Paul Paulino Explains RGB Mattes and Why They Are Used

Paul Paulino Explains RGB Mattes and Why They Are Used

RGB Mattes Are Often Used in Compositing, But They Can Also Be Used for Texturing and Look Development

You may have heard the term RGB Mattes and wondered, what is it and how is it used? In compositing, it is a nearly essential tool for working with selective elements in an image. CG Artist Paul Paulino also uses them within a texting and look development workflow. “If you are a compositor or lighting artist you are probably familiar with the RGB workflow and it can be used to improve renders. But for some reason, a lot of people don’t know that the same knowledge can be applied during the texturing and look development phase.” Paulino mentions.

RGB Mattes can save you a lot of time with both disciplines. RGB Mattes can be made with most 3rd party rendering engines fairly easily. Recently we have seen tools which can automate the matte creation process. Cryptomatte, a tool created at Psyop by Jonah Friedman and Andy Jones can create ID mattes automatically. It also has support for motion blur, transparency and depth of field.

Check out Paul Paulino’s article on How to Use RGB Masks in Your Texture Workflow to learn all the details.