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Animated smoke from David Bowie


IamSam

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Excellent work Paul! Your the animation master!
 

Paul

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Thanks Sam, Vee's the Jedi master at animation here i am but a wookie :mrgreen:
 

IamSam

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Speaking of which, I wonder where Master Lizad has been?

If your a Wookie then I'm a Padawan. I love animation. I wish I would take more time to create them.
 

Paul

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The trick to the one i just did is trying to make it look seamless, not really got it bang on but close enough. I especially liked my retouching to his skin tones and the actual skin texture.
Animation is but a trick to the eye:beerchug:
 

MrToM

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Now that's cool.

Looks simple but I bet you had to blow the froth off one or two to get it this good ...!!

Regards.
MrPoM.
 

Paul

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Four frames mate, i say four it was eight with the shadow layers, had to keep stretching and re positioning the smoke as to make it appear as if it was going up and not repeating.
The image just had some saturation adjustments and i played with the colour layers slightly, and gave it a quick re sharp and dummed that down.
 

MrToM

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Excellent!

Just wondering......not that it needs improving in any way, shape, form or fashion but could, (and I do mean could), you 'tween' between those 4 frames just to make it a little smoother?

I dunno if it will get any smoother but just wondered if 'tweening' would do anything...as its smoke a little 'blur' from the extra frames may just add some 'randomness' or something...?

Just a random thought.....or heat stroke....or PIE deficiency....one of those.

Regards.
MrPoM.
 

Paul

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Not a fan of 'tweening' i did make random blur and smudge adjustments to each smoke layer (trying to get away from repetition). Each smoke layer was stretched and pulled upwards with said adjustments added.
 

Paul

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Not as good but still fun to find and think up from stills.

Original.
tvscan.jpg

Re make.

tvscangif.gif
 

IamSam

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I like this one as well Paul. These are sort of like 'forced cinemagraphs'. You don't use movement from the original footage, but you add the movement even if the original was a still.
 

MrToM

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...can animation frames be made to run slower than zero though?...

Of course....anything greater than zero will slow things down....longer frame duration.

When I opened your gif in PS it said it was 0.2 seconds per frame, not zero....is that how you saved it?

Regards.
MrPoM.

I slowed it down a little by adding just 4 extra frames and a copy of Layer 1 at the top of the stack and blending the next frame with the old by only changing the opacity...so...

F1 = Layer 1 @ 100%
F2 = Layer 1 @ 100% + Layer 2 @ 50%
F3 = Layer 2 @ 100%
F4 = Layer 2 @ 100% + Layer 3 @ 50%
F5 = Layer 3 @ 100%
F6 = Layer 3 @ 100% + Layer 4 @ 50%
F7 = Layer 4 @ 100%
F8 = Layer 4 @ 100% + Copy of Layer 1 @ 50%

All frames @ 0.2 sec duration...

frames_MT_01.png

david-bowiegif_MT_01.gif


You should be able to get it even better having the original PSD.....this had to be done using the 'flattened' frames.

I hope you don't mind me tinkering. :thumbsup:
 
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Paul

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Brilliant work MrTom, and no i don't mind anyone 'tinkering' more the merrier mate.
P.S. i never save as PSDs i know shock horror and wash my mouth out but i just make stuff and then move on very rarely save beyond usage.
 

Paul

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Thanks :bigbow: and remember always so NO to tweens:rofl:
 
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MrToM It is a big improvement. The smoke looks really natural like this. Thanks for "tinkering". Paul Great shot of Bowie...and wonderful retouching and a very cool animation done by you.
 

DrCarl

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....extra frames and a copy of Layer 1 at the top of the stack....

AH HAH! THAT's IT! ....Paul! IamSam!.....

See, I am working with a cinemagraph that is already made. Not from a video, and not from a couple or four frames. I am starting out with 150 frames already masked. (Opening this Note 4 phone creation in PS, then saving it, discarded the still image background, and all I got was one frame of the still and 149 frames of masked motion.

Reading you guys' chat gave me an idea. I added a duplicate of the original still 'to the top of the stack', then selected the area masked on all the rest of the frames, and erased a hole in the newly duplicate still frame. Plays and saves perfectly. Then I did the adjustment layers, also on the top of the stack. Perfect!

Now I can take what my phone made, make adjustments, and SAVE it!

I am not sure if it is my unfamiliarity with this whole process, or a handicap I inherited (since the GIF was already made by the phone app).

Even if this is a workaround, it's not difficult. Add a duplicate, make adjustments and save. Bingo!

Thanks!

(Remember, for me this exercise is just to learn the process. I made some slight (almost unnoticeable) adjustments and saved it. Yay)

https://drcarl.smugmug.com/Other/Pl...nt/i-JcjjKDs/0/O/##20151111_134820-copy-2.gif

oops - wrong thread - I'll leave this post up anyway as it helped me learn more about this process and solve my own issue here.
 
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