Digital Blood Techniques

So, this question has come up every now and then. I've, in fact, asked it twice, and found only two methods that are useful.

One technique that I've come across is from Adobe's Studio Exchange. The URL of the tutorial/.aep is below (sorry to long for link):

http://share.studio.adobe.com/axAssetDetailSubmit.asp?aID=5515&back=http%3A%2F%2Fshare%2Estudio%2Eadobe%2Ecom%2FaxBr%20owseSubmit%2Easp%3Ft%3D59 .

I downloaded the .aep and rendered it. The render is here. I think it's not a bad start, but the blood looks a little cartoony, if you know what I mean.

The other technique I've seen is in Photoshop. I found that tutorial on a site, and can't find it anymore, but I searched and found another tutorial which looks to be exactly the same -- only they used a different image to add the blood to. Click here to view that tutorial. A while back, I tried a test using this method and got the below result.

[image=http://mywebpages.comcast.net/awb1989/digital_blood.jpg]

It looks weird with the black spots, I think, I can probably do another test in Photoshop sometime that will look better. I could do it on a filmstrip, but it wouldn't flow well like it would in After Effects with keyframes. So, do you guys have any ideas of how to use After Effects and Photoshop to get nice results with the second method . . . . or does anybody know of a blood technique for After Effects that looks more real than the After Effects method I posted?

I would be interested in finding out how to get better digital blood, and I'm sure some other people would too.

EDIT #1: Actually, I was just thinking.... maybe I could export the raw footage as a filmstrip and make an animated mask of a random color (on a solid) for the blood shape and export that as a filmstrip. Then I could use the animated-mask-on-the-solid layer for the reference for where to paint the red for the blood. Then I could apply the effects in Photoshop from that tutorial for the blood. Anybody else know any easier/better ways?

EDIT #2: For animating the mask shape on the layer in AE, do you think I could just set a keyframe at the beginning and end of the shot and use the wiggler?

EDIT #3: Oh, and I don't know enough 3D to attempt 3D digital blood.

Thanks,
Aaron

 

Jarrett's Blood Tutorial

I found this to be a really easy tutorial for Photoshop, and I bet with some AE matchmoving on the prepared blood, this could be a bonanza.

 

From the above tutorial:

There's a pull-down on the layers palette that sets the blending mode for that layer. If you're not familiar with how this works, you're missing out on one of the most powerful tools in the application. Set the blood layer to multiply.

I am not familiar with how the multiple option works, can anyone tell me something about it's function?

 

Yes! Now I can film blood and composite it onto footage!

Thanks, Krapitino!

 

You can do blood in photoshop really easily. I did a haunted house multimedia project once and covered the entire house with bleeding blood and did it all in photoshop.

 

You can do blood in photoshop really easily. I did a haunted house multimedia project once and covered the entire house with bleeding blood and did it all in photoshop.

I can't. Maybe you can, but I can't.

I need to read my manual, because I suck with Photoshop.