Gun Fire

Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC

Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC

Where as props of weapons in the real world look real and the gun fire is realistic, they are not realistic at all for science fiction with laser weapons.

If anyone is familiar with real lasers, they do not produce light beams like in the movies. For the most part, laser beams are invisible, unless you get hit directly in the eye.

How about pulse rifles or energy discharge weapons? How should they look?
 
Well, if you want to, you can rationalize anything.

The ammunition belts for machine guns are set up so that every third bullet is a tracer to allow the machine gunner to visually "walk" his fire into targets. You can rationalize that laser weapons would be the same - the laser is visible to allow the shooter to see where his "shots" are going. Oh, and even invisible lasers do eventually become visible in atmosphere if they are large and powerful enough - it was an issue during the "Star Wars" defense program. The laser gives up energy into the atmosphere and charges particles in the air that become visible for noticeable fractions of a second.

For energy/pulse weapons we have to assume that the air around the moving pulse would become distorted by heat or whatever. If you've ever seen a video of an extremely large explosion from a long distance you can actually see the air distorted due to compression from the explosion (the shock wave). So, as "creatives" we can extrapolate from there. They would also be soundless, so we have to come up with a sound. Pistols with silencers don't have that musical "pheew" sound that is so cliché in films; it sounds more like a quiet burst of white noise, and the action of the weapon is quite audible. In fact, gunshots don't have all of the big low end so prevalent in films unless you are very close to it or firing the weapon yourself.

http://www.filmsound.org/cliche/

Once again, we are illusionists creating a believable artificial reality for our audience. In many ways we are prisoners of clichés; we have to deliver them, or the audience won't accept our illusion.
 
Great link.

It will take time to upload videos. But, for now, how do these look for pulse rifles?

Pulse_Rifles_1.jpg


Pulse_Rifles_3.jpg


Pulse_Rifles_4.jpg


They are fully animated of course.
 
I'm not a visuals guy, but it looks mostly like a burst of steam.
When I mentioned the shock wave I was thinking in terms of a
sort of rolling donut-shaped visual distortion (like a fish-eye effect),
maybe slightly colored just to make it more visual.

Hmmmmm.... I'll have to work on a sound....
 
True!

The visuals here are freeze frames of animation. All radiant energy is electromagnetic, according to Physics. So, I am working on a Photon burst that can change color and shape as it travels. It shifts color from blue to white and sometimes has both colors like a white hot flame. In physics, heat transforms from white hot to blue to yellow and finally to red. In order for these energy pulses to vaporize the silver demon hunters, they need to remain between white and blue hot.
 
That's a link to the NBC web site. The SyFy Chanel is now owned by Comcast and has their own floor in the NBC Building at 30 Rockafeller Plaza. I've been there earlier this year.

Back on topic, I still will buy the science fiction special effects pack on TapeTube.com because there are other effects I may still be able to use.

The gun flashes actually look good when you see them fully animated.

For the closeup of the blond cyborg, General Angela Bruno, I even have the inside of the barrel glowing hot before the energy blast is discharged.
 
That was a link to LASER CATS on the NBC website, yes.

You should look into Hit Film. Less expensive than After Effects, though less powerful. It is geared up to do muzzle flashes and lasers and all the action stuff anyone could want with a lot of presets.

They even bundle it with Vegas, trying to have it be the Vegas compositor.
 
I watched Laser Cats.

That is another option and it looks more realistic than another version used in TV commercials I've seen.

Both versions are available in the science fiction special effects kit from the demo video I've seen. So, I'll get the kit.

I may as well work on two different gun flash effects. One for the weapons the Humans use. And, another for the weapons the cyborgs use. The weapons look different to begin with.

I'll see if I can upload video clips to show how my effects look and sound with the animation and sound for a post posting for the month of December. Pulse rifles should be more of what I'm wworking on than lasers. Pulse rifles are like Photon cannons.

Again, something original should be more interesting than a stock look. I used the sound effects of 3 different weapons to come up with the blast sound effect.

But, it doesn't hurt to try other ways and versions.

I may make the Human weapons more like lasers for contrast.

For the next production, the cyborgs will no longer use site scopes. I told my Special Forces Advisor the cyborgs are machines built for combat. They should have computer lock on targets built into their anatomy. They should be able to literally shoot from the hip with pin point accuracy. We will add in cyborg POVs with target lock graphics. The issues with recasting every week took a lot away from preproduction planning.
 
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