by feniks » 24 Aug 2010, 04:19
A tip on how to use velocities I found is
- create a new comp the size of your original composition, call it "velocity"
- create a layer like 250x250pixels in your comp,
- apply a 4-color gradient to it
- place the sources at the corners
- change the colors to upleft -> yellow, upright -> red, downleft -> black, downright -> green
- create a layer the size of your comp
- apply Generate > Fill and use the picker to pick a color from your 250x250 pixel layer
whereas the middle point of the layer is your x/y velocity 0,
if you pick a color more to the left your source will blow to the left, more to the right your source will blow to the right etc for up and down
- hide your 250x250 pixel layer once you start simulating.
- go back to your original comp, put the velocity comp inside it, turn it invisible
- on your smokelayer choose the velocity comp as velocity source.
You can play around with gradientmaps, fractals, turbulent displace etc. inside your velocity comp to make more randomness to your velocities.
Or use the velocity output of another smokesimulation to drive a secondary smokesimulation.
Another tip I found to give your simulations more detail is using animated fractals on your source so you get more random emission.