Foggy, misty, clouds

[Wyrmypops]

It was foggy this morning as I made a cuppa. Outside that is, the fog. While I was inside, making the cuppa. The wonders of modern windows.

So I got pondering how to do that kind of thing in our hobby. Then I got distracted by a split teabag and only returned to the pondering hours later.
Anyone any ideas? About the fog, not a solution for the prevention of split teabags.

Cotton wool seemed an obvious idea. Guess it'd have to be pulled apart a lot else it'd look too solid and pretty much look like a lump of cotton wool. Wispy strands could be groovy for ground hugging mist if that works.

Ground hugging mist could be especially appropriate for steam punk or warhammer, natural fog or one of pollutions providing a ceiling to a diorama. Clouds would have to more situational but maybe worth a shot with so many flying creatures/vehicles out there.

Any of you tried anything for effects like those, or got examples saved in your favourites, or just have ideas surfacing from a good pondering?

 

[Torn blue sky]

I'm thinking seriously separated cotton wool. It'd take a while, but it'd look potentially awesome!
Failing that, a tiny dry ice machine in the base.

 

[IdofEntity]

I've thought about this before. If it's terrain I would tell you to paint a foggy washed out effect on everything on the play surface/diorama. For an individual, I don't think it can really be done in any convincing way. You could paint a sculpted smoke cloud for steampunk, but I just don't know of any medium that behaves the same as mist/clouds. Getting that translucent effect across is really difficult.

Someone smarter than I may know a way.

 

[Einion]

Until fairly recently I was of the opinion that this was one of those things that was beyond our ability to reproduce convincingly (other than in photos, where you blow some smoke into the shot). Teased-out cotton wool and similar were just not quite good enough...

But I think it is possible these days, using aerogels.

And the good news is it's not terribly expensive from the right supplier, e.g. United Nuclear, so I'm surprised we haven't seen it used yet.

Einion

 

[PegaZus]

I've seen kicked up dust done really, really well in a museum display. Just splattered brown paint on a piece of plastic. *Might* be able to do something similar, although I've thought about it before but haven't come up with anything convincing enough to try it.

 

[BPI]

Hi all,

I think as little material representing fog as possible with as much paint effect as can be mustered. The closest I can think of is PrawnPower's PanOceania Hacker... http://www.coolminiornot.com/253037
...where the background sells the speeding effect. Less use for a gaming piece of course

Legs wreathed in mist shouldn't have clearly defined shoelaces visible. That kind of thing Paint clearly from waist up, getting better & better defined as visibility improves.

Could a knee-height ground mist be modelled with an opaque resin? Water effects with some white in it? Make the top surface wispy rather than smooth, furrowed if the mini suggests a step forward or a swinging weapon? Lots of use for lighting effects in the paint too. If the mist is reflecting yellowy moonlight then that can be picked up in the highlights both on the mist & the mini. Work some fancy reflections into metal or lenses where applicable.

The idea does intrigue me. I'm too used to thinking that cotton wool looks crap to want to resort to it as the solution though!

Cheers, B.

 

[sivousplay]

Thanks for the link ... never heard of aerogels before ... very cool stuff.

jim

 

[kirara]

I would wonder and worry a little bit about how the chemicals would change the paint on the model and if it'd last for years. Is it totally inert do you think?

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Photoshop..............