[gArGOyLe^]

I know what matte paintings look like.. but I want to know what makes a painting a matte painting? Like.. what is a matte painting and what sets it as different then an ordinary painting?

[Mr. T]

photorealism?

[balistic]

Its technically not a matte painting unless its going to be composited into a filmed or animated sequence. A matte painting fills in gaps in a physical set, or replaces a background.

And its technically not a matte painting if its digital either, but . . .

[Lunatique]

Matt paintings can't be painted with super refined minute detail(it won't show up in film). Instead, you have to create the illusion of detail by suggesting it in a almost impressionistic approach. (Well, this is what Spooge and Loki says.)

[gArGOyLe^]

cool.. thx.. would the BG of this picture I made be considered a digital one frame matte or.. what would made it that?

[Sumaleth]

Matte paintings are used in television and film to create backgrounds that would be too expensive to build. So your image probably isnt a matte painting, but it could be. And apart from refinement, it's no different to any digital image that has ever been used as a matte.

ie. "matte" is the -use- of an image, it isnt a type of image.

Row.