Official Swift 3D Visual Effects Topic

[aevium]

On board, legends such as Pope de Flash, theMatrix, RUSHVision, (and maybe someday, Jeff Lew!). So, I thought, why not start a thread all about integrating 3d into 2d.

We all know native vfx are impossible in Swift3D. The only alternative that can do complex 3d for free with vfx is OpenFX, but that's beside the point. This thread is about post-production in Flash.

So, explosions, reflections, refractions, good-looking shadows, etc.

I'm all ears and I will be contributing to this. 3D art is not my strong suit. I am a motion designer, and I love extreme vfx (that explains the matrix tattoo on my forearm).

Gentlemen, start your brains...

[aevium]

Somewhat crude bullet trail tutorial. Oh well...

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Vertical Bullet Trail Tutorial
By Aevium Viemme

Programs required: Flash 3 and newer



Table of Contents:


1. Creating the Green Screen
1.1. Positioning elements
1.2. Timing

2. Creating the Trails
2.1. Creating the double fadeout
2.2. Masking

3. Animating the Trails
3.1. Animating trails
3.2. Ensuring precision

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1. Creating the Green Screen

An effect such as this will require a bright green background. This will ensure that no colors are accidentally "washed out."

1.1. Positioning elements

Make sure that your bullet is animated EXACTLY how you want it. In my case, I spent nearly an hour perfecting its movement and it still was not right. Make sure that there is a perfect alignment.

1.2. Timing

Since animating the bullet trails is a fast though tedious process, give yourself a good 40-90 frames to work with. Long animations may take up at most an hour of your time so utilize this effect sparingly.

2. Creating the Trails

The trails are the key component here so make sure that everything is spaced out evenly and that each trail is stationary. You can add motion later on, because it can add up to the complexity of the animation.

2.1. Creating the double fadeout

Your first task is to create a gradient fill (linear) that has a tiny transparent portion in the beginning, two whites stretching until 3/4ths of the gradient and a transparent fill at the end. You should have a brief fadein, a big white portion and a small fadeout.

2.2. Masking

After you've done the trails and the double fadeout, position the double fadeout layer below the trails. Then apply the trails layer as a mask to the double fadeout level. Unlock both of the layers and hide the trails layer.

3. Animating the Trails

This is the trickiest part so crack your knuckles. It requires total concetration and a slow-mo skill. If you can't live in slow-motion then quit this tutorial.

3.1. Animating trails

In reality, you're animating the double fadeout, not the trails. Align your fadeout with the bullet animation on top. Make sure that the brief fadein is going the direction where the bullet is heading. Then animate frame by frame the double fadeout. The half of the brief fadein should be positioned at the end of the bullet. Animate until all of your frames are stopped and your fadeout level is masking the trails in ONLY WHITE.

3.2. Ensuring precision

Run your animation using the < and > keys.

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Post Script: You can make a second trail layer (vertical transparent-opaque-opaque-transparent; all quarter) and mask it with a slightly vertically enhanced version of the trails layer.

Post Post Script: If you plan on seriously finishing the trail, then integrate the last fadeout in the end of your animation. And make each trail tween smaller consequently.

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End.

[phlegm_thrower]

can u wait a day or two? i just rented the matrix again to check out the effects hehehe

im new with 3D as well so bear with me

what's vfx?

[Pope de Flash]

I dont know exactly what your looking for but there is no canned solution for effects. Each project presents its own challenges. With that you need to think of the solutions as elements with in the whole of the project. So if we do that and we break every element down we end up with some basic particle system.

Now we can work from the very basic element [ the particle] and work our way up to the point that makes the most and best possible solution.

so if we have an explosion for example we can either create a particle system that will truly look like a cloud of smoke but the effect could be hard to tell if its on the screen or from the poor CPU having to work overtime to achive the effect. In that case I would elect to use a bitmap. Yes a bitmap rendered explosion with an alpha channel from a program like Max, Maya, heck even Amorphium Pro does a great job.

Now if were trying to do a vector explosion then take your que from the cartoons. I mean Speed Racer had some bad A$$ explosions and it was all done with a few easy splashes of Red, Yellow and Black and a twing of Grey and white. Remember most of what were doing in Flash has been done before. This mean we should mimic that which we know has been done.

The Key to reflections is in Vectors using multiple layers with gradient fades that fade to alpha. You can create a realistic looking texture such as Gold or Steal using several layers with alpha.

I would suggest that you examine the actual effect you want to create and capture the essance of the effect. Just like a caricature you pick select areas or highlights of the effect to represent it as a system as a whole.

this means water ripples make rings that are consentric. So all we need to do to make that effect is draw a series of circles that are consentric around one another, animate them to be at even intervals, we can skew the circles to make the view of the ripple from a isometric view. You can see an example of this effect in the open source files. I did it several years ago but it should still be there.

Again we are mimicing natural systems and we need to examine them and then attempt to recreate them.

I hope this helps a bit. Regards, Bill