An Introduction to the Wonders of Displacement Mapping
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| Author: Snake H. |
| Skill Level: Intermediate |
| Version: AE 4.0 Pro or later |
| Project Files: Download Project Files | | Movie Sample: No Quicktime | | Plug-ins Used: No third party plug-ins used
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| Additional Software: Adobe Photoshop |
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Instructions
- Create a pre-comp larger than you will ultimately need your fire to be (I used 720/540). Add a solid.
- Use the mask tools to create a vague "fire shape", sort of like upside-down stalactites. Feather the mask for a soft edge. (I used 15 pixels) for clouds make some cloud like shapes.
- Apply the "ramp" filter and set the colors red on the bottom, yellow on the top. Or black and white if you're making clouds.
- In Photoshop, generate a full-frame, repeating black & white "clouds" image. "Clouds" is a filter that generates fractal noise, and you can make it repeat by using the offset filter and the clone tool. Import this file into AE.
- In another pre-comp, animate the clouds filter using the "offset" filter, so that the clouds move from bottom to top. The offset filter will wrap the image back on screen so you get seamless, moving noise.
- Bring both of these pre-comps into your final composition. Turn off the visibility of the noise layer. To the fire-shaped pre-comp, apply the "Displacement" filter (this is production bundle only, sorry). Choose the noise layer as your displacement source, and adjust horizontal/vertical displacement amounts until your layer starts to look more like real fire. Note that we made this comp bigger than your final comp to mask any edge artifacts that tend to show up when working with displacement effects.
- To improve the illusion you might try wiggling the mask in the fire pre-comp, or adding a glow to the results. If you are making fire then it won't really look like REAL fire but with fine tweaking you can make some pretty convincing clouds....or some totally psychedelic swirls and stuff if you're into that!
Hope this helps someone! Thanks to Brian Maffitt...
