Techniques A–Z¶
Status: A wiki-style index. Each entry says what the technique is, when to use it, and where it is explained in depth. Add entries by pull request.
| Technique | What it is | Use when | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anticipation | A small opposite move before the big move | Any attack or reveal | 06 |
| Chroma key | Removing a green or blue background by colour | You have a screen and even light | 03 |
| Clean plate | The same shot without the performer | Prop removal, matte repair | 02 |
| COLMAP solve | Automatic camera reconstruction from frames | Handheld or moving shots | 04 |
| Conform | Re-encoding to a constant frame rate | Every phone clip, first | 02 |
| Contact shadow | A shadow where the performer touches the virtual floor | Every comp; floating is the top giveaway | 05 |
| Cut-in | Pause, character panel, title slam, cut back on an impact | Ultimate / special moves | 06 |
| Despill | Removing screen colour reflected on the performer | After every key | 03 |
| Glass-to-glass latency | Time from real movement to the image on screen | Live booths | 07 |
| Grey ball reference | A grey sphere filmed on set to read light direction | Matching light in Unreal | 02 |
| Hand-over masks | A few painted mask keys an AI model propagates | Hands crossing faces, several people | 03 |
| Hit stop | Freezing 2–6 frames on impact | Every hit you want to land | 06 |
| Hybrid matte | Chroma key for the body, AI matte for hair and blur | Wigs, lace, fast motion | 03 |
| Impact frames | 1–3 inverted or white frames at a hit | Anime-style action | 06 |
| Media Plate | Unreal actor that plays footage in the level | Getting a plate into UE 5.1+ | 05 |
| Nodal solve | Rotation-only camera solve | Tripod pans and tilts | 04 |
| On twos | Holding each frame for two frames | Snappy action beats | 06 |
| Parallax | Near and far objects moving differently as the camera moves | Needed for any 3D solve | 02 |
| Pixel Streaming | Streaming Unreal output to a browser | Remote rendering, browser booths | 07 |
| Side-by-side | Raw plate next to final | Showreels, pitch demos | 06 |
| Test cube | A cube on the virtual floor to prove a track | Every tracked shot, before comp | 04 |
| Title slam | Move name scaling 120% → 100% with a flash | Cut-ins, openers | 06 |
| Tracking markers | Tape crosses on screen and floor | Every tracked green-screen shot | 02 |