Mid week 4: clean-up of plate for shot #2

Between our conference with The Mill and our next class I have been working on the clean-up of the plates for both shot #2 and #3. I decided to finish first shot #2 as it is an static shot and thus, will be much faster and easier to clean.

Shot #2 clean-up

As I mentioned above, this shot is static so I decided that using the roto paint node in nuke would be the best way to approach the clean-up of the plate. I decided to divide the elements that needed to be replaced into four different roto nodes. I used one for the dust and debris on the road, a second one for the parking paint, another one for the spill on the road and a final one for the car in the background. I mainly used the clone tool under the roto node, sometimes switching to the eraser when necessary. Painting out the first three elements was fairly easy, the only one that posed some difficulty was the car. When approaching that element, I had to be careful of the wall of the theatre and the streetlight that are in contact with it. After several tries, I was able to get a good result.

Untouched plate vs. clean plate

Final thoughts

Having finished cleaning up this first plate, I plan on taking on the one for shot #3. This one will definitely pose a challenge as the camera is moving and the car that has to be replaced is being reflected on the theathre multiple times. I have been thinking on how to approach it and I'm currently planning on using projection techniques on nuke to accomplish the task. I can't wait to get started on it!