Twister

#1

Hi there,

It’s been ages since my last post and I still work in games, but I tried recently less real-time approach to VFX. I’m compiling my reel, and my most recent addition is this shot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGA6pR456s8

Really would like to know what you think, all critique is very welcome.

Thank you.

#2

Ok, I know this video compression is not the best, but can I have some feedback please?

Here is the same video I posted on vimeo: http://vimeo.com/21346341 - it’s a bit better quality.

#3

Not bad, a few observations I think that would improve it though

  1. The clouds appear to be completely static, which breaks the realism of the shot to me. I totally understand cropping the top of the twister by framing the cloud connection to the funnel out, but I’d at least do a warp on the cloud image to infer it’s all one big connected system.
  2. The funnel itself has a clearly defined series or ridges that loop around it horizontally, looks out of place.
  3. The foreground grass appears to be moving a bit too slow and from a wind source other than the tornado
  4. The debris cloud around the ground level also appears a bit too clearly defined and rigid

The secondary debris cloud right at ground level looks great, and the twister speed looks pretty spot-on

#4

Thanks very much for constructive feedback. I do agree with all points you mentioned. Maybe way I made this twister wasn’t the best way to do it - all effect was hard to control. But I will come back to this subject at some point, once I learn more.
Btw. inspiration for this shoot came from here: http://andfinally.tv/2009/09/jim-reed-storm-chaser/ I know it’s not how we usually see twisters, and it’s such a great photo. Every time I look at it I see how far my render is ;o)

#5

yah, I enjoy Jim’s work as well (and he gets a lot of photos from my neck of the woods over here in The Land of Ahs)

That particular shot is of a landspout, which has a bit different structure than a typical tornado. What was really cool about that particular storm is the funnel pretty much sat in place out in the middle of that field for almost 20 minutes. Jim got within like 30 yards of it while taking photos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPTXqzMVFUA

#6

Cool sim.

I had a couple of thoughts when seeing this for the first time, but after seeing your reference it cancels out a couple of them. TheNeverman had a good point that it is a landspout and not a typical tornado. I was going to recommend changing the color a little bit towards the cool end of the spectrum, to be closer to the ambient cloud cover color, but I was thinking of a much different type of tornado in my head.

Also, I’d try throwing some nParticles into the mix, have them use the fluid’s velocity so you get a sense of some debris in there.

Other than that, I agree with the earlier stated crits, but nice job.

Also, if you have more sims in the future, the Maya Dynamics sub-forum here has a good number of VFX folks and you might get more crits/discussion there.

#7

Thank you for your comment. Whole effect is more like a cheat than sim ;o). I used only non-dynamic fluid to instance it as nparticles. I found fluid simulation too hard to control.

I just have had a look at maya Dynamic forum and I found FumeFX section in 3dsMax as well. But it was first thing I noticed under this forum title “Visual effects sequences”. I will post under software specific forums next time, I think.

#8

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