Bullet trails and heat beams?

[Lianweijun086]

Hey folks! I've been looking for tutorials on how to make bullet trails and heat beams in photoshop. I've come across a few, but either I didn't really understand them or it wasn't exactly what I was looking for... I was wondering if any of you knew how, or where to find out how, to make bullet trails like in the movie Matrix (and every other movie afterwards) and heat beams like Superman's heat vision in TV series Smallville and movie Superman Returns. I'm pretty sure I'll be using these effects in my comic eventually, because I think they're awesome! Thanks in advanced!

[Wendybird]

I don't know about bullet trails, but here's how I'd probably make a heat beam (using GIMP, but Photoshop's probably the same):

Take a big fuzzy brush (like an airbrush?) and an orangey red color. Make a mark at the point of origin(e.g. eyes), then press shift and click the target of the beam to make a straight line from one to the other. Now use a smaller fuzzy brush and a yellower orange color and go over the center of the line the same way.

It's pretty basic. You might want to adjust it and make it fancier, but it's somewhere to start.

[Lianweijun086]

Thanks for the reply! Yea, I was looking for effects like http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/6673 ... 033io0.jpg in Smallville, but if I couldn't find it, I would have gone with the traditional laser style beams. Do you know how I would make that wavy could make that wavy effect?

[Webkilla]

your link is bad

http://www.e4.com/media/426D151B-0234-4 ... _extra.jpg - this the effect you're looking for?

if so, use a second layer - and just add a highlight to the area you want to look 'heated'

and remember: in real life, you DO NOT see the laser mid air... think laser pointer! you only see the point of impact...

[Wendybird]

To make the picture behind the beam look wavy? In GIMP I would use a feather-edged select tool and then experiment with the filters in the "distort" section.

[Lianweijun086]

Thanks for the advice, everybody! Yea, I needed the bullet trails earlier than originally thought. I had to use it in today's update.

All I did was use the pen tool to create a gray beam, then a smaller lighter gray beam inside. I made it a little transparent, then used a 70% opacity eraser to slice and dice it... It didn't come out TOO bad, but it really wasn't the effect I was looking for... When I have time, I think I'm going to make a new brush, a gray doughnut with the inside kinda faded, and then squish it. Then, with low flow, use the pen tool with the brush to make it look like alot of discs through the air. Maybe blur it a little bit, and then make the path a little transparent, or something. Do you guys think that will work?

::edit:: Eek! Sorry about the size of the picture, I have no idea how to make it smaller!

[Ripnormality]

For the bullet trail--from what I remember of The Matrix, you pretty much want to draw "ghosts" of the bullet--so lower the opacity and outline selective curves.