Segement Title: Critique 01 on the Ripple Effect from The MatrixPlot Summary In the Matrix, Neo learns that the world he knows is actually a simulation created by computers. He is the "chosen one," the only human able to overpower the machines in their own environment. The bizarre plot is mostly just a vehicle for cool special effects. The EffectIn this scene, a helicopter crashes into the side of a building as one of the characters swings away from it. Just after impact, a series of ripples can be seen propagating through the glass/metal of the building before it explodes outward. How We Think it Was DoneThis sequence is actually a combination of two separate effects, so we'll discuss each one separately.1. The Ripple Effect We believe the ripple effect was accomplished through the use of displacement maps. A motion-calibrated/controlled camera would've been used to film the scene, so the FX team would've known the exact location of the building wall. A 3d model could be created matching the angles perfectly, and they could perform their distortions on this model. Foreground elements would need to be rotoscoped out and re-inserted on top of the "rippled" building. An animated displacement map would do the trick...something like the approximation seen below. Black values correspond to low points and white values correspond to high points. By filtering the edges you get a smooth, curved fall-off similar to a ripple on the surface of water. Applied to the UV-textured surface of the building, the overall result is cool ripples emanating from the point of impact. Many modern 3D packages can do this for you without even bothering with the intermediary step of creating displacement maps (see below).
2. The Explosion Effect We believe this explosion effect was a combination of live explosion footage and 3D particle effects. There are numerous plugins for most major 3D packages which do just this sort of animation. The building mesh would be divided into circular sections and set off in concentric rings. We view this effect as being much less important to our final project idea than the ripple effect. The effects crew would first film an actual helicopter hitting a building in extreme slow motion. Then, on top of the explosion footage, they could add in the glass peeling out in concentric circles to simulate the following of the ripples. How It Was Really DoneThe effect is mostly done as we predicted. The ripples are computer-generated and the explosion was done with live footage. We were wrong on a couple of points, though. The live explosion was filmed with a miniature helicopter mounted on a green-screen pole. The glass effects are from the actual explosion–they rigged the miniature wall with explosive charges in concentric rings. The actors were caught in green screen and placed over the CG ripple and explosion element.
How This Applies to Our ProjectIn the final project, we are planning to make multiple special effects in a Ping Pong match.During the match, we may apply the ripple effect on our Ping Pong table to exaggerate the strength of the ball. We may also morph the ball to a special object, such as a fire ball, which trigers the ripples on the table when it hits the table. ExperimentIn addition to the displacement map, we also found out a cheap way to achieve this effect. Using non-linear wave deformer provided in Maya, we can get a satisfying ripple effect pretty quickly. Here is the result of our experiment: (higher resolution video can be found here)
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