matte painting implementation

[wilsonw53]

Mattepainting sure changes my view on vfx. I always wonder how matte painters are able to integrate their work onto the actual shot footage. This might sounds obvious to all but are they going to paint and touch up every single frame in photoshop so as to achieve the movie?

[spetz]

Usually when we are working with a matte painting artist he or she will produce a High resolution picture (one frame), which we can use easily for camera moves and such. if a perspective feeling is in order, you can always dissect (cut) the picture while using simple masks (preferably done in Photoshop also for best results), and then position them in different Z depths. that will apply the illusion of different position and scale in the working space. (like a close tree that will move faster than the huge mountain behind it). we also found it useful to use the Hi-Res as a texture on the reversed normals of a Geom sphere (actual 3D), and place the Camera in it. by that you can achieve nice wide angle lens distortion. in short: NO. the matte painting artist does not make 24 X 60 X 90 different paintings for a one hour and a half of a motion picture. that will be 129,600 different pictures by the way…. 😉

[wilsonw53]

a good tablet goes a lonng way.. 😀
I’ve seen very nice detail matte pain ting done on the “The Pianist”. The buildings in this case arent really on the background to composite. Here’s the tricky part that confused me: Those textures on the walls, the snow, as well as the rubbles are very difficult to track. What made it possible? 😕
Merry Christmas , spetz and to all

[Timor]

haven´t seen the pianist myself but i can guess what you saw:

after a matte painting is done it is often used as a projection map.
it´s a bit tricky to explain with my limited english knowledge…

you recreate whats in the painting as rough 3d geometry (buildings, rocks, etc) in a 3d program such as maya, xsi or 3dsmax and use the painting as a map projected from a virtual camera. you can now use a second virtual camera to move in this scene.

try a search on “camera mapping”. amazing technique, used in almost every hollywood movie.

hope this helps,

timor

[wilsonw53]

🙂 Thanks Timor,

You sure helped alot. Thanks guys.

[Author]

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