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Hello to TVPaint forum,

I decided to do a FX layer plane test this weekend based on my old drawing (A flying machine flying through layer of clouds)



Here is my first one, I used multi-planes to animate the movement of the clouds, smoke preset effect with horizontal wind direction for the engine and quicker zooming in and out camera flow.


Here is my second test, the camera is more stable and slower overall. I added flying bird in the composition and shadow on the cloud. I didn't use multi-planes FX on this one. I used motion key to key each layer.


Conclusion, I am happy with the test, I still think I could do it better. I prefer the multi-plane approach a lot more. It gives me more control and feedback. The smoke FX...I don't know how to get it right yet. However, please tear it apart if you can. Please give me your suggestions and a better way of doing it if you can, thanks

Here is my Giphy link if you want to see a larger format https://giphy.com/gifs/xT9IgiqNzUwajvYlHi

Handsome, you have a very pleasant style lam.

Great shot ! I will share it on our social media.

Have you tried following that plane with the camera a bit more? Second shot looks nice, but a bit undecisive. Make the plane slower, but all clouds (including the farthest) faster, while keeping their relative speeds.

I've noticed that I tend to overthink this stuff: each time I try to incorporate more than 1 direction of movement in a multiplane setup, I end up erasing everything else. In this case I'd stick to horizontal movements of everyting only: plane, clouds, camera. I'd eliminate the small vertical movement of the camera as it doesn't add anything and only compromises the illusion.

@Elodie : Thank you! I have stolen the "pleasant style" from studio Ghibli
@Benjamin: Please, share it, thanks!
@slowtiger: yah, the first shot is a bit too quick and camera didn't follow the direction much. That is a good advice! About the second shot, I agree, if I want to have the vertical camera movement to show the depth of the cloud floor, I need to have a better/different cloud layer to show the cloud floor more and have the shadow of the flying vehicle more obvious. I find that without a true story behind it, I ended up trying different options and being indecisive, but thanks for your feedback!

It's so pretty ! I will share in on our Japanese Twitter. I am sure they will appreciate the Ghibli touch

@Lisa : Thanks Lisa, please feel free to share it

Looks incredible. I especially like your color scheme.

@ schwarzgrau: Thanks for your nice comment

I realised there is an old trick to this: moving clouds and plane horizontal only, but give the plane a very small repetitive vertical movement (up down up down). I just remembered old Hannah-Barbera procuctions where they did this all the time (like Jetsons).

@slowtiger: Thanks for the tips, I will try it out for my future tests. Again, I have learned a lot of animation tips and tricks from you guys!

Great tip !