Missile Trail Beginnings

Hey this will be the start of the missile trail tutorial. So now a disclaimer, I'm not an expert, at least not in the all knowing sense. I've worked on this type of effect but have not mastered it. I will be dispensing my knowledge here. I guess the thought is that in teaching I will learn more than soaking up knowledge from others. That said doing is important.

So where to start on the missile trail. Well for one, close Maya. We'll get to that part later. When starting a project you need to know where you are going before you start making a ton of particles. I know it sounds straight forward but it is really critical and most artists skip this step. So the first step is to look at reference. Now that we have google and youtube there really is no excuse for not doing this.

Here's what I found in less than 5 minutes.

So yeah, this is a good starting point. Things to take note of are the length of the trails, the speed of dissipation, the colors of the smoke, turbulence in the trail, length of the fire, shadows and lighting. What will make the missile trail most believable is making it move correctly and shade it correctly. It is important to pay attention to how light interacts with the smoke trails.

I hope this gives you a good idea where to start. Technical stuff later.

-Calibrix