Create 3D Clouds in After Effects with Displacement Maps

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To skip right to the actual cloud bit, skip to 4:51 in the video. (I fell into the trap of rambling a bit in this one, my apologies)

With the Displacement Map effect in After Effects you can manipulate the position of an image pixel based on one of many image properties (luminance, saturation, etc) associated with that pixel (or a pixel from another image in the composition).

In this video I use an example of storm clouds to illustrate the power of the displacement map effect. The dark parts of the image move in one direction while the white parts move in the opposite direction. The middle value pixels move very little (or not at all). When animated, this effect can give the illusion of parallax, which causes the clouds to appear to move in 3D space.

I begin the video with a demonstration of the effect using a 2D grid to illustrate on a basic visual level what is happening.

While this particular effect has some limitations, it is a quick way to add movement to a static image and give a little life to an otherwise unremarkable scene. I used this effect in a short film once to replace an empty sky with a storm (which didn't appear on set for the shoot, despite the director's repeated requests). You can see that film here: https://vimeo.com/139484761 (the sky replacements appear later in the film, during the storm sequence)

#AfterEffects #DisplacementMap #VFX