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Adding Weather Effects?
- Thread starter Osled333
- Start date
I only added snow in a few occasions.
I used Adode After Effects with the Red Giant Particular plugin. This was 3 years ago.
Realism not only depends on the software you use, but also in planning your shots and the effort you put into it.
When you are lazy and just put a layer with an effect 'on top' of a video it will look fake.
If you want lightning: make sure you already have real light effects and maybe even real sparks (like the did the Highlander).
If you want rain or snow: don't forget that in reality those things are not just a curtain, but have real depth. In snow things that are far away are less visible.
For my snow effects I used multiple layers to add depth to the show and to make distant things less visible. And to make show move behind foreground objects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zggWPjo2Iww
I used Adode After Effects with the Red Giant Particular plugin. This was 3 years ago.
Realism not only depends on the software you use, but also in planning your shots and the effort you put into it.
When you are lazy and just put a layer with an effect 'on top' of a video it will look fake.
If you want lightning: make sure you already have real light effects and maybe even real sparks (like the did the Highlander).
If you want rain or snow: don't forget that in reality those things are not just a curtain, but have real depth. In snow things that are far away are less visible.
For my snow effects I used multiple layers to add depth to the show and to make distant things less visible. And to make show move behind foreground objects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zggWPjo2Iww
Bingo. And also, to expand a bit, what you do in post "after" the effect is added to bring the effect and the source footage into the same space. The glue. The color grading and tweaks needed to make everything look like it happened at the same time in the same universe.
Indeed!
That is another reason you can spot bad effects: it looks like it was put together from mismatched sources.
Thanks for posting this.
This illustrates how adding a layer with rain (or whatever) on top of a video that was not meant to look like it's raining results in fake looking effects.
1) The effect has nog real depth: in the distance there aren't more and smalle rain drops that influence the view.
2) The floor is dry. If you add a weather effect: prep the floor or leave the floor out of the frame. (Everything else looks dry as well.)
The applied effect is just one piece of the puzzle.
Rain, Fog, Lightning, Day-for-Night.
You're covering a lot of bases. Each effect requires careful observation, study, practice & patience. You will fail (often), but these defeats are a good thing; it's what we call experience.
So, how 'easy' is it? Please self-assess your experience level and place yourself on the provided scale (below)
|<----------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------->|
Experienced Pro = easy.........................................................Newb = hard
YouTube has some excellent demos on how these effects might be done.
You're covering a lot of bases. Each effect requires careful observation, study, practice & patience. You will fail (often), but these defeats are a good thing; it's what we call experience.
So, how 'easy' is it? Please self-assess your experience level and place yourself on the provided scale (below)
|<----------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------->|
Experienced Pro = easy.........................................................Newb = hard
YouTube has some excellent demos on how these effects might be done.
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Yes, understood. Apologies. I should have been more specific in my original questioning...
I have little to no experience myself. I am producer on indy project. But I am asking, assuming I have an editor with experience who knows how to do it. I am just trying to weigh the options of shooting it at night, or waiting for the right weather conditions, as opposed to adding the desired effects in later, post-edit. So, assuming the know-how is there, does it look as good as the real thing?
I have little to no experience myself. I am producer on indy project. But I am asking, assuming I have an editor with experience who knows how to do it. I am just trying to weigh the options of shooting it at night, or waiting for the right weather conditions, as opposed to adding the desired effects in later, post-edit. So, assuming the know-how is there, does it look as good as the real thing?
One big thing I dont think you are worrying enough about is how the snow, rain, etc. react to characters/objects in the scene.
Depending on framing, it will look super weird if no rain drops are bouncing off your character. I appreciate the emphasis that has been placed on z depth in this conversation, but trajectory and interactivity are important too in order to really sell something to a viewer.
Depending on framing, it will look super weird if no rain drops are bouncing off your character. I appreciate the emphasis that has been placed on z depth in this conversation, but trajectory and interactivity are important too in order to really sell something to a viewer.