TUTORIAL: VFX with scale models - part3

In the final part of this tutorial video we look at how to animate the tail rotor blades using Element 3D inside Adobe After Effects, as well as adding realistic heat haze and camera shake. Finally, we add a blockbuster "look" to the picture.
The 3D model of the tail rotor blades can be downloaded here:
tf3dm.com/3d-mo...
And if you would like to model your own 3D blades from scratch, then download Blender and give it a try, its free: www.blender.org...

[@CreativeForceVFX]

Been doing graphic design, photography and fine art for around 15 years. Finally started learning After Effects early in 2014. Your tutorials are some of the most fun that I have found. Thanks very much for the great tutorials. And btw here was my first attempt at this shot. Attack Helicopters on the hunt. Thanks again!

[@IndependentVFX]

Creative Force Thanks, your shot looks great! I posted a comment under it

[@CreativeForceVFX]

IndependentVFX Thanks again for taking the time. Keep the awesome tutorials coming when you have the time :)

[@princewilliams1317]

I just watched all 3 tutorial and I must say I am really impressed. Good Job

[@IndependentVFX]

Thanks!

[@EthanFilms]

It's not everyday that one channel on youtube consistently makes my jaw drop! This is incredible and so convincing! Reminds me of Rambo 3 :)

[@KennyEvansUK]

Really well put together, explained and set out. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

[@IndependentVFX]

Thanks Kenny!

[@exposedshutterphoto]

Outstanding tutorial! Easy to follow, and in depth. Keep up the great work and I look forward in seeing more.

[@cocksmokinclerk]

This is amazing. I'm going to follow your methods for a scene I need to shoot of a ship at night. Looks like loads of fun, can't wait.

[@IndependentVFX]

Thanks Caleb, you are absolutely correct! Dust would add another layer of atmosphere to the shot

[@IndependentVFX]

Element 3D is an amazing plugin! Its especially useful for text animation. Go for it!

[@maturechristians]

You are the man Scott. Awesome work, keep it up I have seen very few works of this caliber any where in the FX community on youtube. Very nice. And thank you very much for this 3 part tutorial.

[@JohnBham79]

Thanks! You really did a great job explaining what you're doing here. Very well thought out. I look forward to watching your other videos.

[@FairlyFamousFilms]

Excellent! Clear, thorough, and intelligent. Best FX tute I've seen in a long time, (apologies to Andrew Kramer). :) Thanks very much for your excellent work.

[@IndependentVFX]

Thanks G Gnome! Be sure to share it. Thanks for watching.

[@FairlyFamousFilms]

IndependentVFX Will do. :)

[@slw825]

One of the best tutorials!! Subscribed :)

[@IndependentVFX]

Thanks!

[@Maniac221]

a footage to download with your Helicopter ml was great !!!

[@dude3d]

This is a great tutorial. I saw this after 9 yrs since it was published 🫡

[@AnimationGoneWrong]

Fantastic tutorial! I'm tempted to purchased Elements 3D, just to pull off a shot like this.

Instead of keyframing the evolution and rotor rotations, you can just use the expression time*value - replace value with a number.

[@jcentracchio]

That was freaking awesome. I have a lot to learn.

[@Christianflorescordova]

This tutorial is Legendary.

[@IndependentVFX]

The shadows on the helicopter were one of the details I didnt cover in the tutorial - but creating them is quite simple. Here is a brief description: - duplicate the helicopter layer and use the "fill" effect to colour it black - make sure this black helicopter layer is above the colour helicopter in the layer stack - adjust the opacity of the black layer to around 10% - then add a wiggle expression to jitter the opacity of this black layer to make it flicker I hope that makes sense

[@drewsandoval]

IndependentVFX thanks so much for adding this note!

[@mrtallas]

Brill, very easy to follow for a newbie like me lol, well done.

[@IndependentVFX]

Steven Tindell Thanks!

[@Asadullah21]

IndependentVFX This is so damn cool thank you for sharing!

[@MARSHOMEWORLD]

Thanks so much; this is all beginning to make a lot more sense to me. I need to be able to communicate in better terminology with my FX artist; so...very helpful indeed. Thank you!

[@LuciSoitArtist]

This is a great tutorial. Thanks!

[@CalebResponds]

great tutorial, I'll have to incorporate something like this in a short film. Have you thought about adding some dust being around by the wind generated by the helicopter? I think it would really push it to the next level.

[@Xtrememous]

MORE TUTORIALS! SO AWESOME

[@dennisetiadi]

Very great! I used this method for a school project. A little suggestion, can you do one with a tank? A scale model or a 3d model perhaps

[@harikk3371]

awsome job dude never seen before like this! so great

[@IndependentVFX]

hari kk Thanks!

[@lisboasuave-theroyalteahou3717]

Very good one! Thank you !!! Waiting for the next one =DD

[@IndependentVFX]

Thanks Kuscheltierfilme! Thats very useful!

[@anbeomseok]

Great!!! thank you for ur tutorial

[@TH3WastedPenguin]

Really great, helped me out a lot. I used Keylight to key instead. Got a better result that way :)

[@schubertstudio]

well done man! realy enjoy your work!

[@IndependentVFX]

Alexander Schubert Thanks Alexander!

[@TheBlockingDeadGM]

More Tutorials!!!! Awesome

[@praveenpk1609]

Great work man .You are creative..

[@KlaskeBuwalda]

This really inspired me to try to do something like that myself! (:

[@yayaprodtm]

Great tutorial, Thank's ....New Frenchies friend

[@dhruvrajsinhjadeja-vfxarti3085]

very nice tutorial

[@chrisdalayap5128]

This is a great tutorial. Can you make a tutorial on explosion with scale models?.

[@notsalad]

Thanks so much for this! i would love to see more tutorials like this. Reminds me a lot of the behind the scenes to the original starwars movies and independence day. Have you experimented with slow motion and crashing things? as well as creating elements? sorry now im just rambling. great stuff!

[@bsrobinson]

Thanks very much! Brilliant!

[@ducazaro1]

awesome tutorial!!!!

[@jilee1721]

Genius.... I lost my word and gain power to work.

[@the_saiyann]

Great work man!

[@IndependentVFX]

I will have to look into that

[@MASTOMOKUCRUSH]

Damn good! Wow.. I have some copter model kits and this is awesome way to make them live. Hahaha..

[@santoshsagar1185]

wow superb..!

[@saishupadhyay7631]

great awesome ness man. Can u make a video on more stuffs toys used for vfx like this helicopter???

[@oh665]

Many thanks for great tutorial.Excellent job.Can you explain how to make engine heat mirage effect from exhaust with After Effects, you didn't make that ? Thanks in advance.

[@IndependentVFX]

Thanks oh665 - I'll have to cover that in a quick tutorial some time. But basically you use the distort > turbulent displace effect and you animate the position and evolution to create the movement. You can also add a slight blur (like 1 or 2 pixels).

[@brynsank]

Ah! The part of the tutorial I was waiting for was the rotor shadows on the helicopter, but it seems that's not included. I saw it in the original clip but it's not there at the end f the tutorial. What technique did you use for that?

[@thex6400]

amazing

[@HGnLCProductions]

awesome

[@starhuntemzanzi229]

thanks a lot dude

[@IndependentVFX]

thanks for watching and commenting!

[@bend1483]

great tutorial.. although the over rotation of the tail rotor bugs me every time I watch it now lol

[@LMDigitalMovies]

NICE:D

[@sh0tiphone]

amazing!!! Thank you!!! Could I do the same thing in Davinci Resolve?

[@IndependentVFX]

Thanks Liubomyr, I dont think so - as far as Im aware Resolve is a tool for color grading and editing. Perhaps Fusion might allow you to this if you want to stay with the Davinci family... otherwise you could try Hitfilm Express or Hitfilm Pro. This example was done in Adobe After Effects

[@sh0tiphone]

@@IndependentVFX In Davinci Resolve Fusion is integrated. So you can colorgrade and do VFX in Fusion in one programme. Thats why I asked about Davinci. So I could do the same thing in Fusion?

[@IndependentVFX]

@@sh0tiphone Im sure you would be able to do it Fusion, it has all the same tools - Im just not sure about importing and animating 3D objects. In After Effects this is done with a plugin called Video Copilot Element 3D. Perhaps there is something similar for Fusion, or maybe Fusion is able to directly import 3D meshes...

[@dundundun763]

can you please make a tutorial about helicopter landing vfx?? please??

[@ahmedfaysal1]

thnx :)

[@johnandrew1905]

this is great, can u add gun fire sequence to that?

[@IndependentVFX]

JOHN ANDREW Thanks John, yes it be super cool to add soem gun fire to the shot - or a similar shot. We will definitely do that at some point in the future.

[@johnandrew1905]

thanks. hey do you have tutorial for cockpit with pilot?

[@tpmatthews69247]

Could you get a link for the background image you used? The mountain image for masking... thanks!

[@IndependentVFX]

Hey Tanner, we havnt made it available - the idea is to get out there and shoot your own stuff. We would love it if you post the result when you are done. What model helicopter are you building?

[@tpmatthews69247]

I'm actually trying it with some 3D modeled helicopters, just to see how that looks.... even thought keeping it practical does help.

[@IndependentVFX]

Im afraid we dont have those images available at this time... but try a Google image search with size set to "large" and try a search for "arid mountains". It gives some pretty similar results.

[@BMVisuals]

can you upload the helicopter footage and write the link please ?

[@joburg76]

Hi can you tell me what version of AE you are using please ..George.

[@IndependentVFX]

George Abernethy Hey George, I am using After Effects CS6. I still havnt made the upgrade onto CC

[@joburg76]

I only have Adobe AE CS4 bit expensive to upgrade to CS5 but thx for the quick reply love your tuts they are the best

[@clashwithbharath7903]

Plz send this app name

[@zacky5026]

too damn realistic O_o

[@IndependentVFX]

Thanks

[@2a.m.studio972]

Thanks to IVFX for their amazing tutorial. Learned a lot in the process of creating it. Take a look: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5yvi6yZfruEeKc

[@thetacticalexperience]

alright well that person disliked to get attention

[@user-zk2wi1nm4b]

excuse me, how to make rotor shadow on helicopter's body ? you didn't make that ^^

[@IndependentVFX]

Yes, you are correct. I forgot to cover this in the video. Basically you make a copy of the helicopter model layer and you make it darker than the original helicopter. Then you animate the opacity of this darker layer to flicker on and off. Thats pretty much it. Thanks for watching

[@user-zk2wi1nm4b]

IndependentVFX thank you so much :^)

[@Alice8000]

sick now u can pick your girlfriend up in your helicopter