CG Integration & Compositing Checklist

🎯

Section 01

Integration & Direction

The foundation of believable compositing lies in perfect contact integration and consistent light interaction between CG and plate elements.

Contact Points: Are CG objects grounding properly? Check shadows, reflections, and contact occlusion. Even a 1-pixel gap makes things float.

Interactive Lighting: If the CG element emits light (glow, muzzle flash, hologram), is it affecting nearby plate objects?

Color Contamination: Real-world light bounces color—check if your CG should be tinting or being tinted by nearby elements.

📊

Section 02

Values & Dynamic Range

Matching the mathematical values of light is crucial for photorealistic integration. This includes everything from white balance to highlight rolloff.

White Balance: Have you looked at the white balance of the plate? Check if your CG's whitest value matches the white value in the plate.

Base-level Blackpoint: Matched the base-level blackpoint of the CG to the real footage.

Light Wrap & Bloom: Matched any light wrap, bloom, or soft flaring, which creates localized black point adjustments.

Light Intensity Contrast: Is the key light and fill light feeling the same as the real footage?

Overall Contrast Ratio: Does the CG feel "flatter" than the footage, or does it "pop out" too much? Adjust contrast accordingly.

Detail Loss Matching: Does your CG lose detail in the same way the plate does? Match shadow crushing and highlight clipping.

Highlight Rolloff: Do the highlights roll off the same way the footage does? Avoid the dreaded "sRGB clipped highlights" look.

Note: If there's nothing pure white to compare to, look for something grey or close to neutral for reference.

Most cinema footage is filmed with high dynamic range cameras in logarithmic format. This preserves a smoother "filmic" rolloff into highlight regions. Working in ACES helps grade highlights smoothly to avoid the "clipped" look.

🔍

Section 03

Edges, Softness & Defocus

Camera optics create specific characteristics in edges and focus that must be matched for believable integration.

Defocus Softness: Match the softness of the camera's defocus

Bokeh Characteristics: Match the bokeh size and shape of the camera's defocus

Defocus Range: Match the RANGE of the defocus (depth of field)

Focus Changes: Does the camera change focus? Match the speed and timing.

Chromatic Aberration: Look for areas with slight colored edges, mostly around frame edges. Match using Nukepedia nodes or manually.

Halation: Appears in high contrast areas. Look for subtle colored blue, red, or green edges in blown out regions.

Overall Softness: Sometimes a 1px blur is enough to soften your CG slightly when the lens isn't 100% sharp.

Overall Sharpness: Rarely needed, but occasionally you may want slight sharpening when CG lacks detail.

⚡

Section 04

Motion & Technical Characteristics

Camera capture settings and lens properties create specific technical characteristics that must be matched.

Motion Blur

Does the motion blur match the plate? Was the plate shot at a faster shutter speed, or a normal shutter (180 degrees)?

Lens Characteristics

Match any light wrap, bloom, or soft flaring. Composite elements behind lens dirt when applicable.

Lens Distortion

Add lens distortion to CG elements to match the curvature of the footage.

Grain Matching

Match grain to the plate. Ensure the response curve is the same (same amount in shadows and highlights).

✨

Section 05

Diffusion & Final Integration

The final touch that can make CG elements truly "sit in" the scene.

Black Blending: Sometimes you can blend the blacks easier by adding slight diffusion.

Lens Scatter: Think of diffusion like a slight smudge over the lens, which scatters light within the lens.

Atmosphere Lift: This lifts the blacks overall slightly, but can bring in color contamination and help CG "sit in".

Diffusion should be the VERY LAST step you do. With CG integration it's not always necessary depending on the footage. This technique is especially useful on full CG scenes.

💡

Section 06

Pro Tips & Advanced Techniques

Professional insights for taking your composites from good to exceptional.

★

Integration Mastery

CG Feels Too "Inky"? Double check you're not crushing the black point. Alternatively, you might need slightly more bounce/fill light.

Direct the Viewer: We aren't just making images match. Can you boost light somewhere that logically makes sense to draw the eye? Example: boosting a rim light to make a CG character more readable.

Hide Weaknesses: Are there features that lack detail in the CG? Consider darkening them strategically.

Think Like a 3D Colorist: We aren't always doing a completely technical process. You may need to exaggerate in certain circumstances for cinema lighting.

Remember: Hollywood Cinema lighting versus "extremely photorealistic" are different goals. Know which one your director wants.

Last Checks QC