explosion tech.

[TreasurePlanet]

Im trying to animate explosions.
and im using sprites as a reference.
good idea or bad idea?
thanks much

-Joe.

[snowclouds]

I am not sure about sprites (quality dependent) but in Flash CS4 all i would do is simply throw in garbage loads of single frame, hand drawn explosions along with a couple blurred + special effects mc's floating around.l

[TreasurePlanet]

Thanks for your feedback.
i watched the video and have picked up a few helpful tips.
thanks

This is kind of like, end of the night...fuck it, kind of a deal.
but i still need help with explosions.
i started off with the lines and such, the colors reminded me of Tigger, so that's why he'e there. To make it more fun for you guys.

P

[Marsume]

Something I threw together for someone who was asking a similar question a few days ago, feel free to use this as a reference, I know I wished I had something like this while trying to animate my first explosions :P

http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/1373 65702db6c38a520fd7110546cbe4

[Prome]

At 9/14/10 10:01 AM, Marsume wrote: Something I threw together for someone who was asking a similar question a few days ago, feel free to use this as a reference, I know I wished I had something like this while trying to animate my first explosions :P

http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/1373 65702db6c38a520fd7110546cbe4

can i use them? i will credit you.

[TreasurePlanet]

At 9/14/10 10:01 AM, Marsume wrote: Something I threw together for someone who was asking a similar question a few days ago, feel free to use this as a reference, I know I wished I had something like this while trying to animate my first explosions :P

http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/1373 65702db6c38a520fd7110546cbe4

ah
thank you so much.

[TreasurePlanet]

ugh
oh well
better luck tomorow.

check it please

[Marsume]

At 9/14/10 04:21 PM, Prometheus13 wrote:

http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/1373 65702db6c38a520fd7110546cbe4

can i use them? i will credit you.

No, you may not. They are to be used as reference only. Sorry.

[TreasurePlanet]

Could you guys help me figure out how to outline properly?

In this one i try to outline too thickly/
and in this one it's too thin.

Any suggestions on line weight?

[PBass]

I would recommend to not get bent over about your draftsmanship, especially in your rough animations.
Focus on getting the action down pat, then your line quality afterwords.

But to answer your question, don't use one line weight. Use thick to thin lines. Imagine the lines as containing the explosion within with the apex of each curve of smoke or flame being thinner and it's bases being thicker.

But still, if you focus too much on your draftsmanship, especially in Flash, you're going to give yourself a headache.

[Marsume]

At 9/16/10 11:38 AM, PBass wrote: Important stuff

PBass is right. Don't worry about your draftmanship yet. Focus on drawing the energy and direction of the effect first THEN go back in and clean it up.

Also, a few tips when doing effects.
Symmetry = BAD. Never make a drawing symmetrical.
Repetition = BAD. When

[Marsume]

At 9/16/10 05:28 PM, Marsume wrote:

At 9/16/10 11:38 AM, PBass wrote: Important stuff

PBass is right. Don't worry about your draftmanship yet. Focus on drawing the energy and direction of the effect first THEN go back in and clean it up.

Also, a few tips when doing effects.
Symmetry = BAD. Never make a drawing symmetrical.
Repetition = BAD. When

Oops, accidently posted before I was done lol.
Repetition = Bad, Dont do it.

ALSO, Varying your line thickness adds a lot.

After you get the motion of the effect down, then you should begin doing the good clean version overtop, using the motion as a guideline.

//Thats how I do it, and thats how they do it in the book "Elemental Magic" which is a superb book on animating effects.

[TreasurePlanet]

brilliant you guys
thank you so much for your advice.
I will try those starting tomorrow.
but for now ive got
another test done.

but upon reading your posts i have a lot to work on.

THANKS AGAIN!!!!

-Joe

[CloudEater]

At 9/20/10 04:35 AM, Spac3case916 wrote: another test done.

That's animated quite well. It could be more firey though and the green car (?) doesn't seem to be propelled realistically. You just need to make the smoke fade out now. The perspective of the scene is really good.

[TreasurePlanet]

thank you all for your kind words.
i was wondering if you guys could look at another
thnaks

-Joe

[KartuneHustla]

At 9/22/10 02:27 AM, Spac3case916 wrote: thank you all for your kind words.
i was wondering if you guys could look at another
thnaks

-Joe

This new one is really good. One thing you should consider is that the beginning of the explosion should start from being small. You should have the first frame be the biggest cloud of dust because its so instant. It wouldnt just spread out like that. Once you have that first cloud, youd have it disperse like that. Id try drawing out 3 main key frames of your explosion, first youd want the big cloud, then its maximun expansion, and then its fall out. but i like what you got so far.

[TreasurePlanet]

This new one is really good. One thing you should consider is that the beginning of the explosion should start from being small. You should have the first frame be the biggest cloud of dust because its so instant. It wouldnt just spread out like that. Once you have that first cloud, youd have it disperse like that. Id try drawing out 3 main key frames of your explosion, first youd want the big cloud, then its maximun expansion, and then its fall out. but i like what you got so far.

thanks.
i will try the key frames tomorow.
this is today's

....
fuck
ill try again tomorrow.
because im not happy with this.
aaand it's 4 fucking am. fuck school..... tomorrow. please no.
comments about the explosion?

-Joe

[Izzy-A]

I'm having problems making explosion effects too. Marsume's example looks great and I've made something like it before, but the explosion I'm trying to make has to be simple. It's going to be for a game so I need all these effects to be as simple as possible so it doesn't hog the fps too much.

Not sure if it was a good idea, but I made the explosion grey so when I'm done with it, I can adjust the color of the MC with the color effects option. It's basically a circle that grows with a ring around it that dissipates. I don't have the animation right now but I can post it later.

[PBass]

You seem to be having some trouble with what to do with the smoke after the explosion. Try some video reference.

Do some rough animations where you copy these explosions, study what the smoke and fire do. Watch some movies that have great explosions, or even study the timing of other animated explosions. Learn how explosions work, how the smoke and fire are going to move and why they move that way. The less of a guessing game you play when animating the better, have control over your canvas. If you're not sure what to do when animating, it's time to do studies.

[glavca]

At 9/23/10 07:07 AM, Spac3case916 wrote: fuck
ill try again tomorrow.

Damn your getting good! Ive watched all of your tests and this one is almost good... GOOD JOB!

[glavca]

Oh yea I havent criticized it...
-Make the smoke disapear slower... like REALLY slower cuz this is much to fast...
-Make the blast slower but not so much, maybe half a second longer...
-Make the smoke fade away if you dont like animating it into tiny drops and then disapearing...(Also slowly lol) though I prefer animating it into tiny drops cuz it look wAAAy better...

Okay hope it helps...

[TreasurePlanet]

Not sure if it was a good idea, but I made the explosion grey so when I'm done with it, I can adjust the color of the MC with the color effects option. It's basically a circle that grows with a ring around it that dissipates. I don't have the animation right now but I can post it later.

feel free to post it on this thread.

[RobThanatos]

I'll have a crack at an explosion. I don't remember ever attempting to animate an explosion. Hopefully I can learn something from this thread, maybe I could even teach someone something... personally I think I'm a horrid animator but I can always try :3

brb in a bit

[RobThanatos]

forgot about this... splosion test

Maybe I could get some pointers?

[glavca]

At 9/24/10 09:08 AM, ImmaKitty wrote: forgot about this... splosion test

Maybe I could get some pointers?

:O you gotta be kiding me, YOU NEED POINTERS?!
It is amazing how fluid the smoke is there.
Anyway here is my try... I really gotta get the timeing better!
My fail

[Tyler]

When one goes about explosions, another way to think about approaching it is breaking it down into layers.
I do explosions this way now; think about what you need to animate and assign a layer to each.

First, I roughly sketch the form expanding and the particles coming out, and get the timing to what I want it to be. After that is to where you want it to be, try using different layers. One for smoke, one for firey bits, some for particles and then another for debris. I did this real fast and shitty but you get the point: Example.

For this, you can see how the animation is broken on to layers. Fire, smoke, debris. HERE
(the animation is awry, as its a bit old, but it should get the point across).

Also, slightly related and in addition to this kind of explosion, think about how you could imply an explosion through lighting. Here is another bit I did a while ago that emphasizes explosion without actually animating the explosion- just through lighting the illusion is given: HURRR

[TreasurePlanet]

good youtube vid right here

[TreasurePlanet]

This one relies heavily and above video.

i think im getting the shapes more and more what they should look like.
suggestions?

[glavca]

At 9/25/10 12:35 AM, Spac3case916 wrote: This one relies heavily and above video.

i think im getting the shapes more and more what they should look like.
suggestions?

My pixel explosion combined with the previous expl.

[glavca]

Damn I FORGOT TO ADD IT :D
Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooom!