Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
There are videotapes and CDs available
containing image sequences of explosions,
of which Artbeats and Pyromania are two of
the more popular sources. Alternatively,
Wondertouch's Particle Illusion provides a
real-time WYSIWYG particle system with
dozens of great-looking preset explosions.
But remember, as with lens flares,
popular
and/or
easy
often means that your viewers
will be able to identify the umpteen differ-
ent places they've seen that particular
explosion. (A solution to this is to use sev-
eral explosion polys in front of one another
to make something that looks slightly dif-
ferent from the stock footage.)
Basic Explosions
What do you do if you want to make things
go “boom”? There are just as many ways of
doing this as there are ways of doing any-
thing else in 3D. The “trick” of mapping an
image sequence of an explosion onto a poly-
gon that sits between the object that goes
“boom” and the camera is ancient (in com-
puter terms at least). But, ancient though it
may be, it still works beautifully and is used
today in productions big and small.
The first thing we need when
compositing an explosion this way is an
image sequence of an explosion. The very
best explosions are the ones that are actu-
ally
filmed
with the camera going faster
than its usual 24 FPS to give the impres-
sion that what you've got is a gigantic
fireball, not a smallish “pop.”
Seriously Important Note
Filming (or “taping” — see the following
note) explosions requires a
lot
of experience,
expertise, and training! No matter how
much of a “fire nut” you may fancy yourself,
don't shoot your own explosions until you can
get someone who honestly knows what
they're doing to train you properly!
Figure 17-49
Note
However, with LightWave, you can make a
simple explosion in a matter of minutes.
(You don't believe me? Just take a peek
through the first bit of the next chapter —
the explosion we'll be using is the result of
the HyperVoxel explosion exercise. It's not
the best explosion in the world, but for
something that can be done, start to finish,
in about ten minutes, it's decent enough.)
Filming
refers to when you're shooting on
film
;
taping
refers to when you're shooting
on
videotape
. As nitpicky as this may seem,
using these terms correctly shows other
industry folks that you know what you're
talking about. Besides, it's always best to
mean
what you
say
, and to
say
what you
mean
, right?
