There are several ways to animate a film. And rotoscoping is one of the most clever yet time-consuming methods of bringing a movie to life. However, what exactly is rotoscope animation? While it is most commonly linked with contemporary works such as the 2006 film A Scanner Darkly and the new Amazon Prime series Undone, the approach has origins that go back decades. But wait, there’s more. Check out this comprehensive guide to learn what rotoscoping animation is, how it is done, and the types of software used.
Rotoscoping: Overview
Rotoscoping began in movies in the early 1900s, when cinematography made it necessary to paint over real-life shots of players to give the movies a more stylized look. In this instance, rotoscoping entails using specialized tools, such as a paintbrush, to change or alter particular parts of a scene. Rotoscoping originated so that the artist could use their creativity to improve a part of the shot and make it look more interesting or captivating.
In essence, it serves to create animations that allow for the removal of the background and the placement of a person on top of the original background. The job involves hiring a projectionist, who will set up the roto tracings using the animation disc as a guide.
What is rotoscoping animation?
Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over movie footage one frame at a time to create believable action. Live-action movie pictures were first projected onto a glass panel and then traced onto paper. The Austrian-American artist Max Fleischer developed this technique for projecting images, called a rotoscope. Eventually, computers took their place, but the process is still known as rotoscoping.
Rotoscoping is usually a method employed in visual effects to make a matte by hand so that an element on a live-action plate can be put on top of another scene. It is faster and requires less work, so rotoscoping is often used with chroma-keying. It is additionally applicable if the person is not in front of a green (or blue) screen, as well as for useful or cost-effective reasons.
Types of Rotoscoping Animation
The film business makes significant use of rotoscoping techniques for a variety of different reasons. The following is a list of several types of rotoscoping that you can use in order to add originality to a dramatic situation, to add visual effects, or to construct an animation starting from scratch utilizing video from real life.
Types of Rotoscoping Animation: In Details
The most popular types of rotoscoping animation are:
#1. Traditional Rotoscoping
The most time-honored technique is first. Once more, rotoscoping starts with a live-action video. Imagine you need to make a cartoon about basketball players for a full-length animated movie. Although you can draw them by hand, it will be hard to capture how the player’s body moves.
For a more lifelike effect, it’s best to first record the players to catch what they’re doing, like you were making movie footage. Next, play the movie through glass with a movie projector or trace over the tape with a lightbox.
#2. Film Reference Rotoscoping
Rotoscoping is applicable in a variety of ways to film directors. For example, Walt Disney used reference pictures to figure out how a character would move in a live-action movie and then animated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs based on those movements. There is a reference picture for many of Disney’s movie scenes, so they can be used again. Some rotoscoping scenes from Disney movies include the dancing scene from Snow White and Robin Hood, as well as scenes from The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh, 101 Dalmatians, Pinocchio, The Sword in the Stone, Bambi, and many more. Using this kind of rotoscoping, you can use your animator skills to draw your characters on top of the reference film instead of straight from the footage.
#3. Rotoscoping in Digital
You can use motion-tracking and motion capture to get live-action film and then rotoscope it on computer software. This makes rotoscoping a useful tool for digital animation. In rotoscoping software, animators use tablets and other digital tools to draw directly on video. To make matters worse, move characters and objects into situations that are impossible to shoot in live-action films; digital rotoscoping automates the rotoscope process. But it still requires tracking, which is an exhausting process.
#4. Rotoscoping For Visual Effects
You can add effects like glow, color grading, flickers, and more with rotoscoping. As a visual effect, the original Star Wars movie is one of the most well-known examples of rotoscoping. The VFX team rotoscoped the sticks on each frame and added the lightsabers’ signature glow, which is an effect that was put in after the sticks were filmed.
#5. Photorealistic Rotoscoping
Rotoscoping is a great way to be artistic; it’s not just used in animated movies. The movie A Scanner Darkly, directed by Richard Linklater, was the first to use photorealistic rotoscoping. Most of the features of the real actors were kept to make the visual experience special. Linklater made his other movie, Waking Life, with the same special rotoscoping technique. Recently, Mark Ruffalo’s “Hulk” was used to show how the rotoscope technique can be used to make facial expressions.
How to Do Rotoscoping Animation
Now that you know what rotoscoping is, it’s time to put your knowledge to the test. Follow these basic steps for rotoscoping, but keep in mind that the exact steps will depend on the software you’re using and the project you’re working on:
How to Do Rotoscoping Animation: Step-by-step Guide
Follow the steps below:
#1. Shoot And Study The Reference Film
You need these things before you start rotoscoping:
- Something you want to use the technique on, like a person or a prop
- Find the scenes you want to use as a guide to begin.
Here are some ideas:
- Use a digital camera to shoot a scene or group of scenes that uses few costumes, props, and sets if you don’t have film.
- Make drawing easier by having fewer things and simpler backgrounds
- Ensure that the video includes the person or thing you want to rotoscope. How long you want the scene to last will determine how much footage you need.
- As the scene goes on, keep track of any changes in direction or elements that block your main themes. Your project’s timeline and the best way to begin the rotoscoping process can be helped by knowing the footage you’re using.
#2. Select the suitable Equipment and Software
You can pick from different rotoscoping software based on your job and personal tastes. Pick the software that you know how to use best or that you can learn as you work on the job.
#3. Trace The Reference Film
Once you’ve chosen the software, line up the videos and draw lines around the faces or moves you want to rotoscope. If you have Adobe Photoshop, do these things:
- Make a timeline for the movie.
To do this, open Photoshop’s window menu and select the movie timeline.
- Pick the frame rate for the timeline.
Pick the right frame rate for your project. If you don’t have enough frames, your animation might look choppy, but if you have too many, it will take a long time to draw each one, which will add extra work.
- Add your movie clips.
After adding the video, make a new video layer that is blank. When you send your rotoscoped animation, it will be on this new layer.
- Commence drawing the movie frames.
Avoid using too many control points as you draw. This can help you keep track of the points and make the outline smoother overall if you only use what you need to trace the item. To trace a person, for instance, separate the body parts that move separately from each other. This lets you make a more accurate animation because each scene doesn’t have its own shape.
- Choose black for the background color.
Select the brush tool and click it. Begin sketching out the shapes of as many frames as you need to make the scene.
#4. Add the finishing touches and extras
Utilize the software’s features after making the frames. You can use the color fill, masking, warping, and mixing tools in Photoshop to make animations.
- To add color, make a new video layer that is empty.
- Use the software’s brush tool to fill each frame of borders with color from the start.
- Using the mixing tool, add texture.
- You can add scenery to the background or make changes between scenes if you want to.
In addition, adding more layers to your animation in After Effects for rotoscoping visual effects, on the other hand, can make it better.
Rotoscoping Software
At its most basic level, rotoscoping software is a type of visual effects (VFX) software that turns movie footage into a cartoon version. Traditionally, animators do this kind of animation by tracing over video footage frame by frame to make a movement that looks real. This is done automatically by rotoscoping software.
Rotoscoping Software: Examples
Rotoscoping is a method that stays popular for a while and then goes out of style. But right now, rotoscoping is becoming more and more famous. This means that there is a lot of rotoscoping animation software out there to help you with all your creative needs. However, selecting the right software can be a difficult and time-consuming process. Luckily, we’ve put together a list of the best rotoscoping software that fits all budgets and needs.
#1. Adobe After Effects CS3
In order to create an animated or VFX version of a movie scene, After Effects FX is one of the best rotoscoping software tools available. For example, you can easily remove things from clips, which lets you add rain to a scene or make an animated logo or character out of thin air. Additionally, After Effects has some handy advanced text tools that you will find useful.
#2. Silhouette FX
Famous for its Roto and Paint features, this software won an Academy Award. Customers love the 2D non-destructive paint system and the full-featured composite system that comes with it. What makes Silhouette FX so great? This lets you quickly and easily clean up, recover, and rig scenes. The package also includes special tools for creating channels and a unique matte removal method that can easily get rid of any object in a picture.
#3. NUKE
Consider checking out NUKE, a node-based digital editing and visual effects program that Disney, DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures, and Netflix use. This Academy-award-winning software is known for its composing tools, which include a rotoscope, keyers, color corrector, vector paint, and more. It also has a lot of great features for editing and reviewing, GPU performance, and flexible workflow.
#4. Fusion
Media companies, 3D artists, and movie graphic designers all use Fusion a lot. As one of the best blending programs in the world, it was made specifically for visual effects artists to use. For over 30 years, this software has been used on everything from TV shows to Hollywood blockbusters. Fusion has everything you need to make spectacular titles and visual effects for broadcasting images.
#5. Mocha
This award-winning software works well for visual effects and post-production. The Mocha package includes a GPU object eliminator for fast rendering, a brand-new toolbox with lots of features, and a freehand spline for faster marketing. Mocha just updated their user interface to make it easy to understand how it works.
What is an example of rotoscoping?
Animators drew the color and glow of each lightsaber over the sticks the actors held on every frame in which they appeared.
Is rotoscoping still used today?
Yes, rotoscoping is still widely used today.
What does a rotoscope artist do?
Roto artists manually draw around and cut out objects from movie frames so that the required parts of the image can be used.
Is it illegal to rotoscope?
No. It is not copyright infringement.
Is rotoscoping easy?
What is the difference between masking and rotoscoping?
Masking is the process by which you draw or import a spline shape to define an alpha matte (Figure 3.1). Rotoscoping simply adds animation to the mask so that it changes shape over time.
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