How to create a convincing fire effect on stage using only water mist and lights. This is a companion video to "The Prop Effects Guidebook." Check out the book at www.propeffects...
Awesome breakdown, Eric! I used this effect for a show earlier this year! The actor had to create the fire on stage with a clay pot and logs. I placed metal paint can, with holes in the side, in a slightly larger Tupperware container with water, and then placed that into the clay pot. Ultra sonic pond foggers were placed in the water and halogen lights were placed in the paint can. The heat from the lights drew the fog into the can and made it rise quickly. I used yellow and orange gels (you're right about red haha) on the lights to give it that nice fire look. The only drawback was that the show was in a lab theatre, and the scene became very quiet. You could actually hear the foggers making splash sounds. I don't think the audience connected the dots though. :P
OMG this is the best DIY video ever!!!!!!! My family and I run a haunted house/spook house every Halloween. I have been searching for a safe way to have a burning witch screen for a VERY long time. I can't wait to try this! Thank you for the info!!!!!
Hi again! I'll leave here some "lessons learned" from my experience with this effect in an opera. The idea was to replicate Eric's proposal, but we had to make some changes on the way. Our setup used 8 umidifiers (G.tech Allergy Free Hm 3L), a vertical fan and a PAR 64 LED, with a Kinect or mobile phone attached to the performer to controll intensity through a software. Fire was comming from a hole in the theatre stage floor, and all fire equipment was placed bellow the stage floor. On our first prototype, the 6mm holes in the tube allowed water to condense and block vapor after a while. We widened them to 8mm, but just got more time untill the problem happens again. So we decided to use individual flexible 1" rubber hoses (one for each umidifier), pointing up directly. Also, condensed water was comming back to the umidifiers through the hoses, so if hoses had curves in "U" shape, water would accumulate in the bottom untill the hose was obstructed and then mist would pass in "pulses". Solution was making sure the hoses would let the reflux go straight back to the umidifiers. The interactive effect of flames rising and falling was best achieved by changing fan speed, instead of light intensity. The downside is that changing fan speed has a natural delay, due to the time taken to the fan engine to speed up and to the wind to move, while light intensity changes are instantaneous. Also, we used a light flickering effect, varying light intensity around a center point, to try to give the fire a "candle" effect, but this must be used very carefully, as too wide variations may look or feel weird. Finally, the fan proved to be essencial. When we tested without a fan, the water mist tended to spread close to the floor. If you guys want to see the results, ask for making-off pictures and/or explanations, or use the algorithm we used to make the fire interactive and/or flickering, go to ricardoscholz.com/en/a-compadecida . Thanks to Eric Hart for the video explaining the original idea!
Looks great! I think it would look even more realistic if the lights flickered a bit, easily done with LED lights and an Arduino. Anyway, I'm looking forward to your new book.
We've done this effect with a few LED strips that could have a bit of a flicker pattern programmed into them, so that did give a more realistic effect.
When I saw such decorative fireplace, I understood how to do it. And my idea was very similar to yours. I don't understand why they are so expensive if they are made from cheap tech. Prices can easily achive $ thousands.
Thanx for sharing. It's awesome! I can't wait for my book to arrive! I'm planning to make one of this and simulate flame level by controlling light's intensity with DMX dimmers, according to the movement of the performer, read by a mobile phone attached to his jacket in an internal pocket. Do you think that changing the intensity of light will give the impression of flames raising and lowering down?
The effect looks really great. And I really like the idea of using the pipe in order to lower the source of the mist because I plan to use something similar in faux fireplace where the installation needs to be as low as possible. But I have one concern: does mist condensate into water inside the pipe before reaching the exit, and if does, how did you solve it? Thanks!
Hi. On my experience, yes, mist condensated into the pipe, and also in the tube holes, blocking mist after a while. I solved the problem using a pipe for each umidifier (single individual mist exits) and avoiding "U" shape paths in the flexible rubber hoses, so water went back to the umidifier instead of accumulating in the bottom of the "U". I made a comment in the main thread with more details. Good luck.
where did you put the fan, exactly? you said it was above the fire to pull it up. it is hard to picture, can you explain. also, would you reconsider republishing so we can see it?
Commercial foggers and hazers don't emit toxic chemicals. Also, ultrasonic foggers actually work better with tap water instead of distilled or deionized water.
@@jediknight129 Ethylene glycol is toxic. That's what antifreeze is. So obviously they wouldn't use that in a fog machine. They use propylene glycol, which is totally safe and nontoxic. They're both glycols, but one is poisonous and the other is totally harmless.
@@SafetyLucas propylene glycol isn't totally harmless dude check.the MSDS sheet for a start. Secondly given that the bottle.of fog fluid for my comercial flame effect machine sat about 10ft from me right now openly states it contains EG you'd be wrong there. Plus of.course not all.of this stuff is Water/glycol based. The Mineral Oil based stuff tlcan be REALLY nasty. plus of course heating glycol even pharmacological grade VG can and does cause permanent lung.damage at high exposure along with skin and throat irritation. it's not particularly something you want to run long term and there's a reason that crews are mandated to wear PPE around it. that's even before you get into things like the scenting agents used for effects work get added and the whole issue that 1-5m of exposure during a viewing of a play or a wander through a haunted house/a rollercoaster is one thing and working around it for a 12hr shift or a week to a month's worth of.the play is annother. Teschke, Kay & Chow, Yat & Netten, Chris & Varughese, Sunil & Kennedy, Susan & Brauer, Michael. (2005). Exposures to Atmospheric Effects in the Entertainment Industry. Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene. 2. 277-84. 10.1080/15459620590952215. is one decent start for the discussion of the health risks. www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.cdc.gov/niosh/hhe/reports/pdfs/1990-0355-2449.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiHjKzkl5_2AhWPilwKHbcYAP0QFnoECB0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw0o6-xKnHo7Yz7koyRTWnSO that is annother that references the fact that running a glycol based fog machine can cause the production of formaldehyde and a few other things that are OK in small quantities but built up exposure over time is nasty. the glycol machines are safe for.the most part but there's a lot of.stuff.you have to take.into.account for large scale use and long term exposure. if you can do the effect without using glycol or mineral oils it's better to do so and you do need to make people aware of the things they'll be exposed to. as for deionised or filtered water in a fogger iv never bothered unless I'm in a hard water area and that's only because I hate cleaning limescale off equipment. (obviously know what's in your water source and be sensible.)
Any thoughts if a fan can be placed BELOW the water mist distribution PVC to blow the mist upward? I need an effect in which equipment needs to be hidden below, but not above the misting PVC pipe. Thanks!
I used a fan below the mist distribution, blowing upward. It wouldn't work for me without it. However, I abandoned the PVC pipe with holes, as mist condensed and blocked the holes after a while. I used individual 1" flexible hoses (one for each umidifier), pointing their exit upward. I made a comment with more details in the main thread.
Hey Eric, that fire looks amazing. Well done! I've been tinkering with a similar project and really trying to miniaturize the mist/ light unit as much as possible for a tabletop version. It seems you just need air volume for a good mist though. Any suggestions making this as tiny as possible?
@@Midnight_Immortal thanks, I did try talking one of those apart to try to change the airflow pattern of the mist. Then I bought a fish pond mister which worked a bit better, but still not perfect.
Could a similar approach be taken to create a effect of mist coming off of a lake (using more blue lights)? I’m actually needing to create the illusion of light reflecting off of a lake.
Hello, may i have a question? Can we replace the humidifier with dry ice for short-lasting fire? I am actually need to set the whole stage on fire :'')
you should be able to - theatrical haze (less toxic and easier to breathe through than dry ice) can be piped reasonably easily. I've tested the above effect just using a basic home humidifier and a pipe with holes drilled in it. The only problem is it takes longer to build up enough to light and longer to dissipate than steam - you'll have to get the fans at full blast.
I haven't tried it, but it may be tricky since the humidifier needs to remain fairly level and steady. The water will slosh around a lot if it was in a costume. But again, I haven't tried it, so you may be able to solve that challenge.
Ive been working on this over time. They make spill proof rechargable mist makers now. Some tubing, and aquarium pump to blow the fog through, and some bright LED lights make a cool effect ;)
Ghost Rider I’ve been looking into doing a similar thing for a costume. Any pointers on which pump and misters yield the best results? Judging by your name we may be using this method for similar costumes.
@@erickrobson886Sorry Did not take photos. My experiment did not work as expected, because I used two small misters; but it will work if you use a $50 high power mister or the ones for $90 . It will take less height space as compared to the tall humidifier , which is what I aimed at.
You can buy a ready made and ultra realistic fire already made but they are a few hundred bucks, but where is the fun in that lol I have a bought Metal bsket that is now fitted with fire led bulbs and the effect is great, behind that I have a cheap 23 flat tv with dvd player built in with one of those log fire DVDs, it looks fantastic AND has the wonderful crackling sound, very relaxing. I want to add smoke with a cheap pond fog maker but Im stuff trying to keep the water vapor away from the TV
