Creative Compositing - Week 3 - Casting Shadows and Masking

In today's lesson we looked at masking and casting shadows, to show us Isiah made a composit which he then explained and talked the process through with us. 

For masking you use as many masks as you need on a single layer and gthey are used to go round ojects that you either want to keep or remove, They can also keyframed so thsat througha video you can mask the same thing even if the shape of it changes. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzAkb7Cw0uM

The above video shows the basics of what we learnt in the lesson.

The example Isiah showed use was how to create a shadow for a 3D object.
To start you must import you picture background into Maya and align a grid on the oject that you wish to cast a shaow on. You next have to creat a box that is the exact shape of the object (table top), it must not be flat otherwise the shadows cannot be intergrated.
You then must make a similar grid for the floor but you do not need a box this time as the floor is flat. Something you must know is how big the plane will be so you can work out how big the shadow will be.
You then need to make shaped for the rest of the object is they are going to cast shadows (legs of a table)
Now you must chose a position for the light so you know which way the shadow will go. You must make sure when rendering out that only the shadows are renders out and no the shapes.
Next you need to take it into After Effects so then you can add the shadows to the origional picture.

Doing shadows for 3D objects like a table is best done in Maya and shadows for a person is easier in After effects.

PLANNING !!! is the most important part.
 Knowing what layers your are going to have and then working from the background to the forground is best.


I have learnt from this lesson that planning and working with layers is very important so that each part of the composition can be correct and look real once they are put together.


Useful videos:

Adding shadows in Maya - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ8xQaI7GsM

Adding shadows in After effects - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bouyux5UYSw