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View Full Version : Glowing Goggles from Splinter Cell?

RobertGStorm
05-21-2007, 10:49 PM
I apologize first off, that I'm not quite sure where to post this, but I think it fits best under After Effects (because thats mainly what I'll be using), so sorry if its not in the right place.


I'm trying to achieve a glowing effect like the goggles in any of the Splinter Cell games. (like this (http://www.ugo.com/images/galleries/splintercellretrospective_games/chaostheory_3.jpg), If you're unfamiliar) I'd like to have them streak a little bit more though (like at the very begining of the fourth one- i can post a short clip of what i'm talking about if necessary), but its not necessary. I'd really just like a way to do this aside from rotoscoping, because the goggles are going to be on screen a lot, and we really have no way of making them actually glow, so I was hoping we could add it in later? I got the demo of Particle Illusion 3, maybe I could import the video into the background layer of that and use the emitters over the video layer? Can you import video into that? I haven't figured out how.

Thanks for your help,
Robert Storm

edit: ahh, never mind. i think i've got it (the streak is a little long, but it'll do)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cljojkCQ20U (http://youtube.com/watch?v=cljojkCQ20U)
trancor
05-31-2007, 04:52 PM
RobertGStorm and anyone else who might want to do this, should you want to do it a different way in the future, look into the plugin Glare by Trapcode for a nice glare, I don't think I've seen as good of a glare for what trapcode has besides the several thousand dollar saphire plugins.

As well for a glare if you don't want to buy the plugins or simply use a tryout with a big x over the video for trapcode or the 2 weeks you get to use the saphire plugs, you could duplicate the layer, blur it and do a blending mode of a lighten on top, sure it wont look as amazing as the filters, but it works.


Besides the glair, you could acheive an almost tron lightcycle look if you time echo the particle layer, and heck, you dont' even need particles if you use time echo and just a little bit of time diplacement to give a little bit of warp to the trail. This way it wont look so particle-y and more like a trail.
beenyweenies
05-31-2007, 05:55 PM
What is the source material? 3D renders? Live-action footage? The answer will determine your options to some degree.

If it's 3D, do a render pass that is just the lenses of the goggles, colored whatever you want the glow to be. In AE, composite that pass above the character and apply blur/glow and adjust to taste.


If it's live action, you can try using AE's tracking tools to do a motion track on the goggles, and use the tracking data on a round solid (colored whatever you need) with the same effects above applied. Problem is, this won't cover things like the actor turning his head etc.
trancor
05-31-2007, 06:07 PM
Problem is, this won't cover things like the actor turning his head etc.

This is true, but that is when nifty rotoscoping comes into play and a 1 hour job turns into a 3 days job, heh.
monovich
05-31-2007, 08:17 PM
if its not coming from 3d you could throw a few LED flashlight bulbs into whatever goggles you are shooting to make the track easier, plus you'd get some glow from those. just a thought.

to get those sharp streaks I'd use knoll light factory and design some custom streaks then track the flare point to each lense of the goggle. You'd probably want to combine that effect with some of what the others are suggesting.
RobertGStorm
05-31-2007, 09:28 PM
Hah, ironic isn't it. Today was the day the project was due (he wrote the script).
We kinda ran out of time, and had to censor some of it to keep the kid from getting suspended, so it looks kinda crappy. Especially the blood xD
Any tips on how to do the blood in the future? (Specifically the part where it gets on the camera?)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=f9TUm8kKWwY

Curious: If I duplicated the layer, wouldn't everything light up (that's relatively bright)? How would you get it to be just the goggles? And would I have to make them out of something different to use AE7's tracker? Because they're black...as well as everything else in Fisher's costume.

And I would have added muzzle flashes, but I didn't have time. So... there ya go.
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