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View Full Version : CgTalk Daily Sketch 251: MATTE WARS 004: City in the Clouds


RobertoOrtiz
02-11-2005, 01:24 PM
City in the Clouds
SOURCE PLATE IMAGE:

http://66.242.144.2/matte/cloud.jpg[/url]

By
Roberto Ortiz
(We need more topics and images)

WHAT IS A MATTE PAINTING:

The idea is to try to create a Visual Effects shot from source file provided in the thread. A matte painting is a method that has existed almost from the beginning of cinema to enhance environments. A painting was used to enhance or expand a scene. If this sounds suspiciously like a "set extension" is because it is the same thing.

Some famous matte paintings can be seen in movies like "Gone with the Wind", "The Planet of the Apes", "North by Northwest", "20 Leagues under the sea", "Mary Poppins", "The Birds", "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Star Wars".

More recently digital version of the technique can be seen in movies like "Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Star Wars Prequels and The Matrix Trilogy"


For more information about this technique go here:

http://www.matteworld.com/projects/siggraph01.html (http://csr.oli.tudelft.nl/huizen/hg/cgt/matte/thelostcity.JPG)
http://www.voxfilm.com/mattepaint1.html (http://www.voxfilm.com/mattepaint1.html)
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PAM/is_136/ai_106732160 (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PAM/is_136/ai_106732160)

[u]THE Micro-CHALLENGE:

Imagine that you are painting a VFX painting for a movie.... but you only have ONE DAY.


For this micro-challenge the source file will be either a locked video or a still image. And you can use other elements (photographed, rendered and/or painted) to enhance the image. But NO WIP can be posted on the thread, only final images.


For a thread where this challenge is discussed in detail, go to this >>thread<<. (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=192283)


Depending on the input I will try to do more of these now and then.
I am looking forward to your input.

__________________________________________________ _________________

These are the rules:

* FXWARS: If you post a video, please encode the vide in Quicktime format.
* You have to use the foundation image/video that is presented in the thread.
* You may use other photographic elements to enhance the final image
* Post only your FINAL piece on this thread, based on the topic on the thread.
* RESOLUTION : The image can have any aspect ratio up to 800 x 600
* They can be done on any medium.
* If you wish, you can add a brief text description about your piece.
* Only original compositions. No "tributes" or plagiarizing, unless is it an integral part of the challenge.
* The topics will be posted every day between 10:00 - 12:00 am US EST.
* The artist also has to post total length of time it took (Thanks Clanger for the idea) and program used.
* Only final pieces can be posted on the thread. They must have been done AFTER the topic has been announced.
* Any piece caught breaking the rules will be taken off the thread.
* The topics will be picked at random from the list on this thread
(The author will be given credit). So guys keep them coming.
*You can add multiple entries, but please dont post WIP (Unless you intend to update them). NEW RULE!
* Ill post ANOTHER thread to quantify and track WHO has participated the most on these threads.


Good luck

-Roberto
PS To submit your topic ideas and suggestions go to this thread:
>>Link<< (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=145003&perpage=15&pagenumber=1)

The Damned
02-11-2005, 01:28 PM
Holy Moly, now this one is going to be impossible. Its so light!!! I cant disguise scribbles in the shadows. Hmmmm or maybe i can.... GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

RobertoOrtiz
02-11-2005, 03:16 PM
I have no problem if you manipulate the intensity of the light of the photo.


-R

Candaloo
02-11-2005, 04:28 PM
Well, not exactly a city in the clouds but kind of

Ps 7, 2 hours.


http://img211.exs.cx/img211/2948/cityinthesky6copy6ai.jpg

UPDATE: Changed the Contrast a bit to make the city fit more in to the sky

pulver
02-11-2005, 04:33 PM
Photoshop and wacom in 2h

http://jocar009.thg.se/Cloud_city.jpg

elmasfeo
02-11-2005, 04:41 PM
I enjoyed doing this one...

http://www.telefonica.net/web2/chapuceros/cloudcity.jpg

around 1:30, photoshop

I was thinking in making a guy riding a dragon or something like that in the foreground, but I've got an exam tomorrow and I shouldn't be doing this... and maybe that would no longer be matte painting, I don't know

robinayles
02-11-2005, 05:28 PM
You'll have to excuse this one being kind of cheesy, but I've been getting antsy to sketch again, but my thumb isn't completely healed from my surgery. So this is basically just a composite. About 2 hours PS/Wacom. (I bet some of you recognize the castle.)
http://www.k-squared.com/matte_cloudcity.jpg

MustardWash
02-11-2005, 06:44 PM
45 min / photoshop / wacom / cloud.jpg ( of course :p )

Man, I wish I had more time. Matte Paintings are more fun then I thought they would be.
Want to add more towers into the background, but you know how it goes.

City in the Clouds
http://www.drakegraphicdesign.com/cgtalk/cloudcity.jpg

Candaloo: Thats great! I really love the reflections of the clouds that you added into the citys base. It looks a little too clean compared to the clouds in the background. Maybe if you added a little bit of a blur or grain or even darkened the base up with some shadow I think it would mesh a little better.

pulver: Nice execution. I like how we are looking down on the "city". You did a great job of meshing it with the clouds, it really looks like it is floating in the cloud. I would like to see more detail personally. Maybe you could see some texture on the towers because of bricks or vines growing up them, or even small roots growing out of the bottom of the island or chunks of rock strewn throughout the dirt. Just things I would like but probably arnt necessary since a Matte Painting is the background and wont usually be the main focus of a scene. Great job pulver, I really like it.

elmasfeo: From what I understand of Matte Paintings, they are usually still images in the background. So if you added a flying dragon in the background I dont think this would still qualify as a Matte Painting. Eh, but who cares though. This is about having fun and sharpening our skills as we go. I think your pic turned out great. The colors, brightness & shading match well with the background. I think you may have a bit of a perspective problem with front of the castle between the two towers. You shouldnt be seeing so much of the top of the building. Otherwise awesome work man!

robinayles: Nice work robin! I can see a considerable jump in the quality of your work since I havent been here in a while. The castle fits well in the clouds, nice placement. Im sorry to hear about your thumb, what happened? Well I hope your hands will be in working order soon. Cant wait to see more of you work. :thumbsup:

Sagii
02-11-2005, 06:50 PM
Hello,
ok i havent done the matte war before, so I am not sure if I did this right.. I used the clouds for backrounds and then added images,
Photoshop 1.5 hours
http://pages.ivillage.com/cgsketch//matte.jpg

edit : DANG IT... I just saw that we were supposed to do a "city in the clouds"... I didnt see it before.. well I could say it is a flying city.. a city of airplanes... :) I am streching it, I know.

NathanielWest
02-11-2005, 07:49 PM
this is all i could do for a sketch. probably 45 minutes or so with photoshop.


http://nathanielwest.net/images/cloudcity.jpg

Alex Worthy
02-11-2005, 08:18 PM
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/z111111z/cgtalk/cloudcity.jpg

1hr in photoshoppe. I nabbed the streetsign off the internet somewhere.

edit: well, i messed with the levels a bit. Looks like I gone done too much of that at low res though, and now the quality is pretty crummy. oh well.

LightFreeze
02-12-2005, 12:08 AM
http://img213.exs.cx/img213/7976/cityinthecloud3an.jpgThanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting (http://www.imageshack.us)

1.5 hours, painter

Zebula
02-12-2005, 12:52 AM
2.5 Hours, PS, Wacom. The city feeds off the energy generated by the birth of stars.
http://img211.exs.cx/img211/1127/clouds6ex.jpg

Bytehawk
02-12-2005, 01:04 AM
1 hour, all aditional images found on google

http://users.skynet.be/bytehawk/cgtalk/cloud.jpg

teagan
02-12-2005, 01:35 AM
new to painting in photoshop, but what the heck.
ps 1 hour

http://www.udream2.com/cloud_katie.jpg

embryotic
02-12-2005, 03:31 AM
Bytehawk; Zebula; Nathaniel West: your pictures are just amazing - it's good to hav matte wars to see that kind of work...Well done!

Thany
02-12-2005, 03:43 AM
Photoshop, about 3 hours. I kept changing this image about 20 times. FInally it ended up becoming more of a conceptual sketch instead of a matte. Wanted more buildings in there, but I just got tired of painting it. Oh well. I'm a huge star wars fan so the buildings are a lot like those found on Coruscant.

EDIT: My Bandwith exceeded. Just uploaded this image to a new host.

http://monkey.trouble-free.net/~thany/temp/city_clouds.jpg

norvman
02-12-2005, 04:58 AM
http://norvomics.com/MoreArt/MoreArtindexpage.html

http://http://norvomics.com/MoreArt/Gallery/Norv_CityInClouds.jpg

Photoshop 1hr

With Wacom Tablet....

DreamMaster
02-12-2005, 05:26 AM
mmm about 1 hour... Photoshop CS. :D No references used... only used the source. :P
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/dm7755/cityintheclouds.jpg

Albius
02-12-2005, 09:47 AM
-my first weekly sketch entry; make using photos from various sites found with google. I think it took me about two hours--

http://img79.exs.cx/img79/596/cloudcity16bl.jpg

EDIT(2): I wasn't entirely happy with how the image looked, so I modified it slightly-- add about 20 minutes to the time spent.

jeroentje
02-12-2005, 11:19 AM
http://jeroen.cgcommunity.com/pics/cloudcity.jpg

pulver
02-12-2005, 12:16 PM
Crazy pictures everyone! So many great works, this is going to be a tough one to vote on.



And thanks fore the critics MustardWash (http://www.cgtalk.com/member.php?u=76592) , always appreciated. You are right about the lack of detail, I’m going to try to do my next matte more detailed.



I can hardly wait fore the next matte painting thread, this is so fun!

Ilikesoup
02-12-2005, 07:37 PM
I'd really like to try doing a matte painting, but I cannot view the source plate (clearly) on my home computer. At work (Dell) I can see the image clearly. At home (also a Dell) I can see everybody's finished pics, but the source plate looks like an extreme magnification with huge pixel blocks. Anybody know why that is? :(

thanks

robinayles
02-12-2005, 08:23 PM
Soupy - my guess would be the resolution your monitor is set to. <shrug>

MustardWash - thanks for the compliment. My thumb was a thing called "trigger thumb" - basically an inflammation of the primary ligament in the thumb. Repititive use makes it worse. So they do a thing to release the sheath surrounding the ligament so that it doesn't cause problems. I'm healing, getting a little more movement every day now. Thanks for asking. Hope to do more sketching soon, this matte was an effort and I paid for it later with swelling...too much too soon. :(

Abolutely ROCKIN' mattes, everybody! :thumbsup: We're getting lots of newcomers lately too - Welcome folks, glad to see you here!

Sir Saukund
02-12-2005, 08:44 PM
wow! great entries here!!!

http://aqua.subnet.at/simon/extern/dailysketch_mat_cloudcity.jpg

i not happy with it - it's really hard to deal with the light on clouds. I would like to improve alot of things but my time is up.

photoshop / ca. 1,5h

norvman
02-12-2005, 10:17 PM
Missed that....

bkboggy
02-12-2005, 11:20 PM
Here's mine:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v217/bkboggy/city_in_the_clouds.jpg

Photoshop, 50 minutes.



P.S. Need to find a better free host... hmm, photobucket resizes my stuff.....

Edit: fixed that by reducing quality.

droolingleper
02-13-2005, 07:39 AM
Here is my first image post. The buildings came from a pict found on Google. :sad: Would have liked to have sketched my own, but my skills aren't up to that level yet. Although I did draw the lights. :) Done in PSP and probably took about 3-4 hours.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-2/951819/MatteWars04-CityintheClouds.jpg

Ransom
02-13-2005, 08:23 AM
Photoshop 7 about 3 hours ... i really had fun with this one. Inpsired by FF 11 http://img78.exs.cx/img78/9914/matecloudcopy6cg.jpg

daadaa
02-13-2005, 12:51 PM
about 30 mins PS
http://www.yun58.plus.com/art/cloud.jpg

The Damned
02-13-2005, 01:13 PM
Wow everyone. These are all amazing. Concidering that this is the fourth Matte War I think its a case of everyone giving themselves a pat on the back.

Plus I think its the hardest one so far... I started it but failed. Maybe tomorrow...

Squibbit
02-13-2005, 04:15 PM
am i late? can oone be late to these ?
my first contribution to the sketch scene, umm,
outside contests :blush:

made with photoshop, took about an hour

here goes:

http://www.saunalahti.fi/panuom/work1.jpg

swardson
02-14-2005, 05:11 AM
Hey all,

Here is my little addition to Matte Wars 004

This one was a lot harder than the others, though I am relatively happy with it.

about 4 hours,

Maya 6--- for basic design of air ships
Photoshop CS--- for overall composition

http://www.di-technologies.com/CityInClouds.jpg

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