David Mattingly - The Digital Matte Painting Handbook

Acquisitions Editor: Mariann Barsolo

Development Editor: Gary Schwartz

Technical Editor: Jon McFarland

Production Editor: Eric Charbonneau

Copy Editor: Tiffany Taylor

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Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley

Vice President and Publisher: Neil Edde

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Proofreader: Jen Larsen, Word One

Indexer: Ted Laux

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Cover Designer: Ryan Sneed

Cover Image: David B. Mattingly

Copyright 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-92242-2 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-118-07802-0 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-118-07804-4 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-118-07803-7 (ebk)

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Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing The Digital Matte Painting Handbook. This book is part of a family of premium-quality Sybex books, all of which are written by outstanding authors who combine practical experience with a gift for teaching.

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To Cathleen, with my love.

Acknowledgments

This is my first technical book, and I am grateful for all the professional guidance and support I received from the amazing Sybex team: Mariann Barsolo, acquisitions editor, for believing in the concept and helping to define the content of this book; Gary Schwartz, development editor, for his expert editorial direction, patience, and encouragement throughout the project; Jon McFarland, technical editor, for his uncanny ability to ferret out and correct my mistakes; Tiffany Taylor, copy editor; and the numerous unsung heroes behind the scenes at Sybex. My thanks to Sue Olinsky for making the introductions at Wiley that led to this projectI still owe you a dinner!

This book would not have been possible without the devotion and support of my wife Cathleen, who gave up many weekends to help me clarify concepts and wrestle my ungainly writing into readable prose.

I also extend my gratitude to three faithful readers who gave me feedback throughout the process: Lawrence Kaplan, Barclay Shaw, and Stephen Youll. Devoting the time to slog through a buddys book is a test of friendship, and you are all true friends.

I want to acknowledge people who read individual chapters and provided their expert feedback: Craig Barron, Harrison Ellenshaw, and Eric Reinfeld.

Also, thanks to the individuals and companies that provided photographs and reference materials included on the DVD: Walton Dornisch, Ron Lyons Jr. of great-castles.com , Tomas Babinec of environment-textures.com , Simon Morse of 3dtotal.com , and Marcel Vijfwinkel of cgtextures.com .

Big thanks to Michele Moen, Eric Chauvin, and Dylan Cole for agreeing to be profiled in this book.

Finally, my deepest gratitude to the matte painting students at the School of Visual Arts and Pratt Instituteyou make every semester an adventure!

About the Author

David B. Mattingly lives in Hoboken, New Jersey, right across the Hudson River from New York City. He teaches matte painting at the School of Visual Arts and at Pratt Institute. He has worked on major motion pictures and TV miniseries for the last 30 years, including The Black Hole (1979), Tron (1982), Dick Tracy (1990), The Stand (1994), I, Robot (2004), and A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008). He has contributed matte shots and special effects to hundreds of commercial projects.