Rotoscoping in 6 Steps
Rotoscoping was first invented in 1914 by Max Fleischer, who used it in his series “Out of the Inkwell” with his brother Dave Fleischer dressed in a clown outfit as the live-film reference for the character Koko the Clown.
One of the most popular music videos of the 1980s was A-ha’s “Take on Me” video which combined the rotoscoping technique with live video. Basically any technique of drawing on a frame is given the rotoscope title. This is anyway from the full blown drawing of “Take on Me” to the adding if light to light sabres in films such as Star Wars. Recently the full feature film ” A Scanner Darkly” used software to rotoscope the entire film.
Producing a rotoscope of a clip is relatively simple but quite time consuming. Ideally select a video clip that involves a process that can be repeated such as jumping or skipping.
This guide will allow you to produce rotoscope video a little like the type used in the a-ha video and the Foy Vance video featured at the bottom of this post.
Rotoscoping : The Basics
- 1. Export the 2-3 second clip as jpgs. In premier elements each frame is saved as a number 1.jpg for example refers to frame 1 and so on.
- 2. Delete all the even number of frames (this cuts down on the time needed for tracing etc).
- 3. Print each of the odd numbered images in draft format on a standard laser or inkjet printer. It is advisable to number each printout as it comes out of the printer.
- 4. Trace each printout and again number each tracing.
- 5. Use a stopmotion application such as istopmotion to capture each tracing. Remember to take 2 frames for each drawing to compensate for the fact we disgarded the even numbered frames in step 2.
- 6. Render this footage out to a final .dv
When used as an animator’s reference tool, it can be a valuable time-saver. Rotoscope output can have slight deviations from the true line that differ from frame to frame, which when animated cause the animated line to shake unnaturally, or “boil”. Avoiding boiling requires considerable skill in the person performing the tracing, though causing the “boil” intentionally is a stylistic technique sometimes used to emphasize the surreal quality of rotoscoping, as in the music video Take on Me.
Rotoscoping has often been used as a tool for special effects in live-action movies. By tracing an object, a silhouette (called a matte) can be created that can be used to create an empty space in a background scene. This allows the object to be placed in the scene. While blue and green screen techniques have made the process of layering subjects in scenes easier, rotoscoping still plays a large role in the production of special effects imagery.
Rotoscoping has also been used to allow a special visual effect (such as a glow, for example) to be guided by the matte or rotoscoped line. One classic use of traditional rotoscoping was in the original three Star Wars films, where it was used to create the glowing lightsaber effect, by creating a matte based on sticks held by the actors.
The term “rotoscoping” (typically abbreviated as “roto”) is now generally used for the corresponding all-digital process of tracing outlines over digital film images to produce digital mattes. This technique is still in wide use for special cases where techniques such as bluescreen will not pull an accurate enough matte. Rotoscoping in the digital domain is often aided by motion tracking and onion-skinning software. Rotoscoping is often used in the preparation of garbage mattes for other matte-pulling processes.
There are many ways in which you can experiment with this technique but this is provide a good basis to work from. The YouTube video below shows a recent music video using a variant of the above technique by A-Ha
Links:
FxGuide to Rotoscoping
Rotoscoping in Flash Tutorial
Rotoscoping in Flash (2)
