COMPOSITING: PART 2

The second part of our compositing basics using DaVinci Resolve will look at how to make the most of an artist's animations and images

- Mike Griggs

In our Basics series, we look at the fundamentals of a wide range of different topics in CGI to break it down into the core elements. This month we continue to explore compositing.

In this second part, we will look at how to create a basic matte using Resolve based on our initial lesson 101 last issue. While we have not imported any footage yet or worked with 3D scenes, understanding how to do the basics with nodes will help later when working with footage.

In this tutorial, we will take a quick look at the Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve/Fusion interface, to help us make greater sense of what is being shown on the screen.

When using the Fusion page in Resolve, any node can be shown in either of the two viewers, and this might not be very clear to new users. It is also one of the strengths of working in Fusion within Resolve as it allows granular control of specific tasks in a compositing node tree, while still being able to see how these particular changes are affecting the final output.

Primary scene organisation is critical with nodes, so learning how to rename and organise them is another key skill, which can be done by right-clicking on any node. Another important element is organising nodes with backgrounds, notes and colours; also, an artist can set their preferences for how the node tree is displayed, again by right-clicking on the node or in the node viewer.