Night Warehouse Matte - Advice?

#1

Hello all in the Matte Painting Forum! Well, after a few years lurking, I finally have advice to ask on my first set of mattes.

Okay, here’s where I am - I’ve done a lot to it (by my standards - included is also the original shot), but not sure where to go, or should I call it done. I could very easily go overkill for a shot that’s only gonna last a couple of seconds. The producer wanted the building higher, and of course at night.

We’re gonna do a slight zoom in towards the door - what is (hopefully) the focal point of the shot. Titles will be on the lower left.

This is opening shot for one in a series of satirical shorts poking at the likes of The Ghost Hunters.

Thanks in advance for any advice-
-Lew

#2

Totally forgot to mention that this is a long abandoned building - that was also part of the goal. Here’s more grunge added to it, rust, chipped paint, etc.

I suck at graffiti, so I only have 2 basic things on the towers.

Thinking of adding more varied greens and even white streaks to the overall building, dunno.

-Lew

BTW - why do my jpegs show up as teeny icons when I see plenty of threads with the image within the thread? Is that a case of getting a premium membership?

#3

Ok, so why are the lights on? :slight_smile:

#4

… I have absolutely no idea…

I can tell you that there are a few outside lights on in the short, and that some “things” have been secretly living inside all along, and they find a lab coat and a badge that is recent - meaning there HAS been secret activity still going on all along.

You find out it’s all been a cover - there have been experiments and activity up until recently, and at least ONE large creature living inside that has killed all employees/scientists - and the investigators of the short.

But you’re right - if the outward appearance and story is that of an abandoned location, it shouldn’t have outside light power.

-Lew

#5

LOl, good answer. Well, I’ll tell you this, I’m up in NYC and grew up in Brooklyn, down around the piers and this type of building, run down but active are a dime a dozen. So, your not far off from reality. The only reason I asked the question was because you said it was long abandoned.

I’m far from the one to give any advice but I think you did a good job. The only problem that jumps out at me is the grass. Seems a little too bright and “neat” for that setting. If that were in NYC there would be some debris left by people too lazy to go to the dump laying around.

I tend to try and do realistic stuff also. there seems to be a lot of the sci-fi, dark, moody mattes around already. I’ve noticed that type of work seems to get more attention but I think it’s harder to hide your mistakes when you try something like this. Well, that’s my 2 cents.

BTW, your file is coming up as a thumbnail because you are loading it as an attachment. Use the icon on the option block above the area where you are posting. Use the yellow one with what looks like a little mountain in it. It will say “insert Image” if you hover over it. Then type in the location of where you are hosting you file.

#6

“…down around the piers and this type of building, run down but active are a dime a dozen.”

Pardon me - need to get a paper towel to catch the drool! Oh, what a playground THAT would be for us!

Mess up the grass and DEBRIS!! Awesome! Yes - totally right! Oh no - you were a good person to ask! Of course, knowing me, I need to make sure I don’t go overboard and lose the original purpose…

I got lost in making the overall structure and setting - when I pulled back I was suddenly at a loss of what details to put in. Thanks!

I’ll post my progress - using the little yellow mountain icon this time (thanks again Your Dudeness).

-Lew

#7

The debris : If this is a run down but active facility I’d expect to see industrial debris… empty skids strewn about and stuff like that. Maybe a run down truck or abandoned car? If it were abandoned then I’d expect to see household items and things like that.

#8

i would guess that the grass on the left would either be dead and just dry dirt or overgrown and some tall weeds, great work so far :thumbsup: keep it up!

#9

All right - another round!

Found a nice giant pile of scrap at cgtextures, duped it 3 times, flipped 1 of them, added them into the image. Not totally happy with the blending, but hey, I still have a bit more time.

Also found a bunch of graffiti, added them to the towers and a little to the building.

Added photo-rust images as a Soft Light mode, masked them to streaks on the building and towers.

Got rid of the near light pools on the grass and close grass/concrete, and added some very small cracks as well. Figured it would be easier to see the titles/graphics if they were lighter on dark.

Gonne try my hand at painting loose debris just spread around - I’m very out of practice for painting, so I may end up looking cartoonish. Also gonna go out and take some pics of piles of tires and palettes/skids and add them into the shot qas well.

Thoughts - crits especially?

Until I can easily upload them to my personal site, it looks like it’s “manage Attachments” for now.

Thanks in advance!
-Lew

#10

Wow, you’ve been busy,lol.

Ok, personally, I don’t like the debris. I think there’s too much and it looks too neat in a pile like that. It looks like someone (or something) has been cleaning up. I’d go more for the industrial debris.

I love the grunge look of the warehouse and the graffiti. If I get a chance at work today I’ll look around for a reference to show you what I mean about places like this.

#11

Yeah - I’m not so good at “mess” when it comes to physical objects. So far I’m okay at paintovers which is why today might be pretty interesting as I’m gonna try to paint loose debris myself.

Waking up and looking at it again - you’re right - they’re nice tidy little piles, and not a mess. They just haven’t been disposed of yet.

Thanks-
-Lew

#12

Hi,

I think this is coming on really well, what are you plans for the FG area? It would be cool to have some abandoned objects there to draw out eye in - the odd burnt out car etc. I look forward to watching the rest of the development, look like its going to be a great piece.

Tim

#13

Coming along nicely. I’ll throw my 2 cents in. The yellow curb looks too clean, don’t joy riders chip up the cement and tear up the grass? Also, could use some signs of being locked up, chain across the door, maybe the loading docks boarded up with plywood from lack of use. Any chance of chain link fencing? Maybe downed utility poles? A few weeds growing up in the asphalt?

Still this is looking very sweet and should make for a successful shot.

#14

Hey thunder1,

go to picturetrail.com, you can upload photos to a online album, it will then give you a url bar which you copy and paste into the message box. This will ensure that your work will be resized for optimal viewing.

Best of regards

Rich

#15


Let’s see if this works!
Thanks Rockhopper!

Okay, here is the one we had to stop with. Got rid of the left side pile as it pulled too many details to the left. Also got rid of the pools of light nearby, and desaturated the median and yellow curb. I also blurred it and made a gradient window outward from the door to draw your eye to the right.

This is being used in the title cards, and the interviews - where titles and people block the left side anyway - AND they darkened the left side as well, which seemed to work like a charm.

I’m not through fiddling with this one - as a standalone image I wanna keep working on it. Right now nothing officially “leads you in” to the right side. I like the idea of putting in a dead car that is falling apart and stripped - you should be able to see through the holes of the frame and see things on the left side, but turned correctly it could very well lead you in.

Couple that with the other idea of a tall fence - with the opened section revealing a clear view of the door, and this should look great!

Thanks folks! Hopefully I’ll have something by the end of the weekend.

-Lew

#16

Well, here it is… The icon didn’t work. Gotta figure that one out…
http://www.hiboox.com/go/pictures/miscellaneous/ratwarematte02loj,3f2eca809d3f6548ff7f92166fa472d4.jpg.html

#17

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