How to add fire to an actor in post... help please?

[znowboarding]

Hello,
I am new to using AE, I've pieced bits together and come up with this, however it needs a lot of work. I need advice and ideas on how to make the fire more realistic, if you know of any tutorials and such that reside on this forum or elsewhere that could help that would be excellent. Constructive criticism please.

This video was shot in 24P mode on my DVX100b, i added CC and used stock video of flames that i had, ( i need to adjust the bow scene to get rid of the particles that show up, i should probably clean my lens. Advice on the filming techniques as well would be appreciated.

http://blip.tv/file/451422?filename=Znowboarding-NinjaShotByFlamingArrowTestAlpha986.mov

Thanks
Zack

[clarkage]

I thought that the arrow was alright... But when it showed the guy getting hit that was just sad, I'm sorry. I would get a little more creative with camera angles...

You could possibly try posting this in the Cinematography section and you will get some more help. (since im not the best with camera angles either) But maybe if you just showed him getting burned at first on his back because that looked alright it was just when it went into a flaming box somehow stck o him that it looked bad. So then show him maybe rolling around on the ground and edit in some small flames and then he would just get up and keep running.

Unless you want to have him lie there dead like still on fire. What exaxtly are you going for here?

[tcindie]

You might have better luck with particles. Look at the trapcode plugin.

[znowboarding]

Thanks for the feedback, Ill try and get more creative with the camera angles, and fix the actual getting shot part, the ninja (my little brother) didn't actually plan to fall he tripped and i only shot one take. A revised version should be up in a few days.

anything i can do in AE to make the square fire go away besides just cutting it out completely?

[tcindie]

It's a totally incorrect kind of fire to be using... that looks like an explosion, not someone burning.

as for working with AE, I'm going to assume from how you've posed your questions that you're fairly new to AE and compositing.. you might want to check out the tutorials at videocopilot.net (http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials.html). While they don't have one specifically for the effect you're after I think you'll find it useful.

[znowboarding]

It's a totally incorrect kind of fire to be using... that looks like an explosion, not someone burning.

as for working with AE, I'm going to assume from how you've posed your questions that you're fairly new to AE and compositing.. you might want to check out the tutorials at videocopilot.net (http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials.html). While they don't have one specifically for the effect you're after I think you'll find it useful.

Yeah I have pieced most of this together from andrew kramers tutorials... I think for this effect, it needs to be a particle based effect. I have a bunch of plugins and stuff, one is for making fire... although I'm not sure how exactly to use it, (its got a .pdf full of instructions though)

Ive seen several particle based effects, some look amazing, some look like crap.

Any suggestions (particle systems) or effects i can achieve.

What i have
AE 7+ tons and tons of plugins (just don't know what most of them are for)

I've got 3D studio max, somewhere

and...

Plenty of free time.

I also did something stupid and lost the project files so i will have to start from scratch, the first arrow part was pretty simple and it looked alright.

Is there a way to compose the layers so they seem like they are one (like blending the fire so its got the same lighting as the background?)

Thanks for the comments

-zack

[Tom Marshall]

Particle effects are an artform, honestly. It takes talent to make something look really good... That being said, your best bet would probably be take your time in 3d Studio Max and try to make something that looks as real as you can make it. Then bring that into AE and composite it together.

[madhorizons]

Is there a way to compose the layers so they seem like they are one (like blending the fire so its got the same lighting as the background?)

Play with your transfer modes and project set up. Are you using AE7? If so, try setting your project to 32bit, with linear light checked, etc and set color space to SMPTE-C and try the transfer mode of "Add" instead of "Screen."

Also, you should check out Detonation Films stock footage. There's tons of smoke/fire/etc and practical FX is better than digital FX in my opinion. He even has some free stuff on there.

Additionally, the stock footage you have takes up the whole frame....for stuff like that, you'll probably have to do some masking. Mask off a section as well, and ensure you feather the mask at least 3px.

[Neil Rowe]

you should really be using a different peice of stock footage to get the effect your going for. If it were me (and if i wanst going to just somehow actually safely set him on fire), i would shoot my own fire stock to comp in by planning some shots with apx all the same camera angles in a black room with a dummy or doll in the same type of outfit on fire.

[Kdawg]

you should really be using a different peice of stock footage to get the effect your going for. If it were me (and if i wanst going to just somehow actually safely set him on fire), i would shoot my own fire stock to comp in by planning some shots with apx all the same camera angles in a black room with a dummy or doll in the same type of outfit on fire.


That is actually a fantastic idea. It sounds like it would be fun to toy with that Neil.

[SeanEmer]

just one note: the shot of the arrow is looking almost directly into the sun, so if the fire were "realistic" you would barely see it at all. You need to shoot with the VFX in mind, or else you're going to get poor results.