Why use a compositing workflow?

- [Instructor] Before we get any deeper into our course, a question that we may well be asking at this point is whether or not we really need to use a compositing-based approach to image creation in our day-to-day work. In fact, we may also be asking, "Isn't V-Ray itself already able "to produce final rendered pieces "that I can deliver straight to the client?" Well, the answer to each of those very relevant questions are pretty much one and the same in that whilst V-Ray is most definitely capable of producing high-quality final renders that can be given over, the time that may be involved in getting it to do so can mean that the profitability of a given project gets seriously eroded, especially so if major changes and then re-renders are required towards the back end of the project, which is a major concern for anyone wanting to make a career out of working creatively in V-Ray Next for SketchUp. My personal number one reason for encouraging use of a compositing-based approach to lighting and rendering, then, would be the potential financial benefits that it can create, given that this allows us to get our work done to the standard that is needed, whilst also sticking to the timeframe that has been given us by the client, all without our having to be chained to a desk for 18 to 20 hours a day as the project draws close to its deadline. Closely related to that initial reason, however, is the huge amount of artistic freedom that can be unlocked by our making use of a compositing-based approach to our work. The ability that this gives to be able to make really quick changes to lighting, color choices, and even the final composition and layout on a project can mean the difference between a decent end result and a really good or even great one. Going even further on the creativity aspect, using a compositing workflow also means that we can try out and add complex effects to a shot that may not have been possible in 3D given the time and budget that we're working with. And we can also create numerous versions of our final piece where perhaps only one would've been possible otherwise. Indeed, the quicker we can get a project out of our 3D application and into the compositing phase, the more of these benefits we are likely to see. Finally and, again, very closely related to all of the previous points are the twin aspects of our getting both satisfaction and enjoyment out of our day-to-day work. Few things in life can negatively impact like our having a bad day at the office, and few things can cause a bad day at the office for lighting and rendering artists quite like a project going off deadline, off budget, or, worse still, both at the same time. The safety net to these dangers that a compositing-based approach to work can bring, then, is, in my honest opinion, absolutely invaluable. Yes, it does add a little bit of extra work in terms of our having to first of all learn to use a new piece of software, and it does also mean adding a few extra steps to each of the projects that we work on. But again, the benefits that can come our way because of doing so can be so huge that these extra little bits of effort just pale into insignificance. And of course, even if we're a freelancer working on a very tight software budget, the good news is that there are several fully-featured and very powerful free pieces of compositing software already out there with GIMP for stills and the Fusion module found inside DaVinci Resolve these days being among some of the best that can be had.