Persephone Update by Vince Nimmoor of Animation Dynamics

November
17 2011 By Vince Nimmoor

One of the rad things we do here at ADi is participate in independent and experimental projects as often as we can. Currently we are involved in a short film called Persephone (as faithful readers of the ADi blog know) with Director Mark Roush of New Adjustment Productions. A turn of the century dark tale of a magical woman made of chocolate. A brilliant story by Roush, to learn more click here to visit his blog.

Part of my role on this project is keying out the backgrounds so the characters can be placed into their CG environments. One of the challenges I encountered was some of the actors costumes had lacy elements that did not separate from the background easily. I had had to explore several different keying techniques and apply them to achieve the desired result. There is no such thing as an easy key job.

Several passes were required for almost every shot. Techniques employed were Muli-Layer Keying, Traveling Mattes, Use of Keylight, etc… If you are interested Creative Cow has some really great tutorials.

I have learned a ton about the process and some finer points since we have begun working on this. I am certain that by February (our presumed completion time) I will have gained even further experience and tips and tricks. Working with the awesome crew here has also proved to be a great resource. For example our very own Nick Nakadate has key experience on many feature film projects.

We have a history of taking on projects like this and seeing them to completion. By constantly exploring and pushing ourselves we grow in new and exciting ways. I’m proud to be a part of ADi for this reason.