crystal effect

[Andrew Somers]

The “real” way to make an effect as if you are looking though glass or crystal is to create it as a 3D object and use raytracing to render it.

But there are ways to cheat the effect using reflection maps and various warps or 3D layer positioning with masks.

But kind of hard to guide without a reference – do you have an image you are trying to emulate?

[Aslan Tamek]

yep, as i mentioned, it looks like the effect in Madonna’s “4 Minutes” video clip…

Architect & Animator

[Andrew Somers]

…Which would be useful if I watched madonna video clips…

You are coming to this free forum to ask a question, it’s not too much to ask that you post a link and or image that is quite specific of what it is you are trying to do. If there is a specific video, l=then link to it and state the specific time in the video that the effect occurs.

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

I agree with Andrew- post a link and specify the time we should look at.
That being said, you can simulate that by using FreeForm Pro and your clip as a Reflection Map.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Aslan Tamek]

i am sorry for not posting the link, thank you for reminding me,
so, here is the link to that video :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAQZPBwz2CI

and i mean effect in time : 00:16 , and time : 00:30 to 00:35

thanks for your attention…

Architect & Animator

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Google Youtube” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

FreeForm Pro can definitely do that. Create the animated displacement map using Fractal Noise- there’s a preset that can create triangular shapes. I pushed and exaggerated the displacement, but in the clip below that’s how it started:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ncIbQhySa0

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Google Youtube” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

[Aslan Tamek]

wow, thank you Tudor, that was great! i tweaked the settings in fractal noise but i couldn’t get it to produce triangles… how should i do that?

Architect & Animator

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

My bad, I forgot I used Generate/Cell Pattern.
Use Crystals with a low contrast 45 and under. Disperse 1.5.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Aslan Tamek]

thank you Tudor, i made the triangles, easy! is there any tutorials to use freeform pro ? i searched the cow tutorials, there are some tuts, but they seem irrelevant..

Architect & Animator

[Aslan Tamek]

ok , i figured it out some how ! this is how i did it :

. i made a solid, comp size
. i precomped this solid and named it MAP, and turned off visibility
. i applied generate/cells : crystals, low contrast
. i made a solid, comp size and applied a spot light on it
. on this solid, i applied Freeform Pro, and MAP as displacement map
. i precomped all of this as DISTORT and turned off visibility
. i applied CC GLASS on an adjustment layer with DISTORT as the bump map and placed this adjustment layer above my footage…

but its still kind far from that effect in the video… how can i push it further? the result is not convincing..

Architect & Animator