Help needed with this rain/lightsaber test

Hi guys, i'm having difficulty emulating rain, i tried using the particle playground to do this effect, however i'm not happy with it, i want to speed it up and give it some depth much im not whats the best way to do this.

If anyone knows how i can get this looking more "realistic", or general comments would be a great help, thanks

Oh this is also my first lightsaber test, but its uncomplete as you can see, work in progress...

http://s49.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0Y5TH4I8L0R2O1MP3K3NYOY5IC

 

I've never yet done the artificial rain, however i suspect that in the rain, when it comes in contact with a lightsaber blade, it would evaporate, so for a little bit more realism you could add some steam coming off the blade every few seconds with the "tshh" sound.

 

that would be a good effect however in attack of the clones, Obi wan uses his lightsaber in the rain once and theres no sign of any steam, but if i can get hold of some decent steam like footage, i'll be sure to add that. thanks

 

you could make your own fairly easily, just use Ryan_W's method
he simply burned incence(sp?) in front of a black screen, imported it into after effects, and overlayed it where needed(When his leg got cut in RvD)

 

Lightsaber steam might sound like a good idea (which I personally don't think it does) but in application it would probably look extremely lame. I mean think about it.

 

well of course i only got the idea from the clone wars cartoon, some episode when anakin and that other girl fought in the rain, it looked pretty good, of course that was a cartoon, this is real life...

 

Dont do steam on the blade unless its an upclose shot. To give you rain some depth, simply (in AE) take the rain layer, and duplicate it, and make it smaller then the front, and have it move at different speeds, make about 2-3 more layers of rain, and keyfram them to move with the camera movent. Remember, as the camera pans left for example the rain in front will apear to move faster then the rain in back.

Good luck

 

Oh yea! I forgot about that trick, yeah thats what i was looking for, just didn't come to mind, thanks very much.

oh and how do you like my on the spot, unchoreographed duel lol, its pretty awful I know, very fun whilst recording though.

 

Doesent look like they wanted to hit each other.. looked too much like they were aiming at each others blades.

 

By the way, there is some great stock rain footage at detonationfilms.
Easy, VERY easy to composite into your shots.
Got to the weather page. Link at the bottom

 

Haha.. that rain footage is such a short loop though.

It's pretty easy to make your own, if you have some spare time, a hose and a black cloth.
Gives you more to work with. Detonation films is just where I go for 'splosions.




For now.
Wait until I move out. Muaha.

 

Haha.. that rain footage is such a short loop though.

That's funny?

 

Aside from the rain, nothing looks very wet.
I think you would have a very blurred reflection hinted at in the floor, puddles, clingier clothes and droplets going up as they 'shatter' onto the floor among other things. If you're sticking with this clip, try adding reflections beneath the fighters, improve the interaction of the rain with the floor/depth as said. If you're filming again, maybe wet the area that you're fighting in first - soak your hair and clothes etc. Maybe have a sprinkler going to help sell the digital rain.

Hope this helps?

 

Thanks alot guys, helped very much, this by the way was just some old footage i wanted to try a few tests on, but i think ive got the reflections bit sorted, just need to make the actual rain look more like realistic rain drops.

 

You could also make the rain splash a little when you step.

 

after you get that footage how do you transfer it onto your home footage

 

One way is to use the "screen" blending mode - instructions for the use of their footage can be found here.

Hope that helps!

 

never Mind DV I used the same method of transfering Dorkman's saber flash.