I finally learned ...

[Cereval]

... how to do muzzle flashes. Google Video No big feat I know. But I'd been pretty lazy about teaching myself. As trivial as it may seem though, I'm going to put it to good use in Deadscapes II ...

[Danny]

i think the flash was a bit too big in the outdoors area, maybe you should have taken the sunlight into account, btu hey mroe power to ya for learnin' how as for the bllod splatter, noooiiyce!

[MinionZombie]

Must be the contrast on my monitor, but I couldn't make out the outdoor one, but the indoor one was cool, well played Clerk.

[Cereval]

i think the flash was a bit too big in the outdoors area, maybe you should have taken the sunlight into account, btu hey mroe power to ya for learnin' how The above is after a solid 10 minutes of learning ... I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

[DjfunkmasterG]

Doing Muzzle flash is easy it takes 30 minutes of learning 60 minutes of doing.

[PJoseph]

those are pretty cool. Did you build those elements yourself? There are few ones online that are free light based full rez files (you just screen composite them and they work pretty well). There's also a guy, for about $60, sells a whole library of flashes, explosions, blood hits, walls hits - you can mix and match and they are royalty free. I found them to be quick and easy as well. Sometimes having to build them for different angles can be a pain. These are actually keyable gun flares. pJ

[DjfunkmasterG]

Cereval, work on your flashes a bit. They don't really jive with your color correction, and look a little too digital and phony. Are you using after effects? if so google After Effects muzzle flash tutorial. There are some great ones out there.

[Cereval]

those are pretty cool. Did you build those elements yourself? There are few ones online that are free light based full rez files (you just screen composite them and they work pretty well). There's also a guy, for about $60, sells a whole library of flashes, explosions, blood hits, walls hits - you can mix and match and they are royalty free. I found them to be quick and easy as well. Sometimes having to build them for different angles can be a pain. These are actually keyable gun flares. pJ I found some free resources online - stock elements and such. Do you have a a link for this particular guy? Cereval, work on your flashes a bit. They don't really jive with your color correction, and look a little too digital and phony. Thankee-sai, but I wasn't so much looking for critique, as I assumed you might give. As mentioned this was a random rendering I did after a few minutes of playing with it. No color correction, no tweaking. Just sharing the discovery is all.

[Dawg]

I've found of course that muzzle flashes and explosions get 'drowned' out in heavy background lighted scenes/ outdoor daytime sky scenes. They work the best in dark places and one good thing I saw in a video once was this guy firing a 'machinegun' and someone off camera used a flashlight to light up his face at a certain rate, so when the muzzle flashes were placed in there post-filming, it really appeared he was firing a real weapon. Cereval, I used a program from England that cost $100 and you could download user-created plug-in effects to use with it. I have the older version and it was called: Alam DV. You could even make your own effects. My question is this: Since digitial blood sucks balls, can one film a real 'simulated' blood splatter against green screen to use in shots? And... how can you simulate the revolving (blurred) blades of a helicopter to add in layers upon your composite shot? Dawg

[Cereval]

Cereval, I used a program from England that cost $100 and you could download user-created plug-in effects to use with it. I have the older version and it was called: Alam DV. You could even make your own effects. My question is this: Since digitial blood sucks balls, can one film a real 'simulated' blood splatter against green screen to use in shots? And... how can you simulate the revolving (blurred) blades of a helicopter to add in layers upon your composite shot? Dawg You told me about Alam DV back in the day! I think I even tried it out. I'm probably going to explore the gamut of stuff out there but I'm likely to stick with something Adobe since I'm grounded in Premiere. As for the green screen thing, we see this technique constantly. Compositing and such is really awesome when done right. Having never done it myself, I'd guess that you'd have to crunch down on the proper angles and distance to make sure it layers right. Same with simulating helicopter blades, although laying in blades might be less intensive. If you pull any of these off - share the wealth and let us know!

[Dawg]

You told me about Alam DV back in the day! I think I even tried it out. I'm probably going to explore the gamut of stuff out there but I'm likely to stick with something Adobe since I'm grounded in Premiere. As for the green screen thing, we see this technique constantly. Compositing and such is really awesome when done right. Having never done it myself, I'd guess that you'd have to crunch down on the proper angles and distance to make sure it layers right. Same with simulating helicopter blades, although laying in blades might be less intensive. If you pull any of these off - share the wealth and let us know! Will do! I wanted to make a page on my site about my experiences in making movies and how I went about it, but never got around to do it yet. Man, I used Adobe Premiere Pro on the last film, but it kept crashing all the time and didn't feel I should pay $150 for a f**king upgrade to fix the bugs that they made in the first place. I have Sony Vegas right now, but haven't really tried it yet. Dawg

[EvilBread]

The first blood composite that springs to mind in a film is from Shaun of the Dead in which they did it for when Shaun pushes the zombie in his back garden onto the washing line pole.

[Cereval]

Will do! I wanted to make a page on my site about my experiences in making movies and how I went about it, but never got around to do it yet. Man, I used Adobe Premiere Pro on the last film, but it kept crashing all the time and didn't feel I should pay $150 for a f**king upgrade to fix the bugs that they made in the first place. I have Sony Vegas right now, but haven't really tried it yet. Dawg Keep us posted if you ever get it up and running. I recently got Adobe Premiere Pro but might need some time before I get used to it ... I'm very comfortable and attached to 6.0 as I've been using it for half a decade now. The same thing goes for Vegas with me, it'll take some time before I use anything permanently besides Premiere.

[EvilBread]

I have used Premier Pro 1.5 and 2.0 for over a year now (can't wait for CS3) and find it overall far superior than 6.0 and 6.5 (But then it should be since its Pro :P ) My only gripe with it however is that you can't rubberband the audio as easilly as you could in 6.5 which is a bit annoying.

[Cereval]

I have used Premier Pro 1.5 and 2.0 for over a year now (can't wait for CS3) and find it overall far superior than 6.0 and 6.5 (But then it should be since its Pro :P ) My only gripe with it however is that you can't rubberband the audio as easilly as you could in 6.5 which is a bit annoying. That's what I noticed right away! In fact, that kinda turned me off from using it right of the bat. I like a lot of the other features though. It is a helluva lot more efficient than 6.0 - I especially like the integrated DVD burning function. Do you know how to switch the workspace to A/B editing? That kinda bugged me too ... I like seeing the juxtaposition of my A and B tracks with the transitions. I just got it and haven't played around with it that much yet, so forgive me if this was a stupid question.