Digital Matte Painting - Exercises: Fundamentals of Matte Painting

3/4/2023 - 30/5/2022 ( Week 1- Week 9)

Sasilvia Cheong Pei Hoong / 0345031 / Bachelors of Design in Creative Media

Digital Matte Painting / Entertainment Design

Exercises: Fundamentals of Matte Painting

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INSTRUCTION

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Tasks

Week 1 - Download Unity, Unreal Engine, NVIDIA Engine and Blender. Do perspective exercise, set the horizon to eye level, and put a point to see where is it vanishing , draw vertical lines.

Week 2 - Do value studies, with minor details, minimum 6.

Week 3 -
1. Adjust exercise 2 - value painting studies
2. Exercise 3: Sky replacement exercise (ambience study) - find a location one base plate is enough , extract the sky and replace it with all timing 5 time zones (morning, noon , afternoon, evening, night)

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Fundamentals of Matte Painting

1. Perspective Studies (Landscapes and Interiors) 
2. Compositions 
3. Value Studies 
4. Sky replacements 
5. 2.5D mattes 
6. Invisible Set Extensions

Week 1

Perspective Studies (Landscape)

We were tasked to find high-resolution landscape images (16:9, 1080 x 1920), and then we have to identify the perspective by drawing out the 1-point perspective/ 2-point perspective/ 3-point perspective with vanishing points. Then reconstruct the image by doing a simple line art of it. 

I started by identifying the vanishing point then draw out the horizon line at eye level. And proceed with drawing the vertical lines. 

Fig. 1.1 - 1 Point perspective (1) 15/4/2023

Fig. 1.2 - 1 Point perspective (2) 9/4/2023

Fig. 1.3 - 1 Point perspective (3) 9/4/2023

Fig. 1.4 - 1 Point perspective (4) 9/4/2023

Fig. 1.5 - 2 Point perspective (1) 9/4/2023

Fig. 1.6 - 2 Point perspective (2) 9/4/2023

Fig. 1.7 - 2 Point perspective (3) 9/4/2023

Fig. 1.8 - 3 Point perspective (1) 9/4/2023

Fig. 1.9 - 3 Point perspective (2) 9/4/2023 

Fig. 1.10 - 3 Point perspective (2) 9/4/2023 

Fig. 1.11 - 4 Point perspective (1) 15/4/2023 

Week 2

Value Painting Studies (Landscape)

On week 2 we were tasked on searching 6 landscape images of different locations on Pexels. After that, we proceed with the value painting studies.

Fig. 2.1 - Value Painting (1) 16/4/2023

Fig. 2.2 - Value Painting (2) 16/4/2023

Fig. 2.3 - Value Painting (3) 16/4/2023

Fig. 2.4 - Value Painting (4) 16/4/2023

Fig. 2.5 - Value Painting (5) 16/4/2023

Fig. 2.6 - Value Painting (6) 16/4/2023

Week 3

Value Painting Studies (Landscape) - Amendments 
I made further refinements according to the feedback I got from Mr. Kannaan for my value painting studies. 

I added more shadings and values to break out the formation of the rocks to make them look more natural and realistic. I also changed some of the colours so that the background, midground and foreground are easier to differentiate. 

Fig. 3.1 - Value Painting (1) 24/4/2023

Fig. 3.2 - Value Painting (2) 24/4/2023

Fig. 3.3 - Value Painting (3) 24/4/2023

Fig. 3.4 - Value Painting (4) 24/4/2023

Fig. 3.5 - Value Painting (5) 24/4/2023

Fig. 3.6 - Value Painting (6) 24/4/2023

Sky Replacement

We were required to find a base plate and different skies according to timings like (day, noon, afternoon, evening and night). Then replaced the sky of the base plate. 

After retrieving my images from Pexels, I moved onto Photoshop to erase the original sky from the base plate then I replaced it with the other sky images that I found. Then tweak the adjustment of base plate to match with the colour and hues of the sky. 

Fig. 4.1 - Sky replacement: Morning (24/4/2023)

Fig. 4.2 - Sky replacement: Noon (24/4/2023)

Fig. 4.3 - Sky replacement: Afternoon (24/4/2023)

Fig. 4.4 - Sky replacement: Evening (24/4/2023)

Fig. 4.5 - Sky replacement: Night (24/4/2023)

I was having too much fun with this exercise I decided to do a few more extra and added aurora, shooting stars, cloudy and rainbow skies. 

Fig. 4.6 - Sky replacement: Aurora (24/4/2023)

Fig. 4.7 - Sky replacement: Shooting Stars (24/4/2023)

Fig. 4.8 - Sky replacement: Cloudy (24/4/2023)

Fig. 4.9 - Sky replacement: Rainbow (24/4/2023)

Final Compilation

Fig. 5.1 - Exercises: Fundamentals of Matte Painting (30/5/2023)

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FEEDBACK

Week 2 (10/4/2023)

The door should be aligned with the perspective lines update that part, others are okay.

Week 3 (17/4/2023) 
Adjust exercise 2 (refine value painting, don’t need to make the textures super detail, make sure the depth is clear, separate the plates (background, midground, foreground), see how the blending is going to come in (sky + ground, environment effect (fog, haze))

Week 4 (27/4/2023) 

All exercises looks fine.

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REFLECTION

I actually learned about perspectives during foundation but totally forgot how it worked. The perspective studies helped me regain that memory back. Honestly struggled a lot with the colour value painting because I was so used to drawing with line arts and having to paint them in a way without them was hard to do. Since line art gave me a guide on where to stop my line without it it just looks all empty and jagged. My favorite exercise was the sky replacements I love Photoshop so much, it was so much fun.