Punjab PSEB Sr. Sec. NSQF Media (Roto Artist) study plan

Build a reference sheet of roto spline anatomy (bezier vs b-spline, open vs closed shapes, feather and motion-blur controls) with a labelled screenshot-free diagram you draw yourself

Create closed spline shapes around a moving limb across 20 frames of your own practice footage and keyframe the shape so it follows the limb without slipping

Explain in writing how roto differs from paint and from keying, and where each is used in a shot

Practise constant, linear and eased keyframe interpolation and record which one holds a matte edge best on a curved edge

Set up a personal folder structure and naming convention for roto scripts, renders and reference clips

Rotoscope a full human figure with separate shapes for head, torso, upper and lower arms and legs across a 40-frame action shot

Apply and tune motion blur on roto shapes to match the plate's shutter look

Use tracking data to stabilise a shape's motion, then re-apply the shape to the moving element

Diagnose and fix three common roto faults: edge chatter, shape drift and corner popping

Time yourself rotoing one frame and log the per-frame cost to estimate shot turnaround

Compare bit depth, chroma subsampling and colour space handling across at least four delivery formats and note which preserve matte edges

Prepare a plate for roto by deflickering, degraining and setting the working colour space, then export a clean reference

Build a garbage matte to remove rigging or tracking markers before fine roto begins

Paint out three separate unwanted objects (a wire, a logo and a dust speck trail) using clone and frame-blend approaches

Test how resolution and proxy settings change edge quality in your roto output

Produce a hard matte and a soft feathered matte of the same subject and merge them into a single edge-correct matte

Composite a roto'd foreground over a replacement background and match black levels, grain and edge softness

Apply layer blend modes and mask channels deliberately, documenting why each mode was chosen

Colour-match a composited element to the plate using gain, gamma and offset adjustments

Run a side-by-side flip test and record every mismatch you find before fixing it

Rebuild the week-4 composite into a layered node or layer tree with clearly named mattes, clean-up and grade stages

Prepare a shot for handover: version-numbered script, rendered mattes, notes file and frame range documentation

Read and act on a mock shot brief by identifying the deliverable spec, deadline and review stage

Render deliverables in at least two formats and verify frame count, alpha channel and colour on re-import

Map the roto artist's position in the VFX pipeline from plate ingest to final DI and list what each downstream department expects

Map at least eight job roles across film, broadcast, animation, gaming and advertising to the skills each requires

Draft a one-page CV and showreel breakdown aimed at roto artist openings, listing software, shot counts and turnaround

Set up a professional online portfolio page and a digital file-sharing workflow for sending large plates

Identify three client or employer types you could serve as a freelance roto artist and note what each typically buys

Practise a short self-introduction and rate-card explanation suitable for a first client call

Set up an ergonomic workstation and document a 10-minute break routine to manage screen fatigue and repetitive strain

Apply electrical, cabling and file-backup safety practices and write a short studio safety checklist

Handle a mock confidentiality scenario: describe how you would store, transfer and delete client footage under an NDA

Give and receive feedback on a peer's matte using specific, non-judgemental language and log the changes you made

Write a short note on credit, plagiarism and honest reporting of time spent on a shot

Complete a timed mock shot: roto, clean-up and matte delivery within a fixed three-hour limit

Review all earlier deliverables against a self-made quality checklist and redo the weakest one

Sit a 40-question self-test across all ten domains and record your score per domain

Target your two lowest-scoring domains with focused revision and a written summary of the gaps

Finalise your showreel and portfolio with the best three shots from the programme