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TastyKellogg
03-18-2007, 06:51 AM
Hello all
New member here.
I'm currently working on a project for school.
I have a footage of a dancer and i'll have her dance on water.
So far, I created the water using Maya's fluid effect and created all the reflections look real with displacement map in AE but how do I make her so that she's really standing on water instead of um...sorta like floating on water?
I put her on water but it doesn't look real because the water surface is same as other part of the water and I figure the portion of water that she's standing on must look different than the rest right?
How can I make this look real???
Thanks!
barrymcw
03-18-2007, 08:06 PM
This feels like more of a Maya question than an AE question.

What I think you want is realistic displacement of the water as her foot/feet strike it, with appropriate ripples and wave movement, yeah? I don't think that doing that in AE is the way to go.

If you are running into an issue of rendering this out of Maya and the fluid displacements being hard to calculate and get just right, I'd consider making an editorial choice so that you have only one or two "hero" shots of the water displacing underneath her feet, and framing the rest of her dance in such a way so that people aren't going to be looking at her feet.

That might mean pushing in tight and then pulling way out on your dancer footage, which may not have the resolution to support such camera moves. But it's a balancing act, no pun intended, to pull off such a composite using pre-generated elements not built with your end-goal in mind.

One other thought just popped into my head, don't know if it's crazy or do-able...but maybe you could try and do this in AE, by compositing some "ripple" movies over the top of your Maya water surface. Either find them via Artbeats, etc. or go find a puddle outside and shoot it yourself, dropping pebbles into the water. You could throw garbage mattes around the ripples and try to composite them over your water.

Not a great answer, but maybe it'll help.
TastyKellogg
03-18-2007, 09:39 PM
Certainly helpful man
Thanks
I'll try and do that when I get a chance.
Yeah people may not look at her feet but I want it perfect you know.
My instructor is known for his "god-like" eyes which catch every and each flaws and mistakes and he might catch that and say "wtf" hehe
Anyways thanks for the tip.
I actually like the second idea and I think it's do-able.
Doing this in Maya for this certain project would be more crazy cuz then I have to time when the ripple is going to occur IN MAYA and bring it back in AE and see it they click and stuff.

Thanks
Any more tips would be greatly appreciated.
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03-18-2007, 09:39 PM
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