Digital Matte Painting | Final Project : Thematic Matte Painting (VFX)

14.7.2025 - 3.8.2025 || Week 13 - Week 15

Yong Zhen Xing || 0359473
Digital Matte Painting || Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Final Project : Thematic Matte Painting (VFX)

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Contents

1. Lectures (Links to the Exercises Page)

2. Instructions

3. Thematic Matte Painting (VFX)

    Final Outcome

4. Reflection

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Instructions

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Thematic Matte Painting (VFX)

As for our final project, we needed to take our Project 2's Invisible Set Extension and create what is known as a 2.5 matte painting where it mixes 3D geometry with 2D painting. We are to essentially take our project 2's work and animate in After Effects it to create depth.

Images below show the process of my after effects edit.

First I added a simple camera zooming out. My idea was to have it zoomed in at the start and then slowly zooming out as it reveals the entire city.

fig 1.1, Adding Camera Zoom (28/7/2025)

Then I started adding simple movements such as for the cloud, the sunrays and “Zalem”.

fig 1.2, Adding Simple Movement (28/7/2025)

To create a more 3D effect when zooming out, I made slight movements to the buildings following the camera’s movement.

fig 1.3, Adding Building Movements (28/7/2025)

To create an old movie atmosphere, I also added grain effects that play at random. This was new to me as I have never experimented with changing variables in After Effects.

fig 1.4, Adding Grain Effect (28/7/2025)

I also added different grain effects on top of the previous one to give it a stronger effect. All of the effects are at random. The effects are called scratches, damage and dust.

Scratches - Creates long vertical lines

Damage - Creates discoloured blob

Dust - Creates a static effects that are in small pixels

fig 1.5, Adding More Grain Effect (28/7/2025)

I then rendered it and showed to Mr.Kannan for feedback. To make it more realistic, I need to add what is known as parallaxing effect, which is a layering different composition to the camera to create depth. I should also add a mist/cloud effect as the camera zooms out.

fig 1.6, Render Testing (28/7/2025)

After receiving the feedback, I went back to the original composition and made the sky transparent through masking.

fig 1.7, Removing The Sky (30/7/2025)

After importing to after effects, I then adjusted the spacing to create the parallaxing effect. To create a better depth on the effect, I made another cloud layer and change the distance of it. 

fig 1.8, Adding Parallaxing Effect (30/7/2025)

Next I added a cloud effect when zooming in/out of the camera. To make it more realistic, I used the scale transform tool.

fig 1.9, Adding Mist/Cloud Effect (30/7/2025)

Lastly, I added sound and making the video fade in/out through an editing software. I also took this time to add a simple wind sound effect that get stronger as the camera zooms in and out.

fig 1.10, Adding Sound and Fade Effect (30/7/2025)

Final Outcome

fig 2.2, Final Project Board (31/7/2025)

fig 2.2, Final Thematic Matte Painting (31/7/2025)

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Reflection

This final project was very interesting and I liked how it turned out! I was however very lucky to own a better computer than my laptop as my laptop would not handle the after effect project file at all. Playing around with the object movement and trying to create depth as the camera zooms out was interesting to play around. Learning on creating effects like grain was also interesting although it was very tedious to do so many adjustments for an effect like that. With that being said, I still overall enjoyed doing this final project!

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My Other Digital Matte Painting Work :

Exercises 

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

Project 2 : Invisible Set Extension 2

Final Project : Thematic Matte Painting (VFX) (Current)