Apple Pro Training Series: Shake 4: Professional Compositing and Visual Effects

By Marco Paolini
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Pub Date: October 25, 2005
ISBN: 0-321-25609-3
Pages: 480

Talk about making an impact: Apple's Shake compositing and visual effects software has been used in every Academy Award-winning film for visual effects since its debut. It's no wonder that trained Shake artists are in high demand, and there's nowhere better to begin getting that training than with this fully updated (for Shake 4) and comprehensive Apple-approved guide (which includes a free 30-day trial version of this multi-thousand dollar software) Using step-by-step, hands-on instruction, Hollywood effects wizard Marco Paolini takes you through Shake's interface and features, including its color correction tools, tracking and stabilization capabilities, integrated procedural paint, powerful new floating point technology, advanced keyframing, blue and green screen techniques, rotoscoping tools, and more. As with the other titles in the Apple Pro Training series each chapter in this guide represents a complete lesson, with a project to complete, a review section, and bonus exercises to help test what you've learned. The accompanying DVD includes the lesson files needed to complete the book's projects. You can work through the book from cover to cover to get an entire course or you can go straight to the lessons that interest you most. Either way, you'll find the coverage you need to confront even the most daunting compositing and effects tasks with Shake.


Copyright
Acknowledgments
Getting Started
About Apple Pro Training Series
System Requirements
Installing Shake
Copying the Shake Lesson Files
Resources
Apple Pro Certification
Lesson 1. The Shake Workflow
Interface Workflow
The Shake Interface
Imprting Images and Sequences
Using the Viewer
Lesson Review
Lesson 2. Basic Compositing
Understanding Process Trees
Creating a Simple Tree
Creating a Drop Shadow
Rendering Your Tree
Lesson Review
Lesson 3. Intermediate Compositing
From Robot to Robzilla
Creating a Drop Shadow from Scratch
Animating over Time
Applying the Finishing Touches
Lesson Review
Lesson 4. RotoShape
Add Shapes vs. Edit Shapes
Creating and Modifying Shapes
Knot Modes
Right Mouse Controls
Roto Tips
Creating a Rotoshape
Integrating Rotoshapes into the Composite
Miscellaneous RotoShape Viewer Controls
Lesson Review
Lesson 5. Color Correction
Basic Color-Correction Tools
Using PlotScanline to Understand Color Corrections
Concatenation
Color Matching Using Channel Isolation
Color Matching Using ColorMatch
The ColorCorrect Node
Lesson Review
Lesson 6. QuickPaint
Setting Resolution
Edit vs. Paint Mode
Using the Brushes
Choosing a Color
Modifying Strokes
Understanding Stroke Modes
Converting Strokes
Creating a Write-On Effect
Painting in Perspective
Dustbusting and Rotoscoping
Lesson Review
Lesson 7. Tracking
One-Point Tracking with MatchMove
One-Point Tracking with Stabilization
Applying Four-Point Tracking
Making Tracker Adjustments
Lesson Review
Lesson 8. Film Compositing
Film Resolution Files
Proxies
The Bullet Composite
Rendering Full Resolution
Lesson Review
Lesson 9. Video/Audio
Video Fields
Remastering Media in the FileIn Node
Miscellaneous Video Functions
Audio
Lesson Review
Lesson 10. Keying
Understanding Primatte
Adding a Reflection
Lesson Review
Lesson 11. MultiPlane Compositing
FileIn the Source Material
Preparing the Elements
Taking a Tour of MultiPlane
Hooking Up the MultiPlane Node
Creating the MultiPlane Composite
Lesson Review
Lesson 12. Advanced Compositing
FileIn the Source Material
Creating a Macro
Create a Flickering Neon Light
MultiPlane and 3D Tracking Data
Lesson Review
Lesson 13. Warping
FileIn the Source Material
The Old Stabilize/Destabilize Trick
Key the Scarf
Compositing Outside Keylight
Warping the Scarf
Color-Correcting the Scarf
Destabilizing the Composite
Lesson Review
Lesson 14. The Command Line
Shake in the Command Line
Command-Line Compositing, in Depth
Lesson Review
Final Cut Studio Workflows
Inside Back Cover
The Apple Pro Training Series
Glossary


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