- Search online for suitable materials for practicing perspective, reduce the opacity, and practice drawing perspective lines.
- Search online for suitable materials for practicing perspective, reduce the opacity, and practice drawing perspective lines.
Week 2 - 3
- Collect suitable materials for practicing perspective online, and analyze their composition and value processing.
- Based on previous analysis and learning, I drew some science fiction-themed exercises.
Week 4
- I used photos from my previous travels and made some simple cropping and composition adjustments.
- Use and adjust the sky replacement function in Photoshop.
- I manually adjusted the reflection to care about the color in the water.
- I used the same method to replace the sky in my photos.
- I used the same method to replace the sky in my photos.
-- I used the same method to replace the sky in my photos.
Week 5
- I found some materials online to practice Virtual Plain Air.
- I found some materials online to practice Virtual Plain Air.
-I found some materials online to practice Virtual Plain Air.
Week 6
- I used a previous sculpting class assignment as the source material.
- Background replaced
- Added sun, clouds, and hills
- I added firearm images, locked opaque pixels, and used a brush to apply a uniform color.
- Finally, I adjusted the overall lighting and manually added some highlights.
Week 7
- I found the image online and processed it into layers.
- I was told I had to use my own image, so I redid it.
- I used my previous exercise on the Invisible Set Extension as source material. I first separated the layers in Photoshop to make it easier to continue editing in After Effects later.
- In After Effects, the size and distance relationships of each layer were further processed, and simple camera movements were performed.
Week 8
- Using stills from King Hu's films, I studied and analyzed composition, and summarized the common characteristic assets in his films.
- Using stills from King Hu's films, I studied and analyzed camera movements and the motion of objects within the shots, and summarized the common characteristic assets found in his films.
- Using screenshots from King Hu's films, I studied and analyzed the value of his work and summarized the characteristic assets commonly found in his movies.
Week 9
- First, I used graphic tools to add two black bars at the top and bottom of the image, mimicking the borders of a film reel.
- Based on the study of King Hu's films, three storyboard sketches were drawn.
-It uses assets and elements commonly found in King Hu's films, including mountains, clouds, light, knights, bamboo, reeds, and water.
- A value has been added.
- Based on studying King Hu's films, the contrast between bright and dark areas has been increased, with objects in the foreground generally appearing darker and objects in the background appearing much brighter.
Week 10 - 11
- Based on the previously created storyboard, I used materials found online to perform photobashing.
- By adding adjustment layers, parameters such as brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation were adjusted for each part.
- A black background layer was added to check the overall image value, contrast, overall effect, and whether it was too dark or too bright, etc.
- Finally, a uniform light layer was added at the top of the image.
- I created multiple independent layers and manually drew some clouds and mist in different locations.
- The same workflow was used to create digital matte paintings for the other two storyboards.
Week 12 - 14
- Photoshop now incorporates adjustment layers, providing a more convenient and clearer layer-based processing for PSD files.
- Based on the actual distance of objects from the camera, the position of each layer relative to the camera was adjusted, and then the scale was adjusted to maintain the overall image before the camera moved.
- Animation was created using camera movement.
- Animation was added to moving objects such as clouds and fog.
- The same method was used to process the other two storyboards and create the 2.5D matte.
- Because the first storyboard only created a camera but didn't use an empty object, the camera movement of both points was restricted. Therefore, when creating these two storyboards, empty objects were also created, and a parent-child relationship was established between them and the camera.
- Finally, the three storyboard videos were merged in Premiere Pro. The speed and the black screen transitions between the scenes were adjusted.
Exercise 1 -
Perspective Exercise
Compositions and Valuie Exercise
Sky Replacement Exercise
Virtual Plain Air Exercise
Invisible Set Extensions Exercise
2.5D Mattes Exercise
Project 1
Invisible Set Extension (Pre-Production)
Project 2
Invisible Set Extension (Production)
Project 3
Thematic Matte Painting
REFLECTION
hroughout this Digital Matte Painting course, I developed a clearer understanding of how composition, value, photobashing, and animation work together to create a cinematic environment. My project focused on a Chinese wuxia landscape inspired by the visual style of King Hu’s films. During pre-production, I studied his use of foreground framing, atmospheric perspective, small figures within large environments, and restrained camera movement. These case studies helped me establish the visual rules for my storyboard and maintain consistency across the three shots.
During production, I learned that successful photobashing requires more than combining suitable images. The materials needed to be adjusted in value, colour temperature, saturation, sharpness, lighting, and perspective so that they appeared to belong to the same environment. I also used fog, paint-over techniques, and textured brushwork to reduce the photographic appearance and create a more unified painterly result. Organising the Photoshop file into foreground, midground, background, characters, water, and atmospheric layers was also important because each element needed to be prepared for animation.
The animation stage introduced me to the basic principles of 2.5D matte painting. I placed layers at different depths in After Effects and used camera movement to create parallax. I also added subtle movement to fog, water, vegetation, and characters. One of the main challenges was controlling the two-node camera and maintaining natural transitions between shots. Through this process, I learned that camera movement should remain restrained and should support the composition rather than distract from it.
Overall, the course improved both my technical workflow and my understanding of cinematic environment design. The final outcome still has areas that could be refined, particularly the integration of some photographic elements and the naturalness of certain animated details. However, the project gave me a more complete understanding of the full production process, from visual research and storyboarding to photobashing, paint-over, layer preparation, compositing, and final animation.
25/9 /2025 - 25/12/2025 / (Week 1 - Week 14) An Hongzheng / 0378415 Design Research Dissertation / DIS60304 Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media TABLE OF CONTENT 1. Instruction 2. Task 1: Draft Dissertation 3. Task 2: Visual Design Publications 4. Task 3: Final Dissertation 5. Task 4: Journal Article 6. Feedback 7. Reflection INSTRUCTIONS Figure 1.1: Module Information TASK 1 - Draft Dissertation Figure 2.1: Task 1: Draft Dissertaton TASK 2 - Visual Design Publication QR for e-publication book Figure 3.1: QR for E-publication Book Figure 3.2: Visual Desgin for Publication TASK 3 - Final Dissertation Figure 4.1: Task 3: Final Dissertation TASK 4 - Journal Article Figure 5.1 Journal Article FEEDBACK Figure 6.1: Weekly Progression and Feedback REFLECTION Experience: Looking back at this semester, the journey felt like leveling up in a high-difficulty RPG—starting with low stats and high anxiety. Honestly, when I first saw the requirement for a 7000-word Dissertation (Assignm...
23/4 /2026 - 7/24/2026 / (Week 1 - Week 14) An Hongzheng / 0378415 Major Project 1 / PRJ64904 Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media TABLE OF CONTENT 1. Instruction 2. Weekly Progress 3. Mid 4. Final 5. Reflection INSTRUCTIONS Figure 1.1: Module Information Weekly Progress Week 1 - Week 3 - After deciding to make a game, I conceived four projects. My teacher advised me to be realistic and not spend too much time researching gameplay. I then refined the projects by finding relevant resources and established the game's world-building. Week 4 - The game's world was designed with main characters and antagonists. Week 5 - A color scheme was determined for the previously designed character. Week 6 - As per the teacher's requirements, two new characters were improved and designed: a villain in a monster form and a new saintess image. Week 7 - A color scheme was determined for the villainous monster design. - Several weapons were designed. Week 8 - A complete...
24/9 /2025 - 31/12/2025 / (Week 1 - Week 14) An Hongzheng / 0378415 Minor Project / Final Compilation & Reflection Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media TABLE OF CONTENT 1. Instructions 2. Progress Work 3. Final Compilation 4. Feedback 5. Reflection INSTRUCTIONS Figure 1.1.1: Module Information Progress Work WEEK 1 & WEEK 2 Team Formation & Project Selection Group Work: We formed Group 21 with 6 members from different specializations (UI/UX, Graphic Design, Entertainment Design) . We selected the "Social AI Robot" project under our client, Associate Professor Dr. Izian Idris . My Work: I participated in team discussions to define our direction, agreeing to focus on the Baby Boomer generation as our target users . WEEK 3 Client Brief & Research Group Work: We held our first client meeting to understand the project requirements . The team conducted desktop research regarding the loneliness faced by Baby Boomers . My Work: I analyzed existing robot desi...
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