Why learning rotoscoping as part of the 3D Animation and VFX for Film course is so important

There are lots of different skills you can learn to help you make a kickass film.

If your project is low budget or you don’t have access to a greenscreen for your character who is about to walk out of an exploding building - you should try Rotoscoping.

Traditionally, a rotoscope artist would trace over film, frame by frame to get realistic animation or effects. However, with the introduction of 3D animation and VFX, the technic is similar but by creating mattes to eliminate foreground or background images. Imagine; you film your friend running out your front door and landing on a mattress, but don’t want to burn the house down in the process.

There are some amazing programs out there such as Nuke and Adobe After Effects which can help you trace your actor so that you can place a digital explosion behind your friend to simulate your house exploding as they run out the door. Once you learn the basics of rotoscoping, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to create awesome scenes for your short films!

The best way to ensure you have great footage is to have your actor wearing contrasting colours to your background eg. your house, as well as having a well-lit scene; these 2 elements will make it a lot easier to cut out your friend.

Rotoscoping is also a significant component of post-productions work on feature films all over the world. Examples of Films where AIE Graduates have worked as Rotoscope Artists are Thor: Ragnarok, Blake Panther & A Wrinkle in Time.

See AIE Graduate Jesse Cohen’s showreel below: