Compositing

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part of Post-Production · tier 2 · Video · 0 pieces of work carry it · 4 crafts it is confused with

The craft, and who hires it

Hired to make separately produced elements read as one: green-screen keying and background replacement for ads, blending CGI passes into live plates for branded films, assembling multi-source campaign key visuals. (The vendor benchmark found no distinct sell-side vocabulary — compositing is bundled inside 'VFX/Post' offerings.)

The craft of combining multiple visual sources — plates, passes, keyed footage, graphics — into one seamless final image or shot: keying, rotoscoping, layer blending, and integration finishing. (Refines the prior text: 'Layering and blending 2D elements to create seamless final images or videos in post-production.' Ratified as ONE Compositing group — 2D/3D merge at the remap, CN9.)

Tag it when…

Tag when the visible craft is multi-source integration: keyed subjects placed on new backgrounds, layered plates with invisible joins (or deliberately visible collage-style assembly), rotoscoped elements, or CGI passes blended into photographic footage.

Never tag it when…

Never tag when the claim is the generated elements themselves — creating CGI/simulation content is Visual Effects; Compositing is the joining. Single-image cleanup of one photograph goes to Retouching. Joining shots sequentially in time is Editing, not layering within a shot. A collage LOOK is the 'collage' value on the content_material junction (v2.1 store) — tag this craft only when real multi-source assembly is evident.

Easily mistaken for 4 other crafts

Every other page suggests neighbours by similarity. This one navigates by difference: each line names the craft this is confused with, and the rule for telling them apart.

• mixed media visual effects vfx — VFX names the effects-creation umbrella; Compositing the integration sub-craft. When only seamless blending is evident and no generated elements are claimed, Compositing alone is the honest tag.
• post production retouching — Retouching perfects ONE photographic source; Compositing merges SEVERAL sources into a new whole.
• post production editing — Editing joins shots sequentially in time; Compositing stacks layers simultaneously within the frame.
• animation motion graphics — Designed graphics animated over footage lean Motion Graphics; invisible integration of foreign elements INTO the scene is Compositing.

At what size it applies

Asset tag when composited construction defines the piece (a composited key visual, a keyed-throughout spot). Moment tag when compositing is confined to one beat inside a longer, otherwise straight piece.

Where to look next

• The whole services tree — the services index.
• Every other vocabulary — the vocabulary index.
• How work gets credited to a craft — the entities chapter.