The Digital Matte Painting Handbook

Moving the Smoke

The scene is coming alive, but there is a discordant note: the smoke from the chimneys doesn’t move, and it looks painted on the sky. An advanced technique will add motion to the plumes.

Fractal Noise

Add a new black solid just above the Smoke layer by choosing Layer ⇒ New ⇒ Solid. Make it the same size as the comp, and name the solid FractalNoise. With the layer selected, choose Effect ⇒ Noise & Grain ⇒ Fractal Noise. Doing so creates a big cloud of chunky noise that you’ll use to displace and move the smoke (Figure 13-37). Move the solid with the Fractal Noise effect applied to it down in the Timeline so it’s just above the Smoke layer.

Figure 13-37: Fractal noise over a black solid

Displacement Maps

Turn off the visibility ...