Backdrops

James Schultz

New Member
I want to make a backdrop using building pictures. I want to however make them appear different distances from the background scene. How do you go about doing it. The flats will be attached to the background scene.
 

Revell-Fan

Co-Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
To achieve that you'll have to use a trick called "forced perspective". The backdrop should consist of at least three layers which are placed in front of each other. The first layer should show large-scale buildings, the second layer should show medium scale buildings and the last layer small scale buildings. The colours should become lighter with any layer. A sunny sky with clouds would be a nice finish.

The different foreground elements can be attached to the backs with pads which increases the 3D effect. One of the best things of such a backdrop is that the perspective changes with the position of the viewer, similar to the old showboxes.

Of course you can make a simple flat 2D backdrop using the same techniques described above: several elements in different scales stacked on top of each other. This can be made easily in Gimp because it supports layers. You can move the elements around and re-scale them till they meet your expectations.

I have attached a simple example of a 3D backdrop which can be used as a guide for making a 2D backdrop. (If you want to make it 2D just create the different layers and bake them together in Gimp.) The last pic is an animated *.gif which shows the 3D illusion when the viewer changes his / her position.

Some links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_perspective

https://www.google.com/search?q=for...wX6xIHIBw&ved=0CD8QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=643&dpr=1

I hope this helps! :thumb:
 

Attachments

  • ff1.jpg
    ff1.jpg
    24.3 KB · Views: 19
  • ff2.jpg
    ff2.jpg
    41 KB · Views: 21
  • ff3.jpg
    ff3.jpg
    40 KB · Views: 15
  • ff4.jpg
    ff4.jpg
    40.8 KB · Views: 23
  • ff5.jpg
    ff5.jpg
    21.9 KB · Views: 22
  • fp.gif
    fp.gif
    146.7 KB · Views: 20
Top