Animating a Mountain Scene Matte Painting in Photoshop and NUKE
Throughout this tutorial we will go from Photoshop to NUKE covering the creative process from a Photoshop 2D file, to a final NUKE animation. Software required: Photoshop CS6, MODO 701, NUKE 7.0v8.
What you'll learn
In this tutorial, we will learn to animate a matte painting in Photoshop and go from Photoshop to NUKE covering the creative process from a Photoshop 2D file, to a final NUKE animation.
- We will work in MODO to create basic geometry to project our layers.
- Then we will go through the 3D scene creation process in NUKE arranging our scene and adding some extra animated spice to bring it all to life.
Software required: Photoshop CS6, MODO 701, NUKE 7.0v8.
Table of contents
- Starting with the Document Size Set Up 10m
- Adding the Mountains and Sky Layers 10m
- Setting up the Castle and Masking 11m
- Detailing the Castle Mask 11m
- Finalizing the Castle Mask and Primary Shading 8m
- Setting up Foreground Rocks and the Central Mountain Layer 10m
- Creating a New Castle Dome Layer 10m
- Using the Clone Tool and Refining Edges 9m
- Refining the Layer Edges 11m
- Detailing Each Layer Mask 5m
- Shading and Correcting the Layers 7m
- Shading the Appearance of the Left Mountain 7m
- Adding New Mountain Elements 8m
- Finalizing the Shading of the Image 10m
- Bringing Our Image into MODO 12m
- Finishing the Foreground Geometry 6m
- Adjusting Our Geometry and Preparing It for Export 9m
- Exporting the Geometry 7m
- Preparing the NUKE Scene 9m
- Setting up the 3D Scene 8m
- Setting up the Castle and Other Cards 10m
- Fine Tuning Geometry Placement and Animating the Camera 9m
- Final Layer and Geometry Placement 9m
- Editing Geometry and Adding Extra Elements 9m
- Color Balance and Final Rendering 7m
About the author
Ed Lopez started as a photographer and photo manipulator more than 17 years ago. Along the way he has explored and learned hundreds of techniques to combine with photography. He started learning Matte Painting as an added discipline to his skills and capabilities, mostly for illustration purposes. He then extended his research, education, and workflow until achieving a working position in a VFX studio. Currently, he is at epicfx studios where he currently works as a Matte Painter and Art Directo... more