candlelight

[cassius]

Whats the best way to simulate the flame from a candle?

[macklebee]

are you asking what material to use or what command to use? an emitter of course and then just look at the firepit code for an example of the fire emitter... granted you can always use your own textures...

[LordHippo]

I think a high quality flame, pre rendered to an animated texture gets you the best result.

Also you can combine that with a point light.

[cassius]

Thanks for replies. I tried an emitter but it didn't look right.

[Naughty Alien]

..as lordhippo said..best way I was able to pull off (visually) was combination with captured, real candle flame, used as a animated texture on billboard and supported by point light..it does incredible job..

[macklebee]

i guess it depends on the scene and just how critical the candle look is... personally i always found it weird to see in some games the fire being the only thing that looks realistic... also seems like a lot of work for something that just might be a background item... but I would be curious to hear how you guys are creating animated textures ? a specific tool that you are using? how would you capture a real candle flame?

 

i dunno... i guess i am doing something wrong because i thought this looked acceptable for what i needed...

[cassius]

That looks good enough for me. I think I will photograph a real candle. my camera has a macro setting, and use it as a texture.

[paramecij]

You can get same or even better results if you just "paint" the flame by hand.. it's not hard to do - just an oval shape or two filled with a nice gradient.. And a couple of frames of animation isn't a lot of work either.

 

Here's an example of what can be made in less than a minute..

 

 

But if you want more smooth animation (and more realistic movement) then I think it's best to use procedural generated flame, there are numerous texture generators that can do this, or even more specialized tools (strictly for flame effects or particles in general).. You can also generate some nice effects (with particles or other plug-ins) in your favorite modeling package (3dmax, maya, etc..), pull the camera way back, narrow the FOV, and render out frames with perfect alpha channels... Capturing real fire and masking it out can be tricky, best bet is to shoot it against a black background I would imagine, or one can just use one of the many stock video options (there's also some free ones).

 

I think I will photograph a real candle. my camera has a macro setting, and use it as a texture.

Don't do this, my friend damaged his camera this way... You can just zoom in on the flame instead - it's better because you get more DOF and a more flattened perspective (both of which are good for textures)

 

 

 

-- EDIT --

Just for fun I also tried making one from photos.. with black it's easy to mask out, but the more transparent blueish tint is hard to preserve..

[cassius]

usefull advice,Thanks all.

[Naughty Alien]

..here are some relatively good looking candle animation frames, loopable..feel free to use it (as well as anyone)...no selling, of course

 

..I hope it helps..

 

http://www.mediafire.com/?5315aq7r525f5tv

[cassius]

Thanks again. Take a look at it tommorow.