CompuServe Thread

#IPAS Smoke Effects

3 messages in this thread
#184100From: David B. KnightAug 9, 1995 8:35 AM
I am working on an animation that will be using a cloud effect (multiple layers of clouds moving in different directions) as a transition between video and the animation. My question is which IPAS program would be most appropriate for this effect: Smoke or Vapor? Thank you for your help! Jeff Wise Impact Communications
#184501From: MARTIN G FOSTERAug 11, 1995 7:20 PM
David, >> My question is which IPAS program would be most appropriate for this effect: Smoke or Vapor? << you could try a material combination of smoke with cloud shaped masks applied to "cards" (rectangles) which you could keyframe. Animator studio or 3ds could be used for that part, depending whether 3d was needed or not.
#185183From: John K. JordanAug 15, 1995 11:59 AM
>>layered clouds… Jeff, Concerning Martin's advice about putting cloud bitmaps on cards and keyframing for motion, I recently did something similar. I simply used REFMAP.GIF (that came with 3DS) as an opacity map, set Diffuse=white and Self-illum=40. I rendered a camera moving thru and faded the whole thing out in VP as the camera approached. This was very quick and effective. You may find the vapor IPAS is overkill for this effect. While excellent for moving/billowing gas or smoke, it takes a tremendous time to render. Also, since clouds move so slowly, they are essentially static in the time frame of most animations. If I wanted a more dynamic cloud, I might try rendering a few frames of vapor and composite it as an additional layer. JKJ