Human to particles

TheRoger · Post by **TheRoger** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 6:00 pm

Is it possible to draw a human who walks and suddenly he becomes to sand pieces and they are blew away by the wind?

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 6:20 pm

Of course that's possible. You'll most likely just need a different program for that.

realsnake · Post by **realsnake** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 9:28 pm

Just like naruto shippuden 1st opening

when gara fades away with particles of sand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18brWn0oaQQ

this was one of my very 1st Anime Studio animations

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 1:56 am

Somewhat like this?

realsnake · Post by **realsnake** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:18 am

yep! this can be done with mask and particle layer in AS.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:25 am

That's exactly how I did it, Real.

TheRoger · Post by **TheRoger** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 2:51 pm

Thanks guys, I will try. Btw it's just like in your animetion synthsin75

TheRoger · Post by **TheRoger** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 3:15 pm

humm... what code do used for particles?

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 5:09 pm

Source height is roughly the height of the character, directions is toward the character, and acceleration is away.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 5:21 pm

Here's my attempt along with a file. I kind of like it. It was fun to try this.

http://www.lowrestv.com/anime_studio/pa ... isolve.mov

(Anime Studio file)
http://www.lowrestv.com/anime_studio/pa ... isolve.zip

I used a few particle layers, not just one as you can see. I then used a mask that followed the parts of the body as the particles fall away.

A cool trick was to "reuse" existing particle layers. I used one of the foot/leg particle layers later for the neck. I used the stomach particle layer for the head. After they are "turned off" I just translated those layers to the spot where they should start and turned them back on (that's the only part of a particle layer you can key frame). You will notice on the key frames that moving a particle layer abruptly will cause it to shoot particles out in the direction of movement so I had to add some extra keys to keep that from happening.

A few things could be done to make it better or more "windy". I was going to duplicate the particle layers and use THEM as masks. This would work well for a sort of "blowing" or dispersing cloud of particles. Use the duplicate particle layer/s as a mask and then use another mask that is drawn but with a lot of extra points around it and use a noisy key frame interpolation to make the edges not uniform and sort of move like the particles. This hand drawn mask would sort of match the dispersion of the particles as well as cover the character.

The dispersing particle layer as a mask (duplicate of the actual particle layer) will make the vanishing or breaking up look more accurate. The rest is just some elbow grease, matching a bigger permanent mask to hide the character.

-vern

arfa · Post by **arfa** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:58 pm

Thanks for the sample file vern. It is useful to have the technique described but I find having an AS file to pick over is so informative.

The bottom line of course is being able to apply the principle to a variety of situations but sometimes getting the head around some of the abstractions can be tricky without such a sample.

thanks - arfa

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 9:28 pm

You're welcome Arfa,

Normally if the technique is "simple" I wouldn't supply a file in the spirit of "training" or teaching, but this is a tricky one. Partly due to particles not having any animated properties. This would be a piece of cake with one particle layer if the properties could be key framed.

I tried animating the points in the particle layer but it would only use the "last" key frame for some reason. I was hoping it would animate the points moving as it generated the particles. Then I could just animate those points moving apart to cover the various widths of the body. It didn't work. I was already interested in this so I kept going with it using more particle layers.

After already going through the trouble of figuring this all out I realized it isn't exactly a simple "beginner" technique.

I was going to use duplicate particle layers as masks but then... well... that would have been REALLY complicated and confusing.

-------

I have a new idea for doing this that popped into my head. Use a "bunch" of particle layers, all with very low particle counts. Spread or space them out roughly around the outline of the character. Orient each particle layer so the emission of the particles radiates outwards from the center of the character.

Then animate each particle layer moving inwards turning them off one at a time as the character dissipates. Use the same type of masking trick as in this example. A rough edged mask that shrinks in following the particles.

-vern