Today, I wanted to mess around with something I’ve been thinking about for a while – a “film door” effect. You know, like in old movies where a door opens and it’s just a black void or some trippy effect?
Getting Started
First, I grabbed a simple door model I had lying around from a previous project. Nothing fancy, just a basic wooden door and frame. I figured that would be a good starting point.
Then, I opened up my trusty 3D software. I’m not gonna name names, use whatever you’re comfortable with. I imported the door and set up a basic scene – a room with some simple lighting. Just enough to see what I was doing, you know?
The Tricky Part
The real challenge was figuring out how to make the “film” part. My first thought was to use a plane, a flat surface, and just put a black material on it. I placed the plane right behind the door, so when the door opens, you’d see the blackness. Simple, right?
- Imported door model.
- Created basic room and lighting.
- Added a plane behind the door.
Well, it looked okay, but it felt kinda… flat. Like, literally flat. It didn’t have that weird, inky blackness you see in old films. So, I started experimenting.
Experimentation Time!
I messed around with different materials. I tried a purely black, emissive material – that was too bright. I tried a really dark, rough material – that just looked like a dark wall. I even played with some volumetric fog, thinking maybe that would give it some depth, but that just made the whole scene look muddy.
Then, I remembered something about shaders. I’m no shader expert, but I knew I could probably tweak things to get closer to what I wanted.
I found a basic shader tutorial online and started messing with the nodes. Again, not gonna get into the specifics, there are tons of tutorials out there. Basically, I wanted something that would absorb light, but also have a little bit of… something. A subtle shimmer, maybe?
Almost There…
After a lot of trial and error, I finally got something I liked. It wasn’t perfect, but it was close. It was a dark, almost black material, but it had this slight, almost imperceptible sheen to it. Like looking into deep water. I think the key was playing with the roughness and specular settings, but honestly, I was just clicking around until it looked right.
I have do more test.
Finally.I made it!
