Specifically, I'm trying for the effect under a VTOL aircraft on landing or takeoff. Preferably within Poser, but postwork tips would be gratefully received as well.

I've tried searching for 'haze' and 'exhaust' in the forums, but haven't come up with much.

Thanks.

Message edited on: 01/03/2006 09:43

Particles 2.3 at Daz might be what your looking for to work in Poser.

for a post-work solution I have used successfuly the glass filter in photoshop to achieve this look. I would copy the image to a new layer, apply this filter with whatever degree of smoothness seems appropriate, then I would mask out the parts that should not be affected, and then play with opacity levels till it looks right. Rawn

Thanks to both of you. Particles looks great, but it's a bit expensive; I think I'll go for the postwork option.

You could try using a plane (or maybe cylinder) primitive that is mostly transparent, has refraction, and is distorted by using turbulance to drive the displacement (or bump) input.

Message edited on: 01/03/2006 12:41

...another thought to the post work. You could also apply a little motion blur to this glass distorted layer to give it a bit of vertical "rising" morion"

I've used NRuddock's trick several times. Works nicely, though this image represents a different sort of "exhaust".... I built a bumpy cylinder, then applied a Spots node to the transparency channel.

Attached Link: http://ockhamsbungalow.nstemp.com/MiscProps/Exhaust.zip

Here's the PP2 file, if you want a starting point.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=1093857&Start=1&Artist=deci6el&ByArtist=Yes

Here's an example of the glass filter in Photoshop when I needed some air turbulance. It's fine for a single frame. If you're doing an animation you'll need to go to After Effects or something like it. I would Always recommend using some kind of 2D noise displacement over trying to do this with particles as the time investment for similar results would not be worth it. (IMO)

Another way to do it is get SteamZ from DAZ it is one of the new prop sets from JPeter (Jepe), this or ThrowZ could most likely help you. A new set called FlameZ is due out anyday now, they are easy to use, and will give you exactly the effect you want without muss or fuss. Just a thought. Antonio

I'd do it post-render in Photoshop (or similar). It is an optical effect, after all, and will effect everything behind it, not just close things. Here is a Ocean Ripple distortion filter applied on a feathered selection.

To beat this dead horse senseless, the problem with nruddock's technique and ockham's example is that they add new color information when you want none. The girl is not distorted at all, like my example or Jim's. SteamZ and ThrowZ will do the same thing, add more color without perturbing the image itself. SteamZ could be used if you used it only as a displacement on the image but save yourself the moolah and hassle and post it.