Hey. I hear a lot of people talk about matte painting and digital art - but I don't really know what digital matte painting is. Can someone enlighten me? :) -Zak

Maybe they are talking about printing options of digital art? Thats what I do anyways...only I have most of my artwork printed out on watercolor canvas..

Jumps, Could you tell me, how you have them printed out on canvas like that?

Attached Link: http://www.matteworld.com/projects/siggraph01.html

Thanks. That pretty much explains it. :)

Heya BDC :) Basically, I just burn my images to a cd, and then take them to my local Kinko's and have them blow them up and transfer to the canvas..it is stretched, and mounted on a thin board for framing. Watercolor canvas {or paper} is excellent for images that need to look 'oil painted' btw ;)

@jumpstartme2: what is the size of your original render, and the size of the one you give to Kinko's? You say they blow them up, I'm curious about the quality after doing that. -Steve

I usually get a test print of my images done first..starting with something I render.. say at 1024x768 will print out a nice 11x14..with hardly any noticeable blurring or jags {and this being an image that should be printed on high gloss canvas, not watercolor..with the watercolor, it would turn out just as nice, if not better}...I have a list around here somewhere of my render sizes I use, and the output print sizes that I have had excellent results from..will look those up and post back for anyone who is interested. :)

Jumps, I don't know about everyone else, LOL, but I for one would be most interested, and very apreciative if you could post or im me with the sizes you use, and what size prints each one will do, if done on watercolor canvas that way. And oh btw, I had no idea kinko's could take a render, and print it out on watercolor canvas and mount it on a board for you. Perhaps you could do up some "after rendering" tutorials for the rest of us jumps, so some of us (myself included) won't remain ignent. LOL

Attached Link: http://www.fedex.com/us/officeprint/storesvcs/photos/art.html

Meanwhile, check this area out of Kinko's and the watercolor canvas ;) Edit: Blasted typo's >:(

Message edited on: 01/07/2006 14:13

BTW... there IS another kind of matte... the backgrounds that are inserted in movies... either digitally, or manually... (the old way). Not the backdrops, though. Lou.

Message edited on: 01/08/2006 00:29

This is one of those things that depends on where in the world you are. In the south-east of the U.S. There has been a virtual "explosion" of "banner" signs, due to developments in wide format printers. I use one, myself, though it isn't set up for the kind of banners you see.... wrong kind of ink... My point is, that the range of material used is fantastic.... everything from literal paper, to burlap!... ANY of these shops can produce/print an image on canvas from 6"x18" to, at LEAST 53" wide, and, on a continuous roll, up to 75 FEET long... you can even order material 150' long. Being on the inside, I'm aware of this, and I thought you all might be interested in this potential resource... BTW, the image comes straight from the computer. Lou.

There's a lot of info on matte painting for movies on the CG talk site