Composite Breakdown

I started off compositing in After Effects, but have since shifted over to Nuke. I was reluctant to learn another piece of software at first because I had already had to learn how to use Massive, RenderMan for Maya, IQ, Motion Builder and others for this film. But I'm glad I gave Nuke a shot, because it has turned out to be a lightweight, fast and intuitive package.

I like rendering in layers, it gives me a lot more control in the composite.

For example:

Render Layers:

• Character (from multipass render):
  

• Middleground Crowd:
  

• Background Crowd:
  

• Ground:
  

• Platform:
  

• Sky:
  

Result of combining the layers with no compositing:

Final composite (after color correction and addition of atmospheric elements):

Working in 16-bit color is also very useful, as it expands the range within which you can color correct the image without creating artifacts.