wondrous, beautiful, haunting and suspenseful musical score.

Compositing Users who need a Manual

Compositing is an activity performed by or in close cooperation with the:

  • 2D Still Artists
  • 2D Still Editors (photo lab, touchup, processing)
  • 2D Animators and 3-D team:
    • Cameraman
    • Director
    • Editor

These people are the audience for this section. These people work very hard, spending much overtime and iteration and late nights struggling to meet deadline. If they all don't kill themselves or each other before the end of the project, a beautiful product results that is enjoyed by millions around the world.

Note: Musician uses Audio window? Foley Sound Effects? The Audio window is covered under VSE currently. Maybe a special note or something?

When does Compositing Start?

Each of these actors can use Blender a little or a lot in a certain way to do certain tasks that they need to do, in order to produce an animation. Each of these uses is called a "Use Case" and there are thousands of them. Generally, the overall workflow progresses from "Concept" to "Creation". With regard to Compositing, it really starts when all the shots are "in the can", an old phrase meaning that the exposed reels of film were in their can containers and on their way to be developed. The starting point for compositing, by actor is:

  • 2D Still: components modeled and rendered, base painting done, model and camera angle set, materials complete.
  • 2D Animators: alpha shots are rendered and put out as image sequences; backgrounds (mattes) have been painted; the base art or picture has been painted. 3D shadeless tooned characters have been animated and shots rendered out to sequence files.
  • Cameraman - individual shots and alpha image sequences have been rendered. All live action has been shot.
  • Director - Shots are "in the can"; still not sure about overall mood, has hopefully more that enough material to assemble a movie and tell a good story in the time allotted.
  • Editor - sequenced files have rendered

When does Compositing End?

You are done compositing when you hand the master off to the duplication and distribution team, or post it as a Finished Project in BlenderArtists.

Use Cases/Sections

These people all have in common that the scenes have been rendered to an image sequence, or that the .blend file Scene is 'done' and ready for rendering out a certain frame set. The images and renderlayers still may have to be overlaid ontop of backgrounds or stages to produce footage. The average footage length is a few seconds. Within that footage, certain things, like screen displays and special effects still need to be composited over live action shots. The main actors still need to be placed into their sets and background mattes included. Once that is done, the main process of editing can begin.

Editing is an interative activity. You may come up with several edits that tell the story or reveal things in a certain order. However, that is a Creative activity, and Blender only has to allow you to splice film segments together any way you want, and allow you to put out multiple versions. It sounds like a seriously rigorous directory structure and file naming convention is needed to handle all the versions and sequences and stuff being rendered.

Starting with all this raw input is important and must be addressed. We also mentioned rework; so re-opening old cans of worms is important and must be addressed and accomodated in examples. Outputting the results without overwriting the source images and keeping all these file sequences organized and straight must be addressed.

??? Do we address Rendering a Scene ??? In a way, rendering a Scene is just binding it to fixed images. Working on the premise that we delay binding as late as possible in the process, then yes.

Use Case categories

Relating only to the Compositing Activity, use case categories include:

Importing

Setup

  • - file directories, mapped drives, preview using Image window, versions

A single image, an image sequences, or a movie clip

        • Spotlight on Image node

Importing a Renderlayer

How to view raw footage

Assembling Raw Footage

How to overlay images

Using Backdrops (Backbuf vs. plane projection vs alphaover; mattes)

      • Spotlight on AlphaOver

Working with Mattes

        • (new matte nodes?)

Adjusting Matte image position

Previsualizing motion blur (Vector Blur)

Creating more footage from stills and footage (Time node)

Enhancing footage

Adjusting the lighting

How to adjust colors and tinges

        • Spotlight on color input,

Making a negative

Enhancing photographs

Making it Real

Making it dirty - adding dust and smoke

      • Spotlight: Texture Node

Blurring the background

Faking DOF

Lens flares

Camera Shake

Developing Errors - streaks, pushing/saturation, overexposure

Sequencing and Splicing footage

How to splice finished segments together

        • Spotlight on Time-Mix node, Image strip controls
      • different splices, fades, wipes, transitions

Adding those Finishing touches

Opening Titles

Closing Credits

Easter eggs

Watermarking

Saving your work

    • A word about Image formats for the Non-technical person
    • Directory and Naming structures

Philosophy

Each of these categories must be written for the audience of actors specified above.

The text of each section is How to Use Blender to get your job done. Each section will probably conclude with "For more information on the Map Value Node, click here.. Each page's talk page should note WHO this page is intended for (e.g. 2D still artists and Directors) and WHY they should bother reading it and what we hope they get out of it.

Organization relative to Blender Features

Now, Blender has two completely different tools and approaches within it to get the above tasks completed: the old VSE and the new Nodes. You can use one only, or the other only, or both in some combination. So, we could in the manual, have:

  • Compositing
    • Compositing Using the Video Sequence Editor
      • Video Sequences
        • Common Video Sequences (mixing, fading, crossovers, extending)
      • Audio Sequences
    • Compositing Using Nodes (the current page named Node Composition)
      • Importing
      • Compositing raw footage (...etc as per above use case organization)

OR

  • Compositing
    • Importing
      • Importing into the VSE
      • Importing using Nodes
    • Compsiting raw footage
      • Compsiting raw footage using the VSE
      • Compsiting raw footage using Nodes

etc.

I think the second way is horribly redundant. It would be valid if the VSE was going to keep getting enhanced, but i think(?) it's not. It would also involve major surgery to something that aint broke.

Completion Index

If you have questions about a specific node or how it is used, please refer to the table below, which lists all Compositing Nodes alphabetically. If you have questions about the Node Editor Window, [[Reference/?|click here. If you have questions in general about Nodes and how to connect them or group them, click here: THIS WILL BE COMPLETED ONCE THE ABOVE CATEGORIES ARE STABLE

Composite Node Index
Node Type Reference Manual Status
AlphaOverColor Reference/
  • Manual/firstref
  • Manual/ref2
  • Manual/ref3
0%
BlurFilter Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
Color RampConvertorReference/ Manual/x#x 0%
CompositeOutput Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
GroupGroup Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
Hue SaturationColor Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
ImageInput Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
Map ValueVector Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
MixColor Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
NormalVector Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
Render LayerInput Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
RGBInput Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
RGB CurvesColor Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
RGB to BWConvertor Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
Separate HSVAConvertor Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
Separate RGBAConvertor Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
Set AlphaConvertor Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
TextureInput Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
TimeInput Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
TranslateConvertor Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
ValueInput Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
FilterFilter Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
Vector BlurFilter Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
Vector CurvesVector Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
ViewerOutput Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%
Z CombineColor Reference/ Manual/x#x 0%

Archive: the discussion that started it all

Who has put this page there? It absolutely doesn't belong there! --Soylentgreen 23:08, 21 November 2006 (CET)

I'm responsible for this. I'm sorry, but i didn't find a better place (it doesn't quite fit into "Interaction in 3D", "Materials" and "Composition"), it was just to have it somewhere at all - it's a temporary location. Where do you suggest to place them? Even a single category just for general node-pages would be better than it is now IMO. --Hoehrer 11:02, 22 November 2006 (CET)

Another way would be to place it into the "Materials" AND "Composition" cetion, but that would break the Manual-style navigation a bit. Dunno what others think about that. --Hoehrer 11:08, 22 November 2006 (CET)

Either in the section "Materials" or a new section "Nodes". I tink we should consider a new arrangement of the pages in total. --Soylentgreen 15:31, 22 November 2006 (CET)

The "Materials" section is no option IMO, see above - you can start doing composition without ever reading the material sections and vice versa. That leaves only a "Nodes" section .. or .... what i would really like is a "General" section, something like renaming the "Interaction in 3D" section to e.g. "General" and put it there. --Hoehrer 16:01, 22 November 2006 (CET)

I'm strictly agains splitting up these two pages (this will save us some problems if the node-system is extended in the future). So I vote for a seperate "Nodes" section as Soylentgreen mentioned (we could place it right before the "Materials" one). --Hoehrer 15:24, 29 November 2006 (CET)

After much reflection and thought, I suggest a solution to our dilemma. From the beginning, http://download.blender.org/documentation/htmlI/ the user manual was and should continue to be organized around major user activities, and not Blender window types. Nodes is not a major user activity; it isn't even a minor activity; it is a feature and tool within Blender. Therefore, nodes does NOT deserve its own section. The organization should stay as it is. The "what are nodes" and "why use nodes" writing that is now common should be broken out and 'duplicated', rewriting each with a slant toward its use. The details on the Node Editor window header and 2D space movement (zooming, panning) should go into the Reference Manual, and the Reference Manual should be organized around Blender Features and Functions. The two go hand in hand; User Manual says how to use the software to get stuff done, written from the perspective of "how do I do X using Blender", and the Reference Manual says "On this Window Type, on this panel, this button does X and this is how it works." In particular, the "how to work with nodes" that explains sockets and threading and sizing is Reference material. A link to it in the User Manual would come under a simple short paragraph up front and sprinkled throughout.--Roger 13:57, 30 November 2006 (CET)

Ok, then the Node Editor and Using Nodes pages should be moved to the reference section or what? I admit i didn't really get all this text :-/ As long as we don't add even more to the redundancy I don't care how it's solved finally, but I'm sure not gonna maintain pages that just duplicate things over and over again (just stating my opinion, no hard feelings). Splitting up the composition and material-specific parts (especially the different headers) is fine with me, but the general ones (i.e the "View", Select" and "Node" menus) _do_ deserve their own page(s). It will be lots of fun to write even more "how do i use nodes" for each section if they are used in the e.g. sequencer, UV-Image viewer, action editor or anywhere else in the future (yes nodes can be used for a lot more than just 'graphical' stuff). --Hoehrer 15:00, 30 November 2006 (CET)

Oh and on a related note: a lot of "reference stuff" is currently more or less duplicated in the composition and material pages .. we might need to move/link them to the reference section as well. --Hoehrer 15:03, 30 November 2006 (CET)
Another thing: Roger - You just did one thing 180° in the other direction you just explained above. Wouldn't the "Grouping nodes" section then be moved to the reference section as well and only the pratical uses left int he comp&material sections? --Hoehrer 15:09, 30 November 2006 (CET)
Absolutely. Grouping is done with objects and both kinds of nodes, and is not a type of node. where it was in the TOC it was at the same level as each node type (input, output, color, etc), which was not appropriate. it is more related to Node manipulation and What are Nodes? and How do I use them, so until we have this resolved amicably I moved it down a level and embedded it in the intro.--Roger 03:14, 1 December 2006 (CET)

New structure example

What about this structure? Comments, critics,etc...?

--Hoehrer 15:23, 30 November 2006 (CET)

[SNIP] removed my idea, Rogers' below has everything in it :) --Hoehrer 10:23, 1 December 2006 (CET)

Building on your idea, Werner, we take the use-specific stuff and keep it in the User Manual. This material addresses all the questions that keep coming up on Elysun. For example, the Mix node writeup has a lot of good ideas and pointers on how to use the node to achieve desired effects, but users could give a crap about the mathmatical formula used. So, how about:

MANUAL part

Compositing (current Compositing page)

  • Compositing Using the Video Sequence Editor
    • Video Sequences
      • Common Video Sequences (mixing, fading, crossovers, extending)
    • Audio Sequences
  • Compositing Using Nodes (the current page named Node Composition)
    • Using Nodes to Import and Export Images (Input & Output & RenderLayer pages)
      • Importing (may be one page depending on length, but the outline is:)
        • Importing Single Colors and Images
        • Importing Image Sequences and Movies
        • Importing your Scene (RenderLayer node and Render Layer page)
      • Exporting a Composition (covers Image, sequence, movie clip, UV, viewer)
    • Creating a Movie using Nodes (covers Time, input sequence offsets, mixing, fading, alpha over and common shot transitions used in traditional film)
      • Titles and Credits (practical uses of the fader & translate nodes)
    • Using Nodes to Composite Color Information (Color and Vector pages)
    • Using Nodes to Manipulate Images (Filter & Convertor & Matte pages) 
   (e.g. the above pages contain only layman's terms saying What they do, How to use them, samples, example noodles, lots of pictures). Any technical background or socket-specific info gets moved to reference. )
  • Common Composition Noodles
    • Using Vector Blur
    • Using Nodes to Blur Your Background
    • Using Nodes to Simulate Depth of Field (DOF)
    • Using Nodes to Enhance Photographs

REFERENCE part (similar to and merged with the old reference pages - the ones linked to in the ref-boxes)

  • Node Editor
  • Using Nodes
  • Compositing Nodes
    • Input Nodes
    • Output Nodes
    • Color Nodes
    • Vector Nodes
    • Filter Nodes
    • Convertor Nodes
    • Matte Nodes
  • Material Nodes
    • ^^^^ splitting this up as well?

...(I like this organized around Blender Features and Menu organization, like you suggested). There is a limited amount of stuff already there, and the pages currently under Intro would really really beef out that section. The Node Editor window currently is in Part III and could use the enhancement.

Material Nodes is not stable on my platform yet (2.4.2a Windows XP) enough to really use, although I understand them and can get them to work somewhat. Someone really needs to read the forum questions and get a feel for user's frustration with using Material Nodes to get the material they want, starting with Geometry...

Sorry for being longwinded, but am attempting to hear our user's complaints, address Soylent's and Werner's ideas, and provide a structure for future.--Roger 04:06, 1 December 2006 (CET)

Side Discussions

Grouping Nodes is both

My suggestion would be to either

--Hoehrer

I would even go so far as to say it belongs under basic window navigation and desktop management. From a user's perspective, it is merely some tools that help you manage your desktop space and organize your thoughts and re-use good ideas. The exact same use that Object Groups have (under Modeling, see the Groups & Parenting section). It's not a functional thing, it's an information/display management thing. I DO know that it is NOT a major thing that a user does to produce results before the deadline, and thus not deserving the same heading level as Convertor Nodes. Therefore, I buried it (the Composition group writeup) as a sub-head in the Node Composition page, and gave it a nice warm and dry home. I think it's happy there, as it gives a good foundation for users as they plunge forward, as it ties into and gives some guidelines about desktop management and arranging noodles for clarity, readability, and maintenance and re-use. It is a bit of an overkill and somewhat long, but complete. I think it's good to talk to users about those things, esp. advanced users, as an instructional 'tip from the pros' kinda thing.

As a balance, I would agree to just move it to the Reference doc (see my epistle in talk:Manual) and in the Manual/Node Compostion (where it is now) put in a link like you suggested as:

Advanced Users
As your noodles grow in size and complexity, consider Grouping them together into reusable components.

imho, that tells basic users it's available, and advanced users where to look for more info.--Roger 04:49, 1 December 2006 (CET) "as your noodles grow in size and complexity" - ?, that could be misconstrued! info.--Kellpossible 16:49, 7 April 2010 (CET)

Sounds like a good solution to me ... i think the discussion should continue at Talk:manual then. :) --Hoehrer 09:12, 1 December 2006 (CET)

Sandbox started 12/1/06

Side thoughts

  • Need example of putting a display on a live action blank screen. Putting a painting on a blank wall.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Roger/Compositing"