Compositing Still Renders

CommonOne

Hi all,

Did try to search for more info but my rookie-ness and lack of terminology let me down I'm afraid.
I hear a lot about compositing - but mostly within the video context. So my questions are:

1. Is it common practice, or recommended, to finish still renders with some compositing?
2. Where can I learn to skillfully apply compositing to my still renders?
3. I hear about Nuke and AE as compositing software - again that seems video related - so would Photoshop be suitable for this task? Or is there better?
4. What about PBR renders?

The goal here being to make my still renders "pop" - they seem so flat  - I'm hoping that they are just missing some of the finishing touches, and those "touches" are compositing. If I'm way off base please school me.

Thanks!


 

Pirgo

1. Yes, if you want finer control of your final image, then it's better to do render passes and composite them in Photoshop / Nuke / AE.
2. Start with Youtube maybe?
3. Some people prefer to do still render compositing in Nuke or AE too, but you can do them in Photoshop of course.

Yes. you would use render passes and compositing exactly for that, fine tuning your image to make them "pop" (or whatever you want). You can also cut some rendering time if you know which effects you can easily accomplish later in comp.

CommonOne

Thank you!

Burpee

Nuke has a free version for learning purposes, it's really an amazing software, but if you just want to do some quick compo passes on top of your work you should just get the Magic Bullet Suit for AE, it's making the process reeaaaaally easy.

Photoshop is al'right, ( also has the Magic Bullet Suit ), but I really like the nodal workflow of Nuke or / and I like to have an layer effect like in AE. But Photoshop is a more confusing when for exemple you want to recreate your beauty in it ( but it's still doable )

For the courses, you can try this one, it's good, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wQynvx9y6g

hf 

CommonOne

Thank you! I downloaded and am learning Nuke Non Commercial.

gnoop

Blackmagic Design Fusion  .    Free for commercial usage too up to 2048x2048 pix.      Imo more simple and convenient  

CommonOne

Ah - very good! Will check Fusion, too. Thank you!

Daf57

Also check Natron - https://natron.fr/ - pretty much designed as an open source (free) Nuke, No limitations.