How VFX Artists Composite CGI In Movies

[@modernmanueee_]

And this draws a very clear line between video editors and VFX artists.

[@jiriq8853]

What a great video! As a compositor myself, I can tell you this work is not for everybody. For me it is a dream come true, but only because I love movies and I love that my work will be seen (maybe even appreciated) by millions of people around the world. My final work - exactly the way I see it on my screen - will be projected in cinemas. That is way better than for example 3D artist whose 3D model will go through a lots of changes, maybe even defocused heavily and so their work very much differs from what is in the final scene visible. So this fact and my love for movies makes me to work my ass off to create a beautiful shot, even if I have to stay late at work to finish it.

[@goosyhq]

Could I have seen your work in anything?

[@jiriq8853]

@@goosyhq I am quite new to this industry so I don’t have many projects yet. The biggest one for me is Gran Turismo movie, or Outlander series for Netflix. New movies are going to be released - some of them got pushed due to the strike

[@goosyhq]

@@jiriq8853 you worked on gran turismo?! Holy shitballs dude that movie was sick! What scenes did you do??

[@jiriq8853]

@@goosyhq I am glad you enjoyed it 😁 let me tell you we worked on this under huge time pressure (that’s why the biggest shots aren’t as good as they could have been). A shot that I can describe is the very first one of LeMans sequence - drone flying over the track - the whole horizon and sky was replaced, added camp and cars on the right side and a lots of trees and all the people in the shot.. I also worked a bit on the Nurburgring crash and some other shots during some races

[@goosyhq]

@@jiriq8853 ahh I see, even with the pressure, the shots you and the teams did were amazing, there was no point in the movie where I was looking at the comping or editing and saw anything off, hats off to you and the others man! As a person looking to go into this field, any advice you could give me?

[@chironex4844]

such an underrated channel. loving these sort of breakdowns rather than just a standard one word answer.

[@crafthive]

Thank you :)

[@Zaymac_]

Been Compositing for a year and half and I love it! Its so much to learn and giving a impossible ceiling of learning everything which I love about it. Great video BTW

[@purdisc]

Great post and you’ve got me following your channel. As a former compositor I think you’ve covered everything. Favorite feedback note I ever got was, “make the rocks lighter”. For context, said rocks were tumbling into a dark abyss and thus had a swiftly diminishing light source.

[@madlookzvfx]

This is one of the best video explaining what VFX comper's do!

I left the vfx industry (compositor) due bad supervisors and low wage (in italy). I started this work seriously a bit late in my life ( 36 years old ), but before this age, i was really interested in it and i studied a lot as self taught, as a passion. Then at 36 years , i get some some course and books with some famous compositors. I started working in one of the biggest studio in italy and here i left due bad supervisors (lot of people leaves that studio) and low wage. Then i tried another studio, way smaller. Same here, really low wage. So, due my not so young age (about 5 years later, 41 years), i decided to quit the industry and come back to my old work, motion graphic. I'm sorry that it turned out that way, 'cause i really love compositing, but i also have to pay bills and i don't want to die by stress with bad supervisors. For anyone that want to start vfx career, don't be scared, this is my small point of view, it doesn't mean that it will be the same for you :) Nice video, btw!

[@charlesm835]

Great stuff. Haven't seen anything this comprehensive and easy to digest before.

[@OfficialDovikfilms]

This is the journey of mine for many years now. thanks for sharing this work

[@BuckJolicoeur]

Fantastic. I'm a Director. I've been looking for this kind of video to more clearly understand how to support the VFX side of filming. Straight forward. To the point. Thank you.

[@TheMovieRabbitHole]

10/10, this video is fantastic. Easily understandable and completely accurate.

[@crafthive]

Thanks, means a lot! Love your series

[@automatik25]

I love this type of ish. Also, you turned a 30 minute video into 11 minutes. Good job.

[@alikus7]

I have never seen a better modern breakdown of the generally VFX jobs umbrella (so tight and sweet) which is the modern VFX industry for individuals. Now all that's left is a proper union and shared annual royalties, for all those endless hours in front of a screen, for when a profit tier is crossed - or just profit, period.

[@GhostStealth590]

I've slowly learned VFX is not my niche. I feel better with a camera in my hand or diving deep into a complex multi-track timeline in Premiere or Resolve. Not because my 3D modelling and animating skills are bad or I lack understanding of compositing, but because the industry has not been the kindest to VFX artists. You're typically paid less and treated like less in my experience. When you say the project needs a couple more days because the simulation won't bake properly to their specifications, it ruins client relations because people are just plain out impatient. My only clients have been flighty and impatient, and that's not the people I can make work when it comes to creating in depth VFX.

[@taylorholton2149]

I fully respect it if VFX is not for you. But even though work can be tough, it's rewarding on another level. Also you can get paid a hell of a lot and also go up in salary faster than most industries. You won't have to deal with the clients for a very long time as an artist. Only when you start moving up as a lead and further.

[@jayylls]

That car scene is crazy

[@infinitefx10]

5:48 😁Thanks for highlighting my work!

[@crafthive]

(: solid composite!

[@infinitefx10]

​ @crafthive 😁

[@wolvenfx45]

Awesome video! I always struggle to explain what is compositing when someone outside the industry asks me what I do haha. Your video is a great way to show the range of what is possible with compositing. Great job!

[@joojosart7772]

Finally a video that explains the hole thibg correctly and shows some respect ❤

[@t.j.corcoran]

Awesome video, not exactly looking to work in this field but do similar things in sports videography, cool to see how the pros tackle it

[@cristir3463]

This is my dream job, I am halfway through my VFX and animation major and I can´t wait to be a Compositor and see my work on the big screen.

[@rakeshmalik5385]

I just finished a six-month course on VFX compositing in August, and found that I enjoyed compositing quite a bit more than I expected to. Now I'm trying to get my foot in the door... into an industry that is still in turmoil from the fallout from the strikes and AI and everything else that's been hamming the film industry lately. Hoping to use my photography, cinematography, and Houdini/Solaris experience to help with that first foot in the door part of things.

[@colin7moon]

I've only recently ended up in VFX unexpectedly, and I have come across lot of videos that doesn't seem to have relevant infomration in my seach for VFX knowledge. This video was exceptional though! I think you gave a great overview of current state of the industry.

[@VideoEditorReaction]

This video is so informative and to the point, thank you

[@johntnguyen1976]

Soooo good! Have loved all your "how CGi" videos...and am super stoked you've continued onto VFX as well, as it's my chosen career (maybe curse? 🤣🤷🏽‍♂️)

[@antstar1005]

Great (VID). I'm a (VFX Animator). Even for an Animator, I found this VID very informative. Thank you.

[@tyleradams3490]

“Lastly, add a color grade to help blend all the elements together as one.” - KZbin Compositors 🤦‍♂️ Great video and explanation!

[@FireballVFX]

Perfect straight to the point explanation with visuals, great job! 🎉

[@marcuscarter]

Excellent overview, thank you for your knowledge and time

[@Horolden]

wow! I do realy enjoy these videos my guy, please continue these

[@crafthive]

Thank you! I absolutely plan to

[@LxrdSwift]

Holy moly. You truly broke it down amazingly. As a vfx weekend warrior enthusiast i am swapping over to nuke in a week or so and am terrified of nodes 😂. And the “make it look realistic” gives me ptsd😅 i legit sit there scratching my head saying what could you possibly mean?!?!?!

[@FunnyAmprsar]

Very underrated. I loved the video!

[@FilmFlicks3358]

This was really good, any chance you could do a video on simulations using houdini? Keep up the good work 😊

[@crafthive]

Thanks! Yeah I'm pretty sure I'll be doing a simulation video like this in the near future

[@FilmFlicks3358]

@@crafthive awesome, I look forward to it

[@renwar_G]

Great video G

[@tbip2001]

Can you do a video on how vfx are added to to films to be shown in imax? Unless these effect shots are being rendered and output in 8k plus?

[@crafthive]

I could likely mention something along those lines in a future video!

[@darkvador6432]

Hey, nice clip... As a compositor myself, I confirm everything. One little common mistake, maybe : telling "DaVinci Resolve" when it's actually BMD Fusion which is involved for compositing (not color grading, specifically compositing), thereby - if you want to be specific and stick with Resolve - the Fusion tab of Resolve, though compositors often prefers the Fusion standalone application over the Fusion tab inside Resolve...

[@crafthive]

Good catch, I actually said 'Davinci Resolve's Fusion' but it was cut out in the edit by mistake :/ BMD's Fusion is more accurate!

[@darkvador6432]

@@crafthive Especially as BMD's Fusion means it might be in Resolve's Fu tab OR Fusion standalone (more likely this latter for HC ompositors 😉), so you can't be wrong. Well, just fiddling anyway ;)

[@christiangschweng1552]

The part about the feedback cracked me up XD

[@Abhishekkuru]

how is this channel have only 8k subs wtf

[@Utsab_Giri]

What about lens flares, especially anamorphic flares, in footage that needs to be rotoscoped? Do they remove the flare and then add flares at the very end?

[@McCawidule]

Fantastic video and loved learning about it, serious thanks. But please get someone to fix the mic plosives in audition. It takes like five seconds.

[@cg.man_aka_kevin]

8:24, crowds in Element 3D???!!!

[@Nick_Lavigne]

When did Nuke become the defacto compositor software in film? I coulda swore Fusion was for a long time.

[@crafthive]

Nuke has been a standard in the vfx industry for about 2 decades now

[@reaping_pixels]

Great video!

[@Tolepikin]

Great video

[@rakeshmalik5385]

BTW, one of my favorite jokes from lighting was when our DMX instructor told us about a DoP she'd worked with who asked her to "make it more ethereal" during production. We made fun of that for the rest of the course. :)

[@agudal8503]

Great video! Thanks

[@DeanCassady]

Crazy workflow for eat popcorn.

[@amplifydreality8869]

Shout out to @CorridorCrew Tom Cruise deep fake at 9:25. That was a really cool video as well

[@kevinparreira3754]

omg great video!

[@GFinVFX]

Great explanation! ;)

[@Nova_I_craft]

You are an underating creator, what you did here is very good. I have a question, I am an 18 years old student and i found out that i wanted to work on visual effect in movies. I don't know anything about 3D modeling, animation etc... Is is better to go in a university with this type of programs or is it better to buy a course on compositing academy. I am really hype to do this and i hope you will see my com. Keep doing what you do, its really inspiring.

[@crafthive]

thank you! i think thats a difficult question to answer and also has to do with where you're located. you can learn everything you need online, and itd likely save you a lot of money, but youd need to be completely self motivated. There's also the question of work permits/visas if youre not in a location with a lot of vfx work, sometimes it's easier to get sponsored with a degree. so I cant tell you for sure what would be best for you specifically

[@Nova_I_craft]

@@crafthive I am actually located in Montreal

[@__Obscure__]

You should consider replacing the thumbnail. The black and white scenes in Dune Part Two were shot using an infrared camera that could not see color. It was not changed to black and white in post, it was shot in black and white. It was therefore impossible to use a bluescreen on those scenes.

[@alanboucek]

coasting as a senior compositor? it beats getting stuck doing QC

[@GameSlimeOG]

What was that space creature movie in the beginning of this video? Or was it a game cinematic?

[@crafthive]

Pacific Rim (2013) !

[@JoshSher_]

Very informative, well made video! Thanks you! I’m not experienced in compositing or with nuke. Out of curiosity. Is nuke on a completely different level, feature wise than DaVinci Resolve (Fusion), or is nuke, mainly used by so many, just because it’s the standard and not because the features are so unique/good?

[@AlexDeadline]

It has become the industry's standard years ago, and it will very likely stay the same for a long time. Most companies don't see any interest in changing their workflow when most of the artists they want to hire are proficient with Nuke already. I'm not very familiar with Fusion, but Nuke does a LOT. It's not perfect but it's very versatile.

[@crafthive]

Thanks! Nuke is much more scriptable in a larger studio pipeline. It's got better tools for handling exrs, deep compositing, cryptomattes, and I'm told their paint and tracking nodes are more robust.

[@jojostalino1377]

dude that's insane, I started the video thinking i wanted to do that, now I know that I don't want to do that ahaha

[@crafthive]

Lol, it's actually a lot of fun once you get into it!

[@aliensoup2420]

@@crafthive Its fun to learn without the pressure. Everybody on the outside sees the final result and shouts, "I want to do that!", until they are finally stuck in the trenches with a deadline looming, or the nit-picking CG sup asking them to do it again for the nth time. There are probably more reasons you don't want to do this than things that inspire you.

[@jiriq8853]

As a compositor myself, I can tell you this work is not for everybody. For me it is a dream come true, but only because I love movies and I love that my work will be seen (maybe even appreciated) by millions of people around the world. My final work - exactly the way I see it on my screen - will be projected in cinemas. That is way better than for example 3D artist whose 3D model will go through a lots of changes, maybe even defocused heavily and so their work very much differs from what is in the final scene visible. So this fact and my love for movies makes me to work my ass off to create a beautiful shot, even if I have to stay late at work to finish it.

[@hannanshahid2416]

please make longer videos

[@TheGamingNorwegian]

Think ill just stick to 3D modelling... lol. I sort of understand how all this is done, but at the same time i dont. Like how the fuq is a VFX supervisor able to oversee everything in a team, are each frame of a scene rotoscoped, how does a composite program work considering it seems like its in 3D space but at the same time is a video editor and photoshop. It just gets so complex.

[@crafthive]

Haha, so yeah each frame is rotoscoped if there's a character they need to extract or something like that. Comp Softwares like Nuke are 2D for the most part, but have a 3d view for some more complex stuff like projections and deep. Join our discord and feel free to ask us any questions you have. We're happy to answer!

[@christopherortiz9330]

Play at 85% speed. You're welcome.

[@KonnRrr]

cool video bro

[@alexseleniar]

What do you think about Sora, won't it slowly and easily replace vfx artists with just a prompt?

[@crafthive]

I think it's going to be a good while before it gets to that point to be honest. Even static image generators like midjourney and stable diffusion are a long way off being art directable enough to handle the expectations that clients/directors have from my experience. I'm sure it will eventually get to that point though...

[@cms3d]

Hi guys, I am new into this and it looks overwhelming to be sincere, would you guys recommend me to take any learning path based on your experience? Please I'd appreciate it deeply!

[@crafthive]

Hey! We give some suggested learning paths in the video. I'd recommend checking out Compositing Academy or Compositing Pro to get started. Feel free to join our discord too to ask any specific questions and get discussions about your work going.

[@kanadiou]

And what about blue characters filmed on blue screens in galaxy gardians ???

[@parthgupta7849]

hey u should have mention VFX showdown channel

[@UnscriptedReview]

Bro ur thumbnail 😅 i worked on that shot ❤

[@siddheshd9]

now where can i learn this all ,ty

[@crafthive]

Some resources like Compisiting Academy/Compositing Pro were mentioned in the video. Otherwise, feel free to join our Discord Server and start asking questions, or stay tuned for more in depth tutorials eventually (:

[@GENERIC-RICE]

You forgot to credit film riot at 8:20! its fine, ok

[@Alphain]

Recently Started working production and i can tell everything mentioned in this video is true

[@davidy.9524]

I am a voiceover artist and I would to recommend that you tell the person who voiced this video to slow down. He sounds like he's talking to a bunch of teenagers because he speaks so fast. People want to understand the videos that they view by watching them all the way through and not having to rewind over and over again.

[@rohithreddy3776]

You are right

[@sikamoreify]

Compositors have saved more than a few cg artists' asses... Sadly most lighters rely way too heavily on compositors to do their job for them.

[@lazycreator7794]

Subscribed

[@amr_antar]

u did not insert any detailed example .. just preview ONLY

[@nithinraj4706]

I am a vfx artist how can i get a compositing job in us

[@crafthive]

Tough time for the industry these days, being really, really skilled usually helps

[@jlyn8228]

Drugged up on coffee, ready to do my first commission. Ain't that weird, caffeine is an accepted drug? Or am I a crazy drug user?

[@benetmerklin]

great video..but improve your audio quality, your better microphone

[@Instant_Nerf]

Yeah I find it hard to believe they just use stock footage for something they need.. doesn’t the scene need to fit that story ?

[@crafthive]

of course, but there are cases where you can use elements from stock footage. Often we'll use stock FX elements like dust, debris, smoke or fire to add to a shot. Otherwise, there are cases where you'll grab some other elements like a spider on a web and comp that into the foreground of a shot, etc.. It's more likely on higher budget movies that you'll create your own elements, but it still happens.

[@AexoeroV]

Alien technology, im so dumb i could not learn such things!

[@dorgondius975]

I’d love to learn compositing at a more professional level, but goddamn I cannot afford Nuke

[@crafthive]

Non-commercial Nuke is completely free assuming you're not planning to use it to make money. Otherwise, they have an indie option for much less expensive for once you get into professional work.

[@groovychocolate]

Skip to 1:05, just useless filler waffle until then

[@00hihh]

0:30

[@00hihh]

4:40

[@rubenhessels5323]

hi!

[@rafikz77]

Haaland in the thumbnail WTF

[@keYserSOze2008]

*are

[@Porean]

Bro composited in a bluescreen in the thumbnail on a film that didn't use blue/greenscreens.

[@charlie_putha]

This video is more uncomfortable for me!! Because of its speed😅 I watchd this using 0.75x speed Y bro are you targeting only fluent english viewers ?? Never mind this is just my thought 😊

[@ddrr6401]

i think ai will cover most of the part we don't need to do anything just watch the video :)

[@館林驍]

The narration is loud.

[@vid828]

Is 😂

[@tbip2001]

I wonder how long before AI makes these multiple pipelines (and jobs) redundant…?

[@crafthive]

Some stages of the pipeline are seeing some ai usage, but it's still very early days. I honestly think it'll be a good while before we start seeing significant ai replacement that makes vfx artists completely redundant

[@shiyanj2184]

Sora will make everything VFX wise redundant in a few years. I think this would be a terrible skill to just now be picking up

[@Icelandlover]

TMI for someone who just wanted to understand the basics. Ugh.

[@crafthive]

Sorry to hear that, there are some other videos that might do a better job simplifying some concepts. I really like this one by Roy Peker: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYrYZZipptuhh5Isi=55H35b6v1EH6nblj

[@dmitriysukhaninskiy7279]

video lie

[@shujin6600]

its just sad that actors get all the fame even though they do one of the least work in the whole creation.

[@aliensoup2420]

Don't say that in front of the actors on "They Abyss".

[@shujin6600]

@@aliensoup2420 its such a shame that people try to protect the actors. They did a little more that usual work but it was NOWHERE near as much as director, writer, or VFX artists. Like Vin Diesel got way more fame for groot than the VFX team like bro he was only dubbing it. Like its nothing more than stupidity.

[@aliensoup2420]

@@shujin6600 Who voiced Groot?

[@crookedfilms4190]

It's because they are the ones who make all that behind the camera work impactful through their acting. Nobody will like a movie just because it's vfx is good and acting is bad. Or if the story is good but the acting is bad. Yes, their minds and bodies don't take as much toll as other people on set and they get the fame because they are seen on a larger than life screen. Even if you see a small time supporting actor on screen and then meet that guy you will feel a sort of aura around them because the screen made them look larger than a common man.

[@shujin6600]

​@@crookedfilms4190 youre saying like there is no type of media who is not runned by a hero. There are MANY medias which has no actors just artist with skill no extra makeup shit. Yes they do work but its NOWHERE near as much work as any other major team. There is no way someone can say that VFX artist or director, or sound designer, or story writer does less work than actors. People like you only care about other things only if its bad best example is marvel's CGI. no one realized how great they were until they bring down their CGI quality, that's when people starting talking about CGI.

[@DarioMackey]

[@allen_bernardo_jr]

I understood some of these words 🫠 lol I joke, great video, a good amount is well above my pay grade but I dig the filmmaking stuffs so I appreciate the video and the insight, cool stuff 👏 👏