What is compositing?

“VFX Compositing seamlessly integrates digital assets with live-action footage to bring together the final shot of a film or game. Compositing is the final step of the VFX pipeline. A skilled Compositor layers together various elements in a way that makes them appear to naturally belong in the same space. To give you an example: a production company shoots a background (referred to as a plate) that contains a building up close and a cityscape behind. The Animator has animated a missile, and the Effects Artist has added smoke effects and an explosion with building destruction. Once this is all rendered out, the Compositor layers the missile, smoke, explosion and building destruction into the shot, using things like color correction and z-depth to bring it all together. Z-depth is basically a black and white representation of the depth of an object in a scene, and is very important in compositing 3D elements.”

Resources

Fitzgerald, R. (2019). What is Compositing?: The Job of a VFX Compositor: CG Spectrum. Retrieved September 28, 2020, from https://www.cgspectrum.com/blog/what-is-compositing