Making a Movie

[Moonsire]

Hi all.

 

Just a little info on what I'm doing before I get to what I am asking.

 

I am an actor living in L.A. My son-in-law is a Director/DP and my daughter is also an actor. Mixed into these titles are writer (myself and my son-in-law (Drew)), animator/CG (me) and producer (pretty much all of us). We are in the beginning stages of making our first joint movie (a short subject). In my infinite wisdom and total disconnect with reality, I have written a movie that has a number of special effects, and I plan to render those effects in A:M, assisted by whatever tools I can muster.

 

While the list is subject to change, so far I have a force field, of sorts, a floating glass ball, and at least two different kinds of wizardly "I'm about to zap you" light shows on the hands. Oh, and I forgot to mention the doll with the eyes that follow the light. All this could change, or it could just stay the same (I'm just the writer/actor/CG guy. The Director could ask for something new/different/insane), but it does lead me up to what I'm asking.

 

As I am doing all of the FX, it behooves me to learn how to make them. To that end, I have downloaded most particle/sprite type tutorials on the site and many off. (That said, if you think of a tutorial, feel free to drop it into any posts just to be safe). I also have the Extras DVD and the Extras CD Vol. 1. For the rest, I am going to post my experiments/efforts on this forum along with questions about details that will help. I am not going to follow a logical pattern and work only on these effects. I plan on trying whatever comes to mind or whatever tutorial is at hand so that I can learn the system and not just the few FX I need. Oh, and I am going to need lots of help. Please.

 

I already have my first experiment.

 

Waterball02.mov

 

My question here is, can I control the velocity of the water after it hits the ball? I am using streaks. I haven't done this with blobs or sprites. Here is the screenshot of the emitter settings:

 

 

Thanks,

Phil...

[johnl3d]

Brain storming

 

Forces as a fan .

 

Have emitter in ball with different settings and have first set either die on contact or in so many frames

 

Leave as is

 

Those are my three of the top of my head

[robcat2075]

Can you explain more about how what you want differs from what you got so far?

[Moonsire]

Can you explain more about how what you want differs from what you got so far?

 

 

When the water hits the ball, it should slow down and pour off the ball in a more downward direction. Instead, the water comes off the ball like water out of an...emitter. At high speed.

 

 

Brain storming

 

Forces as a fan .

 

Have emitter in ball with different settings and have first set either die on contact or in so many frames

 

Leave as is

 

Those are my three of the top of my head

 

"forces as a fan" to blow the water into a more direct (downward) drop?

This would change the direction but not the speed. But would look better.

 

Ball emitter/die on contact...This would be to kill the streaks on contact with the ball and then have an emitter in the ball to create water to finish the roll off the ball and on down to the ground? This one is more work. Hmmmm.

 

Leave as is. This one I'm sure I get. <g>

 

Let's see what works.

[robcat2075]

I think John's die on contact/second emitter idea is the most promising. Currently the particles falling off the ball still have the sideways velocity they were assigned in the original emitter, which looks odd. A second emitter would permit you to customize the behaviour of these second stage particles better.

[Moonsire]

I think John's die on contact/second emitter idea is the most promising. Currently the particles falling off the ball still have the sideways velocity they were assigned in the original emitter, which looks odd. A second emitter would permit you to customize the behaviour of these second stage particles better.

 

 

I am rendering out the fan idea. Then will try the emitter. Just about time to call it a night, and the process of rendering will take a few hours.

 

Thanks for the feed back, and I suspect the second emitter is the better solution. I'll try in the morning (about noon for me).

 

Phil...

[robcat2075]

Hey... instead of using a force to change their behavior after they hit the ball, how about using a force to give them their initial sideways push and limit the force's size so that once the particles have fallen as low as the ball, the force doesn't reach them anymore.

[Moonsire]

Hey... instead of using a force to change their behavior after they hit the ball, how about using a force to give them their initial sideways push and limit the force's size so that once the particles have fallen as low as the ball, the force doesn't reach them anymore.

 

So set a lower velocity out of the emitter, use a force to speed it up and then when it is out of reach of the force, it slows down to the emitter speed again? I'll look into that one.

 

Here is the render from last night of the force on the water to get it to go more down that out.

 

Waterball03a.mov

 

This render was going on for about 10 hours before I stopped it (tga render thank goodness). Is a shaded render better for things like this?

 

Next up, one of the other trials.

 

 

Phil...

[Moonsire]

Now here is something I should have done to start with. A reality check.

 

I put a rounded object (in this case a lightbulb) under the shower head with the shower on at about the same velocity as the animation. The result was a need to get a towel to dry off with.

 

Water hits the object and does one of two things.

1. it splatters, or bounces off all over the place (thus the reason for the towel).

2. it creates a sheet around the object and the sheet of water follows the contours of the surface and pours off in a more blob like fashion than streak like.

 

I need to look at this one again.

 

On the other hand, the second effort with the fan/force looks better, though not perfect.

 

Here's the latest with bouncing water and some sheeting. And gee how much faster it renders in shaded mode.

 

Water04.mov

Phli...

[Moonsire]

Johnl3d had the right idea. (his second)

 

There are now 3 emitters in this mov.

 

#1 is the emitter in the top pipe from which the water emerges.

This is at 50% velocity, and 3000 rate of emission, 30% bounce

 

#2 is at the top of the ball so water would run down the sides.

This is at 50 velocity, 3000 rate of emission, 50% viscosity, 30% bounce

#3 was in the bottom of the ball so water would puddle underneath the ball.

This is at 50 velocity, 3000 rate of emission, 50% viscosity, 30% bounce

 

 

There is too much water over all, but that can be adjusted for.

 

Here is the .mov.

 

Water05.mov

 

Thanks for the input.

Phil...