A wip of one of the sequences of a full lenght animation I've been working for a while. Just finished doing the torpedo effects. Done in LW 2019. Torpedo is just a point light with basically lens flares coming out of the center, then color graded and edited in post.
Model by Alex Klemm.
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what is your torpedo FX element? a sprite? combination of lens flares?
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Thanks for the tip! I'll look for clips to see what it looks like and try to mimic it. The torpedo is a point light in LW, with random streaks coming out of it (a feature of the lens flare effect in LW). The streaks change rotation based on movement of the light.
The rest of the look of the torpedo was done in video post, mostly color grading, and adding a glow which helped bring it up more. It's still not a true rendition to the torpedo, as I noticed the flare streaks looked sharper and had a different behaviour in generations (the movie), but they seem to vary between shows, so I decided to go with something that's similar at least.
The white flash i was referring to was actually a muzzle flash itself as well, i think that needs to be added:
It changes to white in the CG era, but all the 90s trek ships had a muzzle flash as part of thier torpedo launch, i think even TSFS did as well.
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Thanks for the feedback. I'll tone it down. I looked at the video, and I think you're refering to the anamorphic flare happening in parts like 2:41 and 0:55 etc. If that's the effect it's very cool. I'll do another update with it added on.
So, I'll add a lens flare light source at the torpedo tube, which will be keyframed to flash for a second or less before the photon(s) fires. By keyframing the flare intensity in the light properties for each light (torpedo) that leaves the tubes, I'll be able to have more control over the look and behaviour of it.
I was just overcomplicating it with the curves method before. This will work faster and better.
In comparison with the tv version, mine seems to be a bit too sharp, but I can blur it a bit in post. Thanks for the heads up, I'd have completely missed it otherwise. It does make the firing effects a lot better!
I think maybe lower the intensity or the size of the flash a bit, but as you said, you can handle that in post.
I believe i have the TNG era photon torpedo SFX in a few forms if you'd like a more "TNG/Voyager" canon SFX clip.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15C2zMHDIkfZuR_vZLgcDbqFAMRO8C8Ja/view?usp=sharing
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Thanks man, and thanks for the audio clips! I just downloaded them. I should make a thread about this whole animation since this sequence it's only one of many.
Awesome!