Wavy heat-distortion effect
 

I'd like to hear from anyone who has tried to produce an effect like the heated-air-distortion that you see rising from hot surfaces in Adobe (AE and/or PP). I've got all sorts of footage on green screen that will be virtually-set on a hot tarmac.

Any suggestions for creating the appearance of a hot surface heating the air above it?

thanks in advance,
andy

Try the Ripple Effect
 

Try This:

In After Effects, create an Adjustment layer over the footage/photo of your hot tarmac. Draw a mask using the pen tool- or a box to see things quickly- and put that mask near your horizon line. Feather the edges on it, and then apply the Ripple effect.

Personally, I put the center of the ripple somewhere out of frame, off to the side.

For the other settings, use a light touch... Try width settings between 30 and 60, wave height between 1 and 3, and then start off with a slower speed somewhere between 2 and 4. You can also animate the speed to achieve more of a random effect to simulate reality.

Hopefully my "poor man's tutorial" helps out. Good Luck!

That's exactly the kind of quicky, starting-point suggestion I was looking for!

Thanks!

Andy (still open to other clever suggestions)

If the Ripple effect doesn't work for you, try the Wave Warp effect.