Help please............

[Legion10]

I need to know how do you create rain effects or snow effects be nice newbie here just want some1 or ppl to teach me

[Peter Wassink]

in TVP 9 you can create a handdrawn loop using the CTRL key while drawing.
this will cause TVP to automaticly advance a frame after each drawn dot (make sure the freehand line tool is set to dotted line)
This way you just need to draw lines from top to bottom and you automaticly get a snow effect, if you draw the lines faster(and with a smaller brush size) it will look more like rain.

the advantage of this method is that the result will be a loop so you dont need too many frames.


otherwise (in TVP and all other versions)there is the particle effect in the FX stack which offers both a preset for rain and one for snow.
Because the particle effects are compter generated they tend to look somewhat synthetic... but in case of snow and rain it is not too bad.
also the particle generator cannot create loops. so you need to render them for the length of your shot.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Here are two samples of how I used the snow emitter and hand drawn rain. They are each about 45 MB and over a minute long, rendered in Vegas, using the MainConcept AVC/AAC mp4 H.264 codec. The link is to my FTP.

http://www.video.paulfierlinger.com/snowing/

To show samples of the two effects I felt I needed to demonstrate how I lead my viewers in and out of the weather elements. I like to use weather to support the telling of a story rather than just a mood generator.

I am an ardent follower of the belief that once one goes on the path of hand drawn animation, one should stay away from cheaply gained effects created by element generators. But in the case of this snowing sequence I had to depart from that conviction. It would take me too long to create what I did here, production time is always of the essence, and as Peter said, the snow isn’t too CG looking and I dare say, probably looks better than what I would have done by hand.

On the other hand, rain is easy to draw and goes faster too. The result is also more pleasing and effective, in my much opinionated opinion of 2D animations. I also never strive to draw these effects any closer to reality than I draw my characters and backgrounds.

Both samples are from my soon to be completed (October) feature “My Dog Tulip”

[ZigOtto]

... It would take me too long to create what I did here, ... probably looks better than what I would have done by hand.

hehe... amazing ! Paul infringing his own rules...
the ratio result's quality /production's time have balanced in favour of the techie way.
Future would be hopeful so !

[Sierra Rose]

It is so good to see these new clips. I love the way the cloud shadows play in the one and the way the rain is worked into his giving up on "marrying" Tulip.

The snow action blends with your style enough, I think. The music in that part really carries the story too.

You rendered the man with the boy so well....I pictured him like this! A rough guy needing a shave being so delicate about stimulating a dog. And the peeking boy....fun.

Thanks.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Oh, so you caught the peeking boy! Did you notice him on the first run or later on? We held a focus group screening in New York a couple of weeks ago. There were two people from this group there; Svengali and oyo... um, David Navaras, and Klaus has seen it too, earlier. I've been given feedback by everyone, yet....

Some people at the Q&A period thought that there was too much mating of dogs... well, the whole film is about getting his dog laid! It's really hard to know how the film will do, once it's out... even the two focus groups I had (an earlier one in Amsterdam) aren't indicative enough of what to expect. I am nervous, I guess.

In Amsterdam I was told that I don't show enough tenderness between the man and his dog and I took that to heart and went back to several scenes and made small corrections. No one brought that up at the second screening anymore, so I guess I did fix it. Yet....

[Sierra Rose]

I saw him on the first. But he went by very fast...maybe a little more hold? I think the mating dog thing is hilarious because it shows his doting state of mind so well. You have to gaga about a dog to be that interested...the description of the vulva is wonderful. I don't know how you could show more affection without taking away from his general stuffiness...which is what makes his crush on the dog so much funnier by contrast.

I have to say, I'm really impressed with it...I know it's right you would be nervous, but I think it's a treasure of a movie.

[Mandalaholic]

Wow Paul the rain looks fine and works great, but your snow was awesome! How perfect! You can even pick up on the depth of field real well.
As far as the original post on how to do the effects...there are probably limitless ways to accomplish it. I'd probably use the stack, after perhaps hand drawing the particles. Or hand draw a shape and set it on a motion path, and tweak the path a few times, perhaps make a anim brushes from a few of the different tweaks. It probably depends a lot on the style of your animation as well. Can you post a clip or scene where you need the rain?

[ZigOtto]

oh, haven't I said that Sandra's work is, as usually, awesome ...?
if not, I do now !

about the crouching boy, yes, I've notice his presence,
but only in the second scene, (with the panning and the rain),
I've missed him in the first one at first vision, (the scene with the clouds's shadow),
but as I haven't read the book and missed a lot from the narrator voice,
the only issue I had with him was "why he's so pale, so colourless, ... is he sick?"

[Klaus Hoefs]

(IMO)
Well the rain is a shortcut and so it goes along with your characters in an immanent system of drawing and animation style.
With the falling snow it's not the same and in careful observation you can notice that it is out of this system (although having connections to it).
But it works very well, because it is a bit strange.
It reminds me to snow in childhood watching with astonished eyes the falling snow slowly continuing from above as it comes from another space (maybe Frau Holle space ? ) falling silently on everyone, dead or alive.
As all memories this has a touch of surrealism, it's a hover.
(and to correct my former statements, the music is excellent here)

[Paul Fierlinger]

Ah, ZigOttoman, you have made my day! Ackerley is saying when he's in his study: By now I had conceived so intense a dislike for the sickly faced youth who looked as if there was very little he did not already know about the art of self-stimulation...etc. The boy is pale from too much self-stimulation!! Sandra got the color of that malady just right, wouldn't you say?

(But in all truthfulness, we decided to paint him that way so he would stick out better.)

[Paul Fierlinger]

Klaus, you make a good point about the connection of the music and the falling snow... the snow is at times falling much too slowly. In a later scene (not shown in this clip) the snow comes down so slowly that it is by that time clearly unnatural -- this happens when the two men are spying through the kitchen window on their two dogs outside, who aren't doing what is expected of them... and the whole affair is called off.

Whether anyone will ever notice the connection between the slowness of the snow or not, I can't tell, but the music says it all in the end and the snow is in pace with the music, so I believe it all works together to carry the message.

[ZigOtto]

... Sandra got the color of that malady just right, wouldn't you say?

she is insanely talentuous ...
...
now, I cross my fingers, hoping that Gaumont's guys will pay for an e x c e l l e n t translator,
because the text seems to be very peculiar and highly vivid !

[Paul Fierlinger]

now, I cross my fingers, hoping that Gaumont's guys will pay for an e x c e l l e n t translator,
because the text seems to be very peculiar and highly vivid !

I'm quite sure the book has been published in France and 90% of the film's narrative comes directly from the book. It's this contrast of the King's English description of dog biology that attracted me to the story as film material. It will be interesting how the U.S. censors will rate this movie.

I spoke over the phone with the man who heads the film ratings commission in N.Y. to see what he thinks of it. He was bewildered, to say the least. I described how there will be explicit sexual scenes of dogs, combined with innuendos to human sexuality and he asked about language; not a single dirty word! I said. To that he said this will be a first in cinematography but told me that it will most likely qualify for an "R" rating (Restricted to adults, after which comes only "X").

At the focus screening in N.Y. I asked the audience if they would let their children watch this movie and there were a lot of heads nodding and one man spoke out, saying he would like his 9 year old boy to see it.

[ZigOtto]

french translator : Alain Deffosé
Ed: Salvy, 1992, stock sold out ... ,
I've found one specimen (second hand) at a nice price on priceminister.