76201679 Digital Matte Painting

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  • 8/3/2019 76201679 Digital Matte Painting

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    ImageA

    lpAltiner

    TUTORIALS |Digital matte painting tips

    060 | 3D WORLD3D WORLD September 2006

    A dark art or simply a craft to be mastered? Whatever your preconceptions, these

    tips from five world-class matte painters should guide you towards the light ...

    Digital matte paintingTIPS & TRICKSTIPS & TRICKS

    Our expertsthis issue

    This matte painting from AlpAltiners forthcoming graphicnovel, The Unknown, demonstrates

    the importance of composition.The viewer is lead into the image

    and across the bridge

    ost matte paintings begin life as a verbal

    brief communicated by the films director: A

    cold and bleak environment, not too alien in

    its feel or a historically accurate view of the

    Southampton Docks, circa 1912. If the brief hasnt already

    been visualised by the art department, the concept sketch

    becomes the digital matte painters first job. Vital as a

    development tool for exploring the composition of the

    final painting, and also as a method of communicating

    the look to the director, its only when the concept image

    has been signed off that work should begin on the actualmatte painting.

    Whether the matte painters role is to reconstruct an

    entire imaginary background from scratch, or to augment a

    rudimentary set or existing location, the craftsmanship is

    essentially the same. These days, the majority of digital mattes

    start with a background plate; reference footage is sourced,

    then the layered paintwork begins. Colour-picking a brush and

    painting from scratch is becoming an increasingly rare task, as

    digital stills form the foundation of the majority of paintings.

    Yet, by no means does this equate matte painting to

    a Photoshopcollage. Artistic talent is vital, and even with

    the most competent colour grading skills in the world, the

    techniques we cover over the next few pages will never

    compensate adequately for a lack of artistic ability. Most of

    all, youll need a good eye, an excellent sense of composition,

    an aptitude with colours, and a solid understanding of spatial

    design for the camera.

    Especially for this feature, five of the best matte painters

    from around the world have combined to share their collective

    experience, offering insights gathered over the course of their

    many years in the creative industry. From selling concept art

    to a director to working effectively with layers, well take youstage by stage through the process of creating a matte painting

    and empower you with expert tips along the way.

    DONT RUSH THE DESIGN PROCESSIf youre involved in designing the matte painting, spend your

    time wisely and dont rush your work. While the majority of matte

    painters produce concept art digitally (with Photoshopor Painter),

    others work in whichever medium is appropriate. Ensure that the

    colours, composition and lighting are signed off, and that the

    perspective is accurate before you move to the next stage and

    begin work on the details.

    M

    LUBO HRISTOVWith his own mattepainting company,Christov Effects and

    Design, Lubos credits include

    The Last Samuraiwww.christovfx.com

    DYLAN COLEBest known for hiswork on Return of theKing, Dylan has just

    completed Superman Returnsas Lead Matte Painter

    www.dylancolestudio.com

    ALP ALTINERAward-winning mattepainter and VFX ArtDirector, Alp Altiners

    credits include Superman

    ReturnsandSpider-Man 3www.alpaltiner.com

    DAVE EARLYCurrently DigitalMatte PaintingSupervisor at Cinesite,

    Daves credits include Gladiatorand the Harry Potterfilms

    www.cinesite.com

    CHARLES DARBYOne of the pioneers ofdigital matte painting,Charless credits include

    Titanic, Crouching Tiger, Hidden

    Dragon and Minority Reportwww.charlesdarby.com

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    Image

    AlpAltiner

    Images

    BuenaVistaPictures

    PRESENT ONLY YOUR BEST WORKSince youll probably be working on several variations of ideas in

    your concept drawings, use your own judgement when choosing

    which to present. Although most directors like to have choices when

    considering how elements of the matte painting will work wi th thestory, never present more than three images or youll inevitably be

    asked to take elements from each and end up with a composition

    that doesnt work.

    SELL YOUR DESIGNWhen presenting your concept work, point out which of your images

    work well and provide good explanations as to why. Knowing how

    to sell your work is an essential part of the process. Point out

    the strengths of the images, and explain how youll address any

    weaknesses. If youre convinced that one of your images represents

    the perfect composition, show a couple of alternatives where one

    element is clearly wrong. Dont fail to underestimate the importanceof a psychological sell.

    CREATING PARALLAX WITH 2.5DPROJECTIONMatte paintings are no longer confined to locked-off shots. Where

    the shot camera rotates nodally around a locked-off position,

    the matte painting can be projected onto series of planes in the

    compositing software, and camera data imported to give the

    impression of slight shifts in perspective via a multi-plane technique.

    Known as 2.5D projection, this method can also include simple,

    rendered 3D elements.

    PROJECTING A MATTE PAINTING IN 3DAn alternative technique allows for even greater movement of

    the camera through a scene. By camera projecting (or camera

    mapping) a matte painting onto 3D geometry, the scene can be

    rendered through the shot camera, with the hi-res matte paintingadding fine texture detail on top of the 3 D geometry. A 3D

    projected matte provides all the benefits of true perspective shifts

    and real shadows, yet with a lower ge ometry count because details

    are provided in the textures.

    WORK ON A LARGER CANVASHow often has a guaranteed lock-off ended up being a slight

    zoom-in on the matte painting? Expanding your canvas beyond the

    Digital matte painting tips | TUTORIALS

    The Douglas Adams planet on the left was created

    from a cyberscan made of the author while he was

    still alive. The detailed matte-painted texture was

    then applied, and the element was rendered as a 3D-

    projected matte painting. The render formed another

    midground layer for the compositors.

    04

    Within Shake, the compositors then assigned the

    matte paint layers to cards positioned in Z-space.

    Each card was assigned a distance, so when the

    live-action camera move tracked from the background

    plate was imported, a sense of parallax was created in the

    distant planets as the camera moved through the shot.

    05

    Once the background was complete, the compositors

    added the 3D-rendered scaffolding and live-action

    plate, shot in the studio against bluescreen, as

    foreground elements in Shake. Various lens effects, glows,

    atmospherics and colour grading were used to create this

    final impressive shot.

    06

    Background layers of planets, including the Vegas

    planet on the right, required much less detail.

    But each planet was still handed off as a separate

    layer to the compositors so that, within Shake, they couldbe positioned in space to create a sense of parallax within

    the shot.

    When Cinesite created the Planet Factory sequence

    for The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, David

    Early knew that the movement through this shot

    would require a combination of 2.5D and 3D projection. Mattepainter Sevendalino Khay created a projected dome backdrop

    for the distant stars the first in a series of layers.

    01 02

    The layers containing the foreground planets were

    painted with greater resolution, as it was known

    that these would be used for more than one shot.

    They would later be projected onto spheres and rendered in3D through the Shot Camera to enable 3D lighting and real

    shifts in perspective.

    03

    STEP BY STEP | Working with layers

    Using a combination of stillstaken from various American

    cities, careful grading andpaintwork, Alp Altiner designedthis shot to draw the eye towards

    the pyramidal buildings on the right

    September 2006 3D WORLD3D WORLD | 061

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    Image

    BuenaVistaPictures

    Imagecourte

    syofCharlesDarby

    Image

    BuenaVistaPictures.CourtesyofDaveEarly

    TUTORIALS |Digital matte painting tips

    standard 2,048x1,556 pixel film resolution creates a safety margin

    for any unplanned moves on the shot. Better still, take advantage

    of the benefits of downsampling: double your image resolution

    (work at 4,096x3,112) and youll enjoy the added advantage of

    more comfortable paintwork. Rather than needing to ensure your

    brushstrokes are pixel perfect, youll be able to work with broader

    strokes, then downsample to 2K when your work is finished.

    DEGRAIN THE FILM SCANIf, as is nearly always the case, a plate is the basis of your matte

    painting, before starting any paintwork, youll need to remove grain.

    Kodaks Digital Gem Professional 2plug-in (www.kodak.com)

    works well in eliminating film grain from scans, and also noise from

    digital photographs. For a locked-off plate, an alternative is to have

    a compositor create a grain-averaged plate from 12 consecutive

    frames of the shot.

    WORK IN 10-BIT COLOURSPACEIf your final output will be film, work in 10-bit log colourspace

    wherever you can. 10-bit images maintain the full dynamic range of

    the original camera negative. While maintaining all of the original

    data, log images look washed-out to the naked eye, so to view them

    properly, a lookup table (or LUT) is applied to the monitor. The LUT

    alters the screen to show the log image as though it were a print.

    If you dont have access to lookup tables, working in 10-bit linear is

    a good alternative, and while the full dynamic range of the negative

    isnt present, unless youre making radical colour grades to the scan,

    youll rarely see the difference. 8-bit linear is the standard for

    television work, i ncluding HDTV.

    BRUSH UP YOUR ART SKILLSEven with the best knowledge of Photoshop in the world, you

    wont be a great matte painter without a fai r degree of natural

    artistry. Youll need to understand perspective like an expert. If

    youre still unsure about constructing multiple vanishing points,

    nows the time to pick up any of the numerous books on the

    subject and hone those skills.

    LEARN TO LOVE THE CLONING STAMP

    It may sound straightforward, but learning how to clone well isan important trick of the t rade. Good cloning is invisible cloning.

    Practice removing a tree from a digital image of a landscape, or

    a lamppost from the front of a brick building.

    062 | 3D WORLD3D WORLD September 2006

    The live plate for the shot on the left. Since much of it would be hiddenby the set, the composition of the matte painting required careful thought

    Once the 3D geometry had been created, a grid

    texture was projected from the Projection Camera,

    and the scene rendered through the Shot Camera.

    Areas showing excessive texture stretching, or those

    obscured from the view of the Projection Camera, were

    identified as requiring separate texturing, as revealed in this

    render of the first frame of the shot.

    STEP BY STEP | Projecting a matte painting in 3D

    To achieve a photorealistic crane-up on the ancient

    African city of Carthage, Lubo Hristovs team decided

    to project a matte paint on a relatively simple 3D

    model. Once the camera move was finalised, the Projection

    Camera was set up. Since the city was seen at its widest at

    the last frame of the shot, the Shot Camera was duplicated at

    this frame, locked off and renamed as the Projection Camera.

    01 02

    Back in mental ray, three orthogonal, primary

    coloured distant lights were rendered through the

    Projection Camera. The resulting render was used

    as a selection matte in Photoshopto variously isolate the

    ground, rooftops, side walls and front-facing walls. In the

    image above, each is shown as a separate colour. This was

    an essential step for the next part of the process.

    03

    Sundown on Magrathea. Like much

    modern matte work, this shot fromThe Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

    involved blending, painting and colourgrading multiple digital stills togetherto create the perfect sunset

    Good matte painting fools the braininto believing a flat image is a trulythree-dimensional world. Virtually all

    of the background for this shot fromThe Fifth Elementis a 2D matte paint

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    ImagecourtesyofCharlesDa

    rby

    Imagecourtes

    yofCharlesDarby

    Imagecourtesyof

    CharlesDarby

    September 2006 3D WORLD3D WORLD | 063

    YOU CANT COLLECT TOO MUCHREFERENCE DATAMost matte painters build up their own reference libraries of imagesby shooting digital stills wherever they can. Keep a digital camera

    with you and jump at opportunities to go out on location. Shoot

    all the stills you think youll need, including general views, textures

    and lighting conditions. Capturing images in RAW format retains the

    most data, and bracketing images around a central exposure will

    provide more information about the highlights and shadow areas.

    Where shots require significant colour grading, shooting HDR images

    may be worthwhile, but unless youre really pushing a grade, its

    generally considered overkill.

    DONT FORCE PHOTOGRAPHS TO FITWhile photographic images are often the best starting points for

    a digital matte painting, dont force the wrong photographs to fit.

    A good matte painting isnt simply a collage of photographs bound

    together with a few painted pixels. Rather than stretching and

    Digital matte painting tips | TUTORIALS

    A stone procedural shader was applied to the 3D

    model and rendered through the Projection Camera.

    The process was repeated with about 20 other brick,

    stone and tile textures and procedural shaders to create a

    series of layers. By using the selection matte, appropriate

    areas within each of these images were combined to formthe basis of the matte painting.

    04

    With the texture layers combined as overlay layers

    in Photoshop, paintwork began. Since the lighting

    would be rendered in 3D in order to achieve greater

    realism through real shifts in perspective, a 3D ambient

    and shadow lighting pass, rendered through the Projection

    Camera, was added as an overlay layer to preview the effectof the rendered lighting.

    05

    The final matte painting was projected back through

    the Projection Camera, and the shot rendered

    through the Shot Camera, with mental raylighting.

    Renders were graded in Shakeand additional 3D elements

    were added, including the ocean, animated boats and people.

    The trees were textures projected onto cards and thenrendered in 3D.

    06

    colour-correcting a reference image until it breaks, rely on your

    artistic skills and, where required, paint areas from scratch.

    3D KNOWLEDGE IS ALWAYS HELPFULThough its certainly no prerequisite for the job, 3D knowledge is

    often beneficial. Whether its in setting up your own 3D camera

    projections, or using 3D models to help with perspective, so much

    the better if you can produce the el ements yourself. If launching

    headfirst into Mayaseems overwhelming, try your hand at one of

    the more self-contained modelling and rendering packages such

    as Cinema 4D(www.maxon.net).

    USE LAYERS SENSIBLYBe structured, label all of your layers clearly and sort them into

    folders. When youre up against a deadline and tryi ng to tweak the

    roof tiles on the fifteenth building from the right, youll appreciate

    a good working method. Work like a painter from background

    to foreground. Start with the sky, then move on to the clouds,

    In the final digital painting,

    the tones, composition andperspective are faithful to theoriginal concept art (below left):

    proof that digital techniques donot render traditional media

    entirely obsolete

    ForCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Charles Darby presented this single

    A4 watercolour to demonstrate how his final matte painting would look

    Because this shot from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Firerequired

    a zoom into the lit window, the matte painting was an enormous 20K

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    Image Dylan ColeImages Dylan Cole

    CHECKLIST |15 steps to success

    1. Familiarise yourself with the shot. Is it going to be

    straightforward matte paint, or will it require a 2.5D

    projection or full 3D projection?

    2. Create two or three concept images and get approval

    on one of them from the Director or VFX Supervisor.

    3. Check that your monitor has been correctly calibrated

    for colour and contrast.

    4. Collate all the images youll need. These will include

    background plates, 3D renders and reference stills.

    5.Shoot any additional stills that might be useful.

    6. If youre working on a 3D-projected matte painting,

    ask the modelling department to hardware-render a

    wireframe from the Projection Camera.

    7. Check whether the compositors have any specific

    requirements for you.

    8. Import your personal settings into Photoshop,

    including shortcuts and custom brushes.

    9. Decide whether youll paint at 2K, or a higher

    resolution then downsample. Set up your Photoshop

    canvas slightly larger than the final image.

    10. Import the concept drawing (and/or any hardware-

    rendered wireframes) as a background layer.11. Switch to log colourspace and run a log-to-linear LUT

    on your monitor.

    12. Import your images into Photoshopand organise your

    layers with care.

    13. Now paint to your hearts content, using reference

    images where you can.

    14. When the work is complete, get sign-off on your final

    image by the Visual Effects Supervisor.

    15. Lastly, save out the layers discussed with the

    compositor, following the studios naming conventions.

    064 | 3D WORLD3D WORLD September 2006

    TUTORIALS | Digital matte painting tips

    mountains, background atmosphere and subsequent layers of

    buildings. You may end up with about 50-100 layers, grouped

    into about 10 folders for easy colour grading.

    KEEP YOUR ELEMENTS LIVENever flatten or merge a layer unless youre sure youll never need

    to tweak that element in isolation. Changes may be requested until

    the moment before delivery. If youre unable to shift a background

    element to make way for the new positioning of the CG, youre in

    for a lot of unnecessary paint fixes that could have been avoided

    by keeping more elements live.

    WORK WITH THE COMPOSITORDiscuss with the compositor which layers they would like to work

    with, and whether they have any special requirements, particularly if

    theyre blending the matte painting with live-action elements. Layers

    that are typically required include atmosphere, highlights, shadows

    and various mattes. Elements that need to be animated should be

    created on their own separate layer, and elements which may become

    foreground to live-action should also be split off into a new layer.

    Final: the composition, colour tones and feel of the lightingare almost identical to the concept created in Photoshop. Only

    the foreground building on the left is true 3D

    Created from a combination ofphotographic reference stills and Photoshop

    paintwork, the blimps were the onlyelements in this shot derived from basic

    Cinema 4Dmodels

    With the saucer building as the only 3D

    element in this shot, the landscape wascreated via a combination of photographic

    reference images and paintwork

    Initial: as comparison of this sketch and the final mattepainting (reproduced below) shows, all of the important

    creative decisions should be made in the concept work

    From another of Dylan Coles personalprojects, this desert town sketchdemonstrates just how closely the concept

    lighting matches the final matte painting

    Images

    DylanCole

    List courtesy of Alp Altiner

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