Overview
Director Chris Merrill needed visual effect cigarette smoke added to a cigarette that was practically unlit. Initial aims considered cartoonish, hand-drawn smoke reminiscent of Chuck Jones animations and gradually we found our way toward mimicking the appearance of real smoke.
Chuck Jones's "Pudgy and Grunge" from Mrs. Doubtfire served as initial visual reference for cigarette smoke
Approach
As we explored possibilities for how the cigarette smoke could be animated, we considered hand-drawn options to more digitally assisted concepts. Being that the budget and schedule were limited and hand-drawn animations lock in the motion lest the entire process start again in order to revise, we decided to run with a Trapcode Particular solution in After Effects that allowed for continuous tweaking of a tracked emitter. Further processing the animation, blurring, clamping, and stroking, we found a physically plausible rendition of cigarette smoke.
Animated smoke tests, a crude vector shape animation and without tracked motion and a processed and tracked emitter
Style option variety for animated smoke from cartoonish and suggestive toward more realistic.
Ultimately, the cartoonish depiction of smoke felt too distracting as it drew too much attention away from the subject. The more realistic approach was chosen for the final delivery. Note the responsiveness of the smoke to atmospheric shifts such as when a hand waves to clear the air around the subject.
Final composite of animated smoke
Reflection
This project reminded of the need for built-in adaptability to the process of media making. Often, the details of a creative vision can change drastically (which should be expected and encouraged!) and it was fortunate to have had the foresight from various projects from my past to inform the process in facilitating the evolving scope of this project. This kept the project within budget too!
