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energy wave/bubble effect ideas?
In trying to get the effect of an energy wave enveloping a panoramic shot and then people in a room, I’m just not happy with the results. It’s supposed to appear that this energy wave turns things from B&W to color, as well as has sort of a lens bulge/blur on the leading edge, almost like a dome of energy enveloping everything. I duplicated my clip twice, b&W on top, middle layer is color with light rays and some other things I’ve tried, and bottom is original color clip. Created moving masks so that a sliver of the middle layer is seen between the others as it sweeps across the scene. It just doesn’t look convincing though and I think the biggest problem is the leading edge doesn’t have a good effect of an energy field. I see it all the time in shows like Twilight Zone and Stargate but I can’t figure out what else to do. Hope this makes sense and if you have any suggestions, please let me know!
Thanks
Steven -
3 Replies
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typically the space style energy waves are done with a radial ramp where the leading edge is hard and then feathers off to the inner side.
you could play with animating some masks on a solid to get the look you want for the wave, tilt it in 3d space, precompose it, then use that precomp as a matte for leading edge effect ( you can try some displacement, adding in the colored version as another layer with some glow or blur, etc)
you can make a dupe of the precomp, and adjust the masks (delete the inner mask if you used an inner and outer) so they can be used as the matte to bring on the color)most of all, try different things, as thats they only way to see how things might play out.
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You need to create a greyscale energy wave animation in a precomposition, then use it as a displacement map in your main comp.
If you have a many-layered composition to effect, apply the displacement map effect to an adjustment layer at the top. You can use other effects such as compound blur and vector blur with the same greyscale displacement map to enhance the overall look, depending on what you’re after.
If you’re new to displacement map effects then check out the tutorials, Aharon’s got some very comprehensive details on them.
If you’re up for something more advanced, and more fiddly, then you can use your greyscale displacement map with the caustics effect. Again- check out the tutorial section for the caustics effect. It can give you really cool energy wave effects if you spend some time with it.-Chris
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thanks for the ideas, guys. I’ve got a lot of experimenting to do!
steven
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