On Fire
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Launch particleIllusion 3.0 and find or create an appropriate fire emitter. There are many to choose from both the installed emitters and the freely downloadable emitter libraries that Wondertouch.com releases each month.
For this particular effect, I really wanted the statue to not only be on fire but to also emit a fair amount of smoke too, so I selected the Fire with Smoke emitter from the Fire_01 library. [an error occurred while processing this directive]
With the emitter selected, click once in the StageWindow to create the emitter, and then Right+Click with your mouse and change the emitter to an Area Emitter.
You will then need to resize the emitter to be the same size (or larger than) the statue. To make this easier (not to mention making the effect look more realistic), I loaded the statue.tga image as the layer image, then resized the fire emitter to match.
Next, right click on the Fire emitter in the Hierarchy Window and select Properties.
This will open the Properties Window for the current emitter. Note: Unless you want to affect the original emitter, you should make it a habit of adjusting the properties of an applied emitter.
When I found out how easy it was to emit particles from a shape, I slapped myself on the head. It is sitting right there in front of you, but for some reason, many users fail to notice it. In the Emissions section of the Property Window you will notice a checkbox for Mask Emitters with Image(s).
Place a check in the box, and then use the Options button to navigate to your still image (or image sequence if video) and select.
Finally, click OK to close the Properties Window and play your composition. You will see that your particles now emit from the source object.
The only thing left to do is to make adjustments to the life and size of the particles for a convincing effect.
The more you experiment and play with particleIllusion 3.0, the easier it will be to create your own unique effects that render in very little time, but look great.
If you would like to read my review of particleIllusion 3.0, click here. If you would like to find out more about PI3.0, download the free trial, or download additional emitter libraries, be sure to visit www.wondertouch.com
When not working deep in the labs of the DMN Central Division testing the latest and greatest software/hardware products Stephen Schleicher can be found at the local university teaching a few courses on video and web production. He can be reached at schleicher@mindspring.com. You can also visit him on the web at www.mindspring.com/~schleicher
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