Flames and Smoke...?
- Thread starter petelms
- Start date
Daniel Skubal
Veteran
I would be surprised if AE couldn't do smoke and flames... doesn't AE have a particle generator? You could probably find it there. I know Discreet's combustion has both... they're not very good, but better than nothing at all.
Flames are difficult to make... "realistic"
Flames are difficult to make... "realistic"
it has a particle generator, but I was shocked by it. it is really ... ... unreal 
..there used to be a 2D/3D volumetric fire/smoke simulation engine plugin called "PYRO" and was distributd by "electricFX" which is a branch of "arete" software who makes the infamous "psunami" and such other simulation software.. heres a link to info on the software.
http://www.areteis.com/press/pressreleases/September_19_2001.htm
here is a link to the plugin for MAYA. but the AE version could do the exact same things.
http://www.areteis.com/products/maya/pyro/gallery.htm
the only problem is.. you cant find it anymore.. the electricfx site is only avaialble to send an e-mail to them. and i cant find anywhere to buy the software anymore. if you find it let me know. its not the greatest in the samples, but when tweaked right it can put out some pretty real looking FX. on the sample page for example the very last sample of smoke is tweaked pretty well. if it was thin and whispy it would look prety photo real. anyway as stated before, artbeats has the goods for alot of fire fx in general.
http://www.areteis.com/press/pressreleases/September_19_2001.htm
here is a link to the plugin for MAYA. but the AE version could do the exact same things.
http://www.areteis.com/products/maya/pyro/gallery.htm
the only problem is.. you cant find it anymore.. the electricfx site is only avaialble to send an e-mail to them. and i cant find anywhere to buy the software anymore. if you find it let me know. its not the greatest in the samples, but when tweaked right it can put out some pretty real looking FX. on the sample page for example the very last sample of smoke is tweaked pretty well. if it was thin and whispy it would look prety photo real. anyway as stated before, artbeats has the goods for alot of fire fx in general.
Kirk Gillock
Rebel with a cause
If you prefer real flames and smoke then there's some free DV clips you can use here.
http://www.detonationfilms.com/free_stuff.htm
They have all kinds of royalty free clips of explosions, missles, bullets, smoke, and fire. You can use luma key or keylight to do your compositing.
http://www.detonationfilms.com/free_stuff.htm
They have all kinds of royalty free clips of explosions, missles, bullets, smoke, and fire. You can use luma key or keylight to do your compositing.
Matt Grunau
Adobe Demigod
No software that exists makes truly believable fire. Some are close, and some 3D particle animators are really getting good, but nothing actually ever looks real. If you want good looking fire elements, do what xl70e3 and PK Gillock suggested. Get real ones or film them yourself.
The only other option is software. A few good (and equally pricey) plugins have been suggested, but you could just go and buy the program Particle Illusion from Wondertouch. That's the new name of the software that was put into Compubstion as their "Particle" system. Costs about 300 bucks, but so do most of the good plug ins, and you get hundreds and hundreds of premade effects, plus the learning curve is easy, and you get a basic knowledge of a particle system hat translates fairly easily into the particle generators all of the major 3D apps can do.
The only other option is software. A few good (and equally pricey) plugins have been suggested, but you could just go and buy the program Particle Illusion from Wondertouch. That's the new name of the software that was put into Compubstion as their "Particle" system. Costs about 300 bucks, but so do most of the good plug ins, and you get hundreds and hundreds of premade effects, plus the learning curve is easy, and you get a basic knowledge of a particle system hat translates fairly easily into the particle generators all of the major 3D apps can do.
Matt Grunau
Adobe Demigod
You're Welcome. Just remember, Illusion looks good, but not very real. But, what's really cool is you can set the background color to 50% gray (R127B127G127) and whatever you make on the screen you can desaturate later in AE (or just use black and white particles in Illusion) and you have got youself one HELL of a custom displacment map maker.
Look for tutorials on displacement maps and illusion and you'll find some. Or, whenever I can figure out how to upload to my friggin server I may post somthing.
Glad to have helped.
Look for tutorials on displacement maps and illusion and you'll find some. Or, whenever I can figure out how to upload to my friggin server I may post somthing.
Glad to have helped.