Week 1|Runner, Matchmover and Roto Artist

Runner

Alias: assistant coordinator, despatch assistant, office assistant, production assistant

Entry level in production management department

Entry requirements: presenting a good portfolio and showing lots of enthusiasm; no necessary relevant degree education

Runners are multi-role helpmates in a VFX studio, supporting all members in the studio and dealing with basic trifles ranging from organising meetings and plans to making coffee and tea. They transfer information and materials between departments and helping everyone working on the pipeline.

Being a runner is usually the starting point into production management, and it provides a lot of opportunities to be familiar with the whole studio.

Here is a video showing how runners work in the studio:

Matchmover

Alias: 3D tracker, body tracker, camera tracker, tracking artist

Entry level in computer-generated (CG) department

Entry requirements: degree in computer graphics or a related subject, being skilled at using a variety of relevant tracking and 3D packages and compositing software

Matchmoving is the process of tracking and calibrating live footage frames to incorporate them into a virtual. Matchmovers are trying to transfer the real life camera’s movement onto a camera that exists in a CG software, in other words, is to seamlessly combine live camera shots into a 3D environment. The models are generated from your computer using matchmoving software. The target that the matchmoving artists are tracking is the motion of the camera, not the objects in the footage.

Matchmoving is a little different from motion capture, where the former is to match the camera motion but the latter is to focus on the movement of objects in a controlled environment.

Matchmovers have a good sense of orientation. They match the computer-generated (CG) scenes with live-action shots accurately to combine the virtual and real scenes together in a suitable way. They need to track the camera, body and object movements to align the relative coordinates of certain points in 3D environment perfectly and recreate the plates on a computer.

Matchmovers communicate frequently with different departments. They always work with data capture technicians (on set department) and their work will be passed to compositors (compositing department) or layout artists (CG department). They also work with the live-action team due to taking on-site measurements.

Matchmove Showreel

Here is a video talking about what is tracking and what is matchmoving:

Roto Artist

Alias: Junior visual effects (VFX) artist

Entry level in compositing department

Entry requirements: need a good showreel to show the personal potential, degrees in related subject (art, design, graphics) are helpful as well

In VFX industry, rotoscoping is the technique of creating a matte or mask for an element on a live-action plate to prepare for being composited over another background. Industry people more often use chroma key to accelerate their work progress.

Roto artists deal with the process of rotoscoping as well as the preparation for compositing. They use a set of compositing softwares (Nuke, Adobe After Effects, etc.) to outline and cut out the targeted area as matte in a sequence of images, and the matte can be placed on other images with purposeful use. It is necessary for roto artists to be patient and attentive when rotoscoping because it needs tracing the object precisely frame by frame.

Roto artists usually work with prep artists for the preparation of the plates in compositing and work jointly with compositors for the use of matte.

Here is a video introducing the rotoscoping in VFX industry, which is a little different from the ‘general’ rotoscoping (a classic animation technique):