Smallville and Matrix Flying

#1

Hello everyone, i am a huge fan of Smallville and the matrix, and was wondering if anyone would be able to help me out. I am trying to produce a short film at college of someone flying. I can just about do that. However i would like to achieve a ripple effect where as when someone takes off from the ground, you see the ground ripple.

Please would anyone give me any advice or show me a tutorial on how to achieve this.

I have 3DS Max 8 and i am a beginner, however i believe ripple effects are the easiest to do.

Many thanks

Jonathan

#2

easy?.. hmm i don´t think that it´s “easy” but it can be done.

it would aquaire a bit of compositing and match moving… but to give you a basic explenation:

first off: you should have a video clip (ofcourse) and have it ready for match moving/tracking

2.: then i guess you would use the camera that was made when you have matchmoved/tracked the footage… and add a plane as the ground and add a ripple modifiere on the plane, and then animate the parameters so that it suits you/the clips needs

and then you probbaly will need to composit the character to be in the middle of the “wave” or what ever…

i guess this is “one” way of doing it… and this is just the basics ( i asume you know about matchmoving/tracking and that alike and so fourth)

Regards
Bardur

#3

I’m not an expert at all, but I can’t help thinking that this effect is something that could be done inside any good composting application eg Combustion or AE?

Anhar Hussain Miah

#4

Yes it should very well be possible to do this in a compositioning software… eg: Combustion, AF…

Regards
Bardur

#5

…as far as i know i did it before…but i used seascape…just attach the ripple o your ground and adjust how many ripples and how wide…and how long it takes for it to fade and Boom you have your flight take off…:cool:

#6

Here’s how I would do it.

Film the actor acting like they are doing the move-then jumping up.

Bring it into 3ds Max, it would be better if you could have the shot where the camera is not moving in that particular shot. Set your video as the background. Then make a plane and rotate the view to where it seems like it matches the perspective of the ground. Apply a ripple modifier to make the plane morph like it’s rippling. Then apply the Camera Match modifier to the plane. Create a new camera, with the camera selected in your perspective view, press Ctrl+C to match the camera to your view, then go back to the Camera Match modifier and select your new camera as the camera in the modifier settings. In the material Editor, make a new material that has a diffuse map of your video, apply it to your plane and the video will be mapped onto the plane, when the plane moves, it will move the video with it giving the ripple effect. BUT–it will also ripple the person. So, bring it into After Effects or whatever, and matte the person again over your new footage to make them in front of the ripple and not be rippled themselves.

I haven’t tried this, but I have thought about it and I think it will work.

#7

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