Expert: Andre Hickman - 12/2/2006

Question
Sombody tell Masking is Rotoscoping, you tell Tracking manualy (frame by frame) is Rotoscoping... so i am confused. Tracing,animating,tracking something frame-by-fram, that is called Rotoscoping? Is it right ?
Please explain the exact meaning of Term Rotoscoping.

Answer
There was a day (before all the technology that we have now) the masking was the only type of rotoscoping that there was.  Now just to say rotoscoping is "masking" is simply to small of a definition.

ROTOSCOPING is a technique where animators trace live action movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films.

So whether you are creating a mask and manipulating it frame by frame, or you are tracking a point frame by frame, or making your name appear like its being written on the screen frame by frame, I would still consider it rotoscoping, because you are doing it by hand...frame by frame.  Just think of a tracking point as a mask with only one control point, or thing of a shape mask as multiple tracking points connected by splines...The concept is the same.  You are moving frame by frame through time, and adjusting the points to be where you want them to be at that point in time...

Cheers,
Andre