Hi i’m trying to recreate the light streak effect from Ipod Nano ad using particle flow. So far what i’ve achieved is something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkl6larDPMs
Does anybody know how to make the streak more organic-looking? And perhaps with some wiggle in certain points? The line that i made is too straight. I’ve tried to add turbulence, but it made the streak line jagged, not smooth.
Here are the samples of the streak that I want to create:
Many thanks in advance.
Got a video camera?
Hold a white ball or similar, make the movement you want, and motion track it, use the resulting spline as your particle flow path.
http://lastjedioutpost.ru/Plug-ins/common/Download.htm?8
Ky_Trail is great for this. You can use a particle system or any object to generate a streak. Works great!
i can highly recommend GhostTrials3 fro bytegeist software!
i own a license and it payed off the first project i used it in:
If you have After Effects with Trapcodes Particular it is quite easy, to realise such light streaks:
http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/light_streaks/
Best regards
Thank you guys for all of your replies.
@ JohnnyRandom
It’s a great idea. But I don’t have a video camera. What software do you use for motion tracking?
@ DanHibiki, PsychoSilence & Airflow
Is there any demo version for GhostTrails 3 and Ky_Trail? I want to know which one is suitable for my project. Thanks.
@ RNThead
You can download the project file from here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/157910467/light_streaks.rar
I’m using 3dsmax 2009.
@ guruspack
I’ve seen this tutorial from videocopilot.net. I’m trying to apply Andrew Kramer’s method using 3dsmax particle flow, because I don’t have Trapcode Particular. Thanks though.
I’d try KY_Trail first, but I found it can get very slow as it gets towards the end of long shots.
KY_Trail works as a render effect, whereas GT is a modifier applied to a spline (and can be texture mapped, so is a bit more flexible in that regard, but not free)
Cheers
Steve
Just FYI any cheap camera will do, you could even use the video mode on a point and shoot if it came to it, if it shoots at least 640X480 15 fps (you interpolate to get 24 or 30 fps) Remember all you want is the motion not a pretty picture. Light your tracking object well and it won’t much of an issue.
Max has an integrated motion tracker under the utils. panel>more>camera tracker, works pretty good to be honest, although I don’t think it has seen any update for ages…
I mostly use After effects, as I am used to it, and it works well. The new CS4 has Mocha built-in, should be nice.
Fusion has a great tracker built in too.
If you don’t have either AE or Fu, Pixel Farm has a nice 2d tracker for like $100 Pfhoe & Pfhoe Pro $150, I believe, I haven’t used it only watched the demo vids but looks nice-n-easy to use.
PixelFarm also has a 3d tracker but it is super expensive…
And to add Ky_trails & Ghostrails are sweet, and you can find out more about Ghostrails Here, they do have a demo and it is way more worth than the cost:)
I have to say that Ghosttrails is great but you have to buy it. I can definately recommend the free alternative Max Trax 2.1 that you can download for free from maxplugins.de
It has better mapping options than ghosttrails and runs on max x64.
The only thing is that there is a bug in the software that creates lots and lots of keyframes on the trail if you select and deselect the trails lots (as you would if you were working with it lots), but they can just be selected and deleted when they crop up, they dont do anything.
i did the Nike Supersonic video using this plugin and it did the trick:
http://creative.myspace.com/uk/nike/supersonic/vid/trailera.html
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