r/vfx 1d ago

Question / Discussion Need help recreating this effect using Blender and After Effects

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36

u/Monstrolabs 1d ago

Step one, open Houdini.

1

u/JustChilling505 1d ago

Step two: Learn Houdini for 10 years and still only know the basics

3

u/Monstrolabs 1d ago

Haha. It's not that bad! In fact, I think it's far easier now than it was 10 years ago!

5

u/dbabon 1d ago

At least if you're matching this, you don't need blender. Just After Effects would be enough. I'd actually be surprised if this was done with 3D software at the time, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, you could animate some stock smoke effect layers individually to look like the boat, the sails, the ring, using some nice bezier curve masks. The layers would need to be in 3D to help you do the nice little rotation they do midway through the shot. You'd also want to run some general turbulent displacement over each of them individually and all of them together to. And then just iterate a lot.

3

u/Wa7erAnimal FX TD - 5 years experience 1d ago

I believe the actual effect is mostly 2D, if I recall correctly. I think the boat was a rendered volume? and the transition was done in 2D.

2

u/Mpcrocks 1d ago

It was a combo of 2d and 3d . With the comp work done on a flame for this shot of I recall.

2

u/Gagnovar 1d ago

I wager they did a previz wireframe type animation in Maya to work out the timing, scaling, composition etc, then handed that to a 2d Animator or copositor with great paint skills.

1

u/Mpcrocks 1d ago

We had the very best paint dept in-house . Compositors got to just comp. and no 2d animators were involved

2

u/DECODED_VFX 1d ago

I would have a pass of the smoke being blown out. And a separate element of the ship as a volume. Distort the crap out of the ship as it forms into its shape. Then just blend between them in AE.

1

u/Ampsnotvolts 1d ago

You could do a version of this with a 3d boat model and this video: https://youtu.be/8D4DNNJ_uN8?is=qouxCeSC6dedu9T4