"Steve Wright's "Compositing Visual Effects - Essentials for the Aspiring Artist"

Book Review

If you are thinking of getting into film special effects or are just curious about how it is done, "Steve Wright's "Compositing Visual Effects - Essentials for the Aspiring Artist" is a great book for someone just starting out in this space. 

It covers CGI, set extension, blue-screen and green-screen, motion tracking, rotoscoping, image blending, creating masks, etc - all the essentials and basis of modern day film and video special effects.

Beginning with an inspirational tour of the scope and magnitude of digital compositing you get a solid overview of the kinds of digital effects routinely executed today. See how CGI (Computer Generated Image) is composited with live action, how set extensions are done, and what a match-move shot is. Following that, you learn each of the key applications of digital compositing, which include bluescreen compositing, bullet time shots, motion tracking, and rotoscoping, and you get a primer on digital images, key concepts, and terms used in the compositing process. The subsequent chapters dig down into each of the major digital compositing applications, introducing the fundamental concepts and processes behind them. This includes the many ways to composite CGI, bluescreen compositing, animation, creating masks, working with digital keyers, and many more; but most importantly, the art of digital compositingmaking your shots look not just photorealistic, but cool.

Learn what is easy and hard, possible and impossible, and what to expect when working on a job that entails digital compositing. There are tips on when not to use the new low-end DV video cameras and tips for the client, such as guidelines on how to shoot a quality bluescreen or greenscreen to get the best results at compositing time. All the while, special attention is paid to defining new terminology and telling a clear story from the ground up, with the only requirement being that you have read the previous chapters.

Steve Wright is a visual effects compositing veteran with 70 broadcast television commercials and over 60 feature films credits. Hes developed video games at Atari, done 3D animations for Robert Abel and Associates, and was senior compositor and 2D technical director at Kodaks Cinesite. Steve is now a freelance, digital-compositing guru, who teaches, trains, writes, and develops on-line training programs.

Review
...leads the reader through the entire process and techniques used to create blockbuster effects, but makes the journey easy for the layperson. This is a MUST-HAVE book for anyone who wants to know the magic that digital compositing is. Jeffrey Jasper, VFX Compositor, New Deal Studio (The Good Shepherd, X-Men 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3)

Steve Wright is the master of clarity. Compositing Digital Effects is easy on the brain and on the eyes... the perfect textbook for students who are just becoming familiar with computer graphics and filmmaking. --Larry Elin, Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University

Review
...leads the reader through the entire process and techniques used to create blockbuster effects, but makes the journey easy for the layperson. This is a MUST-HAVE book for anyone who wants to know the magic that digital compositing is. Jeffrey Jasper, VFX Compositor, New Deal Studio (The Good Shepherd, X-Men 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3)

Steve Wright is the master of clarity. Compositing Digital Effects is easy on the brain and on the eyes... the perfect textbook for students who are just becoming familiar with computer graphics and filmmaking. -- Larry Elin, Associate Professor, Television, Radio, Film, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University

... nearly as much fun as talking to Wright in person because he writes just like he speaks: entertainingly, concisely and accurately. George Merkert, Visual Effects Producer (As Good As It Gets, Total Recall, In The Line of Fire, Starship Troopers)