Making a "Gel Like" forcefield.

Matt Grunau

Matt Grunau

Adobe Demigod
Hi all, there are plenty of ways of making force fields and shields in AE, but this one has me a little stumped. I am thinking of something like in the movie Independence Day, when the missles hit the shield. There is not only the impact, but there is a gel like rippling.

I'de like to try is, but I am not sure how to approach it. First, I would like the ripples from each bullet to react when they hit each other, and second, I would like the ripples to act as a displacement map. And lastly, I want the forcefield to have a heavy almost syrup type viscosity.

I could try it in 3D, but Soft Body Dynamics is not my cup of tea.


Any ideas?
 
Matt, with your apparent knowledge of LightWave, I think it might be alot easier to do it in that and then composite it.
 
dory_breaux said:
Matt, with your apparent knowledge of LightWave, I think it might be alot easier to do it in that and then composite it.
Click to expand...

yes, but I was wanting to keep it in program, and not have to rely on fluid or soft body dynamics.

There's a way, one of the AE gods will show us. You will see.
 
Some visual references would be nice. Most of these effects can usually be achieved through some fractal trickery...
 
zhenya said:
Some visual references would be nice. Most of these effects can usually be achieved through some fractal trickery...
Click to expand...

I really can't give you any, apart from the shields on Independance Day. That and the shield system on Dune. It's not like Star Trek or Star wars, I want the shields to have a viscosity.

Hard to convey I guess.


It's like I said earlier, when there is an impact, the shield ripples and is thick like syrup. And, it acts as a displacement map.

Thats about as detailed as I can get.


It's just hard to explain.
 
One thought would be to use something Trapcode Form or maybe even Particular. Form seems perfect for this.

Without plugs, maybe stock footage of a droplet in water, use that as a displacement map to get the look you want.
 
I'd suggest lightwave too.
Matte out the part of the shot that is behind the shield from the part that is in front. Bring your "behind" plate into lightwave and use a subdivided shape in front of the background and do your ripple on that. Then you can use refraction to make the waves bend the picture behind it.
 
Videocopilot has a tut on bugs crawling under your skin. Something like that applied to the layer could be manipulated to look like a strike. Animate the scale while applying a ripple going out ward.

Disclaimer: I just started learning AE 6 days ago
 
robertwerden said:
Videocopilot has a tut on bugs crawling under your skin. Something like that applied to the layer could be manipulated to look like a strike. Animate the scale while applying a ripple going out ward.

Disclaimer: I just started learning AE 6 days ago
Click to expand...

god thinking
 
The real issue here is I want the ripples to react to one another. I don't have trapcode, and while I do have lightwave, i was trying to keep everything program. One, you for one would understand that.

It's a complex look, one with regard the ripples themselves have to act as a displacement map, at the same time, they need to react with themslves. I am thinking 3D is my only real route, but I would like to avoid that as much as I can.

I am sure this can be pulled of with AE only, but I can't think of a way.


Thanks to all who have given suggestions.



M
 
I cant either without some plugins... and even then it'd be pretty sketchy. I'd just suck it up and go with the 3d route. Couldnt you use the cloth system instead of softbody? I'd think it would work just as well but be alot easier.
 
Yeah look it would easily be done with AE up until the point where you want all the ripples to realistically interact with each other. You could take a long shot and play around with some of the generators in AE like waveworld (from memory) etc but really to get maximum control and realistic dynamic interaction, 3D app makes a lot of sense here...

PS if u can get something close to what you want through fractals/generators theres planty you could do in terms of compositing to give it the look you want, although i'm sure you already know this.

Try the waves/ripples simulator though, as then you could have ripples feeding back and effecting one another. With some clever compositing between that and other fractal animations, you might be ably to come up with a displacement map that works.

Good luck
 
Hey Matt, I tossed something together super quick to see what I could come up with. Obviously, the interaction part is the hardest thing, but I think it can be faked to where it's passable. I'm not sure you're application of this effect, but unless it's straight on, full frame, some clever compositing could easily sell the shot.

Here's the vid, followed by the breakdown, follwed by a link to the AECS3 file.

http://andrewjfallon.com/forcefield_H264.mov

I did this is 30 minutes, so the more time you spend with the animaiton the better the results.

1. Create a large square comp, create a solid, add the radio waves effect. Keyframe frequency and velocity for desired look of waves in base form.

2. Add another solid, add a ramp->radial, make the center white, edges black, center it so that it falls off to pure black before it hits the edges. Use this as a luma matte for the ripple so that it simulates a smooth falloff.

3. Create your main comp with frame size as desired, drop in the single ripple precomp, duplicate as needed, precompose. Open up new precomp, add any effects and/or colorize as desired. I added some fractal noise and a green colorize.

4. Go back to main comp, add in layer to be affected, turn off ripples comp. Add "forcefield" layer, add displacement map to an adjustment layer above everything to be displaced, using ripples for displacement, select color for displacement accordingly.

Now here's where you can get creative and tailor your look. I used the caustics effect and used the ripples to drive the surface, water, and bottom effects, tweaked lighting, etc... I used a displacement map at the top of the comp as well as on my base layer to add more displacement. If you want to make it more interesting you can duplicate your ripples comp and create pure R,G, or B ripples to drive different displacements. I also blurred the ripples at some point, but can't remember where...it's all in the project file.

www.andrewjfallon.com/forcefield_ripple.zip
 
You pretty much nailed it ONEINFINITELOOP. There are a few things I would also like to include, but they would be easy, and would even be able to be controlled by the radio waves luma map.


Killer work, I'm curious now it the whole thing could be wrapped around something like CC Sphere, still be transparant, AND work as a diaplacement map.

Thanks also for the zip file. I will try get something worked and up to see, but I have some other video work I promised I would take a crack at. Then it will be fun time.

I'll even add sound.

I wonder how they did it in Independance Day? You think it was 3D with procedurals/fractal base textures? I just went back and had another look, and the effect is awesome. It really moves like fluid. Hell, maybe they filmed something practical!


Thanks again all, and I will keep you posted.


Edit: ONEINFINITLOOP, is there a way to have the waves interact with themselves? I watched it two or three times before I noticed, but I'de like the ripples as they touch to react like a fluid system. It may be the 3D routs will be the way to go, but my skills are weakest there.
 
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It's cool, I just wanted to make sure you were referring to my post before I went off answering your questions.

For true fluid interaction, you would have to go 3d...I don't know of any easy way to make that work. You could obviously hand animate it somehow but that would be painful.

Obviously, you could shoot it live action then composite it in, but other than that I'm not sure.

And...if you were mistaking me for Kyle as in Kai, well...I'm honored :)
 
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