Z-Depth Compositing

May 31st, 2012

Integrating stock footage with 3D renders can help sell the realism of otherwise plain 3D rendering but compositing 2D stock footage with 3D renders can be challenging. Especially when you want 2D Elements like fire or smoke to exist in the same space as the 3D renders instead of simply comping them on top or behind.

Depth Compositing is one answer that allows you to control where 2D objects appear in the depth of your 3D rendering. Basically this method allows parts of your 3D render to be in front and behind your 2D Footage.

Does this even make sense? Just watch the video, it's got Sam in it and a parking garage! One of them charges quarters for every 15 minutes and the was free!

The 3D was created in 3D Max using Rayfire. I'll be making a more detailed tutorial as well! I'm really trying to make more short tutorials like this so people can get to helpful tips fast!

NOTE: Z-Passes can be generated automatically in a 3D Program when rendering.

Andrew Kramer

POSTED:

13 years ago

110 Comments

Aste al Centesimo

11 years ago

Thanks Andrew this is awesome. An impressive work here.

hope you'll be back soon.

Aste al Centesimo

Shahab

13 years ago

hi,
Did you track the camera and then render your 3d scene ? or this is the fake camera movement at the end ?

Nuurs

13 years ago

Hey Andrew impressive work here as usual, I'll like to know how can I do it, but instead of using 3D Max and Rayfire, I'll like to know how with Cinema 4D and Thrausi 1.22 R12, because there's not much interesting C4D tutorials online showing After Effects integration, Hopefully with your new 3D plug-in we'll have more about C4D and AE, trust me man I'm C4D user and I know that 3D's Max is an standard in the industry, but C4D is as much as powerful, but with not much interesting tuts online.
Please man make some, please.
Keep the awesome work and hope you'll be back soon Andrew San Diego!, lol

Dorian

13 years ago

Hey Andrew, nice short tutorial, but I'd love to see a more "in depth" one showing how you mix n stir. Also, maybe a stupid question, but how did you get the geometry shadows to import into your scene? Thanks.

Genegene

13 years ago

Looks amazing. Anyways anyone knows the sound? its freaking cool!

Akhilesh

13 years ago

Andrew dude, u rock!!!!!!!!!!!

U are ma guru in other word ma teaher in after effect (Indirectly).

Abraham

13 years ago

I know
u used : 3dmax + Fracture + V ray + AE + Camera tracker + action essentials I think so!

By the way nice video

Jovica

13 years ago

Andrew... you have great team

Strider Moore

13 years ago

I find this horribly helpful for ideas and i look forward to the tutorial!

Alex

13 years ago

Did you use 3D channel extract effect in AE or something other?

Video Production

13 years ago

Thanks Andrew this is awesome. This is gonna save me from dropping concrete blocks for each take. Is it easy to modify this file in AE, any plugins required?

-Matt

fyzANDme

13 years ago

whaaaaoow ! awesome !

Tim

13 years ago

Hi Andrew,

I know you are really busy at the moment with the new site and product launch coming up but could you let me know what camera was used for this composition. It looks good! Also, did you use anything to bounce the daylight on to Sam? I know lighting is key to make good filming.

Thanks

genobambino

13 years ago

Why doesn't Sam have his own TV show?

Jossey

13 years ago

Hello Good work my friend check mi channel youtube.com/magikodj thanks for your tutorials

after the FX

13 years ago

woooooow this really cool , waiting for the tutorial!!!
can someone give me the name of the FX sound and music using in this video ??? pleassssse

Imran Khan

13 years ago

Super! Great Work Thanks for this Tutorial.

Andrew Kramer
is
Back

Irfrandes0930

13 years ago

i hope the tutorial will coming soon

Sahil Siddiqui

13 years ago

Is sam working out :O
He looks Fit in this video

shalae

13 years ago

Great Andrew, it would be nice if you make a tutorial of this video..

KennyIrfrandes

13 years ago

i hope the tutorial will come soon ^^

Jerard

13 years ago

is that plexus??? nice... breakdown please...

Bryan Thomas

13 years ago

Andrew, you've done it again! I'm sure you know this, but what you do has a HUGE impact on this industry. Seeing stuff like this helps me to remember why I got into computer graphics in the first place. If you ever consider serious visual effects training, I'd pay! Just sayin'.

John

13 years ago

Just in time
i am working on something and need this thing
tuts Plz

Andrew you are amazing man hope for you more and more success

Thanks man for helping us with these amazing tutorials

Alistair Jake

13 years ago

This is very Cool, interesting indeed!!! hopefully the tutorial should come earlier, thanks

Matt

13 years ago

It doesn't matter, I really like your long tutorials

rajesh

13 years ago

i am not able to see the image or video tht is posted in blog .. some (Access to this site has been blocked as per Court Orders) msg is appearing behalf of tht post .. what shold i do ?

help me someone pls

Amer

13 years ago

Andrew, can you release a bunch of these 3D elements in a stock pack? Like a mini action essentials? I would be very interested in buying that, as I (like many others) lack the 3D skills and don't have time to learn 3Ds Max.

Mike

13 years ago

Hey,,,
Whats up with sam wearing high heels that click clack when hes walking in a parking lot?

Sam Mundon

13 years ago

Hey Andrew, great little movie, just wondering, will the Z depth passes be something you can generate with your new plugin element 3D or would that not be possible?

micheal

13 years ago

well done but that it's the lesson of "the portal" also applies Z depth of well here like that on another

Dhruv Kaushal

13 years ago

Hey guys check out this AE Video.
Its awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTqm0YsnqrM

Sean

13 years ago

What is awesome?

x3mjap

13 years ago

You spared the Sam?s life.

DeviouS

13 years ago

Sure hope part of Sam's salary includes hazard pay. hehe

You sure do love inserting him into dangerous situations. Collapsing buildings... grenades... subcutaneous, flesh-eating insects...

What's up next in the Chronicles of Lloya

SARVESHWAR

13 years ago

where do i get that stock footage of that brick breaking down.PLease say... i want it for my project!!! I'm a big fan of you!

VINCE

13 years ago

Yeah! I know what his talking about and I've done it a hundred times and and it really works!

Silas

13 years ago

please do a tut on this!

sham

13 years ago

Tutorial please...,Sam...cool...

bwoogie

13 years ago

Crap! Sam almost died! Again!

Trevor

13 years ago

I would just like to thank Sam for, once again, risking life and limb so we can enjoy this footage. Sam is a real hero - brave, courageous, always walking into situations without a care for his own safety. Throwing live hand grenades, being run over by a truck, being possessed by a demon, being infected with bugs under his skin... you name it, he's done it.

I'm glad he narrowly escaped disaster in this one, so he can come back and put it all on the line again... and again...

R-CANE

13 years ago

I just dropped an actual piece of stone with a couple of guys that size from a ladder in the parking garage down the street from here and it didn't even look near as real as in this video!

RadioControlled

13 years ago

the depth looks great, I'm experimenting using RPF files when exporting from 3dmax.not a lot of tuts out there explaining how to export(and import to AE) RPF files properly from any 3d app.maybe you could explain the use of RPF in one of your up coming tuts?

Hendrik

13 years ago

I wonder if the result will be same when the camera actually moves forward in z... i suppose the depth map changes in that case?...

Steve Green

13 years ago

Depends how you do it - in Max for example you could generate it by using a falloff map applied to the 3D objects referencing a static object in the scene rather than the camera itself.

hendrik

13 years ago

so does this mean whatever the case, the depth map can be used to pin a 2d object to an intended point in z space.. It is possible to do by copying the coordinate numbers from c4d to after effects but i was not aware of doing the same with depth map...

Steve Green

13 years ago

It's not really the position you're copying though just getting the alpha to refer to a range of z-depth to give an illusion, since the stock doesn't have any z-depth.

It may be OK for something that's over quickly like these impacts, but not sure if it would be much too obvious on something more persistent where the camera move a lot or panned around rather than being flat on.

Roy

13 years ago

yeahhhh great come back as usual, andrew please give me the name of the bg music .

13 years ago

Hi Andrew, I was reading and listening podcasts about deep compositing, as used on Rise of the Planet of the Apes, for example (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19w3vkFp5X0). It was done using nuke.

In your example, did you use several planes inside 3dmax with the stock footage on them as textures so they can merge well in between the object parts? Or did you find a way to use some kind of deep compositing inside AE?

Hussain Ali AlMarkhi

13 years ago

Wow this really cool , waiting for the tutorial

vers

13 years ago

yeah, love the breackdown in the end...it?s great to see that there are more tutorials coming with 3d integration!

Ramzes

13 years ago

Andrew I've found one mistake! The sound effect of a walking man, doesn't match with Sam's shoes

)))but other then that is awsome! Waiting your JUNGLE tutorial.

Silas

13 years ago

You should start a text file with a list all of the tutorials you have yet to make, because it seems like you forget about some and move on. I'm almost completely positive it's because you're extremely busy, but there have been plenty of great tutorials you've promised that haven't come out. Sorry about the whining.

Justin

13 years ago

YES MORE TUTORIALS, THANKS ANDREW! I check Videocopilot every day hoping for more updates!

Farshad

13 years ago

Very Cool but Andrew , where you create Z-Depth ? in AE or 3D MAX ??

sabini1

13 years ago

Thank you very much Andrew

Did you use the built in materials of Vray or Mental ray
for the cg model or created it yourself?

Greetings from Israel

Aaron

13 years ago

AWESOME ANDREW!!! check out my test I did with the camera tracker and C4d

https://vimeo.com/35653021

Eric

13 years ago

You keep throwing and throwing new knowledge at our faces just to avoid the matter that we are all waiting for. You know what I am talking about. Yeah. Gimmme the obj particllleeesss with wierd noise animations ahhhhhh

I hope everything is going well for you guys at Video Copilot R&D. Cheers from Montreal

LOL

13 years ago

Hello andrew amazing stuff here i love you rayfire simulation can you give some tips fir a good fragmentation a good texturing and a good zdepth ? aamazing stuff

thanks you for this video

Eric
france

13 years ago

Nice one Andrew Kramer!Just what I would expect from VideoCopilot.

Arthur Bizkit

13 years ago

Lady & Gentlemen, He's Back!

Phill

13 years ago

I like the part where it sounds like Sam has high heels on

George Laird

13 years ago

They just don't build things to last anymore, let that be a lesson to us all, use open parling lots!

Exceptional well done as always Andrew.

Hat tip to Sam Loya on the acting front, he throws himself right into this stuff.

Jason

13 years ago

This looked great. I really need to learn how to do 3D cause at the moment all I know is 2D compositing

BattleSH0t

13 years ago

Wooo... That was cool : D

Dino Muhic

13 years ago

There are some great tools/scripts for that by EFX

http://aescripts.com/efx-render-elements-z-depth-tools/

Tim Creed

13 years ago

This reminds me that I still need to buy Action Essentials 2. Very interested in this!

Ben Jones

13 years ago

yea.. I finally caved and bought it too... very useful. A lot better than most of the stock footage out there too.

Eric

13 years ago

This looks fake and kind of cheesy to me, am I the only one?

Andrew Kramer

13 years ago

No. It's cheesy, trust me!

James

13 years ago

I think it looks great...

Blast-Master-Bob

13 years ago

Eric. When you have your own website that thousands of people visit daily, and are pumping out tutorials to help educate and inspire those people. I'll make sure to drop a post and ridicule your work. Until then (probably never), good luck on presumably un-succesful social life.

Daruis

13 years ago

are you kidding me it's so realistic!

JeffO

13 years ago

Andrew, If you rotate the falling concrete beam 45 degrees counter clock wise (so it lines up with the beams shown above Sam's) all of the cheese will become Cheeze-Its!!

Mo'stafa Mo'sa

13 years ago

Eric....Make It Look Great Not Real...! that's your motto when creating vfx in movie..!

Tokyo James

13 years ago

I gotta agree with Mo'stafa. If it were "real," the concrete would have just fallen with little to no crumbling, especially no shatter - it should be reinforced with iron rebar, after all. But that is very undramatic and lacks kinetic energy. (besides, if it were reinforced it wouldn't have fallen... am I thinking about this too much?)
Cheezwhiz on very crumbly crackers.

Mo'stafa Mo'sa

13 years ago

you are right Tokyo but sometimes when you intend to create dynamics shot or 3d scene. you should use a reference such a photograph .Thanks ?

Ahmed Rashed

13 years ago

OK ! ! and Where is the Tutorial ?????

Ahmed Rashed

13 years ago

OK ! and where is the toturial ??!!!!!!

Mike

13 years ago

You missed killing Sam this time, Andrew. Looking forward to your next attempt...

Eic Burnett

13 years ago

Very cool! Thank you very much for putting this video together.

Video Copilot has been very busy lately, working on 2 tutorials, holding a matte painting challenge, working on Element 3d, working on Optical Flares for Nuke, and working on Demon Cam for Android!

Matthew Sabia

13 years ago

You need to make more 3D tutorials on how to make stuff like that!!!

Jaymes Nelson

13 years ago

^ Agreed

ColTrigger

13 years ago

Well, using Stock-Footage from AE2 is one Method, but I like it better to create my own if I'm using CGI anyway.
C4D got some great new plugins for creating Dust, Smoke and Fire. It' not like I don't like AE2, but I see it everywhere and I like my stuff to look unique and I also like to know that noone will see on the first look how I made it.
So when I use AE2 its in combination with CGI, this way I think it adds even more realism.

Andrew Kramer

13 years ago

Absolutely. Combining smoke simulations with real footage makes a big difference. Using things like fume FX is great but to get the scale of the detail right can be very slow but with this method you can combine everything together.

Declan

13 years ago

That was really good although the footsteps weren't in time.

Markus

13 years ago

how do you get z-depth from existing stock footage?

i assume you cant?

chris

13 years ago

More tutorials on reactor in 3DS Max would be great.

Basuru

13 years ago

Need a Gr8 tutorial from you for this one

Azozel

13 years ago

This is cool but what tools or techniques are available to extract Zdepth from existing footage? I'm dying to crack this nut.

Andrew Kramer

13 years ago

Not exactly. If you have existing footage you might just use masks and things to create the occlusion. It comes in handy more to get rid of the perfect CG look of geometry destruction to add more chaos.

Alan

13 years ago

You Cannot Extract Zdepth from a 2d footage using after effects although there is a way in nuke by using camera traker and a depth generator node

Cesar Bidoia

13 years ago

yes, you can, but its expensive at the moment, look
http://www.yuvsoft.com/

John

13 years ago

Andrew, a roto-generated depth map would make a good advanced tutorial or part 2 to what you plan to do here, for those of us who like to get crazy. It will also be interesting to see when AE takes on deep compositing.

Nick

13 years ago

Nice job Andrew!!Can't wait till next tutorial!!!
One question though:
Where do you find all these sweet songs you put in your short videos???

Boom ROom

13 years ago

http://youtu.be/iPyNHOPJuKQ?hd=1

Daruis

13 years ago

omg it's look too realistic man just like hollywood movies we should see you name in the cast soon enoguh in hollywood action movies VFX By:Andrew Kramer hahaha

Siavosh Mehraein

13 years ago

Good tips.
this one was a very quick useful tutorial.what is the 3d program used in this video? 3ds max?

James

13 years ago

I'll bet it was done with Element

James

13 years ago

I think Andrew just updated the post (unless I'm losing my mind & didn't read that far...) and added that the 3D was done in 3dmax...so I guess Element wasn't used in this example...

DJOzmanMJ

13 years ago

Amazing man, you're the best compositer I've ever seen and btw funky beat ;P

Woodman

13 years ago

Hey Andrew,

can you upload it to Youtube? somehow the video is blocked :/

Danny

13 years ago

Woooow , AMAAZING .... soooo realistic.

Danny , from Roumania.

med abid

13 years ago

Usual, always creative
Thanks

James

13 years ago

Ummm...and how does one achieve that exactly? Maybe I'm missing something but I can't figure out how you did the "mix & stir"

James

13 years ago

I guess I don't understand what the z-pass does...I'm a 3d newbie

Marc Pearson

13 years ago

The "mix n stir" is where you take the tracked footage(with solved camera) and combine your 3D render with different 2D clips distributed in 3D space in AE. If you use the Z-depth as a track matte it will magically adjust the transparency of the 2D elements so they appear to "mix" with your 3D render. Enjoy!

Andrew Kramer

13 years ago

Check out the Portal Tutorial we do something similar with a Z-pass. I'll probably make a short tutorial for this as well.

James

13 years ago

Aaah...very cool. I will check out the Portal tut...thnx!

Champ

13 years ago

Man thats freaking AWESOME!!!!!! I LOVE VC.. it always help me to learn new things.. thanks andrew!!

Champ

13 years ago

But IN order to BE professional U SHULD learn these kind of small stuff

Denny

13 years ago

This looks again really cool but ok, I guess I need some explenation on th Z-Pass. cause I have no idea what it is for or how to make it. (i use c4d)

Marc Pearson

13 years ago

All you have to do is add the "Depth" multipass renders in C4D. Use it as an alpha matte or whatever suits your needs...like DOF

Tarsimpress.com

13 years ago

Hi
Thanks VC !
Very Nice

Kieren Hovasapian

13 years ago

Hey Andrew!

Love the breakdown, but I am curious, where do you get your fantastic catchy soundtrack from?

Much Love
Kieren

thewalkingneo

13 years ago

can`t see vimeo in china ....

Myaka

13 years ago

google "VPN"

Jay

13 years ago

It really feels alive.

Are we going to see Sam get hit with a piano or an anvil in the near future?

Many thanks

Jay

CRoblex

13 years ago

Nothing can stop Sam, that guy is my hero. Bruce Willis is a child in comparison. You'll need several entire buildings to hurt him, Andrew. And then he'll take revenge...

FLIMEMA

13 years ago

So I'm assuming you're simply using the depth pass as an alpha matte for the 2D stock in AE?

Can't say I've ever thought of trying that before.

video effects

13 years ago

Sam should go to Hollywood

video effects

13 years ago

There is already a professional Andrew...

Umer

13 years ago

May be they should make there own new "Andrewood"

Valantis

13 years ago

as always you re the best.

cherif

13 years ago

3dsMax and Rayfire for the 3D object?

Farshad

13 years ago

Another one with Sam escaped death

alwadhani

13 years ago

i think it's similler to the tutorial about the apple app, which you used the 3d depth map to control the reveal of the lady face and body.

Adnan

13 years ago

Mr Andrew always tries to kill Sam

video effects

13 years ago

he he he
Yeah, Sam always wants to die

Martin

13 years ago

Wow. That actually made a whole lot of sense. Thank you! I'd try to figure out how you did it, but I guess I'll just wait for your upcoming tutorial(?)

Cheers

rob

13 years ago

Nice one andrew! im glad you havent forgot about your beloved community

vfx

13 years ago

Awsomeeeeeeee!!!!! Tut pls

Merlin

13 years ago

Very quick and useful information. And fastest tutorial ever

video effects

13 years ago

Yeah always up to date

SDive

13 years ago

The difference is night and day! May I ask, was this accomplished in After Effects? Or does the integration with the depth pass need to be done in a 3D software package?

Memo

13 years ago

it?s probably done in after effects,using the z depth pass as a matte .. i guess ..

Owen

13 years ago

The Z pass was made in a 3D but the integration was done in AE!

SDive

13 years ago

Thanks for the replies, guys!

video effects

13 years ago

Was good
Same Good job

Joshua

13 years ago

Please could you make an indepth tutorial on this, it would be a good skill to have.

Grantex

13 years ago

your always amazing.

Farshad

13 years ago

Very Good and Very Cool
Thank you Anderw

Jovica

13 years ago

Andrew.... not Anderw

richard liu

13 years ago

Great job! this is a pretty cool video with nice acting and music

Dmitriy

13 years ago

Nice try Andrew... WHAT ABOUT ELEMENT 3D??? )))

Greg Cervall

13 years ago

Huge as always! Thanks Andrew...

Simona

13 years ago

always better, ak is improving on and on!

Jake

13 years ago

Very cool, I'm gonna have to give this a go. Nice breakdown too

VINCE

13 years ago

Yup! I know what his talking about bec I have done it a hundred times and it absolutely definitely awesomely work!

Cesar Bidoia

13 years ago

Ok, great , but i read some articles about a real depth compositing, not using z pass.Its a new method that renders a depth information for every pixel.Anyone know something about that? Cause, if im not mistaken, when you use z deth pass all you are doing is making a opacity transform(does it makes sense?) so even do you put the smoke in the middle of the concrete, what behind of it will have some kind of transparency, but in real life that would be solid.(hope it makes sense).

Cesar Bidoia

13 years ago

Thats what i was talking about
http://www.deepimg.com/in-depth/

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