Hey guys!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HmzQQIgBoxI
check it out I am on youtube with a beam test! I am the one with the Darth Maul poster behind me. Just search Ghostbusters beam effect or something if the link wont work
Chris
:?
That stream has almost zero resemblance to those in the movie.
For a first try… it’s fine, but you ought to go back and do it again before you upload it an show it off. Your stream is impossibly thin, and there is very little flow or animation to it… it sort of looks just like you’re shooting a straight laser.
My buddy Will is a total stickler for proton beam videos, here are some of the things he recommended to me.
-Fluctuate the thickness of your beam. Make a fat section of it move up and down the stream, this will give it a 3-D effect, like the beam is twirling.
-Little energy balls are a must. Check GB2 for references.
-The blue lightning spirals around the orange stream, not along side it.
-A squiggly proton beam is always better than a straight beam.
Looking forward to round 2!
Good try, but it certainly needs work. I’ve yet to see any pre-set FX that capture the right look and feel of a GB stream.
I don’t think there are any on the market that are just plug and play, they all require alot of tweaking to get them right.
That’s why I went old school when I tried mine.
Looking forward to seeing your next attempt.
wow i was expecting positive feedback. Oh well. I guess telling me I am not worth a crap is better than nothing. Thanks guys.
I’m not sure why you think we’re being negative, we said you made a good attempt and offered some suggestions on what to try for next time to improve it. Negative would have been to call it crap and tell you not to try it again.
Honestly, it looks just like most of the other beams on youtube. It is a good first attempt, the next time you play with making a beam, think about some of the details that Boomer suggested and see how it changes your results. Take time to watch the movie for reference, to see how the different elements of the beam work together. Play the program and just have fun with it.
Yeah! I liked how you clarified which person in the video was you 
To take things a little further, here, look at mine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCQEj0zDZFQ
I went out of my way to make it stand out from the crowd. For starters, and remember this was also my first try as well, I didn’t want to do another “guy in his bedroom, generic, seen it a hundred times, firing his proton pack at the wall” type video, no sir, heck no.
I went out side to get something a little more dramatic. While we were shooting my camera guy (roommate) suggested leaving enough room in the frame for a ghost. I took it further and suggested shooting some empty plates for the ghost itself. Then we decided we needed to make a ghost so we had to make that as well. We ended up with something a little more interesting and challenging than just placing a pre-made effect over top of another clip of guy in his room shooting at the walls. Is mine perfect? Not really, it’s to dark and needed better lighting, But I can see that and intend to improve on it next time. Criticism is part of the hobby and you need to get used to it and look at your work realistically and not through rose colored glasses. A thick skin helps.
If you want to stand out you have to go the extra mile and not just expect everyone to oohhh and aaahh over something that looks like you spent about 15 min. creating.
hey PVJ
i LOVED your video…the ghost effect was really awesome man. keep up the good work
PeteVenkman_Jedi Yes I will admit your effect is better than mine. In fact, could you PM me and explain to me how you created the effect? I think I know how to use my program to do it now but if I am gonna do a whole fan film i didnt want to spend weeks doing the effects. So I just found a simple pluggin. Now having said that…criticism is part of the hobby? then you won’t mind if I give you some. I found your beam to be too “bendy” yes I know Egon’s was extremely bendy but i think you put too many bends in it at one point. yes I need mine to bend more. I know. then you also had too much blue lightning and it was too thick. I also didnt notice any white blobs flowing up and down your beam. May be wrong i will have to watch it again. keep those things in mind if you are going to try it again. But right now i would say it looks a million times better than mine and I would appreciate it if you explained to me in a PM how you did it. Keep it up man you got serious talent in effects as well as prop building. I envy you! I hope I have not sounded too mean. It was not malicious intent.
-Chris
I’ve sent you a PM to help clear some things up. Before this thread completely deteriorates into one of those ‘my beam is bigger than yours’ type threads I will say that the ladies prefer the ‘bendy’, thicker beam and my beam is bigger than yours. :lol:
Ok I 'm just bugging with that last bit. Trying to lighten things up here. Keep up the good work.
Hahaha. The intention is what counts!!! Maybe he set the particle thrower in low mode! 
ya that’s it! LOW MODE small ghost small beam LOL