Composition and Post-work

Compositing work was done in Photoshop, AfterEffects and BulletLooks. Inside Photoshop I started the process by importing a pure RGB pass. After that a GI pass was added on top, then Reflection, Refraction, Specular and Shadows. An ObjectID pass was added last and then I made separate copies of the back wall, floor, car shell, tires, etc. This way I was able to control each segment separately as I wanted. Some color correction was done, but mostly I tweaked the levels and color range. Using custom brushes I did some corrections on the walls and floor, adding a grunge-like feeling to it. I also did some small retouches to the Spec and Reflection passes (Fig.19).


The next step was in AfterEffects, where the Frischluft DOF plugin comes in handy. It uses the ZDepth map and applies a DOF effect using a luminance value for each pass in-between. The DOF effect is rather small; I just wanted some difference between the foreground and background, as there would be in a real-life example (Fig.20).


After that I made the jump to the BulletLooks suite and made several changes there (Fig.21).



The last thing was to jump back to Photoshop and add a Smart Sharpen filter – just enough to get the Looks effects one step back (Fig.22).

Conclusion

I hope that this simple Making Of gave you a new perspective on how to approach this type of project. There are many ways to go about achieving good results, but as always, it requires some time, patience and knowledge other than just knowing the software itself. Keep practicing; keep doing it. Please feel free to ask any questions that come to your mind or just simply send some comments. You can find some more works by visiting www.erorrijus.com and also www.facebook.com/erorrijus

Thanks for reading!