DIGITAL MATTE PAINTING / PROJECT: 1,2 & FINAL PROJECT

30/09/2025 - 06/01/2026 (Week 01 - Week 15)

Digital Matte Painting / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media 

Agnes Fadhyllah / 0360504

Digital Matte Painting / Project: 1,2 & Final Project

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Instructions

Project 1:

You are to choose and develop a location e.g. Temple set, Ruins, Village, City etc based on a theme or story that you have proposed from a game/movie/cartoon. Below is the list of tasks to be completed. Mood board – collection of references and breakdown

• Thumbnail sketches – initial concept ideas
• Composition studies – 5 drawings, best communicate visually
• Value studies – Continue from 5 compositions
• Ambience studies – Continue from 5 value painting

Submission: Complete Call-out Sheet. Note that each progression to be drawn on 2000 X 3000 pixels 150 dpi 16:9 ratio landscape for weekly progression. Remember this is the pre-production stage where you must make it about 70% min completion that visually communicates and appeals to target audiences.

Project 2:
You will synthesize the knowledge gained in task 1 and 2 for application in task 3. Students are to demonstrate technical capability to analyze, composite and communicate set extension over raw footage or recreate it by scratch and add motion. You will dissect and deconstruct raw footage to understand the nature and concept of the footage environment requirements for extension. With the understanding gained, you are to synthesize the knowledge to produce believable and compelling footage that syncs naturally as required. You will start with sketching and move on to digitization and then generation using the appropriate software. Upon completion of the set extension you will construct a poster of equivalent to promote your creation. You will conclude by selecting and presenting your creation in the instructed format/s:

• Compiled technical doc .pdf (*moodboard, styleguide, sketches,technical processes as posted in their e-portfolio).
• 2 Final output will include a 15 ± 30 sec video (*.mp4, h2.64, 16:9 -1440 X 1080, 25 fps, ACC, 48kHz, uploaded to youtubechannel).
• 3 Online posts in your E-portfolio as your reflective studies

Final Project
Thematic and realistic. Students will demonstrate technical capability to analyze, composite and communicate set uniqueness by blending 3D geometry and 2D painting to a raw video footage together with special effects. Students need to come up with 3 different location based on the theme and genre selected. Students must also showcase the breakdowns of how this project is undertaken. * Note that your matte should seamlessly blend and showcase a believable set. You are to use Unreal or Unity to make the world build and compose it via After Effects. Submission:

• Compiled technical doc .pdf (*moodboard, styleguide, storyboard, technical processes as posted in their e-portfolio).
• Final output will include a 15 – 30 sec video (*.mp4, h2.64, 16:9 - 1440 X 1080, 25 fps, ACC, 48kHz, uploaded to youtube channel).

Project 1: Invisible Set Extension 1 (Pre-Production)

Project 2: Invisible Set Extension (Production)

Final Project: Thematic Matte Painting (VFX)

Reflection

Compared to environment design, I struggled more with digital matte painting and found this class more challenging overall. There were times when I felt overwhelmed and ended up distancing myself from the class more than I should have. However, despite the difficulties, I managed to pull through and complete the assignments. Even though the final results may not be the best, the process allowed me to learn and apply important fundamentals such as perspective studies, composition, value studies, sky replacement, virtual plein air, 2.5D mattes, and invisible set extensions. Finishing the class helped me realize the importance of persistence and learning through challenges.