For the Orbitz campaign, Flare helps catch all the intricate details, such as the hairs on their heads and all of their facial features. Images courtesy of Brickyard VFX.

Junior compositors and Flame assists will agree that learning our industry's tools can come with its fair share of blood, sweat and tears. It's not uncommon for those just starting out to stay late after a 15-hour workday in order to hop onto the Flame after the lead artist goes home. This tough learning curve can be a barrier to entry for those interested in a career in VFX, and it takes a lot of persistence and hours spent on the box to finally feel confident and skilled.

So when the company I work for as a junior compositor -- Brickyard VFX's Boston office -- decided to add Autodesk Flare to its pipeline, I was excited about the opportunity to really hone my skills. Flare is Autodesk's new software-only companion tool for Flame and Inferno. Based on the Batch compositing environment, it has the same creative visual effects toolset as its pricier older brother, so you get the same powerful 3D compositing, advanced graphics, movie editing and client-driven interaction capabilities as Flame. The 2010 version contains such features as Action 3D compositing with support for third-party plug-ins and Autodesk Burn background rendering solution; creative tools for keying, paint, tracking, 3D text, color correction, warping and morphing; plus multiple Flare stations can be connected to Flame systems in a facility such as ours, allowing several projects to be worked on simultaneously.

We currently have five suites with dedicated Flare and Flame workstations that sit side-by-side. Since it's been up and running we've found that Flare has streamlined our workflow, increased our creative output and as the skillsets of the junior artists have grown exponentially.

Same Interface as Flame
Perhaps the most noticeable thing about Flare is what you don't notice. Since it uses the same interface and feature set as Flame, assists will feel very comfortable with the system right from the start.

There are, however, some tools worth pointing out that surprised me with how powerful and versatile they are, such as the Modular Keyer. I'm in the middle of a job for an Orbitz campaign via Mullen Advertising, and in some of our shots the characters are standing in front of a blown-out sky. We still want to be able to catch all the intricate details, such as the hairs on their heads and all of their facial features. Hand rotoscoping frame-by-frame isn't going to capture all of that.

With the Modular Keyer, I can quickly key certain parts of the image, like the little bits of hair, and meld it all together in the MK setup. I can then hand off that setup to the lead artist with a perfect matte that catches every detail, not just a hard edge. The amount of control the Modular Keyer allows us is very impressive.