Creating realistic blue fire at DVinfo.net

Chris Donnelly · March 8th, 2007, 08:51 AM

Hey Guys/gals,

Need some suggestions on creating realistic fire for a Music Video i'm shooting. I was hoping the fire could look similar to how they handle the girl in Hellboy. The bluish transparent flame. I'll take anything at this point... hahah :)

I'm planning to use it as accents, on hands or martini glasses.. etc..

Any ideas or suggestions on which application to use? I have access to Maya and After effects.

Is there a specific plugin that will help? any comments

Thank YOU!!!!

Boyd Ostroff · March 8th, 2007, 09:14 AM

You don't mention what operating system you use. With some practice you can create very nice fire effects in Apple's Motion. They give you several basic ones which you can use as a starting point. I used them quite a lot in a project two years ago, but didn't try to do anything as complicated as tracking them on a figure....

Giroud Francois · March 8th, 2007, 09:55 AM

Particle Illusion 3 has lot of library with fire from any color.

Chris Donnelly · March 8th, 2007, 10:07 AM

Thanks guys!

I have a G5 quad intel mac with FCP (i have the suite) and a PC running AP Pro and After effects.

I'll check out partical illusion for sure!

Conor Ryan · March 8th, 2007, 02:46 PM

maya sounds like the best thing for generating the fire, though that's not my specialist area ( i assume there are particle systems ready for it, and doubtless example projects on the net somewhere).

In AE you could use something like trapcode particulare, but it won't look realistic.

I did something similar once, setting someone's head on fire, and did it by shooting a black cast of the their head which i set alight (under adult supervision, of course), and composited it over the real shot. A few distortions applied with using the real layer as a displacement map got it to work pretty well. You can screen fire, when shot against black, really well (see the making of panic room for some footage of the moment the room is set alight), and if you're working in 32bit floating point, don't screen, use add.

Colour correct the flame for blue, when you have the positioning right.

Oh, and if you do try to shoot fire, get help from pros. I did it and nearly killed myself several times. It's a great effect, but bloody dangerous.

Peter Jefferson · March 11th, 2007, 07:12 PM

y not do it the ol fasioned way and shoot some gas ovens?
throw in some copper shavings to bring out the "blue"

cna have alot of fun with it, it'll be faster than tryuing to create then composite and filming it will be dead wasy.. just kill all your lights for a nice black background..

dont forget the copper shavings.. :)

if that dotn wotrk PI3 WILL do the trick.. but its not cheap unless u go for PI SE

Chris Donnelly · March 15th, 2007, 10:43 AM

Good idea.. !! :) i'll try it out... i was going to go for that liquid fire look but
seeing that i'm limited on the 3d and compositing knowledge i'll save myself the heartache and try some other ways...

Thanks GUYS!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Jefferson

y not do it the ol fasioned way and shoot some gas ovens?
throw in some copper shavings to bring out the "blue"

cna have alot of fun with it, it'll be faster than tryuing to create then composite and filming it will be dead wasy.. just kill all your lights for a nice black background..

dont forget the copper shavings.. :)

if that dotn wotrk PI3 WILL do the trick.. but its not cheap unless u go for PI SE

March 8th, 2007, 08:51 AM	#1
Chris Donnelly Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Dallas,TX Posts: 30	Creating realistic blue fire Hey Guys/gals, Need some suggestions on creating realistic fire for a Music Video i'm shooting. I was hoping the fire could look similar to how they handle the girl in Hellboy. The bluish transparent flame. I'll take anything at this point... hahah :) I'm planning to use it as accents, on hands or martini glasses.. etc.. Any ideas or suggestions on which application to use? I have access to Maya and After effects. Is there a specific plugin that will help? any comments Thank YOU!!!!

March 8th, 2007, 09:14 AM	#2
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	You don't mention what operating system you use. With some practice you can create very nice fire effects in Apple's Motion. They give you several basic ones which you can use as a starting point. I used them quite a lot in a project two years ago, but didn't try to do anything as complicated as tracking them on a figure....

March 8th, 2007, 09:55 AM	#3
Giroud Francois Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: switzerland Posts: 2,133	Particle Illusion 3 has lot of library with fire from any color.

March 8th, 2007, 10:07 AM	#4
Chris Donnelly Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Dallas,TX Posts: 30	Thanks guys! I have a G5 quad intel mac with FCP (i have the suite) and a PC running AP Pro and After effects. I'll check out partical illusion for sure!

March 8th, 2007, 02:46 PM	#5
Conor Ryan Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Dublin, Ireland Posts: 67	maya sounds like the best thing for generating the fire, though that's not my specialist area ( i assume there are particle systems ready for it, and doubtless example projects on the net somewhere). In AE you could use something like trapcode particulare, but it won't look realistic. I did something similar once, setting someone's head on fire, and did it by shooting a black cast of the their head which i set alight (under adult supervision, of course), and composited it over the real shot. A few distortions applied with using the real layer as a displacement map got it to work pretty well. You can screen fire, when shot against black, really well (see the making of panic room for some footage of the moment the room is set alight), and if you're working in 32bit floating point, don't screen, use add. Colour correct the flame for blue, when you have the positioning right. Oh, and if you do try to shoot fire, get help from pros. I did it and nearly killed myself several times. It's a great effect, but bloody dangerous.

March 11th, 2007, 07:12 PM	#6
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	y not do it the ol fasioned way and shoot some gas ovens? throw in some copper shavings to bring out the "blue" cna have alot of fun with it, it'll be faster than tryuing to create then composite and filming it will be dead wasy.. just kill all your lights for a nice black background.. dont forget the copper shavings.. :) if that dotn wotrk PI3 WILL do the trick.. but its not cheap unless u go for PI SE