heat aspect effect

[Iancorey]

Use Fractal Noise on a solid inside a pre-comp and set that composition as the Displacement Map Effect on your footage layer.

[Darby Edelen]

Using a particle system for the displacement should work well. You can even create two particle systems, one with green particles and one with red, pre-comp them and use them with the default Displacement Map effect (red = horizontal displace, green = vertical displace) to get some interesting subtleties in the distortion.

Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA

[Mike Clasby]

Pinnacle Image Lunge made a nifty little plugin named Mirage, but you can do a decent job with Fractal Noise and Displacement.

Details:

On a new Black Solid (Comp Size) add Fractal Noise, I used the default setting except animate the Y of FractalNoise>Transform>Offset Turbulence (Y only as you want the heat wave to slowly move upward) with keyframes over time.

Layer>Precomp the Black Solid (Move all attributes) then turn off the eyeball of the precomp.

On the layer you want the heat wave (or on an Adjustment layer, if you want several layer effected) add Distort>Displacement Map. Then choose the Black Solid Precomp layer as the “Displacement Map Layer”. You should be good to go. Adjust Fractal noise settings to get the look you want. Also the “Max Horizontal” And Max Vertical Displacement” in Displacement Map are important for the scale of displacement.

For the complete lowdown on Displacement Maps see Aharon’s three Displacement tuts, click his head and scroll down.

[Mike Clasby]

Slow on the Draw… as usual.

[Brendan Coots]

This is exactly how I do it as well, right down to the red/green particles. I think I got that one from a DV Garage tutorial many years ago…

[David Bogie]

Heat distortion is a function of delaying and bending some light rays due to fractional differences in air density caused by heat. It is a function of refraction, not a focus effect. Whatever the source for your displacement map layer, it must be chaotic if it is going to sell the effect. Any hint of rhythm or looping and the illusion will be lost on today’s discerning audiences.

sample image of race car exhaust through super telephoto lens:
https://sleightofhand.smugmug.com/photos/163699136-L.jpg

wiki entry for all kinds of optical phenomenon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_phenomenon

go to the next level of abstract physics/optics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieren_photography

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[Rafa Calleja]

cheers to all… yikesmikes: old image lounge

[Mike Clasby]

While pedantic additions may be needless, they can be extremely interesting, Thanks.

[Rafa Calleja]

😉 yikesmikes