由 Wolf » 7日 3月 2002年, 10:42
I think a compositor should approach his/her job like an good animator approach computer graphics, by understanding deeply his/her material first. After that then he/she chooses the proper tools to do the work.
A good compositor's worth is measured by his/her understanding of computer image - What is it? How is it formed? How can you control it? Not by his/her mastery of plug-ins or whizz-bang effects.
I'm a Shake and occasional AE user. As a compositing tool, Shake is fantastic. Three big reasons for using it -
1. Absolute freedom in manipulating bit-depth and image canvas. This is a must-have feature, and you don't get it with AE (don't know about Combustion, maybe someone better informed can tell me?).
2. Image expression. Yummy; eliminates the need for a lot of plug-ins. Down side (maybe) is you have to be comfortable with maths, and a lot of compositors are not comfortable with maths.
3. Scripting. This allows you to control the software from any console, be it Maya's scripting panel, XSI's command window, or good'o Unix console over the internet. It also allows you to program your comp session and incorporate it automatically into your CG pipeline. VERY useful for large productions.
Those, plus the very high quality and speed of the comp functions, the well-wriiten docs, and the pretty UI, all make for a very sweet compositing software indeed.
Sorry for veering the discussion off AE/combustion, but I hope more professionals in HK can get acquainted with this wonderful comping tool.