Best Way to do Realistic Snow in AE CS3
by Trevor Phillippi
on
Sep 6, 2008 at 3:09:54 am
Hey all, i need to add some snow to a shot for a documentary, and i know of a bunch of different ways to do it, but i was wondering, in everyone's experience, which is the most time efficient and realistic looking. thanks in advance!
Re: Best Way to do Realistic Snow in AE CS3 by Trevor Phillippi on Sep 7, 2008 at 4:36:53 pm
Thanks for your help, I have Cinema 4D and the thinking particles module. I am, in general an decently experienced C4D user. Would you suggest I use thinking particles or just an ordinary emitter?
I also own Trapcode Particular, but I am fairly inexperienced with it, but I figured it would be another good method to try out. Any tips for doing it with particular? Thanks so much again!
Re: Best Way to do Realistic Snow in AE CS3 by William J. Meyer on Sep 8, 2008 at 7:42:08 pm
Hi Trevor.
Here's a suggestion outside of AE CS3, but I used AE CS3 to composite and augment the results. Letting nature's own "organic simulation" handle the tough stuff saved a lot of time and the results are very naturalistic.
Fill a zip-lock bag with baking flour. Get a black drop cloth. Roughly open the bag below the camera's field of view. The flour particles will shoot up. Blow on them if necessary/desired. Record the drifting flour using a long lens to create interesting depth of field on the "snow."
In AE, apply Knoll's Unmult to the layer to create transparency from the black cloth. You might have to play w/Curves (stacked before Unmult) for cleaner results. Apply a Lens Blur to the footage and increase the Specular Threshold. Adjusting the Specular Brightness will give the brighter bits of flour that neat nearly-but-not-quite glitter quality you see in drifting snow on a clear, sharp day (at least here in Wisconsin!).
But if you do go w/Particular, let us know your approach. :)
