Welcome to the Digital Matte Painting forum!

[Icarus]

wow, very cool, will definatly be checking this forum out frequently.

[Agamemnwn]

subscribed . will definetely be checking here :D matte painting RULZ

[Designer]

Great news! I always wanted to get into DMP but I never got to that point, mostly due to missing discussion plattforms and this forum seems to be a very good starting point. :)

Looking forward to it!

[alexfalchi]

Very cool.

Alex.

[beelow]

Cool, I am definitely interested in Matte Painting! will be stopping by!:thumbsup:

[OZ]

Im very interested too!!! hope to see this forum grows up!

-OZ-

[IRML]

well it's about time :D

[Cameo]

Long overdue. Should be a valuable resource. Nice work guys. :thumbsup:

[Pufferfish]

Great thing! Been waiting something like this :)

[lukx]

finally! :)

[Golpe]

Oh, very interesting the matte world!bravo! =)

▒Zalo▒

[Loadus]

Excellent! There's going to be some seriously awesome stuff in here ...

[iest-rob]

Awsome! I would really like to start working on some matt paintings - excellent ideal.
God - CGTalk is expanding well these days - you guys have been very busy, thanks a lot!
-Iest

[guowei]

Oh~good!!!:thumbsup:

[Nazirull]

Viola!! Now were talking!!

[Joblh]

awesome! I just started getting into matte painting, so this is an awesome addition to cgtalk :D

[ChewyPixels]

Sweet! I've been thinking about getting into matte painting. Subscribing! :thumbsup:

[carbonmatter]

exxxcelllent!
CGSociety is gonna take over the planet at this rate - awesome forums, books - how about a school and a killer studio next?!

[Rebeccak]

Looks awesome! Will definitely be checking this place out. :)

[jmBoekestein]

OOoooh cool! Finally some chances to understand Matte paints. :D

Great idea.

[tlggungor]

really good forum...

[HellBoy]

awesome stuff, I am interested how matte paintings work and stuff

I guess let me be the first to ask question about Matte paintings.

- Does Matte paintings begin from a real image or can it be computer constructed. e.g. starts of 2D painting and mixture of 3d models and once it forms a scene, can that be called Matte painting

[faizman]

great addition, letsee some kwl work of matte painting..

best of luck everyone.

[BigSky]

Lovely.
In response to HBoy, there's a great Alp Altiner podcast with Mike Seymour here (http://www.fxguide.com/article334.html) he details the great mystery of 21/2 D. Now we'll all be doin' it.

[roguenroll]

...........awesome

[thenextside]

Sweet! Very glad to see this.

[Romero]

FINALLY! this is great better now then never:scream:

[paperclip]

This is a cool addition to the forum, interested to see how this will turn out! I'll be hanging around here, so I will.....

[BUZZFX]

Another Great Move CGSociety! I look forward to it!

[Gabriel-J-Kessler]

Is matte painting ever used in games? I have never seen matte painting before i think it rocks it out. Is it worth while learning? I haven't started going to school yet for game design. *save roll VS Ubernoob question*

[micrypt]

Yipee!!! :applause: :applause: :applause:

[Redwolf]

awsome.. cant wait to see how this all develops

[jamesvfx]

hey guys I'm very honor to be the forum leader at this brand new matte painting forum, I 'll be here for everything you need as tips, critics and why not share knowledge opinions in this art, as you all know matte painting is a mixture of techniques wich involves 3D, 2D photo composition, 2D Painting, Animation etc. hoping new artist to come over and see how this art is used in all visual arts like featured films, tv series, comercials, cinematic for video games , ilustration , visual effects etc.
thanks to leonard teo and leigh for this :thumbsup:

[Dutchman]

Wow! Finally this long-waited forum! I must say it was getting time for it, and I'm very glad that it finally 'arrived'! Its always wonderfull to work with the combined skills of 2D, 3D, photo, animation etcetera! :)

Jaime: I'm happy to see you being the forumleader, as you defenitely have the skills to help us in the right direction! :) Thanks for putting time in the leadingship! :cool:

Lets pray this forum will be a great succes! :bowdown: :arteest: :beer:
-Gijs

[elnady]

Great News :)

[yellowdog]

To answer Gabriel J Kessler... Yes matte painting is used in games but more so in the cinematics or pre-compiled sequences. (To what I've experienced... I don't know for the in-engine part). It's always a good thing to know, even if it's just to make great background paintings or back drops.

[Max4ever]

let's rock :thumbsup:

[Max4ever]

"even if it's just to make great background paintings or back drops."

You can always do camera maping, so the foreground can be a matte also.
you just need more cameras :bounce:

James, I'm glad u're the forum leader mate :bounce:

[warpy]

hey leigh,

finally, with a new celeb artist to show us the ropes :)

[Archangeluus]

This...is going to be sweet! COOL!

[Canadianboy]

sweet. it finally went was added!

[Tigaer]

a great addition to the forums :D

[paconavarro]

Great !

Congratulations Jaime :) you deserve it :)

[AVTPro]

I wanted to get started in matte painting as well. Thanks.

[cgnetworks_le]

Hi everyone,

I wondered when thread like this on CGtalk would be up and running. Now it comes. Great!

I knew what matte painting is a year ago when I 1st visitted Dylan Cole's and Dusso's site. Theirs is nothing, but bloody brilliant. I also have a chance to watch their DVD matte painting and learn heaps.

Here are my 1sr practice I did about 6 months ago, but never received a critics from a professional and I hope to get some here. Thanks you all.

MATTE PAINTING. (somewhere in it still look painterly I know)
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/6153/mattermitinthewinter6zi.jpg (http://imageshack.us/)

ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHY.
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/6729/mattermitwinteroriginal9td.jpg (http://imageshack.us/)

[Artbot]

Why do you call these images "matte paintings"? I started in the biz when matte paintings were done on glass panels using actual paints. The general assumption is that they were commonly used as a background or foreground addition to a live action film plate.

My question is, should mixing digital paint, 3D, & photography be called "matte painting" at all? The majority of "matte painting" images posted here are simply Photoshop illustrations and were never intended to be composited with other live or animated elements.

Just curious to hear people's take on this. Then we can discuss people calling their illustrations "concept art". ;-)

[cgnetworks_le]

I think the so-called name for it now is just the respect for the orginal. It was 1st used by ILM about 20 years ago (if I remember correctly) and for background plate. Shots used it called "painted film". They painted on glass (that why i called "matte"). then the head of the matte painting dept successfully convinced ILM to buy Photoshop in the early 1990s, because it offered so much advantages (combine photos, etc), eventhough photoshop back then was "crap". As time goes by, software has been abused (lol!!) in matte painting as the technology and its enhancement makes it so much easier and joyful to do.

Matte painting is a hero-behind-the-character. It helps enhancing the environment, but cost less than building reallife indoor set and more convienient as you dont have to wait for weather to give desired visual.

Matte painting can be done by based on a photo or from scratch, depending how pro you are; and it can combine with live action plate, eps the 2.5D matte paintings that act as panoramic backplate.

Whatever way you work with your matte, it should turn out photorealisic. It makes a difference to concept art because matte requires photorealism that needs tremendous effort on details while concept art is just to show idea, idead of compositon, color, etc...; so, it can be very paintery, cartoony and unfinished.

[Canadianboy]

the real matte painting on glass was done way before ILM came around.

[Wongedan]

cooollllllll. thx for opening this forum

[jamesvfx]

richard (cgnetworks_le) : you did and excelent job in that winter scene, it would be great if you could create a new post in the digital matte painting forum root so everybody enjoy this piece

Artbot: you have a great point , actually matte painting now should be called as a digital enviroment art , since it is used to completly create a scenario or a stablishing shot, or partial set extensions as traditional matte painting did in that time, the name is perhaps the long history and tradition , I think actual matte painting is way bigger in art and posibilities ,is not just a matter of putting images together or 3d assets

I completly recomend " the invisible art " a book from mark cotta vaz and craig barron people that really know their bussines and they explain perfectly the transition from traditional to digital.

[ysvry]

cut 'n paste isnt that what we learned in prep school first? ;P

[AVTPro]

I think it's also from the commercial application in film. A lot of the paintings that were done with paint, can now be done quicker with Photoshop. The genre is backdrops for film, but I think people have started using it for the art and it just being dumped into one catagory.

I remember hearing something about ILM going to photoshop for mattes years ago, but from my understanding, members of ILM "created" Photoshop on the Mac for film, blue screen and composition..I could see it spilling over to other department quite easily.

I start with Photoshop on the Mac with version 2. I don't ever remember it not being a killer app. I used it for print, not painting, then for texturing. I only recent started buying Gnomon DVD over the summer. I highly recommend Dylan Coles Matte Painting demonstration.

[EmpY]

Hi Jaime...are we allowed to post a work-in-progress threads in this fantastic new forum?
This forum is great addition... I hope it grows...

congrats!

[jnurp]

alfred hithcock used matte painting a very long time ago, this techinque had a traditionnal life before the digital age

and i really think it's a great idea to have created this forum, hope there will be a lot of good stuff down here

[gregorsart]

Good Idea, plugged.

[cserbuj]

Great. Many of us were waiting for something like this for long time. Definitively , mattepainting deserve to be a part of cgtalk. Great for all.

Thanks .

Regards

[Diegoth]

I don't even know what a matte painting is. What an embarrasing thing!

[Emilio®]

Awsome idea !!! I'm a newbie to the digital matte painting and for now I'm watchin' Dylan Cole's DVD lessons "Landscape" and "Cityscape"...this is simply awsome. I'm not that good at painting, but I am willing to learn some stuff. I hope that in here I will be able to find some answers to questions that may rise in the process of learning. Thanx to everyone who participates in supporting this wonderful idea...big ups and good luck.


Emilio

[thedoc]

well it's about time!

This is an intergral part of most VFX and animation pipelines and i think that it's a cool addition to the site... after the cg portfolio...

[tobiasth]

great to see that new matte forum on cgtalk! its time ...

[theuni]

Hey CGTALK Team,

now this is a real improvement to your boards :thumbsup:

[willbrown]

Matte painting has been around since the early days of motion pictures. Gone with the Wind has many shots where matte paintings were used. Watch the film and you will see how well the guys did back then. It's a great movie and masterful matte work.

[Max4ever]

damn, lots of people asked me the same question over and over: if it's not integral painted it's not a mattepainitng.
indeed, it's not a mattepainting, it's a digital mattepainting.
when it comes to mattepainting there are no laws. you can do whatever it fits, the result matters.
for example I saw the other days some unbelievable stuff from framestore guys.
they shot a pudding, a freackin' pudding, for the background mountains. the ideea is that in digital mattepainting you're allowed to do anything in order to simulate reality.
Painting? yeah, sure, for the concept sketch, when the producer wants to see where you're going with your concept. Or for different ellements that are very hard to reproduce in 3D.You can use all your skills.
:rolleyes:

[bkeiser3d]

It's about time. I'll be checking in soon.

[jamesvfx]

empy: sure I'm going to create a new post all about WIP's , where we can give advices and of course we all can get them as well.

thanks all for your support, and let's make this forum a state of the art in digital creation

[KahlanAmnell]

Sweet. I have been waiting for this moment for so long.
I cannot wait to start posting my works.

[Artbot]

I forgot to say "Great idea for a forum! Long overdue! Thanks!"

Now, I'm fully aware of what a traditional matte painting is. And I already knew that the technique of painting on glass to extend or create a new film environment goes back 100 years or more. And I also heartily recommend the book "The Invisible Art...", as well as the d'artiste matte painting book. My question was simply, why is all this digital art called "matte painting" when it was never intended to be used as an actual matte painting (that is, as a background or enhanced environment that's composited with other live or animated elements to create a finished scene)?

I suppose the "legacy" reason is the best reason. Artists saw pictures of glass matte paintings, which tended to be environments, and simply called their own environmental illustrations "matte paintings" for lack of a better word.

Gratuitous matte painting story: One of the perqs of my old job were occasional trips to the LFL archives warehouse to do research. My first trip there was mind-blowing, getting to see all those classic Star Wars models and props and costumes. But a real highlight was getting to see all the amazing McQuarrie, Pengrazio and Ellenshaw matte paintings from Star Wars & Empire - real paint on actual glass! What was shocking was how they were stored - leaning one against another, probably 10 or 15 in all, against metal shelving at the back of the warehouse. It seemed awfully risky - one careless person could have destroyed all those priceless film artifacts in one fatal swoop. But what struck me most was their crude, almost impressionistic simplicity. The draughtmanship, perspective and color were perfect, but the brush strokes were rough and almost sloppy, but overall the image held up perfectly at film resolutions, just as the artists had planned.

[JIII]

Just goes to show, don't do what can be eliminated :-). Make things large and simple, when compressed, they are detailed :-).

This forum is just what the Dr. Ordered.

-JIII

[Jadan]

I really don't think you know how happy you have just made me!

This is far too long coming, but I am really happy and excited to know that I have a REAL area to direct my questions and show my work.

Good luck to everyone who partakes in this forum.

cheers!

[Xeophex]

:buttrock: This will make a nice addition to CGTalk.

[beelow]

I wonder if one of u can run a separate forum where u provide the images to all and everyone has to come up with a matte painting what do u guys think? It is only a suggestion. peace!:thumbsup:

[roguenroll]

I wonder if one of u can run a separate forum where u provide the images to all and everyone has to come up with a matte painting what do u guys think? It is only a suggestion. peace!:thumbsup:

a contest ? it think there was one, not sure if it got off the ground. hhhmmm.

maybe now i will happen.

[bin]

Super! :thumbsup: Im very interested . :bounce:

[bkeiser3d]

That sounds like an good idea for a cool contest. Have everyone start with the same images, and have a the theme for the contest. It would neat to see what everyone comes up with.

[JIII]

How about a speed matte painting contest :-)?

-JIII

[Max4ever]

I'm in for the contest.
It should be more creative instead of a skill contest. Something like daily sketch.
James? what do you say? :beer:

[Cathy]

For anyone interested in matte painting- there is an entire website dedicated to it:

http://www.mattepainting.org

It's home to some of todays most awesome matte painters. Dylan Cole, Alp Altiner, and Chris Stoski to name a few.

[jamesvfx]

a contest sounds really cool !! let me think of a cool idea and this is what I think guys, let's start this way

first contest can be about sketching , to see how you guys work with color and composition,
( rough level not to much detail )
later we can work in a final matte painting based on the skecth each artist posted.
this would be just a start guys a star your engines project for the next one

and finally I'm thinking about ancient civilizations , we all know CGTALK is a worlwide society, so here we find people from all around the world, then a final contest and high end project would be to create a really cool, detailed matte painting based on each others ancient civilizations,
for instance I'm mexican = mayan civilization, chinese = ancient chinese temples and palaces, each one of you will have to show, real reference photos, sketches , wip's and the final mattepainting. and we all are going to learn about history hehe
we can create some new pyramids, palaces or a complete new ancient city eventhough it never existed, but it has to match the time it is supposed to exist
here's an example of a matte painting I did , of a mayan city that never existed but I had it in my imaginination
http://features.cgsociety.org/gallerycrits/23487/23487_1126306096.jpg

imagine the posibilities with your own ancient civilizations ,
I will star a new thread for the sketching Forum . there I will add rules and steps, good luck !

[beelow]

I was not thinking necessarily contest, just something that we can do to get practice, but a contest is good as well, I am glad that this forum is starting to take off smoothly, thanx again for taking the time to listen guys! :thumbsup:

[Nii]

Uhh sorry to bump a very old thread (meh it's a sticky) but can someone give an artist illiterate person such as myself a primer on what DMP really is? It sounds pretty cool, but I've only been modeling, I haven't really ventured into the realm of other types of art...

[Artbot]

DMP a catch-all phrase for a type of environmental illustration that doesn't have to adhere to any single artistic discipline (i.e. 3d, 2d, photography). And that's a good thing, with so many images being produced with so many different techniques these days. It suddenly feels antiquated to even have separate 2d & 3d forums here on CGTalk since there is so much crossover of techniques.

The nice thing about so-called DMP is that it's the finished image that matters most (and they typically appear to be people-less environments, in keeping with what actual matte paintings were in the pre-digital days, though that varies). It's not about how great your model is or how great a painter you are, but how well the finished image conveys a mood or realistically depicts a fantastic setting. It seems that most DMP artists aspire to create photo-real images, which is what classical matte painting was all about.

Just my take on it....

[Nii]

Thanks for the reply.

Hmm, it sounds like DMP is just any art in any form as long as it consists of environmental illustration, either photoreal or emotion? I thought the "matte" was describing some sort of specific technique...

[Artbot]

I thought the "matte" was describing some sort of specific technique...

It does, but it's a legacy word that applied to the process of inserting a traditional painting into an area of a filmed image that's been left blank, or "matted out".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matte_painting

[pintoplex]

Dear member of this forum,



I am proud to join the matte painting forum. I have been waiting for a long to participate in such a fascinating technique. I live in Brazil (State of Recife) and matte painting is almost innesistent in movie or video productions here, so i am planning to start a team of professionals for this. For me, matte painting is the most important solution for projects with tight budget (this is the main concern between professionals here). My final project from the university is exactly DIGITAL MATTE, so i hope to exchange experiences and ideas here...


THANKS everyone and lets start!!!

[jamesvfx]

welcome pintoplex, I'm sure you will find very useful this forums, hope to see some of your work around, feel free to ask or post yur wip's and final images

best regards

[pintoplex]

Thkz, James, i will post some of my work.I have some tests with matte in video to show.I will prepare them to post here...

[Photoshopped]

This certainly looks a fun place to be with all the competitions and all. I look forward to speaking to some of you soon and indeed entering the competitions too.


Regards,

Jay

[Photoshopped]

No welcome for me ;(

[kbarts]

Welsome Photoshopped! ;)

I hope you show something to us;)

[Photoshopped]

Hi kbarts, thanks for the welcome ;) I will indeed have some work to show you all real soon. Just have some touch ups and improvements to make first. Thanks once again and speak soon,

Jay

[newmanhyde]

any one fancy another contest? i was thinking how well done the unofficial challenge went, with good participation. we can have another go. i am sure this will benefit everyone

[Photoshopped]

Hi newmanhyde,

I would love to do a challenge as I have not had time to take part so far. The thing is, at the moment I most likely just would not be able to dedicate the time though! :(.

L8rz,

Jay

[Rockhoppermedia]

Hope Leigh is reading this, due to the good response of the last comp prehaps we could make the contest bigger than it is with more prizes and greater coverage. The winners image could go into digital artiste matte painting 3.


Just a thought

Rich

What do you guys think?

[RQuack]

Sounds great to me. I'll be painting anyway but a little fire under my butt always helps. :thumbsup:

[leigh]

Rockhoppermedia, mini challenges are just that - mini challenges. We don't have the resources to organise large challenges in addition to our main challenges (which, incidentally, include a matte category).

[Rockhoppermedia]

Sorry Leigh got a bit over enthusiastic, the matte category on the strange behaviour comp is for a finished team piece and the matte has to be part of it. Well thats how I read it anyhow. I have a lot to do with my own work. So if a challenge comes up I will be more than happy to take part.

Cheers

Rich

[leigh]

No, there is a matte painting category, as is explicitly mentioned on the Categories page (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/strange_behavior/categories.php) of the Challenge site.

No need for "apologies" on my behalf, thank you very much. Considering I run this site and am involved in the challenge, I'd have thought you'd realise that I know what I'm talking about.

It should, however, be clarified that to enter a matte painting, you enter it into the Illustration category. The matte painting category is an open category, meaning that illustrations are eligible to be judged and awarded as matte paintings.

[Rockhoppermedia]

Woops, I stand corrected wait out for a matte,

Cheers

rich

[m2santhu]

hey ,
I m santhosh
I am an artist and graphic designer .can u giv me some suggestion how to be a matte painter...

[TND]

Hi guys
My name is alexei, im 20 and live in switzerland. Been doing digital spaceart since 2005 and now also some more photography. THis has given me lots of good personal stock and now im starting to get into Matte

My first WIP: link (http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/3159/mattewip2ei6.jpg)

Any C&C would be much appreciated

[TND]

Hello
My name is Alexei, im 20 and live in switzerland
ive been doing space art since 2005, and now that i also do alot of photography i have some good rescources for matte and have started a few projects

this is a wip of my first big one:
Link (http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/3159/mattewip2ei6.jpg)

Any feedback would be much appreciated

[FusionFx]

[B]Hi everyone... :beer: :bounce:

Vicky here, m 21 and i live in India..currently doin my studies in Animation & Cinematics..!

i love doin photography and travelling :wavey:

i have finnished my photoshop module @ my college bt missed out the Matte Painting & Digital Painting :cry: seminars...so i guess u ppl understood wot really m talking about..i jst cnt go any further with it coz i didnt understood d actual concept... i need help so plz help me out guyz....