DMP Mini Challenge_002 - August 2014 - Monolith Future

#1

Welcome to our second Digital Matte Painting monthly challenge, presented by CGSociety! These short monthly challenges are meant to be fun while at the same time, allow you to create a nice looking piece in the end and win some prizes if you place in the top three.

All skill levels of artists are welcome in this challenge!

The prizes for top 3 placements are:
1st Prize: 1 x CGWorkshop, 1 xCGTOD, 1 x Ballistic Book of Choice, 1 x CGSConnect Membership
2nd Prize: 1x CGTOD, 1 x Ballistic Book of Choice, 1 x CGSConnect Membership
3rd Prize: 1 x Ballistic Book of Choice, 1 x CGSConnect Membership

Required in every monthly challenge to qualify for the prizes:
Post one rough concept of your idea and at least two work in progress images in the forum. Your final draft must be delivered on or before 11:59pm PST on the last day of the month of the challenge.
To enter, simply create a new thread in this forum with the DATE of challenge and name such as: “August 2014 - David Luong”

This months task is to create a Digital Matte Painting matching into the “Monolithic Dogmatism” Elder Archives establishing shot.

[VIMEO]95808039[/VIMEO]

Objective: To create a cinematic digital matte painting production Styleframe environment shot. This can include atmospherics but should ideally not contain animated objects such as water, vehicles or people, as we will be judging primarily based on the clean DMP itself.

  • You can use one of the provided images as your plate, but don’t need to: http://davidluong.net/cgsociety/dmpmc_2014.08/ref/
    Alternatively, you can use your own as long as the final result matches aesthetically. Present your final image at 2048x872 pixel resolution.

  • Match the original mood, colour, lighting and architecture as best as possible! The idea is that your shot could play within the same sequence of the final movie.

  • Works in progress (W.I.P.) MUST be shown here in order to be considered for prize placement. You must have at least a basic concept, AND at least two rough versions posted in the forum for critiques or you will not qualify.

Tip: Concentrate on matching “the feel” over everything else.

We’ll be judging on clean matte edges, lighting direction and color accuracy according to the original reference, and creativity within the given parameters of this challenge. Good luck to everyone! Please feel free to ask any questions here.

As always, you can ask general digital matte painting questions, and post WIP work not pertaining to this challenge in the regular DMP forum here: http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=196

#2

Hello David. Great to see new DMP Challenge running! Of course I’m in :). But before I’ll start I have a few (I hope not too silly) questions.

First of all… if my understanding is correct, we should create STILL image based on provided image and animation. Is that correct? I have doubts here because sentence “cinematic digital matte painting production Styleframe environment shot” brings me confusion. I’ve tried google these mysterious terms - “cinematic” and “Styleframe”, but I still don’t feel that I fully understand it… Could you bring meaning this terms and whole sentence in a simple words for a simple mind like mine :wink: ?

Additional question: matching lighting means that we should keep also light direction from original image?

Thank you in advance.

Regards
Jonatan

#3

Allo Jon,

Great questions! I can see why it might be confusing hehe. Well the term “cinematic” is just something we use to describe an image as if it were shot very nicely on set, with a great director of photography, or cinematographer on a movie set. Styleframe means something like a proof of concept, something you present to a potential client, but itself must be as photo real as a matte painting (as if it were used in a movie sequence). But since this is not a challenge to be actually used in a movie, tv or animation, it will be a still frame, in a cinematic sense, as a style frame. Hope that helps!

In regards to the matching lighting, yes you must match the lighting to the base plate you choose, much like in last month’s Skyship Cove. Pick just one plate to match, use the others as visual guide if you like.

#4

Thank you very much David! My mind found your clarifications simple enough :wink: and my confusion disappeared… except one thing (please don’t give me warning shot in the head :wink: ) - who exactly is (what exactly does) cinematographer? I think I don’t need answer to that question for this challenge, but I simply would like to know (to make my world a little bit wider).

Once again - thank you in advance!

Regards
Jonatan

#5

Cool np! The cinematographer is the same as the Director of Photography. They are in charge of all of the shooting that goes in, the lighting of the set, the cameras, the kind of angles a film shoots with. They are the ones behind the cameras :0 Here’s more info about them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographer and then a website for American Society of Cinematographers for more info: http://www.theasc.com

#6

Hi David

Kudos on getting the second competition running so fast after the first finished.

Like the poster above, I have some questions, in that I have no idea what you mean by…
" “Monolithic Dogmatism” Elder Archives"

Now I’m guessing ‘Monolithic Dogmatism’ is the title of the piece, and I guess Elder Archives is… a game? a website? a book? I know it’s not a movie, as I’m pretty good at keeping up with cinema releases.

Could you give a slightly more formal outline for us folk who maybe aren’t totally on the QT? as in…is this a post apocalyptic world? a cyber world? an alien planet? What’s going on.

Otherwise, just by judging the look of the plate and guessing, I’ll give you something out of the TV show ‘Revolution’ style… is that the ballpark?

Cheers

R.

#7

Heyo Richard,

The Monolithic Dogmatism, Elder Archives is just the description of this reference/animation from Milan’s personal project. As far as the story or extra brief goes, I’ll have Milan get to that when he can as he can better describe that for us.

#8

Hi guys, this is looking great - hoping I’ll find time for this one. Is there any chance of a higher-res version of the reference plate? It’d be handy to be able to get more of a sense of the details.

It’d be good to know what the ground level is supposed to look like in terms of fitting in with the theme. I’m thinking it’s a kind of Dredd-type cityscape (but with a bit more green)?

#9

Ah, so there’s no especial backstory - ok, that’s fine, I’ll just match the mood of the piece.
Sorry, thought it was referencing a game (or whatever) that I wasn’t familiar with.

Cheers!

#10

Hello Ackdoh/David Luong,

i come from Germany and i´m really a newbie in Matte Painting, CG, VFX, 3D and more.
I tried to read and understand a lot here and i´m very impressed about some cool stuff.
At the moment i´m just a beginner and i can´t create very good pictures. I also
have some problems with the english language. Well, i can read a lot but sometimes i didn´t understand the whole meanings/sentences. I think i have understand the rules for the july and august mini-challenge.

I love your work and the work from other people here. It must be a dream to work
for Blizzard or other big companies. It is my dream too. Okay i haven´t studied yet.
But i think it isn´t necessary to study if people have a creative brain and skills.

I followed first the july mini-challenge at the end.
But a few days working time are to short for my skills.
Creativity can´t be unleashed in a short time.
Now i have more time for the august mini-challenge.

I have some (silly) questions:
I can create some easy/newbie matte-paintings if i can use some content from google
or 3rd party pictures. But at the moment i´m unable to create (tablet/mouse, 3D-Software)
or draw content by myself. The problems are my slow pc and my basic knowledge.

So can i create a matte-painting with google/3rd party pictures if i own the rights or
buy the rights? Or must i create my own content via pen/mouse/tablet/3D-Software?
Is this allowed?

Of course i´m a beginner, but i would like to learn.

My second qustion is, what pc-specification/system can you recommend.
I´m so sad because my pc is slow as a snail.
I would like to edit in “realtime”.
At the moment i must wait hours for a preview.
I make changes and have to wait hours again.
After that i make some changes and have to wait again.
Only for “watching” the result. It is so annoying and demotivating.

My dream: Realtime-Editing/Rendering.
I know that big companies have renderfarms or super-computers and paid much for that.

Software i use:
-After Effects CC 2014
-Illustrator CC 2014
-PhotoShop CC 2014

I made an matte painting (transformers and my street/city).
Maybe i can show you the result for tipps?

It were great if i can use 3rd party pictures to join the challenge.

Thank you very much

Thomas

#11

Hello Ackdoh/David Luong,

i come from Germany and i´m really a newbie in Matte Painting, CG, VFX, 3D and more.
I tried to read and understand a lot here and i´m very impressed about some cool stuff.
At the moment i´m just a beginner and i can´t create very good pictures. I also
have some problems with the english language. Well, i can read a lot but sometimes i didn´t understand the whole meanings/sentences. I think i have understand the rules for the july and august mini-challenge.

I love your work and the work from other people here. It must be a dream to work
for Blizzard or other big companies. It is my dream too. Okay i haven´t studied yet.
But i think it isn´t necessary to study if people have a creative brain and skills.

I followed first the july mini-challenge at the end.
But a few days working time are to short for my skills.
Creativity can´t be unleashed in a short time.
Now i have more time for the august mini-challenge.

I have some (silly) questions:
I can create some easy/newbie matte-paintings if i can use some content from google
or 3rd party pictures. But at the moment i´m unable to create (tablet/mouse, 3D-Software)
or draw content by myself. The problems are my slow pc and my basic knowledge.

So can i create a matte-painting with google/3rd party pictures if i own the rights or
buy the rights? Or must i create my own content via pen/mouse/tablet/3D-Software?
Is this allowed?

Of course i´m a beginner, but i would like to learn.

My second qustion is, what pc-specification/system can you recommend.
I´m so sad because my pc is slow as a snail.
I would like to edit in “realtime”.
At the moment i must wait hours for a preview.
I make changes and have to wait hours again.
After that i make some changes and have to wait again.
Only for “watching” the result. It is so annoying and demotivating.

Can you also join the challenge and give some examples for beginners?

My dream: Realtime-Editing/Rendering.
I know that big companies have renderfarms or super-computers and paid much for that.

Software i use:
-After Effects CC 2014
-Illustrator CC 2014
-PhotoShop CC 2014
-Cinema4DR15
-and much more

I made an matte painting (transformers and my street/city).
Maybe i can show you the result for tipps?

It were great if i can use 3rd party pictures to join the challenge.

Thank you very much

Thomas

#12

Hio Derek,

Nay, no higher res unfortunately. But just using those references or plates, you can use your own higher res plate or extension to create a similar mood to what Milan’s art work is. Some Dredd type work sounds about right for the mood too.

Richard: yeah no real back story other than that, just matching the ref!

#13

Hello Ackdoh/David Luong,

i come from Germany and i´m really a newbie in Matte Painting, CG, VFX, 3D and more.
I tried to read and understand a lot here and i´m very impressed about some cool stuff.
At the moment i´m just a beginner and i can´t create very good pictures. I also
have some problems with the english language. Well, i can read a lot but sometimes i didn´t understand the whole meanings/sentences. I think i have understand the rules for the july and august mini-challenge.

I love your work and the work from other people here. It must be a dream to work
for Blizzard or other big companies. It is my dream too. Okay i haven´t studied yet.
But i think it isn´t necessary to study if people have a creative brain and skills.

I followed first the july mini-challenge at the end.
But a few days working time are to short for my skills.
Creativity can´t be unleashed in a short time.
Now i have more time for the august mini-challenge.

I have some (silly) questions:
I can create some easy/newbie matte-paintings if i can use some content from google
or 3rd party pictures. But at the moment i´m unable to create (tablet/mouse, 3D-Software)
or draw content by myself. The problems are my slow pc and my basic knowledge.

So can i create a matte-painting with google/3rd party pictures if i own the rights or
buy the rights? Or must i create my own content via pen/mouse/tablet/3D-Software?
Is this allowed?

Of course i´m a beginner, but i would like to learn.

My second qustion is, what pc-specification/system can you recommend.
I´m so sad because my pc is slow as a snail.
I would like to edit in “realtime”.
At the moment i must wait hours for a preview.
I make changes and have to wait hours again.
After that i make some changes and have to wait again.
Only for “watching” the result. It is so annoying and demotivating.

Can you also join the challenge and give some examples for beginners?

My dream: Realtime-Editing/Rendering.
I know that big companies have renderfarms or super-computers and paid much for that.

Software i use:
-After Effects CC 2014
-Illustrator CC 2014
-PhotoShop CC 2014
-Cinema4DR15
-and much more

It were great if i can use 3rd party pictures to join the challenge.

Thank you very much

Thomas

#14

Well… I would like to know the story or extra brief from Milan’s project anyway (if they are not secret for now). Maybe it’s not necessary for completing the task but… probably I’m just curious again :).

Regards
Jonatan

#15

So if I understand, using one of the provided photos (or our own) the matte painting portion would be everything behind the foreground buildings. But some of them already have pretty complete backgrounds so we would need to pick a point in the photo and replace everything else. Correct?

Hehe sorry, not worded very well but last months plate was very cut and dry, keep the red part.

#16

Welcome to our August 2014 Matte Painting challenge hosted by CG Society.
Please, accept my apologies for not providing further information in form of a written brief this month but I felt that it would only curb your creativity.

Bottom line is that you have to create an image which matches aesthetically to this Matte Painting: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=7869381#post7869381

Even though I have a lot of stories on the back-burner, I created this shot for my VFX Workshops Matte Painting tutorial based on a photo I took. The only thing I had in mind was that it should be about 100 years in the future. First thing I did was to remove the street level by extending the buildings down, and I went from there.

//youtu.be/Zdk3agLGptE

Feel free to use one of your own images if you don’t like any of the provided plates but please do not take one via Google without clearing copyrights on it first.

…und Thomas, falls du moechtest, dass ich irgendwas nochmal auf Deutsch erklaere, sag einfach bescheid. Wenn du dich fuer Mattemalerei interesierst, solltest du dir den Werdegang einiger sehr talentierter deutscher Kuenstler wie Rene Borst, Christian Kesler oder Chris Thunig anschaun.

For anything not contest related, please use our regular DMP forum at http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=196

#17

Okay… very interesting. I only have one question… do we have to animate the DMP too? or just make a still image?

#18

No animation at all, just a still frame.

#19

I’m as confused as many of the commentors here seem to be. The reference image just doesn’t seem very different from a normal shot of any city, except for a few small details like the rooftop parks. It’s not really clear what is supposed to be changed or added…a spaceship? Destroyed & decayed buildings? What?

#20

I believe Aaron is demonstrating the creative aspect of this brief very well: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=370&t=1207439

Good luck everyone.