TIM MATNEY

DIGITAL MATTE PAINTER | TEXTURE ARTIST | CONCEPT ARTIST

Reel

DIGITAL MATTE PAINTING

hairspray_thumb 1960’S BALTIMORE FROM ABOVE | HAIRSPRAY | FEATURE. The shot initially began as a helicopter shot of present day Baltimore, but all modern architectural elements and non-period buildings had to be removed to transform the city to a 1960’s version. It was determined that converting this shot into a large-scale projected digital matte painting would be more effective than tracking myriad painted elements into the shot. Besides me, four other matte painters, modelers, and texture artists created this 2.5D matte painting. My responsibilities included in-house matte painting supervision and set up of the projected digital matte painting process, as well as creating digital matte paintings for the close-up buildings at the end of the shot. Photoshop, Maya and Mental Ray were used to execute the process. Post production was completed at RIOT in 2007.
uas_thumb RED PLANET LANDSCAPE | AIR FORCE “UAS” | COMMERCIAL. Four shots depicting a red planet mountainous landscape. I created large scale digital matte paintings based on images of the North Dakota badlands, Nevada, and the Atacama Desert in Chile to achieve the desired look. Most of these digital matte paintings were broken out into separate elements, from foreground to background, in order to projection map them in 3D and be rendered as moving shots, and were designed as such. Post production was completed at Psyop in 2009.
uw2_mtns_thumb SNOWY MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE | UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION | FEATURE. As a Digital Matte Painter, I used Photoshop to initially create mattes for the surrounding mountains and sky. I then broke the individual mountain ranges apart into layers, applied them as surface shaded textures in Maya to specifically laid out and conformed 3D cards, where they were rendered in sequences with Mental Ray before compositing. Post production was completed at Luma Pictures in 2006.
uw2_wwf_thumb TUNNEL ENVIRONMENT | UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION | FEATURE. As a Digital Matte Painter and Texture Artist, I used Maya to project a locked off plate upon low resolution 3D geometry representing the actual set. Once baked, all the many missing areas not visible from the initial plate were painted in Photoshop (with perspective distortion) and applied to the 3D geometry. A sequence traveling down the hallway was then animated and rendered with Mental Ray. None of the fine textural, modeling or lighting details of the hallway are 3D; they are all 16 bit custom painted surface shaded 2D textures. Post production was completed at Luma Pictures in 2006.
area51_thumb BOMBED SUBDIVISION | MIDWAY GAMES “BLAKSITE: AREA 51” | COMMERCIAL. The budget for the shoot dictated that many elements for this commercial are created in post. I created a destroyed set extension for the foreground house as well as replacing the sky and creating several destroyed town elements for the background using Photoshop. Post production was completed at RIOT in 2007.
cave_thumb UNDERGROUND CLIFFS | THE CAVE | FEATURE. As a Digital Matte Painter I used Photoshop and Maya to create 2D and 2.5D digital set extensions and back plates to complete and expand a very limited practical set, encompassing over 36 individual shots, all within logarithmic space. Post production was completed at Luma Pictures in 2005.
mummy3_thumb DESERT ENVIRONMENT | THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR | FEATURE. Shown are a desert landscape featuring two zombie armies charging towards each other, where I created the background matte painting, which was projected and re-rendered in 3D by another artist. Another of my duties on this show included creating clean backplates for many of the desert combat sequences, which involved removing the actors and stunt doubles and repairing and extending the plates. Post production was completed at Digital Domain in 2008.
storm_ak_thumb ALASKAN TWISTER | THE STORM | BROADCAST FEATURE. This is a matte painting breakdown showing how I wrecked “Anchorage, AK”. The image was built up of disparate photographs within Photoshop to complete the finished look. The twister itself is added simply for reference, an effects animated version was added in the final shot. Post production was completed at LLP Digital in 2009.
storm_lasVegas_thumb SNOWY LAS VEGAS | THE STORM | BROADCAST FEATURE. This is a matte painting breakdown showing how I made it snow on the Luxor and Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The image was built up of disparate photographs within Photoshop to complete the finished look. The image was used as an establishing shot, where a reporter was composited over, including blowing snow. Post production was completed at LLP Digital in 2009.
met_hole_thumb DAMAGED CORRIDOR | METEOR | BROADCAST FEATURE. Matte painting breakdown showing how I “upgraded” an internal set to look more destructed than initially shot. I used Photoshop to combine separate elements into the finished look. Post production was completed at LLP Digital in 2008.
met_paris_thumb BOMBED PARIS | METEOR | BROADCAST FEATURE. This is a matte painting breakdown showing how I added meteor damage to Paris. The shot began as a stock photograph, where I used Photoshop to add damage to the buildings. The smoke is added for reference; effects animated smoke and flames were added in the final shot. Post production was completed at LLP Digital in 2008.

TEXTURING

museum_thumb ROMAN SOLDIERS | NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM | FEATURE. As a Texture Artist I used Adobe Photoshop and Right Hemisphere Deep Paint to create digital doubles of the stunt men who portrayed Roman soldiers during the production of the film, including their weapons, armor, clothing, and not least, themselves. These digital doubles were used to populate an entire miniature legion! Post production was completed at Rhythm & Hues in 2006.
skyCapt_thumb SUNKEN CRUISER LINER | SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW | FEATURE. As a Texture Artist and Modeler, I used Photoshop and Maya for the texturing, UV-ing, and the additional model detailing of the falling “Cruiser Liner” in the underwater battle sequence. Post production was completed at Luma Pictures in 2004.
uw2_cliff_thumb CLIFFS | UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION | FEATURE. As a Modeler and Texture Artist, I first roughly defined the island cliffs in Maya, and then transferred them to zBrush for refinement and displacement map development. The color, bump and diffuse textures were then finished within Photoshop and Maya. Post production was completed at Luma Pictures in 2006.
compass_thumb CRACKING ICE BRIDGE | THE GOLDEN COMPASS | FEATURE. Many studios had a hand in creating this sequence of shots that encompassed Lara’s race to save her friend, Roger. At Digital Domain, I worked with the Visual Effects Supervisor, Bryan Grill, to create several look development concepts for the Ice Bridge set piece in order to dial in its crystalline hard yet fragile nature. Then I actually created six 2D animated cracking textures for use inside the bridge itself. All within Adobe Photoshop. Post production was completed at Digital Domain in 2007.
tf2_thumb DECEPTICON KITCHEN BOTS | TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN | FEATURE. I used Photoshop and Maya for the texturing, and UV-ing of two transforming kitchen appliances, the espresso machine and garbage disposal, as well as assisting with the vacuum cleaner. Post production was completed at Digital Domain in 2009.

CONCEPTS

ffm_crow_thumb FIREFLY MAN CONCEPTS | THE FIREFLY MAN | ANIMATED SHORT FILM. Shown are a set of six concepts I created for the award winning animated short film, The Firefly Man. These images were developed using Photoshop to set the style/look/tone of key creatues and environments that would later be created and animated in 3D. Post production was completed at Graveyard Machine Productions in 2002.
buttons_thumb SUBMARINE LOOK DEVELOPMENT | THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON | FEATURE. One of my duties on this feature filmwas to concept the textured look of a WWII German U-Boat and an ocean liner so that my supervisors could determine the look wanted. I took a flat shaded image of a 3D model, and worked on top of it to create the finished look. Shown are the 10 styles I created for the U-Boat. Post production was completed at Digital Domain in 2008.
storm_storyb_thumb THE STORM STORYBOARDS | THE STORM | BROADCAST FEATURE. These eight images comprise a storyboard involving an ambulance’s escape from an oncoming twister, and represent only the VFX but not any separate character dialogue or interaction. On this show, I contributed storyboards for the VFX sequences requiring the most organization and interaction between Production and Post. They were developed in Photoshop from photographic sources. Post production was completed at LLP Digital in 2009.
storm_hole2_thumb ATMOSPHERE BURNING | THE STORM | BROADCAST FEATURE. These three images represent concepts I created to explore the effect of a “weather weapon” upon the atmosphere, from both above and below. The desired look was one of a strange engergy and great tearing of the atmosphere. They were developed in Photoshop from photographic sources. Post production was completed at LLP Digital in 2009.
met_meteor3_thumb METEOR LOOK DEVELOPMENT | METEOR | BROADCAST FEATURE. These seven images represent concepts I created to explore the look and style of giant 60-mile wide meteors assaulting the earth. I was given the task of concepting the general shape, what the surface looked like, how it behaved in motion, and how it might act when reaching Earth’s atmosphere. They were developed in Photoshop from photographic sources. Post production was completed at LLP Digital in 2008.