Ashna Pillai Compositing Demo Reel

                                  Check out my demo reel!

Here's some in-depth explanations on some of my harder shots!

Project 1: CG Fire Monster

This project was an important milestone in my education, it was one of the first times I had dealt with CG. It was one of the most enjoyable ones too, because I learnt a lot of cool techniques to help me integrate the elements together. These were the steps I took to achieve this result:

Colour-matched the fire to ensure that the colours I had planned for the monster and the fire were harmonious. 

Interactive lighting (used the Curve Tool to match luminance data for interactive lighting on the rocks)

CG Monster intergration

Nuke Particle System (created smoke using noise and multiplying it with the embers)

Final touches (Lens dirt, halation and a creative grade)

Project 3: Actor Replacement

This is one of the hardest shots I encountered during my time at Lost Boys Montreal (Campus VFX). This project made me understand colour theory much better. Matching references are also a really important part of this part of the industry, so I welcomed this challenge. The rotoback for Robert Downey Jr. was a technical obstacle that I was worried about as I took on this shot. In the end, I was grateful as I had an opportunity to use Silhouette. While I do think this shot has work left to be done to it colour-wise, here are the steps I took to get it to this point in its evolution: 

Levelled out the green screen

Clean-plated the original actress (Gwenyth Paltrow) from the scene 

Rotoback of the actor (Robert Downey Jr.)

Keyed out my actress using an IBK stack, careful to bring back any lost hair details using additive keys. 

Colour treatment, using STMaps and tracked roto masks

Project 7: Deep Compositing Lizard

Being the most recent addition to my demo reel, this shot was a great time. I had the chance to learn techniques for troubleshooting problems with CG (denoising CG, getting rid of certain artifacts) It also taught me how to use cryptomattes. Using them and the passes helped me target all my corrections. Deep compositing is something I have encountered before, but using it in this project made me realise how convenient and helpful it is to use. Adding details like the shadow and ensuring everything lived in the same plate is always thoroughly enjoyable. Here are some steps I took to achieve this shot: 

Placed the lizard, smoke and embers in correct order using Deep techniques

Use STMaps to apply Lens Distortion to the elements

Integrated the CG elements 

Added in the shadows of the lizard, matching them to the plate.

Denoised and got rid of the artifacts on the CG renders.

                                                  That's all!

I appreciate the time you took to read my process! The projects I didn't address didn't require detailed explanations, though they have still been important to my journey as a compositor. My goal is to continue finessing details in these projects and to expand my skills into other software I want to be more proficient in.

Thank you!