Test 1 | Further Light Wrap Test

After having problems creating a light wrap in one particular shot in my Test 1 video, I have created a light wrap using After Effects in addition to the highlights created with the node in Nuke.

Original - no light wrap:

With only Nuke light wrap:

With this particular, and all light wraps:

I have sourced this tutorial by Jerzy Drozda, Jr. It was recommended by Matt Cameron. 

Here is his description of the process:

"Apply a 'Set Channels' effect and set the source RGB values to the background composition. Apply a 'Channel Blur', blur the RGB channels by 10 and blur the alpha channel by around 200. Invert the alpha channel by applying a 'Levels' effect and swapping the 'Output Black' and 'Output White' values. Matte the result with the original alpha by applying 'CC Composite' and setting 'Composite Original' to Stencil Alpha. Next duplicate the light wrap composition and change the Alpha Blurriness to a value of about 30 for a sharper light wrap. Finally set the blend modes of the light wrap compositions to Add and reduce the opacity to taste."

I definitely think this is an imperative effect to create in compositing, and this has made the shot come on leaps and bounds in my opinion, and I now see this video visually as fully complete. The audio will hopefully be created over the next month in the form of a trial for the proposed sound engineer for the final film, and then I will upload a final version onto the net.

Nuke Light Wrap Test

I had been creating light wraps in After Effects, using the alpha of the key by converting it to black and white (foreground character, and transparent background), and simple-choking it, expanding it to create a stroke and then blurring it out and masking the background out again to create a sharp edge (it's simple, really).

But for this scene, the large, selling, multiple exposure, I felt it very necessary to composite the background and foreground (which I composited together in After Effects) in Nuke and applying the light wrap there in order for the character to appear to be in the scene that bit more...

We had used light wraps in Hugo Guerra's master class in the last academic year, when he walked us through compositing most of a scene from The Mill's Audi Hummingbird advert, so I knew how to set one up.

This is example of the scene before the light wrap being applied in Nuke:

And, this is the result after the effect being applied:

Okay, it might be subtle (you can flick between the two images), but important I feel.

Also, I tried to get a wrap around the character a little more, even in the dark areas. In After Effects, with the amount of composites and re-scaling, it has taken a while. This might be achieved for the final render, though...

This is a screen shot of Nuke to show you how I set up:

Pretty simple, but effective.

The light wrap node by itself: