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Glite Dictionary
🖼️ Picture border 🧶 Floor covering 🎬 Image separation
matting

matting

1 7.6
A way of separating a person or object from its background in images
  • noun
  • /ˈmætɪŋ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : enmascaramiento
  • Keep the matting corrections and other corrections and dump the CGI Jabba in A New Hope, the CGI band in Return, Hayden Christensen in Return, etc.

But I do think there's something to be said about mattes that blend the way that these do blend.

Examples

  • The film's matting allowed the characters to appear as if they were in a different world.

  • Typically, rotors are laminated using a fiberglass matting/cloth impregnated with a B-staged epoxy.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Using advanced matting techniques, the visual effects team seamlessly integrated the actors with the digital backdrop.

  • In the final scene, the matting process created a clear distinction between the live-action and animated elements.

Synonyms

masking
vsmatting
7 4.8

Objects that hide parts of a stage from the audience

is a digital process that separates foreground from background for compositing

Surface Forms

matting singular
mattings plural

Morphology

matting = matte (opaque) = matte + ing

Although the technical term is historically linked to 'matte', the compositing sense is specialized and not easily recoverable for most learners.

Etymology

Matting in photo and film work comes from the same idea as a physical mat that separates a picture from its frame; think of it like a 'mask' that keeps the subject apart from the background. So digital matting is the process or result that lets you cut out a foreground and place it into a new scene.