What is a Matte Painter?
A Matte Painter creates 2.5D elements for shots. He or she might create an asset like a sky, which is added to a sequence of shots and then potentially tweaked or painted on, at the shot level, to break up any repetition. The Matte Painter will also draw all landscapes and background elements to be placed in a shot. A good Matte Painter has strengths in traditional art techniques, as well as a grasp of 3D texturing.
Entry Level Skills & Capabilities
The following information outlines the exact skills you need to demonstrate as a Certified Digital Artist. You must be proficient and capable of completing all these skills and capabilities.
1. Communication skills
- Strong communication skills to describe and present your work with confidence
- Willing to show progress frequently and able to receive and discern feedback objectively
2. General
- Excellent digital painting skills
- Strong understanding of lighting, colour and composition
- Ability to collect, and build photographic and visual reference material that will be used to create a digital version of real world environments
- Proficient with all camera projection techniques
- Capable of plotting tracking points on the plate and generating a digital camera
3. Live Action
- Experience working with on-set data; including photographic and scan data
- Ability to capture and work with photogrammetry image sets and convert them to usable 3D geometry and digital cameras.
- Bonus: Capable of working with highly detailed scan data captured from set.
- Bonus: Ability to capture and work with photogrammetry image sets and convert them to usable 3D geometry and digital cameras.
4. Assets
- Ability to model basic 3D objects that match concept art or reference
- Capable of blocking out large environment with basic 3D geometry, based on concept art or photographic reference material
- Bonus: Ability to create texture and shaders to 3D models
5. Lighting
- Understand how light works and matching CG to real-world lighting
- In depth study of composition techniques and best practices
- Ability to replicate real-world lighting in 3D environment
- Ability to normalize the exposure of reference photography and remove lighting (highlights, shadows, reflections).
- Basic concepts of Compositing: Premultiplication, Lens Distortions, Channels, Masks, Operators, Deep Compositing, Depth of Field, and Plates.
- Bonus: Ability to create texture and shaders to 3D models
- Bonus: Understanding of capturing, preparing, editing and using HDRI for global illumination
- Bonus: Capable of neutralizing color from reference images using a Macbeth chart
6. Composition
- Basic concepts of Compositing: Premultiplication, Lens Distortions, Channels, Masks, Operators, Deep Compositing, Depth of Field, Plates, Rotoscoping.
- Understanding color values and how they relate to the color space.
- Strong understanding of colour and working with different Look Up Tables (LUT)
Traditional Proficiencies
- Proficient using drawing tools such as pencils, pens, and paper.
- Proficient using painting tools (easels, paint brushes, paints)
Software Proficiencies
Ability to use one or more of the following software packages:
- Adobe Photoshop
- Autodesk Maya
- Houdini
- Nuke
- Bender
- Affinity
- Mari
- Gaea
- World Creator
- Arnold
- Vray
- Mental Ray
- Speedtree
- Bonus: ZBrush
- Bonus: Linux
- Bonus: Katana
- Bonus: Renderman
Prerequisites
These skills are equally important in terms of your understanding and ability to do this role. Although they are not skills or knowledge that is officially certified, it will be obvious to recruiters and Certified Digital Artist(CDA) reviewers if you have knowledge in these areas.
Art Fundamentals
- Perspective
- Lighting
- Composition
- Anatomy
- Colour Theory
- Understand the principles of storytelling
- Film knowledge
Life Skills & Communication
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- Thinking Critically
- Communication Skills
- Conflict Management
- Taking initiative
- Collaboration
- Time Management
Portfolio Projects
Roles in Creative Media & Entertainment industries are quite different to traditional roles. As a Digital Artist, you need to prove your creative and technical abilities which requires an online portfolio filled with projects that showcase your work. One of more of the following projects should be included in your digital portfolio to demonstrate your skills and abilities to perform the required skills of this role.
- Add depth and parallax to a single frame photograph
- Collect photographic reference of a landscape, add basic 3D elements, and paint a photorealistic building into the scene.
- Bonus: Track a Lidar scan into a video or photographic reference. Use this geometry to paint a new layer into your scene.
