creating a sand effect with text
 

I once saw a very nice effect in a movie ("once we were soldiers" or something with mel gibson) ...in the intro of that movie the text was like sand that comes up and get blown away again
does anyone has an idea to create this?

thnx alot :)

ps i'm a complete newbee at animation and effx

?????
 

I'm also a newbie and wondering alot about that kind of effect so will be glad to see someone to answer your post. thank to anyone who can help.

Hi guys! I haven't seen the movie but i'm pretty sure i know what you mean. you should be able to produce something similar using some geometry for your text, and particle emitters...

Use the text tool to type out your letters (in modeler) - remember that if you want individual letters to animate or dissolve by themselves, put each letter in its own layer - otherwise the entire word will disappear at once!

In Layout, select each letter (or word) and in the Properties panel(p) go to the Dynamics tab and select "emitter" from the drop down.

In the Emitter controls, click the Fixed button (at the bottom of the Generator tab) and type in the frame number that you want the sand/smoke particles to appear. Set the nozzle type to Object Surface.

Switch to the Properties>Render tab for the same object, and animate the Dissolve setting to go from 0% to 100% on the same frame number you typed in the Fixed setting for the Emitter.

Add a hypervoxel texture to the emitter in the Volumetrics panel (ctrl f6 - I think!) Repeat for each individual letter/word.

So what this does is: When your letter disappears, the particles will emit from the surface of the object. When it plays through at speed, it will look as though the letters are turning into puffs of smoke or sand - depending on how the Emitter settings are set, what kind of Hypervoxel texture you've applied and how/if you've added Wind effectors to your scene etc. etc.!

It would take pages to explain this in full, and there are probably a few ways of doing this kind of effect, but hopefully something I said will point you in a direction where you can discover a solution! Don't forget - EXPERIMENT!!!
Goodluck Guys!

Cheers! priimate.

hey priimate :)
sry for my late reply ...just noticed that you replied on my question :)

thnx alot on the info ...i'll try what u sugested :)

Thanks man!
 

Hey same here,

Thanks for your help! Will try and of corse expierment.

Thanks!