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Matte painting

Matte painting is a special kind of artwork that is used in movies and animations. It's a very detailed painting that is made on a huge piece of paper or canvas. Sometimes, it's used to create places that don't exist in real life, like fantasy worlds or futuristic cities.

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Matte painting is an important technique in the animation (and movie) industry that allows animators to create realistic and immersive environments for their characters and stories. This technique is a cost-effective way of creating backgrounds and settings that would otherwise be too expensive or impossible to construct in real life.

One of the main advantages of matte paintings is its ability to create convincing backdrops that can seamlessly blend with live-action footage or 3D animation. This is achieved by creating a painting or digital image that accurately represents the environment, incorporating elements such as mountains, buildings, and other large structures.

In traditional animation, matte paintings were created on glass plates using oil paints or other materials. These plates were then placed in front of the camera during filming to create the illusion of a realistic environment. However, with the rise of digital technology, many animators now use computer software to create their matte paintings.

Another advantage of matte painting is the ability to save time and money during production. Instead of building expensive sets or traveling to different locations for filming, animators can simply create a digital painting that accurately represents the environment they want to depict. This not only saves money on production costs but also allows for greater creative freedom in designing unique or impossible environments.

Matte painting is a crucial technique in the animation industry that allows animators to create immersive environments for their characters and stories. Whether done using traditional techniques or digital software, matte painting offers many advantages in terms of cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and creative freedom. As the animation industry continues to evolve, it is likely that matte painting will remain an important tool for animators looking to create visually stunning and engaging environments for their audiences.

Animation Terms

2

2D Animation

3

3D Animation

A

Alpha Channel

Ambient sound

Animation

Anti-Aliasing

Anticipation

Aspect Ratio

B

Bezier Curve

Bitmap

Blue Screen

Bone Animation

Bounce

Broadcast Standards

C

Camera Angle

Camera Shake

Casting

Cel Animation

Character Animation

Character Design Sheets

Cinematic lighting

Claymation

Clean-up

Close-up

Color Correction

Color Grading

Compositing

Composition

Concept Art

Continuity editing

Cross-cutting

Cut

Cutout nimation

D

Depth of Field

Dialogue

Dissolve

Distributed Rendering

Dolby Atmos

Dope Sheet

Dutch Angle

E

Easing

Emitter

Exaggeration

Eyedropper

F

Foley

Follow through

Forward Kinematics

Frame Rate

Frame

Framing

Freeze Frame

G

Ghosting

GIF File Format

Golden Ratio

Graph Editor

H

High key lighting

Hue and Saturation

I

Inertia

Infographic Animation

Inverse Kinematics

J

Joint

JPEG File Format

Jump cut

K

Keyframe Interpolation

Keyframe

Kinetic typography

L

Layers

Lens distortion

Level of Detail

Lighting

Line of action

Lip syncing

Low key lighting

M

Match cut

Matte painting

Montage

Morphing

Motion blur

Motion capture

Motion graphics

Motion path

Motion trail

Mouth shapes

MP3 File Format

MP4 File Format

N

Network rendering

Non-linear editing

O

Occlusion culling

Onion skinning

Overlapping action

P

Pan

Parallel rendering

Particle system

Persistance of Vision

Phonemes

Playback speed

Plot

PNG File Format

Pose-to-pose animation

Props

Puppet animation

R

Render farm

Rendering

Resolution

Rigging

Rotoscoping

Rule of thirds

Run cycle

S

Safe zone

Scene

Score

Screenplay

Script

Shot

Silhouette

Skeletal animation

Slow Motion

Smears

Sound Design

Sound effects

Soundtrack

Special Effects

Split screen

Squash and Stretch

Staging

Stop Motion Animation

Storyboard

Straight-ahead Animation

T

Time Remapping

Timeline

Timing

Title Card

Title Sequence

Tracking shot

Tweening

V

Vector graphics

Visemes

Voice acting

Voice-over Narration

W

Walk cycle

WebM File Format

Weighting

Wide shot

Z

Z-depth

Zoom

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