I did a quick review of “Blender Compositing and Post Processing” book.
The chapter resume is as follows:
Chapter 1
It introduces the usual CG pipeline, the color spaces and supported images types. Also it makes an introduction on render passes and render layers.
Chapter 2
Brief introduction of the node system as well as handy shortcuts.
Chapter 3
A description of all of the Input and output nodes available in the compositor.
Chapter 4
A very good explanation of the image manipulation techniques throw the compositor. It covers all the image manipulation nodes with text explanation as well as image samples to a good understanding of the concepts.
Chapter 5
In chapter 5 there is a detailed description of the effects achieved by using blender nodes without the need of re-rendering the scene. The topics included are:
• Relighting
• Fresnel effect in compositing
• Depth of Field and Bokeh
• Glares
• Motion and directional blur
• Lens distortions
• Grouping
• UV mapping
• Organizing nodes
The techniques shown can save project time and can improve reuse or sharing and boost efficiency
Chapter 6
Chapter 6 explains the significance of the alpha channel as well as how to create or manipulate alpha masks using Object Index and keying techniques.
Conclusion
The book is a very good guide to beginner and intermediate blender users to improve the production of scenes using the blender compositor. The explanation is easy to read and cover most of the attributes involved in the different nodes.
Pros:
- Covers all the compositing nodes
- Explain most of them in detail
- Easy to read and follow
Cons:
- It uses a very simple sample scene. Maybe could have used a more complex scene in some of the effects
- A couple of simple but complete projects could have used to show the complete pipeline of compositing a scene
I was given by the publisher a free (digital) copy of the book for review, but I was not paid. These are my honest thoughts on the book.