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Hey guys,
I would like to create a photo for my NIGHTHAWK project similar to this one:


Any idea how to create the smoke?
Since I'm an ex-cigarette-smoker, using cigarette smoke won't be an option, so something non-cigarette/cigar created?
Thanks
Klaus

Dry ice? Or a photoshop/gimp shader/filter?

Steam might work , try boiling a kettle or running a bath.
is it for a photo or as an actual in game thing , if the former then photoshoping like perkustin would be the easiest. if its for the latter try using cotto wool balls picked out so they are nice and fluffy

do you know those shops that have the little dragon statues and wizard staues that have water features and a smoke machine? try that.

"räuchermännnchen" i think you will find them somehwere near your place or failing that visit a nice pundshop like nanu nana^^ there you will get some "räucherstäbchen"...

as for staying smoke for a model...you could go the 2D way and make a clearsheat cloud of smoke with washes and such things i guess...as for the 3D aproach... well as neil101 said^^

neil101 wrote:Steam might work , try boiling a kettle or running a bath.
is it for a photo or as an actual in game thing , if the former then photoshoping like perkustin would be the easiest. if its for the latter try using cotto wool balls picked out so they are nice and fluffy

I wouldn't try that for two reasons:
- the steam will mess up your paintwork if you leave the model too long in it.
- The steam will most probably condensate on your models, creating little droplets of water, which will mess up the look.

Dry ice (solid state carbondioxide) would certainly give the desired effect, but might be hard and expensive to come by, also to properly store it you'd need a freezer that cools below -56C (the sublimation temp of the stuff). Never store it in a regular freezer, it will make your freezers thermostat go ballistic.

I think your best bet would be to use a smoke machine (like the ones they use in a disco). There are some reasonably priced ones on the market. They won't put out a huge volume, but for this purpose they'll more that suffice. They use a specially designed liquid to operate which is not too expensive either. If you don't want to invest in such a machine, you could rent one. I used to do that regularly when I still was a student and we were throwing a party. I think we payed around 15 euros for it for 2 days, that was including the liquid.

Actual "smoke": a small fog machine would work.

Klaus, not Santa wrote:Hey guys,
I would like to create a photo for my NIGHTHAWK project similar to this one:


Any idea how to create the smoke?
Since I'm an ex-cigarette-smoker, using cigarette smoke won't be an option, so something non-cigarette/cigar created?
Thanks
Klaus

In photoshop, use Filter > Render > Clouds. Use the lasso with a feather option (depending on your photo's resolution) and select the parts you want to keep, Invert the selection, delete, then drop the layer opacity just a tinge.

You would only need the dry ice for a short amount of time, i have seen people use it from a thermos, no idea where they got it....

Thanks all,

yes it seems that Photoshop is the best and easiest way to acomplish it.
Really I was looking at the NIGHTHAWK model with the female pilot in fron, on the new elevator base (more images soon) and thought how cool it would look in this kind of setting, with the smoke and stuff.
I will only need it for the "publication" image - speak DAKKA and CMON Gallery, so Photoshop should suffice.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions and ideas.
klaus

dry ice is hard to pick up with out a flash and that will screw up the pics . Try a small smoke grenade that they use for paintball/airsoft there only a few euros each and give a nice white smoke .