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watch Improved Muzzle Flash VFX Test!

All the assets are their, the only major change I can suggest is make the flash much bigger. If you look at any of the muzzle flashes from famous action movies (Hardboiled, The Killer, Die Hard even) the flashes are pretty damn big. Other than that, I'm convinced that there should be a hole in a person somewhere ;)
 
Well composited... As the gun kicks, the smoke shoul dactually draw back a little with the barrel... You could probably make a particle generator that would handle that part for you to add just a touch more reality to it as it currently pulls away cleanly from the flash... perhaps a clip of come CO2 / dry ice smoke rolling out of a straw (funnel at the top) shot against black and lit nicely rom the back th show off the transparency of it, then track the end of the straw to the barrel.. you could even recreate the movement of the barrel with the straw to get it physically real ;)

The heat displacement is a really nice touch. The edges of the smoke seem a little darker than they should be, what are you using for the composite mode? I agree slightly larger... watch the discovery channel shows Time Warp and Mythbusters for lots of good real world reference for scale and color.

All in all, much better than some I've seen, nit-picking is a good sign, as it means there's none of the glaring issues, and the results you're getting merit the time and improvement.
 
Thanks for all the advice! Yes I too noticed the black edging around the smoke, I used stock footage on black, but I had real trouble keying out that last bit of black edging without virtually keying out the smoke itself (Sony Vegas Pro 10 chroma keyer). The only compositing mode I used was Add, for masking the light interaction of the flash on my face and arms etc. To take the effect much further (such as handheld camera footage and using motion tracking to keep the smoke in place etc) I'd probably need something like After Effects or HitFilm I assume?
 
I've had success using a contrasty copy of the smoke asset itself as a luma matte... the black disappears, and as the edge fades in, it fades in the alpha... much better edges with that (you'll need to play with the contrast/levels/curves of the luma mask copy to adjust the opacity of the asset itself once comped).
 
Oh, and you can hand track all of that stuff using keyframes, it's just faster/easier to get accurate results with AE/Shake/Nuke/Motion whatnot.
 
I just did muzzle flashes for the first time in my 3 minute action short. One thing I noticed in yours was the smoke that came out of the gun looked slow and was really small. If you're using stock footage, maybe you could speed up the beginning of the footage? I used After Effects for mine and after a bit of Googling I was able to get the speed to what I felt was right, after learning how to use time remapping. I'm not sure if other people thought it was good because no one said it was good or bad in the thread haha.

If you look in this video (not mine) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQB_zOvcNSU

there is a large cloud of smoke that almost appears out of nowhere when the flash comes out of the barrel. (especially at normal speed) I think having that in there really helps it look realistic.

FreddieW's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_wS497CIQ
and Corridor Digital's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdHiOMlT2Zw

Videos have them. When I did mine, I pretty much tried to copy theirs. I used action essentials pack. I know not everybody can afford the $100 for it, but the principals are the same whether its for those stock footage or free footage.

(Are shameless self advertisements allowed?)
Skip to 0:45 then 1:15 to see it most plainly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RONiwKB4Reo

What program are you using?
 
And if you need more realistic physical gun action, get a gas-powered airsoft pistol with blowback. I have one and it really kicks. You can usually modify the magazine so that the gun won't lock open when the magazine is empty. This lets you use it without firing out plastic projectiles at 300ft/sec. :)
 
escher said:
And if you need more realistic physical gun action, get a gas-powered airsoft pistol with blowback. I have one and it really kicks. You can usually modify the magazine so that the gun won't lock open when the magazine is empty. This lets you use it without firing out plastic projectiles at 300ft/sec. :)
Click to expand...

I use one and not only does it look almost real by itself, the blowback is immensely helpful for not only doing the VFX but for the actors.

If you can only get one on loan, you can have your actor hold the slide lock down with his thumb. If done right it's not completely obvious, plus the actor can release it if the script calls for the gun to empty at a certain time.
 
We picked up a couple of electric blowback guns on eBay for maybe $30. Not quite as quick/powerful as the gas but a similar idea.

We actually took advantage of the slower blowback in some slow-mo stuff.
 
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