Tracking & Compositing VFX for Film & TV

2D & 3D Techniques using Nuke & SynthEyes with Zachary Goodson

In this compositing workshop, VFX Artist Zachary Goodson covers some of the basic and fundamental needs and tools used when creating fast-paced visual effects for film and television. Over seven lessons, he tackles professional 2D tracking, stabilizing, and rotoscoping for a 2D eye-glow effect. This exact method taught in this workshop was the same workflow used to create glowing eye effects in production. The following shot featured in the workshop is a painted-out sign replacement, which is a very common requirement in visual effects for film and TV. 

Artists are often asked to remove logos for copyright issues, or to even insert logos and brands that pay to be advertised in specific shows. Zachary reveals how professional artists handle a 3D camera track using SynthEyes. This includes how to 2D-track points in SynthEyes for a solid and accurate camera solve, how to place planes in the 3D scene for compositing in Nuke, and how to prep the export for Nuke. After exporting, he shows how to use the 3D camera to stabilize, prep, and clean-plate a shot, including adding multiple sign replacements. He teaches all the paint-outs and sign replacements using only one camera track and one giant 3D scanline patch in Nuke.

The techniques, tips, and methods featured in this workshop are widely used in visual effects for film and TV. They are fast, efficient, and great for getting a shot done under a tight deadline. All working Nuke files, SynthEyes files, PNG logo elements, and plate footage are included as downloadable project files for further practice and to help artists follow along with the lessons.