Rotoscoping effect

Development Character & Animation
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1

Heres an unusual idea.
i want to try and create a rotoscoping effect for particles and meshes (think lasers in old star wars movies, and old special effects in general from the 70s/80s)

i want to make animated models and particle emitters look like they were composited into the scene rather than rendered on the same pass as everything else

2

It sounds like you are trying to recreate the look of bad compositing, which can be a combination of many things. Here are a few thoughts/ things to consider:

  • Poor / improper lighting across a surface: this can be hard to do on deferred rendering
  • Improper frame rate: This is difficult to do on particles without rewriting the particle motion system. It’s easier with skeletal meshes; just use stepped animation curves
  • Improper or lack of shadowing: Lack of shadows is easy, simply turn them off. Improper shadowing (as if they were hand animated in the 70’s) is more difficult.
  • Lack of motion blur: difficult to do on an object-by-object basis; not supported
3

a bit off topic but i love that this is a guide to do something badly.

4

thats exactly what im after, not that i really know anything about analogue film compositing techniques.

i realise that this is exactly not what ue4 was not designed to do so the things you point out do make it sound like it cant really be done, apart from the step filter animations, which ive already planned for.

my interest was in the area of materials, if there is a way of down grading the lighting or shading a material has to simplify how it receives light.

using unlit particles kind of has the effect im after.

5

I recommend posting some screen shots of the kind of effects you are trying to imitate. That way people can provide more specifics for the kind of look you are going for.