In the film, they used a built in 'pool' above the set and then used four point-light sources - lit from a position higher than the pool surface - all aiming at downwards angles. The waveform pattern reveals the depth of the water.
I thought the same as well, I noticed the large rectangular area at the top of the set and immediately thought that’s where the ripple effect was coming from.
The original was a masterpiece, the legend Syd Mead designed the cars and the architecture, Harrison scrolling through the pictures was an amazing feat of mesh between mechanical and technological worlds, that was an 80s film way before CGI became standard
@@RogueNoblevery true, I ended up watching 2042 first and when I seen the original, it seems like 2042 was a reduced / lite version of the initial film in every aspect.
I wonder what kind of look you'd get by recording some ripples in a studio (or have them made digitally) and then using an old DLP projector to project the desired effect onto a wall?
I could see that working, but with something like a laser projector you'd still have addition illumination from where the shadow effect isn't. Sort of like a backlight on an LCD in a dark scene glowing. Might change the look of the effect. Also I'm a huge fan!
Multiple people have mentioned the projector option! Someone sent me a video of it working pretty well, although slightly different approach without really clear ripples. Maybe I’ll approach the effect in the future and see if I can get a projector style effect working! Also, loved your realistic sunlight video! We’re considering making our own realistic sunlight setup!!
@@WilliamHBakerfocusing the projector is the main challenge especially if you’re not trying to hit a flat surface. Flat surface though? Short Throw for sure would do it
@@WilliamHBaker ruclips.net/video/vn7_ctQjqhE/видео.htmlsi=GuCC_62AyvXzSxw7&t=240 Overhead projectors have a dial which I think sort out the blurriness. Mind you I know little to knothing about optics
You could use a large mirror to bounce the caustics to where you want. If you positioned the spot light under the tank on the floor with the tank three feet above it, then suspend a reflective surface (like a flat mylar sheet lol) at a 45 degree angle above the tank, you can project those caustics onto a wall without hauling the water super high. Awesome video!
That theoretically could work!! Although nailing all the angles would take some time, that’s a really neat idea! If I ever do water caustics again I’ll probably include some more creative rigging!
I’m just a photo special effect hobbyist, and I’m very glad that you tested and learn form what you are doing for each shot is what most amazing about cinematography and photography…. It’s Experience! Also, cool fact… you can make your shots of the water by filling it more or drawing it out during the shots which might made a cool fade in or fade out focus shot…
Shooting a light into a point source into a satellite dish with foil on it will also make the light look even further away, which gives it a similar effect to the sun. Sorta like a parabolic reflector.
watching this was kind of frustrating. he's playing around with light as an artist, when IMO the situation calls for arming yourself with scientific knowledge and vocabulary. but he gets there in the end so respect
I do want to create a similar setup to DIYperks with the parabolic reflector, but I don’t know the first thing about where to find a satellite dish. Additionally, doing it that way creates perfectly parallel light. Perfectly parallel means that the shadow of the water is small, and therefore small effect on the wall. The non-parallel nature of a light source really close to the tank is integral to scaling up the effect onto the wall.
can't get over how great these videos are, as someone who loves cinematography but also has barely any money i love how you try to keep everything cost effective but also show that you don't even need alot of money too get great shots
I found it so discouraging when I was starting out to see these crazy costly and advanced setups on RUclips and then trying to translate it to my budget. I want to try and keep things cost effective on my channel to encourage young filmmakers to experiment with what they have! Nothing is more frustrating to hear than “we shot this on a $10,000 cinema camera but you could use your phone”. I’m sure one day I’ll want to stretch myself and learn more with the bigger budgets and resources, but for now I’ll experiment!
simple solution: buy 10kg of liquid mercury (only ~$12000 dollars) and project the light source off of that. what you do with all that delicious mercury afterwards is up to you 😉🥴
They may be hard to come by now but the old classroom Elmo projectors teachers used pre internet for showing notes can be adapted for this if you use a smaller light source as you have found. They can focus the effect and are what they used for the psychedelic colored oil backgrounds during concerts. Used to find them at resale shops dirt cheap. Brings me back to diy & film School days.
I've now watched your last 3 videos -found through the Oppenheimer one, of course. I used to be a pseudo film-maker -as quality-compared to the incredible work you're doing here- and I don't even work on this any more. BUT, all of this is so fucking dope and interesting to watch, from the editing and storytelling to the final results, that it's still super worth it to me. Well done. Props x1000.
7:40 rip. The whole time I was internally thinking, you probably want a tiny light source. Why are you using an area light? He probably knows more than I do... oh wait. This video is really cool! I do a lot of VFX so caustics are a very expensive and difficult effect to compute, and generally a pain to work with. It's really interesting to see how the challenges are in real life are different but still difficult. This is an awesome channel! I can't wait to see what you put out next :)
I'm absolutely loving your movie scene recreations. Hopefully your channel will grow along with your budget so you can tackle more challenging recreations. My suggestion would be to recreate older movies where practical effects were the norm. Think 90s nostalgic films like Independence Day, Dante's Peak and Stargate, or classics like 1974's Earthquake or the iconic 1956 The Ten Commandments etc.
You could also do it with any shaped space by using recordings of caustics you want and throwing those on the wall with a projector. That way you can make the ripples clearer and bigger too. You won't get any distortion, even when the room is very small, the caustics will fill the entire space.
Ayyyyy i did something similar years ago for a "psychedelic shoot". We did everything similar to your shooting light through fish tank version, shot light through water source, used mylar/reflective screens/mirrors to achieve angles. But heres the key difference - we filled up clear lilos! Im not sure what you call them in america, water loungers, floaty things etc....But clear floating devices - pick them up for like $20 new, or if youre even cheaper buy lots second hand. We used all sorts of shapes, long loungers, square, circle and donut ones. Where you normally blow air, you fill with water sometimes you have to cut a bigger hole, some completely full, some half full as theyd break, some only a small bit full. Be sure to also put additional cover on the plug. We had some that had handles and they worked the best as you could attach them to rope and hang them anywhere. Don't put them too close to your halogens or hot bulbs, as they will warp and eventually burst the plastic! But seriously you can get some great effects this way!
What a BEAUTIFUL video dude! first time I didn`t skipped any part (not even clicked in 5 seconds annoucements) you had all my attention from the first to the last seconds.
as an amateur photographer and the problem and solution being so obvious from the start, seeing your epiphany and confusion throughout the process was eye opening as to how when we don't know the problem and solution we could easily get lost in a sea of confusion...
Hey guys, as someone who has moved a lot of stuff. Big & small. A 4 wheel dolly is absolutely the best. Everyone should have at least 1 and 2 means you can move anything with ease. One caveat is steps. Though. With all your projects you are doing you will get so much use.
I am not at all in any related field of work but i just cant believe that there was zero mention of a lens, even when it comes to effectively turning a bigger light source into a smaller source
Film production has much larger budgets, so they could do practical effects and actually build it out. Your tests were great. I did something similar in college -- took a clear pyrex baking pan similar to your aquarium, shined a light from beneath using a blue filter, and a portable fan to create ripple above the water. Took a felt sheet with a hole cut out as a backdrop, and ta-dah, lit a "submarine" scene.
Word is, they shot with 10k Fresnel lamps, 2 per side, 8 in total. The water rig was indeed up high and Billy O'Leary, the Gaff, made special barn doors to flag the light into symmetry. The bottom of the water tank was black! The ripple pattern was induced by sound, not a fan.
I love that this effect is something that'd make me go "just shoot a well lit orange scene add the shadows in CG" but then no it's not an option because caustics are like the nemesis of 3d rendering engines.
I've been brainstorming how to create this effect in my garden!!! This confirms many of the ideas I think will work to cast light onto a wall. I want to build a grey basalt lava tile wall with a narrow pool between it and a cactus rock garden. Sunshine in the day, and solar spotlights at night time. Going for an at home Museo de Antropologia Mexicana display wall. Love the vid.
Projection mapping would be far more effective, and quite inexpensive. Simply film the effect from a swimming pool bottom… use After Effects to increase contrast and choose whatever color you want, and project it onto whatever wall, floor or ceiling you want. Bingo. Done.
As a OG Blade Runner fan (saw the original in the theater) I applaud your work. Starting in the mid 1960's and spanning nearly 40 years, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History here in Washington D.C. that used water caustics to great (almost extreme) effect. The West Hall of the museum, on the main floor, was dedicated to sea life. This extremely large hall (50-ish feet wide, 60 feet high and easily 200 feet long IIRC) was intentionally kept extremely dark to mimic the deep sea, with a life size model of a 98 foot long Blue whale suspended from from the ceiling along with many other creatures. In that ceiling, the only main light sources were several (four IIRC) shallow pans of water about 1x2 feet that gently rocked back-and-fourth on armatures. Above them sat the blue lights that projected the caustic effect all over the dark hall dozens of feet below. Even as a child in the 70's the effect mesmerized me. I would quietly sit in this section for sometimes an hour or more while listening to the whale song recording that was continuously piped over the PA. I found it so intriguing that at 9 or 10 years old I actually successfully copied it in the dining room. I held a flashlight above a pyrex baking pan filled with blue water (easter-egg dye) sitting on the glass-topped wicker dining room table. The effect was pretty good if I do say so myself. (lol) As an adult (and a certified diver for over 35 years now) I can say that the sea life hall effect was extremely close to real life deep water given the technology and knowledge at the time it was built. Sadly, in the early 2000's, the whale was taken down and scrapped, and the entire exhibit hall was demolished and "updated" to fit more modern sensibilities (read: zero personality). So the only way to see the exhibit is through old pictures. I'm sure the Smithsonian's website should have something. Just wanted to say thanks for triggering this old guy's good memories.
Thank you for sharing that! It’s always cool to me to peer into someone’s life! I imagine that experience (along with some others) is what led you to become a diver?
Dropping the spotlight allows for a TON more indirect light bounces and a tonnn more angles for the light to reach the water. These additional angles are what allow it to maintain the rich effect despite less direct light
an overhead projector solves this problem and allows you to controll where the image is pointed at and where it is in focus. All you need is an inch of water in a glass container and an old school overhead projector.
I used to have a lamp that was made to create the effect and it worked great. It's kinda like a lava lamp but instead of wax it had dozens of little mirrors and a tiny pump in the bottom that made a water jet that agitated the water and made the mirrors whirl around and reflect the light from the base. It was awesome and I designed my room around the effect, painting the walls blue and hanging fish decorations from the ceiling
This video is a life saver! I had been attempting to do this effect myself after having found no solution on-line. I realized that the t would take a larger column of water to get the lensing effect so I started researching how those galaxy projector lamps create aurora borealis effect with a lens
Nice effect...years ago i built something like this in my house but i just used a large open fish tank set below a southern window the same refractions are produced at the reflected angle...so mine are always on the ceiling like in a cave that has sunlight bouncing off water in the entrance. Good job isolating the approach though without needing a whole pool to do it. Your shots of the same effect in other scenarios (outside) where super as they appear more like an individual power rather than an ambient caustic effect. Thanks for sharing.
some ideas: -give some tension to the mylar with a frame, induce the "ripples" sonically with a subwoofer plus frequency generator, or a lego contraption that tucks the sheet at a certain spot with low frequency. -mercury pond :D -record the fricking effect solo from shooting through the watertank then composite
It's kinda dumb how I learned how to do this. It was around 1995-1997. I lived in Miami, so we'd get really hot summers, which required water on hand pretty much at all times. Being close to the beach means growing attached to the way it looks, and where there's a beach there's an aquarium. My dad took us once, and what I was fascinated about was the light reflection in the large blue rooms with massive water tanks. I'd stare at them or dance on them. While outside with a glass cup of water I sat near the sidewalk outside our apartment building, and I did that thing kids do to make their fingers into a telescope. I stared down into the cup, but noticed something shining at the very bottom - only it wasn't the cup, it was beneath the cup. So I played around a few times and found out that if I made my hands into a 👌🏻 over the cups surface, I'd get a clean ripple effect onto my skin, kinda like the ones in aquariums. I had this hobby growing up called 'shadow play art', where I'd take pictures throughout the day of the wall, as there was a large tree outside that would make beautiful effects, especially when it rained. The ripple effect would bounce off the leaves, through the window, and onto the wall. Fast forward to Blade Runner 2049, and when I saw that room, I knew exactly how it was done. I was immediately envious because I had always wanted to try that with my spaces, but I only ever lived in apartments. I knew that in order to successfully execute it like in the film, you'd need to take a chunk of the ceiling out, raise a thick piece of glass, and rest water atop it, then have some form of light source which would require more space between the water and the ceiling. In other words, this would need to be a custom build that did no structural damage into a room of a certain size. Expensive and again, you'd need your own home and someone who knows how to prevent mold during construction. I'm glad I wasn't wrong. I've always wanted to remake this after the aquarium trip as a child, but knew that it wasn't something simple.
I have this effect in a part of my hallway, I just used a light reflected on plastic mirror pieces on the opposite wall. Fair enough it doesn't move like sctual water but my hall is so small I've used tons of different visual and lighting effects to make it interesting. Plus, my cat LOVES IT!
There is another way that produces really clear pattern by focusing them - it is to use both reflective surface and put water on it. The easiest way is to get a plastic tub and glue a reflective film on it or at least paint it white. The water is also needs to be disturbed constantly with a mixer or some kind of mechanical oscillator.
Besides using a smaller closer light source, use a smaller tank and fill it with ethanol. The much lower surface tension will give you smaller ripples. Also add some curves to the edge of the container so you dont get only square caustics.
Shoot through water, record it and then overlay it ontop of your video, and make sure you have enough headroom so that the water caustics aren’t being blocked, or project the video over the heads while your shooting
Nice work! And all through I was silently screaming "Point light source!" BTW, there is no need to have the water up so high, just shine a light down through it into a mirror below to reflect the pattern to a wall or ceiling. Extra points for the mirror being mylar...
You could project the light through a shallow water tank set low (behind the couch) over a mirrored surface. The light passes through the water/tank and onto the mirrored surface which then reflects the caustics up onto the wall. You could then avoid the overhead suspended tank problem.
A swimming pool with lights makes the same affect on the ceiling and walls. In the movie it's basically an upside down pool acting as a window through a solid ceiling. Your experiments did not have a wall to block the excess light and funnel the remaining light through the bottom of the fish tank. A delicate thin glass dish sitting on a black box that has a light inside will give off the desired affect (changes a little with glass thickness and water depth).
People with observation skills will see things like this all the time it’s fairly easy to assess what causes it if you continue your observation once noticing it. 💋
Bouncing a strong light off a wet surface reflects the texture of said surface. It’s not the same thing as water caustics but it ‘s a similarly cool look if you’re okay with a still background.
The thing about LED based point soures is, that they‘re still using a rather large „light emitting Surface“. This is because those lights use a „cob led array“. The best type of lightsource for this is probably a HMI, because they have a verry tiny lightsource. Speaking of expensive gear: a movinglight with a rotating gobo wheel, a water glass gobo and a continus Animation wheel should do the trick very well.
You needed a big mirror to project the effect like an overhead projector. I think the effect in the movie was very small scale and used a projection technique as we used to years ago for light shows at rock concerts.
Well sweet now I know I can do something kind of neat with my 8 gallon square aquarium, just put fresh water it in it and place it in a spot in the room and just leave the pump running to disturb the water and shine a cool small light source through it
You might have luck adding a fresnel lens to your spotlight to columate the light. This will effectively give your light a focus of infinity like light from the sun.
I will for sure be doing more!! I have an idea for a video we’ll probably do in the spring that’s going to be a really interesting and unique effect that I’m sure will contain many failed attempts😅
You know what can work really cheap is a crackled glass solar light that spins a geometric triangle dome inside the crackled glass. Not entirely like water but perhaps some ideas.
Haha carrying water in a flat tub is a little silly. You can carry it to the location dry, and a bottle or a bucket to fill it up, much quicker safer and easier. Ideally also grab either a hose in case siphoning is an option, or a scoop/cup and a funnel.
there's a MRT station in Singapore, when you took the escalator coming out of the underground to the upper floor , they had a glass roof with water continuously running, so the water shadow ripples all over the place
About the fish tank rigging: when I put heavy(ish) lights on booms, I always add counter weight on the opposite side. I've had 4foot kino flo 4banks above talent's heads, as well as small HMI's and 1ks with soft box (yes, I'm old). I've never had an accident with them. I think having an arm on each side was a great choice, but it could be a little safer still. Great video, BTW, I think I'll give this a try soon.
Acrylic box that's hollow like a fish tank but only 1 inch thick and possibly sealed. A single LED cob. A few thousand lumens will do, like one out of a flashlight. Black plastic hood at whatever the best height is for the LED. Small heatsink and fan for cooling. Put it all together and now you have a leakproof water reflection light that just needs to be level to work properly. could even put a small bumping mechanism in there to keep the reflections going
c47 down the milar, let it have some slack, and then point a gentle fan to the mylar, possibly coming at it as if the mylar is a wing cutting the stream of air in half, it might ripple like waves.especially if you disturb one side of the wind hitting the mylar creating some turbulence.
In the film, they used a built in 'pool' above the set and then used four point-light sources - lit from a position higher than the pool surface - all aiming at downwards angles. The waveform pattern reveals the depth of the water.
That was my guess too! Multiple lights on one pool of water.
That’s exactly what i thought as soon as he showed the shot
I thought the same as well, I noticed the large rectangular area at the top of the set and immediately thought that’s where the ripple effect was coming from.
@@WilliamHBaker also important piece, is that the crew used small planks or whatever they had to create waves in rhythm.
Blade runner 2049 is really a masterpiece in set design and cinematography
Meh, watch the original. 2049 is like a minimalist version of it.
The original was a masterpiece, the legend Syd Mead designed the cars and the architecture, Harrison scrolling through the pictures was an amazing feat of mesh between mechanical and technological worlds, that was an 80s film way before CGI became standard
Roger Deakins is an absolute legend.
@@RogueNoblevery true, I ended up watching 2042 first and when I seen the original, it seems like 2042 was a reduced / lite version of the initial film in every aspect.
I thought 2042 is better at cinematography @@RogueNoble
Man I became a big fan after watching your Oppenheimer recreation. Your hard work and persistence is just crazy! Keep doing this man!
Exactly the same for me 👍👍👍
That was incredible.
Thank you! I'm excited to keep making RUclips videos for sure! I've got some cool ideas in the works!
Yup totally agreed he is too hardworking
Agree👌💯💯
I wonder what kind of look you'd get by recording some ripples in a studio (or have them made digitally) and then using an old DLP projector to project the desired effect onto a wall?
I could see that working, but with something like a laser projector you'd still have addition illumination from where the shadow effect isn't. Sort of like a backlight on an LCD in a dark scene glowing. Might change the look of the effect. Also I'm a huge fan!
Multiple people have mentioned the projector option! Someone sent me a video of it working pretty well, although slightly different approach without really clear ripples. Maybe I’ll approach the effect in the future and see if I can get a projector style effect working! Also, loved your realistic sunlight video! We’re considering making our own realistic sunlight setup!!
@@WilliamHBakerfocusing the projector is the main challenge especially if you’re not trying to hit a flat surface. Flat surface though? Short Throw for sure would do it
I think a traditional overhead projector instead of digital would probably work well
@@WilliamHBaker
ruclips.net/video/vn7_ctQjqhE/видео.htmlsi=GuCC_62AyvXzSxw7&t=240
Overhead projectors have a dial which I think sort out the blurriness. Mind you I know little to knothing about optics
I wish I could have the through water effects in the movie just constantly playing on the surfaces in my art room forever.
thats unironically so real
You could use a large mirror to bounce the caustics to where you want. If you positioned the spot light under the tank on the floor with the tank three feet above it, then suspend a reflective surface (like a flat mylar sheet lol) at a 45 degree angle above the tank, you can project those caustics onto a wall without hauling the water super high. Awesome video!
That theoretically could work!! Although nailing all the angles would take some time, that’s a really neat idea! If I ever do water caustics again I’ll probably include some more creative rigging!
I did wonder why they didnt just put a mirror below or above the tank instead of trying to raise it up high and faff with the lights.
Smart
I’m just a photo special effect hobbyist, and I’m very glad that you tested and learn form what you are doing for each shot is what most amazing about cinematography and photography…. It’s Experience!
Also, cool fact… you can make your shots of the water by filling it more or drawing it out during the shots which might made a cool fade in or fade out focus shot…
Shooting a light into a point source into a satellite dish with foil on it will also make the light look even further away, which gives it a similar effect to the sun. Sorta like a parabolic reflector.
watching this was kind of frustrating. he's playing around with light as an artist, when IMO the situation calls for arming yourself with scientific knowledge and vocabulary. but he gets there in the end so respect
I do want to create a similar setup to DIYperks with the parabolic reflector, but I don’t know the first thing about where to find a satellite dish. Additionally, doing it that way creates perfectly parallel light. Perfectly parallel means that the shadow of the water is small, and therefore small effect on the wall. The non-parallel nature of a light source really close to the tank is integral to scaling up the effect onto the wall.
Craigslist or similar people are selling their old junk dishes all the time for cheap or sometimes free
can't get over how great these videos are, as someone who loves cinematography but also has barely any money i love how you try to keep everything cost effective but also show that you don't even need alot of money too get great shots
I found it so discouraging when I was starting out to see these crazy costly and advanced setups on RUclips and then trying to translate it to my budget. I want to try and keep things cost effective on my channel to encourage young filmmakers to experiment with what they have! Nothing is more frustrating to hear than “we shot this on a $10,000 cinema camera but you could use your phone”.
I’m sure one day I’ll want to stretch myself and learn more with the bigger budgets and resources, but for now I’ll experiment!
simple solution: buy 10kg of liquid mercury (only ~$12000 dollars) and project the light source off of that. what you do with all that delicious mercury afterwards is up to you 😉🥴
lol?
Thank you for the forbidden knowledge, this is a project I might do one day. Always loved those water shots from Blade Runner
They may be hard to come by now but the old classroom Elmo projectors teachers used pre internet for showing notes can be adapted for this if you use a smaller light source as you have found. They can focus the effect and are what they used for the psychedelic colored oil backgrounds during concerts. Used to find them at resale shops dirt cheap. Brings me back to diy & film School days.
I've now watched your last 3 videos -found through the Oppenheimer one, of course.
I used to be a pseudo film-maker -as quality-compared to the incredible work you're doing here- and I don't even work on this any more.
BUT, all of this is so fucking dope and interesting to watch, from the editing and storytelling to the final results, that it's still super worth it to me.
Well done. Props x1000.
Your passion for cinema and cinematography is inspiring!
Your channel is so amazing. Just beyond description, the way you tell the story, no low attention span effects, amazing audio and of course visuals.
Thank you!!🥰
7:40 rip. The whole time I was internally thinking, you probably want a tiny light source. Why are you using an area light? He probably knows more than I do... oh wait. This video is really cool! I do a lot of VFX so caustics are a very expensive and difficult effect to compute, and generally a pain to work with. It's really interesting to see how the challenges are in real life are different but still difficult. This is an awesome channel! I can't wait to see what you put out next :)
Great video William! I really liked how you explained your process while testing this :)
I'm absolutely loving your movie scene recreations. Hopefully your channel will grow along with your budget so you can tackle more challenging recreations. My suggestion would be to recreate older movies where practical effects were the norm. Think 90s nostalgic films like Independence Day, Dante's Peak and Stargate, or classics like 1974's Earthquake or the iconic 1956 The Ten Commandments etc.
This was really great ! Please take your time, don't rush and enjoy this if you ever do another video recreating effects, this was really cool
You could also do it with any shaped space by using recordings of caustics you want and throwing those on the wall with a projector. That way you can make the ripples clearer and bigger too.
You won't get any distortion, even when the room is very small, the caustics will fill the entire space.
I love Blade Runner 2049, it is my favorite movie, and always will be, I cried so much at the end of it.
What about a single point light with a wide angle lens, using some mylar in the water and a cardboard cutout to control your edges
Ayyyyy i did something similar years ago for a "psychedelic shoot". We did everything similar to your shooting light through fish tank version, shot light through water source, used mylar/reflective screens/mirrors to achieve angles. But heres the key difference - we filled up clear lilos! Im not sure what you call them in america, water loungers, floaty things etc....But clear floating devices - pick them up for like $20 new, or if youre even cheaper buy lots second hand. We used all sorts of shapes, long loungers, square, circle and donut ones. Where you normally blow air, you fill with water sometimes you have to cut a bigger hole, some completely full, some half full as theyd break, some only a small bit full. Be sure to also put additional cover on the plug. We had some that had handles and they worked the best as you could attach them to rope and hang them anywhere. Don't put them too close to your halogens or hot bulbs, as they will warp and eventually burst the plastic! But seriously you can get some great effects this way!
In 4:59 the effect looks like fire and can be used metaphorically as a fire within a person that is building up but has to stay calm
What a BEAUTIFUL video dude! first time I didn`t skipped any part (not even clicked in 5 seconds annoucements) you had all my attention from the first to the last seconds.
as an amateur photographer and the problem and solution being so obvious from the start, seeing your epiphany and confusion throughout the process was eye opening as to how when we don't know the problem and solution we could easily get lost in a sea of confusion...
This is great! You not only showcase interesting stuff, you talk about the thinking behind it. Well done!
Hey guys, as someone who has moved a lot of stuff. Big & small. A 4 wheel dolly is absolutely the best. Everyone should have at least 1 and 2 means you can move anything with ease. One caveat is steps. Though. With all your projects you are doing you will get so much use.
OK! Good suggestion! I will definitely consider that purchase! Transporting gear from place to place right now is a HUGE inconvenience😅
I still haven't watched Blade Runner 2049. Now, I am going to have to watch it. Thanks. This was really cool! I've subscribed.
I am not at all in any related field of work but i just cant believe that there was zero mention of a lens, even when it comes to effectively turning a bigger light source into a smaller source
Film production has much larger budgets, so they could do practical effects and actually build it out. Your tests were great. I did something similar in college -- took a clear pyrex baking pan similar to your aquarium, shined a light from beneath using a blue filter, and a portable fan to create ripple above the water. Took a felt sheet with a hole cut out as a backdrop, and ta-dah, lit a "submarine" scene.
This is probably the best how to filmmaking channel I've seen. And I have seen so many. Sorry I'm late!
Word is, they shot with 10k Fresnel lamps, 2 per side, 8 in total. The water rig was indeed up high and Billy O'Leary, the Gaff, made special barn doors to flag the light into symmetry. The bottom of the water tank was black! The ripple pattern was induced by sound, not a fan.
I love that this effect is something that'd make me go "just shoot a well lit orange scene add the shadows in CG" but then no it's not an option because caustics are like the nemesis of 3d rendering engines.
I started re-watching Blade Runner 2049, took a break and your video popped up. Brilliant video.
I've been brainstorming how to create this effect in my garden!!! This confirms many of the ideas I think will work to cast light onto a wall. I want to build a grey basalt lava tile wall with a narrow pool between it and a cactus rock garden. Sunshine in the day, and solar spotlights at night time. Going for an at home Museo de Antropologia Mexicana display wall. Love the vid.
Projection mapping would be far more effective, and quite inexpensive. Simply film the effect from a swimming pool bottom… use After Effects to increase contrast and choose whatever color you want, and project it onto whatever wall, floor or ceiling you want. Bingo. Done.
As a OG Blade Runner fan (saw the original in the theater) I applaud your work.
Starting in the mid 1960's and spanning nearly 40 years, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History here in Washington D.C. that used water caustics to great (almost extreme) effect.
The West Hall of the museum, on the main floor, was dedicated to sea life. This extremely large hall (50-ish feet wide, 60 feet high and easily 200 feet long IIRC) was intentionally kept extremely dark to mimic the deep sea, with a life size model of a 98 foot long Blue whale suspended from from the ceiling along with many other creatures.
In that ceiling, the only main light sources were several (four IIRC) shallow pans of water about 1x2 feet that gently rocked back-and-fourth on armatures. Above them sat the blue lights that projected the caustic effect all over the dark hall dozens of feet below.
Even as a child in the 70's the effect mesmerized me. I would quietly sit in this section for sometimes an hour or more while listening to the whale song recording that was continuously piped over the PA. I found it so intriguing that at 9 or 10 years old I actually successfully copied it in the dining room. I held a flashlight above a pyrex baking pan filled with blue water (easter-egg dye) sitting on the glass-topped wicker dining room table. The effect was pretty good if I do say so myself. (lol)
As an adult (and a certified diver for over 35 years now) I can say that the sea life hall effect was extremely close to real life deep water given the technology and knowledge at the time it was built.
Sadly, in the early 2000's, the whale was taken down and scrapped, and the entire exhibit hall was demolished and "updated" to fit more modern sensibilities (read: zero personality). So the only way to see the exhibit is through old pictures.
I'm sure the Smithsonian's website should have something.
Just wanted to say thanks for triggering this old guy's good memories.
Thank you for sharing that! It’s always cool to me to peer into someone’s life! I imagine that experience (along with some others) is what led you to become a diver?
@@WilliamHBaker
That, and WAY too much Jaques Cousteau...
If you think that's interesting...you should hear about my love for cyberpunk!
Dropping the spotlight allows for a TON more indirect light bounces and a tonnn more angles for the light to reach the water. These additional angles are what allow it to maintain the rich effect despite less direct light
an overhead projector solves this problem and allows you to controll where the image is pointed at and where it is in focus. All you need is an inch of water in a glass container and an old school overhead projector.
Christ, i tapped out when the smart people vibes went out the window. Its watching them carry a large open container of water about. 😂
You missed one way: breaking glass into a box open box and get a group of Gaffers (people) move the box and aim a flood light to it
I used to have a lamp that was made to create the effect and it worked great. It's kinda like a lava lamp but instead of wax it had dozens of little mirrors and a tiny pump in the bottom that made a water jet that agitated the water and made the mirrors whirl around and reflect the light from the base. It was awesome and I designed my room around the effect, painting the walls blue and hanging fish decorations from the ceiling
This video is a life saver! I had been attempting to do this effect myself after having found no solution on-line. I realized that the t would take a larger column of water to get the lensing effect so I started researching how those galaxy projector lamps create aurora borealis effect with a lens
Nice effect...years ago i built something like this in my house but i just used a large open fish tank set below a southern window the same refractions are produced at the reflected angle...so mine are always on the ceiling like in a cave that has sunlight bouncing off water in the entrance. Good job isolating the approach though without needing a whole pool to do it. Your shots of the same effect in other scenarios (outside) where super as they appear more like an individual power rather than an ambient caustic effect. Thanks for sharing.
some ideas:
-give some tension to the mylar with a frame, induce the "ripples" sonically with a subwoofer plus frequency generator, or a lego contraption that tucks the sheet at a certain spot with low frequency.
-mercury pond :D
-record the fricking effect solo from shooting through the watertank then composite
It's kinda dumb how I learned how to do this. It was around 1995-1997. I lived in Miami, so we'd get really hot summers, which required water on hand pretty much at all times. Being close to the beach means growing attached to the way it looks, and where there's a beach there's an aquarium.
My dad took us once, and what I was fascinated about was the light reflection in the large blue rooms with massive water tanks. I'd stare at them or dance on them.
While outside with a glass cup of water I sat near the sidewalk outside our apartment building, and I did that thing kids do to make their fingers into a telescope. I stared down into the cup, but noticed something shining at the very bottom - only it wasn't the cup, it was beneath the cup. So I played around a few times and found out that if I made my hands into a 👌🏻 over the cups surface, I'd get a clean ripple effect onto my skin, kinda like the ones in aquariums.
I had this hobby growing up called 'shadow play art', where I'd take pictures throughout the day of the wall, as there was a large tree outside that would make beautiful effects, especially when it rained. The ripple effect would bounce off the leaves, through the window, and onto the wall.
Fast forward to Blade Runner 2049, and when I saw that room, I knew exactly how it was done.
I was immediately envious because I had always wanted to try that with my spaces, but I only ever lived in apartments.
I knew that in order to successfully execute it like in the film, you'd need to take a chunk of the ceiling out, raise a thick piece of glass, and rest water atop it, then have some form of light source which would require more space between the water and the ceiling.
In other words, this would need to be a custom build that did no structural damage into a room of a certain size.
Expensive and again, you'd need your own home and someone who knows how to prevent mold during construction.
I'm glad I wasn't wrong. I've always wanted to remake this after the aquarium trip as a child, but knew that it wasn't something simple.
I have this effect in a part of my hallway, I just used a light reflected on plastic mirror pieces on the opposite wall. Fair enough it doesn't move like sctual water but my hall is so small I've used tons of different visual and lighting effects to make it interesting. Plus, my cat LOVES IT!
There is another way that produces really clear pattern by focusing them - it is to use both reflective surface and put water on it. The easiest way is to get a plastic tub and glue a reflective film on it or at least paint it white. The water is also needs to be disturbed constantly with a mixer or some kind of mechanical oscillator.
Besides using a smaller closer light source, use a smaller tank and fill it with ethanol. The much lower surface tension will give you smaller ripples. Also add some curves to the edge of the container so you dont get only square caustics.
mylar is great. you can pressure emboss it to create tons of waveforms or patterns to reflect.
A wider container will make it so the water ripples are a bit slower and more well composed.
Shoot through water, record it and then overlay it ontop of your video, and make sure you have enough headroom so that the water caustics aren’t being blocked, or project the video over the heads while your shooting
Going to an aquarium would greatly benefit this project
Also Sylvia was in those scenes and she did a fantastic job.
Most of the times we often forget the simplest thing and that's the art of a struggle 😂
Nice work! And all through I was silently screaming "Point light source!"
BTW, there is no need to have the water up so high, just shine a light down through it into a mirror below to reflect the pattern to a wall or ceiling. Extra points for the mirror being mylar...
I’ve heard that suggestion a few times and that would have been so much easier😅
You could project the light through a shallow water tank set low (behind the couch) over a mirrored surface. The light passes through the water/tank and onto the mirrored surface which then reflects the caustics up onto the wall. You could then avoid the overhead suspended tank problem.
This makes me think about light fixtures that could do this effect .
Smaller the light is how caustics work. Principle is the same in 3D
i love that as soon as you said you didn’t want the tank up high, i said “why don’t you shoot light up under it?”
Man discovers optical physics in garage, results will shock you.
Looks great!
Pro tip: Mylar sheet on top of water to get the ripples.
this is super cool. great work!
A swimming pool with lights makes the same affect on the ceiling and walls. In the movie it's basically an upside down pool acting as a window through a solid ceiling. Your experiments did not have a wall to block the excess light and funnel the remaining light through the bottom of the fish tank. A delicate thin glass dish sitting on a black box that has a light inside will give off the desired affect (changes a little with glass thickness and water depth).
People with observation skills will see things like this all the time it’s fairly easy to assess what causes it if you continue your observation once noticing it. 💋
Bouncing a strong light off a wet surface reflects the texture of said surface. It’s not the same thing as water caustics but it ‘s a similarly cool look if you’re okay with a still background.
Hooked and subbed since the Oppenheimer recreation,amazing work. Just hoping for more long format video like these
I’m planning on doing more longer format like this!
Carbon Arc Lamp - single source light.
The thing about LED based point soures is, that they‘re still using a rather large „light emitting Surface“. This is because those lights use a „cob led array“.
The best type of lightsource for this is probably a HMI, because they have a verry tiny lightsource.
Speaking of expensive gear: a movinglight with a rotating gobo wheel, a water glass gobo and a continus Animation wheel should do the trick very well.
whole video im yelling “PUT THE WATER ABOVE YOU!!”
Didn't watch the film yet, but the look of it remind me of how I pictured a scene from Neuromancer book.
You needed a big mirror to project the effect like an overhead projector. I think the effect in the movie was very small scale and used a projection technique as we used to years ago for light shows at rock concerts.
I usually put my glass water bottle over my phone flashlight when sleeping. Seems like a simple solution. Coulda asked me and saved 40 bucks bro
Well sweet now I know I can do something kind of neat with my 8 gallon square aquarium, just put fresh water it in it and place it in a spot in the room and just leave the pump running to disturb the water and shine a cool small light source through it
You might have luck adding a fresnel lens to your spotlight to columate the light. This will effectively give your light a focus of infinity like light from the sun.
It also looks like they added a sonic element like sub vibration. The strands of light have structure to them like audio.
Works best off a reflection pool with dark background and natural light
Subbed! Do more of these recreating cool effects , your detailed commentary of what went wrong , why you did what you did is really helpful.
Agreed! The "Here's what we tried and why it didn't work" is so helpful. But even failed attempts at one thing can lend to a different shot idea.
I will for sure be doing more!! I have an idea for a video we’ll probably do in the spring that’s going to be a really interesting and unique effect that I’m sure will contain many failed attempts😅
How have I only just now found your channel? Awesome work, thanks!
Large milar sheet with a fan blowing air just underneath it. Bam, you have a ripple effect.
You know what can work really cheap is a crackled glass solar light that spins a geometric triangle dome inside the crackled glass. Not entirely like water but perhaps some ideas.
Using a point light source gives a more defined effect.❤
Haha carrying water in a flat tub is a little silly. You can carry it to the location dry, and a bottle or a bucket to fill it up, much quicker safer and easier. Ideally also grab either a hose in case siphoning is an option, or a scoop/cup and a funnel.
finally. someone answering the important questions.
Really interesting to see the whole process of how you pulled it off.
there's a MRT station in Singapore, when you took the escalator coming out of the underground to the upper floor , they had a glass roof with water continuously running, so the water shadow ripples all over the place
Another super silly idea: overhead projector with a tank of water on it
It's really more a James Bond villain's lair decorating option. Something to compliment the shark tank in which to throw victims.
You could use a mirror on the floor under the water tank to bounce onto the back drop
About the fish tank rigging: when I put heavy(ish) lights on booms, I always add counter weight on the opposite side. I've had 4foot kino flo 4banks above talent's heads, as well as small HMI's and 1ks with soft box (yes, I'm old). I've never had an accident with them. I think having an arm on each side was a great choice, but it could be a little safer still. Great video, BTW, I think I'll give this a try soon.
Super cool! you can also make the source light smaller with the aputure spotlight SE with the included iris attachment!
It really leaves me a bit emotional every time you figure out how to make the effects work
I learned so much Watching this.
Big fan of your work never stop making videos bro. You'll explode one day.
Thank you! I just enjoy getting to share the stuff I’m passionate about!
I want this in my lounge room in my house one day.
Acrylic box that's hollow like a fish tank but only 1 inch thick and possibly sealed. A single LED cob. A few thousand lumens will do, like one out of a flashlight. Black plastic hood at whatever the best height is for the LED. Small heatsink and fan for cooling. Put it all together and now you have a leakproof water reflection light that just needs to be level to work properly. could even put a small bumping mechanism in there to keep the reflections going
No wait I did this effect on my last short film! Use an overhead projector with a clear tray of water on top. Took me a little figuring out too lol.
c47 down the milar, let it have some slack, and then point a gentle fan to the mylar, possibly coming at it as if the mylar is a wing cutting the stream of air in half, it might ripple like waves.especially if you disturb one side of the wind hitting the mylar creating some turbulence.
Wow, this was really cool!