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Any One Familiar With Particle Illusion?

Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC

Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC

I am researching science fiction special effects packages. Right now, the best one I can find is called, "Particle Illusion." TV Networks use it and it is available for Sony Vegas and many other platforms, including AVID. It has over 3,000 preset effects.

Is anyone familiar with it?
 
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Particular is a more popular particle system. Some of their demo preset stuff is ok, most of it isn't. That's true of most canned "effects" though.

It's not the software, it's the person behind it.
 
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There really isn't much control with the effects on video. So far, I can't find a way to re-size the animated effects for a specific image. And, there is very little control with angle rotation.

They want $399 at the end of 30 days. So far, it's not worth the money.

http://particleillusion.en.softonic.com/?ab=1

Here is a link to the free trial for 30 days.

I can do more with stuff like this from Pond5

http://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/116923/lasers-and-explosions.html

I can use the pan and zoom functions with Vegas and the chroma keyer tool to make these laser blasts work for me.
 
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Spend your money and hire it out. That clip on Pond5.com is awful. You should be able to hire an effects artist for a day for about $399, or two - three days for a student and they can do a lot more for you than a goofy clip like that one on pond5.com. If it was 1958, that clip would look stellar. Anything post Star Wars should look way better than that.
 
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I have to say, now that he couldn't fit IC2 into his schedule, I may as well say I had originally selected a filmmaker by the name of Patrick who lives in Texas as the original DP for IC2. He ended up getting swallowed up by too many other contracted projects to wwork with us. But, he's been a fan of IC2 since its' inception. He recommended 2 things for me to invest in: 1. A Rebell's Guild To Making Low Budget Action Movies and Video Copilot Action Pack 2. So, Video Copilot looks like what I should invest in. It works with everything from AE to AVID to Sony Vegas. Patrick was very happy to know who his replacement was as the DP of IC2. So, I did find a good DP. Some people here know all about Patrick. He asked me to keep him in the email newsletters mailing list for updates because nothing would make him happier than a network picking up IC2. But, since Patrick is not on this board, let's leave it at that.

Paul, I'm listening to you. I also have to watch my wallet. I will need to pay a 3D animator next Spring to create 2 scenes from scratch to plug into the footage to complete the story in either QuickTime or avi HD 1080 P 24 fps. Sony Vegas can use both formats for the production. I also need a budget for a matt painter. So, I will do what I can to save some money wherever possible. I am living off of too little money right now to cover my bills and eat. I have to decise where the money will go each month.
 
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try using trapcode particular if you can mate...it can be used to create some real insane effects on its own.. videocopilot uses it in lots of its tutorials..
also check out redgiantpeople.com for some of the presets at work..

i dont know if its ethical to post this here but I learnt AE and matte painting (amng other things) by simply dwnloading stuff from gnomon..lynda...fxphd..etc.
best way to cut cost is to do post prod (all that u can ) on your own :)
 
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I use Particle Illusion quite often. It seems simple, but its really powerful once you get the hang of how it works. You see PI effects all over TV and in movies. Unless you need something truly volumetric, PI can probably do it with a little know-how.

Youre only changing the position, rotation, scale, color and transparency of a 2D image over time. You have control over every aspect of it. Change the "zoom" value to scale the effect up and down. You can change the angle of the effect with the "angle" value depending on what type of emitter it is. You can change values inside the emitter also (right click it and go to "properties").

The Action Pack stuff is cool, but unless you do some serious tweaking all of your effects will look like one of the million youtube videos out there that uses it. Which maybe fine...? Being an effects guy I'm probably biased.

Seeing that you only use Vegas for your FX work, following Paul's advice maybe a good idea. You'll get much more bang for your buck that way and better shots.
 
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and yea action essentials 2 can work for ya...just remember to combine many subtle elements that most newbies that use it dont..and create multiple layers in 3d..even though the elements are few it can look very different if used well..
 
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That's not bad...
That's TERRIBLE.
Seriously, much better to get the Action Essentials package, and be done with it. Throw it in, color correct, and you are in bussiness.
As paul said, a studeant with a basic understanding of particle systems, that has acces to FumeFx or the like can pump out stuff x10 the quality of the Pond5 in a couple of hours.
 
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Anim8 said:
Read up on it.. Its all there.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm looking to achieve.

As I said on Facebook, Particle Illusion does have some pluses in that it's teleporter beam and warp drive in space effects look like something you's see on Farscape, Stargate, or Star Trek. So, there are advantages to using it in a science fiction production like mine in an outer space adventure.

The only issue is not having control of the effects in the camera tracking screen.
 
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One work-around is to make an effect with a black screen and save the work as an avi and import the avi in Sony Vegas and use the chroma key tools to blend it into a camera frame inside a Vegas video clip.

Stay tuned for other ways to make it work with Vegas.
 
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Bro, you seem to be in a little over your head.

Any effect, anywhere and everywhere, is done in multiple layers. I've had single shots with upwards of 100 layers before compositing the effects.

Keying (or perferably a luma transfer setting like screen, add, etc) is pretty common and one way to composite in pre-rendered stuff. You can also render out with an alpha channel and go from there

Doing cinema effects in an NLE like Vegas is nuts. Download the trial of AE, spend every waking moment at Video copilot doing their tutorials (starting with the basics that if you've never opened AE before, you can get through it easy... 10 hours of free lessons for basics, over a 100 total) and go through it to learn the basics and a few more advanced techniques for effects.

It's not just about learning the exact effect he teaches, it's about the technique so that when you sit down and say "i need a ray gun" you have some ideas on steps of how to achieve it.

Or, if you're insanely anti-after effects, go the Blender route and learn 3D from the ground up 100% free.

I keep mentioning free because you've made it clear that times are tough and I can appreciate that, but again, this is all FREE and PROFESSIONAL.
 
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PaulGriffith said:
Bro, you seem to be in a little over your head.

Any effect, anywhere and everywhere, is done in multiple layers. I've had single shots with upwards of 100 layers before compositing the effects.

Keying (or perferably a luma transfer setting like screen, add, etc) is pretty common and one way to composite in pre-rendered stuff. You can also render out with an alpha channel and go from there

Doing cinema effects in an NLE like Vegas is nuts. Download the trial of AE, spend every waking moment at Video copilot doing their tutorials (starting with the basics that if you've never opened AE before, you can get through it easy... 10 hours of free lessons for
basics, over a 100 total) and go through it to learn the basics and a few more advanced techniques for effects.

It's not just about learning the exact effect he teaches, it's about the technique so that when you sit down and say "i need a ray gun" you have some ideas on steps of how to achieve it.

Or, if you're insanely anti-after effects, go the Blender route and learn 3D from the ground up 100% free.

I keep mentioning free because you've made it clear that times are tough and I can appreciate that, but again, this is all FREE and PROFESSIONAL.
Click to expand...

Far from it. Things are moving right along as I am learning a new software package.

It's nuts to use AE when the same tools are more intuitive and built into Vegas.

My laser effects with the more realistic lighting is going over well so far from the people who have see the footage. It takes time for a final product.

You may want to download the free trial of Vegas Pro and see how much easier things can be with an all-in-one post propgram. The new verion comes with Saffire edges buit-in.

As I've said, the youtube tutorials on compositing with Vegas stick. I can make better ones, if another filmmaker would film me. The tools Vegas have are easy to use and more intutive than AE.

I have Video Copilot on its' way. I downloaded the bonus pack. The flying particles will make better explosions for sure.

I made the laser effects from drawings with Photoshop, animating and enhancing with Vegas, and employing New Blue Dual Tone Special Effects for Sony Vegas Pro. The dual tone gives complete control over the exact colors, iintensity, and size of each tone within the effect.

I am watching the tutorials for both video copilot and particle illusion.

Don't forget, I used to use AE 10 years ago. All of the importing and exporting between AE, Final Cut, and Premiere drove me nuts. Just hitting the "Fx" icon on a video clip in Vegas is SOO much easier.
 
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