SOFT WARE: CINEMA 4D
Mike Griggs replies
While it would be great if a 3D artist could nail a render without needing any post-production, the reality is that changes will be made. While rendering is getting faster, when a 3D render is being worked on either as a standalone work or as part of an integrated VFX shot with live action, making sure there are a range of mattes ready for a compositor to use to single out elements for adjustment is a critical skill for a 3D artist to understand, whether they’re working for themselves or as part of a larger team.
Redshift, the primary render engine for Cinema 4D and Maxon’s other digital content creation tools, provides a range of matte systems that allow an artist to make sure they’re providing a range of solutions for mattes. This may seem like overkill for many jobs but, honestly, a compositor can never have enough mattes to work with.
So what matte systems does Redshift provide? Well, the two primary ones are Cryptomattes, a fantastic matte system developed by Psyop that’s used in many 3D render engines, and Puzzle Mattes. Both can use various ID elements within Redshift to specify objects, materials and more. Puzzle Mattes are a bespoke element that were in Redshift before Cryptomattes were integrated.
Using the Redshift AOV system, an artist can have multiple Puzzle Mattes and Cryptomattes at work in a scene. While a Cryptomatte should be potentially seen as a safe choice to use in any scene, just a single one can potentially create a matter for every object in the scene when it’s processed with a Cryptomatte-enabled post-production tool such as Adobe’s After Effects.
But there are some areas where a Puzzle Matte can still be required. They can the control refrac tion and reflection properties in the matte, which isn’t available with Cryptomattes. Also, Puzzle Mattes have a much lower computational overhead than Cryptomattes when used in post-processing software, which can make the extra effort to create them a better option for post work.
In this tutorial, which is aimed at beginners to the matte system, we’ll take a
