Rotoscoping a moving subject frame by frame

Rotoscoping remains one of the largest employers in visual effects, much of it subcontracted, and the automatic tools have changed the shape of the job rather than removed it. They hold up on a clean silhouette and fail on hair, motion blur, semi transparent edges and subjects that cross each other, so the artist now corrects instead of tracing, on more shots per day. Pressure is still rising: Netflix said in July 2025 that a collapsing building in El Eternauta was the first generated shot it had delivered as final footage. What no tool decides is where the edge is, because the edge is a claim about what belongs to the subject and what belongs to the world behind it.