Practical use of Matte Paintings

[kmrobins]

I know this is a very basic question, but i feel the the art and usage of matte paintings is a black art. I am cg director for broadcast, we have never used matte painting before....however, in leaning about 2.5D, I realy want to understand more of the usage of Matte painting. For Example:

-How much of a camera move can u put in a matte painting (after doing a camera projection), or better yet, what do productions studios USUALLY do?

-Are Matte painting primarily for Pre-Viz?

-Are they usually used for far away background elements, It's hard for me to see them used for forground elements?


Thanks for the help, and sorry for the ignorance, but the more people who know how to use matte painters effectivily, the higher quaility of work can be produced, not to mention, more jobs for all your talents!

[NickJushchyshyn]

-How much of a camera move can u put in a matte painting (after doing a camera projection), or better yet, what do productions studios USUALLY do?!The degree of freedom really depends on how the painting is constructed. If exteded background detail is available (for seeing what's behind foreground objects) fairly extensive moves are possible. Just about anything short of an all-out fly-through is possible with a properly constructed 2.5D "painting", but typical moves are fairly subtle and are simply applied to add a greater sense of depth and motion than a simple pan & scan. The primary consideration is to avoid or limit any dramatic shifts in perspective.

-Are Matte painting primarily for Pre-Viz?Actually, they're primarily for production shots. Concept art is for pre-vis. :)

--Are they usually used for far away background elements, It's hard for me to see them used for forground elements?!Foreground elements are just as ripe for matte work as any background. In fact, much of the earliest matte paintings WERE the foreground, as they were painted onto glass plates that were between the camera and the actual scene. This allowed painted foregrounds to cover over location elements that did not "belong" in the finished shot (telephone poles, wires, etc.) In many instances, the live action elements are in the distant background of a large matte shot.

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One of the quickest and outright coolest ways to see just how matte work can be used is to go to Dylan Cole's website (http://www.dylancolestudio.com) and check out his demo reel. AMAZING work for Lord of the Rings and you're likely to be surprised at the extent of matte work used in Dare Devil shown on the reel. There are also some quick glimpses into the setup of some of the mattes that show how effective use of 2D techniques can add tremendous depth and detail to shots without the complexities of full CGI modeling, lighting, rendering and compositing.

Another surprising look at how effective matte work can be is to watch Citizen Kane again with the knowedge that almost NONE of the mansion interior existed on set. Foreground and backgrounds were almost entirely handpainted mattes. :)

Have fun.

[stevenbray1]

These are some links from another posting from here on the same forum.

Stargate Films does a lot of great work on TV shows like 'ER' and 'CSI' and their new website shows a lot of matte paintings.
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http://www.stargatefilms.com

Here are some articles about the firm and what they do;

http://www.uemedia.net/CPC/vfxpro/printer_4684.shtml

http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/2003 ... _intp1.htm (http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/2003/10_oct/features/cw_nicholson_intp1.htm)

http://www.animationartist.com/2003/10_ ... _part2.htm (http://www.animationartist.com/2003/10_oct/features/cw_samn_part2.htm)

http://bg.millimeter.com/ar/video_virtual_backlot/
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What sort of stuff do you do?

[tluca76]

You mentioned you want to know more about it? Check out Chris Stoski, he demonstrates a great example of how to utilize 3D modeling, texturing, lighting, photographic reference, and digital painting and well...matte painting. Here is some links to him www.thegnomonworkshop.com/gallery/stoski.html (http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/gallery/stoski.html)
www.stoskidigital.com (http://www.stoskidigital.com)
www.stoskidigital.cgsociety.org/gallery (http://www.stoskidigital.cgsociety.org/gallery)
and read Ballistic Publishing’s latest tutorial book title d’artiste: Matte Painting, Dylon Cole, Alp Altiner, and Chris Stoski are featured authors in this book, and right now they are masters at what they do which is Matte Painting and Digital Set Design. I am just getting into this field myself and have much to learn and discover so please if you come across anything interesting, let me in on it. As for Chris and Dylon, I have all of their Gnomon DVD's from thegnomonworkshop.com they are a bit pricey but if you want to get serious on matte painting they help tremendously! I learned so much from them theoretically now I just have to practically put that knowledge to use if I could just find the time?....hmmm? That is a paradox I've been trying to tackle for years...lol.

[nickmarshallvfx]

tluca - Were you aware that you are replying to a thread that is over 3 years old? Its a nicely typed reply, but unfortunately, i think the original poster will either have got his answer by now, or will have stopped looking here for it :D

Nick

[Suirebit]

lol Nick, good thing you pointed it out, initially I was wondering how in 2008 a cg director doesn't know about the uses of matte painting :D