how to make artificial smoke?


Recommended Posts

hi..

I was working on this project of creating a set with a forest atmosphere...

i wanted to create artificial smoke.. and i wanted to know what are the cheapest and easiest ways of creating smoke..

the smoke machines are too expensive and dry ice is kind of dangerous..

do you guys know any ideas about other safer ways of creating smoke or do you guys have information or links to procedures..

thanks a lot in advance and i look forward to your help.. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dry ice really is quite safe. Everything else I can think of is less safe, and usually involves fire/mixing chemicals.

584967844[/snapback]

definitely dry ice. just plop a bit into some water, and that's it.

make sure you don't touch it with your fingers, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

how do u put it into the water if u dont use ur hands

584967903[/snapback]

he didnt say dont use your hands, he said dont touch it with your fingers, so a pair of gloves is the obvious solution.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dry Ice - The most simple and common method for creating a fogy atmosphere is safe. Just don't directly touch the dry ice with your skin, use gloves. Drop into normal water for the effect.

Fog Machine Method - Converts a special liquid into fog, but it smells a little bit. These machines typically cost $30 - $60 (not expensive) and gallon refills are priced around $10.

Water Pond Method - Another method of creating fog is to vibrate a special disk within water to turn the water into fog. This $5 part is commonly used for small ponds. I am not sure if larger scale versions of the device exist.

Information about more fog-creating methods: http://www.effectsco.com/index3.htm

Link to purchase some fog machines (just FYI):

http://www.ramsfield.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=26

http://www.coolstuffcheap.com/fogmachines1.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

he didnt say dont use your hands, he said dont touch it with your fingers, so a pair of gloves is the obvious solution.

584967913[/snapback]

Yup. You can touch dry ice, it just ... hurts a bit :laugh:

Gloves or even a plastic ice scoop work fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry, someone here said smoke machines were expensive. Hate to contradict, but in the UK, they are now under ?20 and the liquid being ?5 for 3 litres. And that's from Asda (a supermarket chain owned by WalMart)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Best way: pour gasoline into your waste paper basket, drop in a lit match.

It's safe as long as you are not dumb and know what you are doing.

584968058[/snapback]

Gasoline + match is pretty much no smoke, much fire.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fog Machine Method - Converts a special liquid into fog, but it smells a little bit.

584967951[/snapback]

Yeah, they do smell a little wierd, but I kinda like the smell. Then again, I had to be around it quite a bit for three years during my HS Theatre days...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Best way: pour gasoline into your waste paper basket, drop in a lit match.

It's safe as long as you are not dumb and know what you are doing.

584968058[/snapback]

That doesn't look like a safe path to go down, but I'll try it sometime (Y)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please no Chlorine

Smoke is Water

i have two smoke machines,

have worked with dry ice- expensive as hell so dont bother

as for steam - youd need a hell of alot of watts - heat to create a seriously hollywood foggy scenario

most movie sets use smoke machines

the liquid in the smoke machines is basically Glycerine (fat) and water (+ some perfume smell to make it more comfortable)

Choice 1. Go to any disco \ liughting rental shop and there you can buy large containers of the liquid (water it down to make it more or less)

Choice 2 - go to your local Apotheek or whatever it is where you buy medical aspirins etc - simply buy some Glycerine - mix it with water.

The glycerine (fat) symply makes sure that the "evaporated" water holds longer - lhence it becomes more foggy - same with bubbles - the more soap you use the longer and bigger the bubbles become so yes you could siomply use soap.

For the heating (smoke machine) device all you basically need is an extremly Hot plate - and simply drip the water\fat on it making sure the plate doesnt cool down.

thats why smoke machines only run for short periods cause the hot plate cool down after alot of liquid has come on it.

Nice thing witht the glycerine "smoke" is it floats for a long time (they use this technique in most spooky\scifi\attic\flashlight scenes

cheapest - newspaper\wood - the wetter the wood the more "smoke"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.