In the 1930s, Disney artists painted over film of actual actors to create cartoon characters with realistic movement. A Scanner Darkly animators used Rotoshop software to digitally trace live-action footage. - R.L.
1. Film
Director Richard Linklater shoots with digital cameras. Since details are added by animators, there are minimal costumes, props, and sets.
2. Animate
Artists use Wacom digital pens and tablets connected to Apple G5s running Rotoshop software to trace the movement of actors in a scene. Not every frame is hand-drawn; the software fills in the gaps.
3. Enhance
The animators use Rotoshop’s masking, warping, and blending tools to enhance the 3-D effect. Then they add scenery and adjust the color. Some elements take weeks to complete.
4. Render
The completed sequences are processed for eventual output to film. One 15-second scene that started out as a 26-Mbyte file took an hour to convert into a whopping 486 Mbytes.
credit ©2005 Warner Bros. Entertainment. All Rights Reserved
Steps To Rotoscoping
1: Film
credit ©2005 Warner Bros. Entertainment. All Rights Reserved
Steps To Rotoscoping
2: Animate
credit ©2005 Warner Bros. Entertainment. All Rights Reserved
Steps To Rotoscoping
3: Enhance
credit ©2005 Warner Bros. Entertainment. All Rights Reserved
Steps To Rotoscoping
4: Render
Feature:
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