Digital Matte Painting - Project 2: Invisible Set Extension

23/4/2023 - 18/6/2022 ( Week 3 - Week 11)

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

Digital Matte Painting / Entertainment Design

Project 2: Invisible Set Extension

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INSTRUCTION

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Tasks

Week 3-

Come up with a concept for invisible set extension (sci-fi theme), after invasion early stage by some modern civilization, set at a dawn/dusk, set up their colony, find a base plate, what are you referring to- original location (dessert/ mountain/ sea/ city/ forest, etc...)

Fig. 1.1  Concept planning (23/4/2023)

Week 6-

Build concept and breakdown. Can choose any movie if you want to for the narrative. Need a brief idea when you have your concept done then you can move on to your final and polish it. 

Start concepting, speedpaint, draw your concept, 3 locations for a start of ideation, don't have to break down the whole thing for all 3 thumbnails, by next week want to see all thumbnails and moodboard, have a horizontal line to indicate the starting point. 

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Invisible Set Extension

Week 5-

Desert Tryout 

Honestly, I had no idea what to do at first so I just went ahead to do a tryout in Photoshop. 

Fig. 1.1  Desert Tryout (8/5/2023)

Desert Thumbnail Sketch - Week 6

I continued with a thumbnail sketch of the desert.

Fig. 2.1  Desert Value Painting (9/5/2023)

Week 6-

Thumbnail Sketches & Base Plate 

We were the told to come up with 3 sketches for each location and we had to do 3 locations in total. I then refined by concept and search for more solid moodboard references.

After that I looked at base plates and suitable sky replacements. Then I proceeded with the sketches of 3 of my locations desert, city and mountain. After finishing the sketches I went onto Pexels to look up suitable images of the components that I can photobash into the painting.

Fig. 3.1  Desert #1 (14/5/2023)

Fig. 3.2  Desert #2 (14/5/2023)

Fig. 3.3  Desert #3 (14/5/2023)

Fig. 3.4  Desert #4 (14/5/2023)

Fig. 3.5  Desert compilation (14/5/2023)

Fig. 3.6  City #1 (14/5/2023)

Fig. 3.7 City #2 (14/5/2023)

Fig. 3.8 City #3 (14/5/2023)

Fig. 3.9 City compilation (14/5/2023)

Fig. 3.10 Mountain #1 (14/5/2023)

Fig. 3.11 Mountain #2 (14/5/2023)

Fig. 3.12 Mountain #3 (14/5/2023)

Fig. 3.13 Mountain compilation (14/5/2023)

Week 8-

Progression 

I chose the 4th desert sketch to proceed with and started photobashing in Photoshop. It looked very odd to me.

Fig. 4.1 Desert progression (28/5/2023)

Week 11-

Progression  

After feedback from Mr. Kannan, I was told that objects that are far away has lesser details and closer ones has more details which made so much sense. I then refined the painting further by choosing suitable rocky mountains for the base plate, I also added a city on the middle rock, added the plane that is flying out the city and some floating rocks.

Fig. 5.1 Desert progression (12/6/2023)

I wanted to try out another sky but it ended up making it very messy instead. 

Fig. 5.2 Desert progression alternative sky (12/6/2023)

Refinements

Did major refinements this week, I added more structure to the city as it was very plain previously. I also ended up making the city float which was more interesting than it being on the ground. I added a waterfall, more settlements, a skull of an animal and refined the mountain textures. 

Fig. 6.1 Desert refinements (17/6/2023)

Fig. 6.2 Desert base plate and assets (17/6/2023)

Final

Fig. 7.1 Project 2: Invisible Set Extension (18/6/2023)

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FEEDBACK

Week 6 (8/5/2023)

Have a horizontal line to indicate the starting point. 

Fig. 1.1  Concept ideas 

Fig. 1.2  Concept ideas 2

Fig. 1.3  Concept ideas 3

Artboard should be 16:9 landscape, need to know how to plan, get a base plate do it with simple boxy shapes. 

Fig. 1.4  Base plate

3 different locations, must have values, 3 locations 3 sketches each.

Fig. 1.5 Composition

Week 7 (15/5/2023)

Fig. 2.1 Composition

Fig. 2.2 Narrative

Pick the image, turn it into black and white, then use gaussian blur, and start building from there. City 1- laser beams is VFX, City 2- perspective is off, City 3- have some highlights here and there, Desert 4- It is fine, base plate makes sense, find a better crate image, the planes and rocks are addition, Mountain 2- base plate does not reflect, need to know the levitation and need to know where is precise. Can use photobashing. Base plate should be covered 70-80 percent 

Fig. 2.3 Blockout

Choose your proper values, you can change the angles to make it look more interesting, and then you can draw over it, always build from big shapes first. For blender the OUM building base, to add colours need to go to UV editing mode, then go to object mode. 

Week 8 (24/5/2023)

Overdoing it, start with big shapes, don't worry about the details just yet, base the original plate on what you want to add. 

Week 9 (29/5/2023)

Desert 1- Scenic views and how to portray your ideas, when something is further it has lesser details, learn how to blend it, start simple first, and think about the environmental effects on the rocks, like buried by sand/moss/dirt and so on, look up Thailand island rocks. 

Week 11 (12/6/2023)

Looks flat, mountain at the back is too washed out, add an environment effect (fog), add shadows diagonally at the back mountain, get back some of the details, and be careful of the washed. Overlap the mountain and break it up, don't need to go super detailed, if you put a rock on the ground it is going to have weight and it creates a shadow where sand is going up covering the bottom part of the rock. Go onto Unsplash and look into the rocky plain, see a sample of how naturally it is embedded on the ground, to make the city much more interesting add some darker parts in some areas, think 3D when you are making the buildings, it has 4 squares, look at the lighting, key lights, fill lights, add shadows, depth is missing, have buildings in different shapes not just squares, look at floating buildings and islands. Pick the black and white ones they are easier to paint over. If you want the sky to have the spiral light it can be done in After Effects for final project. 

Week 12 (19/6/2023)

Refinements can be done in final project. It looks better, add a little detail on city rock, look at rim lights and highlights make it subtle (like 30-60 percent opacity. The white on the waterfall should not be too white, use off white instead. Give the rocks a little bit of imperfections, give it a little depth so that it is overlapping to make it look more natural. The water shouldn't be on the edge, break it out and overlap it. The buildings are okay it works. The water is reflective and the lights will reflect into the water causing it to shimmer. Break the monotonous feel on the ground, if you have backlight, the elements will be more solid, have the shadows to be more purple. Highlight rim light, make 3 different types of floating rocks then just copy and paste them.

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REFLECTION

This project was tough very tough, I thought I would like it the most but having to make it look realistic required a lot of work and patience. I had to repeatedly revisit and refine the artwork, as each detail and ambience can change the whole look and mood of the painting. Adding depth to the mountains became particularly problematic due to the fog obscuring the darker areas, resulting into making them look flat. I found that drawing water was actually really enjoyable. In the end it was how much you can add into the painting to make it look believable. Photobashing really work wonders.