Cigarette Smoke

Aaron Haynes · 10:45 PM

Okay, I don't have time to upload and link everything you need for this right now, but I will as soon as I'm able to.

You're going to need the V1 Smoke textures and the Coil Font, which I released back on the old board. It'll be linked as soon as I have it up.

The ease of this technique depends on one major thing: movement. If the cigarette moves in a direction other than straight up to the character's mouth, like with a talk action, I wish you the best of luck. That requires some very advanced animation finesse. You can cheat your way around most simple movements without having to rotate the objects very much, but for best effects of dipping or curling, it's gonna take some leg work.

Above are the two most useful letter combinations in the coil font that I've found for this effect. Usually you won't need this many stacked on top of each other, I just wanted to show how it worked.

You can use the spin action on the f96 object, but it makes the smoke appear to move down on the a94 object, so you'll need spin letters for that one (less animation frames, but looks cool anyway).

Three textures are included in the download in the mods section: solid, transparent edges, transparent body. Of these, solid is the most useful. In fact, the other two don't work all that well as cigarette smoke; they can still be helpful, but usually in supplement to the solid one, or when a cigarette is going out.

Apart from that, try various squash/stetch/grow actions until you find the one you like best. Rotation can be used in interesting ways as well to make the smoke seem to blow slightly with the wind, and if you want to make it dip or turn you're definitely going to need to do some clever resizing and rotating, and in conjunction with at least one or two other smoke objects; the coil font's helix objects don't curve, so it's tricky to do this. One option is to try mixing a b or two in with the a94 technique. If you do it right, the smoke will appear to be curling around itself.

The specifics for animating complex smoke movements is probably impossible to explain, so it's going to take trial and error for the most part. But for candles, burning cigarette butts, a pie coming out of the oven, a comical fire that has just ignited on someone's head, and probably a ton of other things where the smoke would largely remain stationary, it's a snap.

Molotov · 01-24-2006, 06:53 AM

Hooray!

Orcus · 01-24-2006, 07:32 AM

*MAKES A MOVIE ABOUT AARON*

Stefan · 01-25-2006, 05:48 PM

I could use this. Thank you very much.

Royston · 10:37 AM

all part of the plan

Raz · 05-18-2006, 01:52 AM

wow, you completely missed your own thread. good throw son.

The Chinese Jew · 06-06-2006, 06:49 PM

I don't know...I still prefer using a shitload of grey spheres.

01-23-2006, 10:40 PM	#1
Aaron Haynes Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 15,125	Cigarette Smoke Okay, I don't have time to upload and link everything you need for this right now, but I will as soon as I'm able to. You're going to need the V1 Smoke textures and the Coil Font, which I released back on the old board. It'll be linked as soon as I have it up. The ease of this technique depends on one major thing: movement. If the cigarette moves in a direction other than straight up to the character's mouth, like with a talk action, I wish you the best of luck. That requires some very advanced animation finesse. You can cheat your way around most simple movements without having to rotate the objects very much, but for best effects of dipping or curling, it's gonna take some leg work. Above are the two most useful letter combinations in the coil font that I've found for this effect. Usually you won't need this many stacked on top of each other, I just wanted to show how it worked. You can use the spin action on the f96 object, but it makes the smoke appear to move down on the a94 object, so you'll need spin letters for that one (less animation frames, but looks cool anyway). Three textures are included in the download in the mods section: solid, transparent edges, transparent body. Of these, solid is the most useful. In fact, the other two don't work all that well as cigarette smoke; they can still be helpful, but usually in supplement to the solid one, or when a cigarette is going out. Apart from that, try various squash/stetch/grow actions until you find the one you like best. Rotation can be used in interesting ways as well to make the smoke seem to blow slightly with the wind, and if you want to make it dip or turn you're definitely going to need to do some clever resizing and rotating, and in conjunction with at least one or two other smoke objects; the coil font's helix objects don't curve, so it's tricky to do this. One option is to try mixing a b or two in with the a94 technique. If you do it right, the smoke will appear to be curling around itself. The specifics for animating complex smoke movements is probably impossible to explain, so it's going to take trial and error for the most part. But for candles, burning cigarette butts, a pie coming out of the oven, a comical fire that has just ignited on someone's head, and probably a ton of other things where the smoke would largely remain stationary, it's a snap.
	Last edited by Aaron Haynes : 01-23-2006 at 10:45 PM.

01-24-2006, 06:53 AM	#2
Molotov Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 4,858	Hooray!
Molotov Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 4,858

01-24-2006, 07:32 AM	#3
Orcus Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 8,146	MAKES A MOVIE ABOUT AARON
Orcus Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 8,146

01-25-2006, 05:48 PM	#4
Stefan Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 1,190	I could use this. Thank you very much.
Stefan Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 1,190

05-17-2006, 06:14 PM	#5
Royston Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 3,086	all part of the plan
Royston Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 3,086	Last edited by Royston : 05-18-2006 at 10:37 AM.

05-18-2006, 01:52 AM	#6
Raz Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 10,485	wow, you completely missed your own thread. good throw son.
Raz Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 10,485

06-06-2006, 06:49 PM	#7
The Chinese Jew Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 14,225	I don't know...I still prefer using a shitload of grey spheres.