Particle Special Effect

JonB

JonB

Well-known member
I'm working on a short film for a contest, and at one point an "airborne cure falls from the sky." That's about as specific instructions as I was given... This was a quick slap together http://www.vimeo.com/2298251

Does anyone have any ideas for how to improve upon this or a better way of simulating it? I'm using After Effects CS3 and trapecode particular have about 10 days left before it has to be submitted...
 
Last edited:
There are some general things you can try.

re: the particles

Maybe add some varying degrees of blur. The front most more so, so that it appears
out of focus. Also maybe you could match the particle colors up a little better to match the blue sky palette. Right now it stands out too much for my liking.

You could also render out a few different layers with alphas and bring them back in.
Vary the speed of the particles for each layer, slower for most distant, a little faster for
closer ones. Vary the sizes like your doing now.

Then maybe mask them off a bit where they might appear obscured by the clouds.
The more staggered layers you have should help. Generally 3 would be my minimum.
Probably 3 to 6 would be good. You don't have to render out 6 different layers.
You can render out a few, duplicate those and vary the start offset in the timeline as
well as scaling up a bit.

You can also vary the transparency of some layers if it starts looking too cluttered, like snow. The more distant layers may be more foggy, so maybe a little more transparent.
Kind of like depth fog.

I'd start with the color and blur first and see how that looks, then proceed with adding more layers if it's looks like it starting to work.

//Also, we had a VFX fest#1 awhile back that we had to do a winter scene. There were some various snow effects done then. Here's some links. The entries and breakdowns are still there.
Maybe you can derive something from those to suit your own needs.

VFXFest #1 entries:
http://www.dvxfest.com/vfxfest_1/
Breakdowns:
http://www.archivisuals.com/VFXBREAKDOWNS/
 
Last edited:
Smaller particles - the ones in the distance should just be a mist. Time and time again its scale that kills an effect.
 
Hey, sorry to bring up an old post, but I just want to thank you guys a lot for your advice. It was a huge help, and it really sold the effect. The final turnout looked great.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top