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View Full Version : Making it rain in the desert!


petermark
10-15-2003, 03:13 AM
We shot in the scene in the desert, in the middle of summer, in the middle of the day. The script called for pouring rain, and lightning, in the middle of the night. Two watering cans and a lot of digital post-production had to make up the difference.

Luckily Lightwave, DFX, AE and Photoshop were able to handle it -in full style! Using the native particle effects in Lightwave, rendered out with Hypervoxels, I was able to create two layers of rain, one close and one distant. To finisht the rain look, I used After Effects to extend the size and length of the clips and add a glitter to the raindrops. Then the two (massive) clips were loaded into DFX and tracked onto the footage. A whole lot of hand-splining was used to separate the actor so that the rain could be inserted behind him. The levels of the ground behind him were also tweaked to make the rocks appear wet. Then the combined plate was put through more levels nodules to give it the night-look and add the lightning effect.

To see the whole process in detail, complete with screen shots, visit:
http://www.tranquilstorm.com/lightoflife/special3_rain/index.html

Zafar Iqbal
10-15-2003, 09:03 AM
Cool reading.. great work - love this kind of reading :p

mattbolton
10-15-2003, 09:06 AM
Nice article. I also enjoyed reading the making of Corporal Faith some months ago, and then watching it. You guys are an inspiration to the amateur film maker.

adrian
10-15-2003, 02:15 PM
Yes, a truly great article - thanks for sharing your expertise.

Was/is this for a commercial project?

Adrian.

petermark
10-15-2003, 04:41 PM
Thanks, guys! I'm glad you found the page a good read!

Light of Life is an allegorical film symbolizing the Christian life, it has a sort of Pilgrim's Progress style, if you're familiar with that story. But it is more obstract and with no dialogue.

I'm creating the film and its website partly to be what I always wanted to see on the web - a project that can be followed through its entire production process, shoot to effects to music. I hope that this short film and its site can be such a project and I hope you all with enjoy watching its progress. You'll get the gain without the pain!! :(

This is a short-short film, probably clocking in around 6 minutes when it's finished. But, with almost every shot full of effects, I simply can't handle more.

This shot is only the beginning. Sky-replacement is my next challenge (gotta make controllable storm clouds) and then fog, crowd duplication, and even character animation. I've planned types of effects than I have no experience doing, so I'm sure I'll be checking in with you all for help and recommendations!

Please keep the comments coming. Tell me if you see a problem with anything!

renderingfarmer
10-15-2003, 11:40 PM
Really interesting. Thanks for writing all that up.

Also, Matt frightens me.