Matte Painting used in Movies

[RiKToR]

This is a post I did in the mattepainting.org forums asking a similar question but focused on 3d. To answer the general film question, no mattes are not painted frame by frame. That would be counterproductive, mattes save time and cost and thats the whole reason the exist. If camera move is involved depending on the move a matte be a different proportion then film to fit the whole content. If a camera pull is used then it maybe broken into several layer which are animated slightly different to create the illusion of different planes of distance, the newest thing matte painting is projecting the painting onto 3d geometry in a 3d program and making an animated camera. A good example of of where traditional mattes started off is the multi-plane camera the Ub Iwerks made during his days and Walt Disney. Google it and after you see how it works then imagine that instead of a camera its all done virtually in a compositing tool. Also for more reading here is some info on mattes for 3d films from my mp.org post...

(on a side note, most outside car shots are shot in a car and are not really mattes, one example is the car shot in Children on Men in which a vehicle that had a 360 degree range of cameras was driven down a large stretch of road and then projected onto a sphere in maya and composited in shake.)

Well from what I know, mattes in animation are just as, if not more, abundant then mattes for film. As far as how they are used, it all depends on your shot. Camera movement is a big factor, if the camera makes huge moves around an object or shows just way too much parallax to be contained in a 2d projected matte then the objects of main movement are usually fully 3d. Animation interaction is also a factor, if a character or object interacts with a potential matte element then its usually 3d in the interaction area.

Even in this day and age though, with processing power expanding into mulit core chips and 64bit finally being seen as a real option in term of performance, its still quicker to cut down render and sometimes production times by projecting a matte painting as opposed to modeling, UV layout, light texture, and object.

So as far as the difference between film and animation shots, they are probably not that much different for each other except with 3d you are more likely to have some assets to start from. Lets take a look at two shots that most likely involve mattes.

http://www.blurred-pixels.com/mp/cars_35_thumb.jpg

This is a shot from Pixar/Disney Cars, in this shot I believe the camera is pulling back. This shot contains some amount of parallax so chances are is that it was a projection onto 3d geometry, with full 3d objects. So starting from the absolute background, It was most likely a straight 2d matte with a projection on a 3d cyclorama or 1/2 cylinder shape. Next the mid ground mountain, it was probably loosely modeling 3d, given a lighting setup for the shot and was hand painted over geometry and projected on the model. There were a few benefits for doing this in this shot; 1) you have a accurate collision model to cut out and use for the water fall simulation, 2) you can add atmospheric effects like fog and get and accurate z channel, 3) you can get a pretty good render time allowing for the correction of last minute changes. For the foreground shot (lower right hand) this could be a projection or a 3d assets of combination of the two. Most likely because of the distance of the shot it was a projection as the Mid ground was. The cars utilizing the road could easily be animated on the road and there seperate passes easily comped into the scene. The last bit of objects was some sporadic foreground trees, most likely a 3d asset.

Shot 2
http://www.blurred-pixels.com/mp/fish6.jpg

Ok the only matte in this scene would be Sydney and the sky, the boats may not be in motion on marina but they would be slowly moving with the water, you could get away with static painted boats near the horizon where the movement would be perceived as minimal but that depends on how long the shot and whether or not the talent (fish) cover it up to break continuity. I believe this shot was only about 3-5 seconds so most people wouldn't really notice but I bet the distant boats were animated a little as a 2d card in post. The matte itself could have been made from photos of Sydney or a 3d mockup overpainted, but that really depends on whether the 3d assests exists for other shots. For example in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, alot of shots contained the same building but possibly from different angles, so since a 3d asset already existed, matte artist usually used 3d geometry for there base setups. Especially for the Coruscant shots that contained alot of 3d assets from the previous 2 films.

So with it in mind that a 3d set may exists for the shot your trying to achieve you can utilize it or a render as a base. This actually opens the doorway to more 3d projection in animation films, though film it self has been taking advantage of this feature more and more. So I would say knowledge of a 3d application is probably essential for matte artist who want to stay current with there skills, the means modeling, app specific projections, lighting, rendering, multipass setups and so forth. Not to the extent of a senior animation specialist but enough to get the job done, because those lines between 3d and 2d blur more and more everyday.

I personally have a degree in 3d animation but I am using that to my advantage in trying to produce exception mattes.

[Suirebit]

wow riktor, that's one heck of a long and good reply :D :thumbsup:

[nickmarshallvfx]

Yea that was fantastic! Wow!
I think you should go and have a lay down after that mate, to give your wrists a rest ;)

3D is still something that I am in my infancy with, but it definitely is par tof a matte painters arsenal, so im trying to learn 3D (and compositing) alongside matte painting. Lots to learn.... got nothing but respect for those people who can do it, and do it well...

Nick

[RiKToR]

oh i typed that months ago on the mp.org forums... just copied and pasted... it type fast though, I used to write novels when I was bored.

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.