FxGuide : Complete Guide to Rotoscoping
FxGuide have published a comprehensive guide on how to rotoscope. The guide looks at a number of different software applications and covers a brief history of the technique. Rotoscoping is the process of manually altering film or video footage one frame at a time. The frames can be painted on arbitrarily to create custom 
animated effects like lightning or light-sabres, or traced to create realistic traditional style animation or to produce hold-out mattes for compositing elements in a scene.
As a VFX artist, you are primarily creating motion graphics or visual effects. Without a thorough knowledge of rotoscoping and how it fits into the modern digital pipeline, you are limiting just how far you can take an effect or design.
The art of rotoscoping changed considerably with the introduction of digital tools such as Commotion, Digital Fusion (DF), Shake, Combustion (C3) and After Effects (AE). With a thorough knowledge of rotoscoping, digital artists can create better live-action or CG composites as well as amazing visual effects.
Various rotoscoping techniques are covered in the article, including matte creation, effects painting, paint touchup, digital cloning, and motion tracking as well as a brief history of the craft.
Visit FxGuide for Rotoscope History and Technique.
