Digital Compositing for Film and Video, Second Edition (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation)

List Price: $59.95 Discount Price: $33.92

Customer Reviews:

Nice book [Posted on 2007-05-13]
This is a very complete and engaging book.
It's generic enough so that you can learn a lot regardless of your software/manual tools;
But it focuses enough on certain programs, that it is still useful for those specific users as well.
It was a gift for a relative, but I spent a few hours reading before giving it away...

Must have [Posted on 2007-06-08]
I bought it based on the first Edition and I wasn't wrong.
Its even better.

An Essential Guide and not just for compositors [Posted on 2007-07-08]
If you've ever been on set and heard the catchphrase "fix it in post" this book is for you.

Not only is the information detailed and thorough, but also extremely readable. Some ironic asides demonstrate Wright has the experience to back up his text. He covers all levels of compositing, from basic luminance keying to green-screen/blue-screen, to color corection and matching foreground and background elements, motion tracking, alpha-channels (to premultiply or not premultiply) and the differences between film and video.

The book is not software specific, and the enclosed exercises and demonstrations can be done on most software with compositing features -- including Photoshop!

Why four stars and not five? The extra money demanded for addional exercises seems to be an unfair gouge. But the book is definitely worth the cover price! Even if you have no immediate aspirations at all to composite something, you'll at least see just how tough it can be.

Producers, Directors and Camera departments (aspiring or experienced) can all learn something here -- and with any luck they'll learn it before they light their next green/blue screen.

Too bad the cover is so damn ugly.

Useful Update from First Edition [Posted on 2008-06-14]
I found the second edition to be a worthy upgrade from the already very good first edition.

For those looking for an image slice tool as used throughout the book, if you use Adobe After Effects you can get the image slice tool as part of the Test Gear plug-in for After Effects.

(Disclosure: I helped create the Test Gear product. But the image slice tool *is* a very useful tool and it's otherwise not commonly available, despite it featuring prominently in this book.)

most universal text [Posted on 2008-07-01]
I use Shake, and for simpler stuff, Final Cut's little compositor or else and old version of After Effects.
Wright's approach to principles makes the shifts easier. He explains well.

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