Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
The fire texture values are shown in
Figure 7-88
(repeated in the color insert of the topic). Rather than influ-
encing Density, this texture influences Emission and Emission Color. It also influences Reflection negatively.
Fire should emit light, it should be fire-colored (obviously), and it should not reflect light that is shown on it,
unlike smoke.
To make the fire texture convincingly fire colored, you'll use a color ramp. In the Color panel, check the
Ramp check box. You can add colors to the ramp by clicking Add and move them right and left along the ramp
by clicking the vertical lines representing the color. Refer to the color version of
Figure 7-88
in the color insert
of the topic to see the colors there. From left to right there you'll see a transparent (alpha zero) bar, an orange
bar, a yellow bar, and a pale whitish bar. These colors from right to left will represent the flame from its base to
where it fades into the smoke.
The base of fire and smoke simulations, where the particles are first released, is always the least convincing
part of the simulation, because the individual particles are visible. It's always good to conceal this as much as
you can. In this example, I conceal this a bit by placing objects intersecting the flow plane in a way that will
breakupthebaseoftheflamevisually.Ofcourse,firesusuallyareburningsomething,soaddingobjectsaround
the base of a flame usually makes sense. In this case, I simply added a cylinder and duplicated and spun it
around with an Array modifier object offset with an empty, as shown in
Figure 7-89
.
