Compositing FIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

[vintagesnaps]

I think it depends on where you live - even controlled burns are not legal inside city limits where I live so you couldn't set your mailbox or anything else on fire in your front yard.

But since she's just setting a virtual fire by planning to photoshop one into her picture then the question seems to be more about compositing images than whether a mailbox flambe' is a good idea.

 

[SCraig]

I don't know about fire, but I do know from personal experience that if you pack a mailbox full of snow, let it freeze solid overnight, chip a small hole out, and put an M-80 in the hole it will, ummm, shall we say, render the mailbox unusable

 

[PropilotBW]

BULL****.

If you bought and paid for it, it is in no way the property of the USPS. And even if it was, that's just one more reason to burn it.

Actually that's true.

You buy it... they own it.

It's bull****, I know.

I still don't believe that. If they owned it, they would be responsible for it's maintenance. So, burn it.

Say it got hit by lightning if the cops come asking questions about your mailbox.


Show me the US Code relevant to privately purchased property becoming the property of the government because it was used as a mail receptacle.

Hey, Jeep, here ya go: https://www.uspis.gov/radDocs/tipvandl.htm. I didn't know the fine was so high, but the pic may not be worth getting caught.

 

[cgipson1]

Hey Emily,

Back to your ORIGINAL topic.. Compositing fire. This is the only fire composite I have ever done.... ceramic dragon, and some fire, lol! ( a for a little girl who loves dragons!)



Not sure exactly what you are going for... but will help if I can.

 

[sm4him]

Hey Emily,

Back to your ORIGINAL topic.. Compositing fire. This is the only fire composite I have ever done.... ceramic dragon, and some fire, lol! ( a for a little girl who loves dragons!)

View attachment 49239

Not sure exactly what you are going for... but will help if I can.

^THAT rocks.

Yes...to your original question. I can understand your hesitancy to set your mailbox on fire, since you are renting. I, too, have plenty of experiences from childhood (though to be fair, they are mostly experiences of having WATCHED my brothers) find new and creative ways to cause mailboxes to explode but I could see how your landlord might just frown on that activity.

Anyway, the composite idea:

As someone mentioned, mailboxes are reasonably cheap. Why not BUY a cheap mailbox, stick it on a post and then take it somewhere and do the shoot? Make sure it's somewhere that you can have a water source nearby to put the flames out if necessary. It won't matter if you destroy the mailbox, because it's not going to need to serve AS a mailbox. And if it's important that the background be your own home, that would be where the composite would come in--just arrange it so that later you can take a picture of the background scene then put the flaming mailbox into it.

If it were me, I'd just stick the purchased mailbox in my backyard and have the hose ready to go in case of a mishap, but I live in a place where, although it's not *technically* legal, fires and gunshots in your own yard rarely garner much attention. :lmao:

 

[runnah]

for a little girl who loves dragons!

Mish?

 

[cgipson1]

for a little girl who loves dragons!

Mish?

DUDE... MISH is a Dragon (just wearing a Hot, Sexy human form this lifetime!) Get it right! lol!

 

[D-B-J]

Spray it with bug spray or something like that--i've seen many a video of people lighting themselves on fire, and all that burns is the bug spray. Now, I'm definitely not suggesting you light yourself on fire, but this may be a way to get fire that won't destroy your mailbox.

 

[squirrels]

If I were you I might just pick up a mailbox from home dept for $18 and find a safe location to try and burn it. If it survives you can always freecycle it, and if it doesn't, you still aren't in trouble with the landlord (provided you don't burn the place down in your attempt).

I can't believe I'm advocating this. :lmao:

And then you share the results with us!

 

[runnah]

I love living in the country. I could do nothing but burn mailboxes for days on end and not have to worry about the law.

 

[tirediron]

Actually that's true.

You buy it... they own it.

It's bull****, I know.

I still don't believe that. If they owned it, they would be responsible for it's maintenance. So, burn it.

Say it got hit by lightning if the cops come asking questions about your mailbox.


Show me the US Code relevant to privately purchased property becoming the property of the government because it was used as a mail receptacle.

Hey, Jeep, here ya go: https://www.uspis.gov/radDocs/tipvandl.htm. I didn't know the fine was so high, but the pic may not be worth getting caught.

Without meaning to derail this (Heck, it's one of Emily's threads... those are derailed as soon as she hits the "Post" button... ), what the statute actually says is, "Mailboxes are considered federal property" it does not say they are Federal property. This minor but important distinction means that for the purposes of protection, the US Post Office will treat them as if they were government owned (and also I assueme, enforce certain standards for size, type of mounting, etc), but in fact they are not owned by the anyone but the property owner.

 

[tirediron]

Honestly Em, I wouldn't worry about tyring to composit this, I suspect it would be way more work than it's worth. Buy a cheap, steel mail-box, mix up a gallon of regular unleaded and two quarts of the cheapest liquid dish soap, allow to sit 24hrs, paint the mixture on the mail box, light (using a LONG torch) and photograph. Just spraying gasoline or lighter fluid will probably not work very well as it will evaporate quickly, and once alight, burn away VERY quickly.

 

[The_Traveler]

Once you designate something as a mailbox, the government owns the space inside - and the right to manage it.

If you burn or destroy your own mailbox with the intent to remove it's designation as a place to put your mail - no problem, just replace it.
If someone else intentionally vandalizes or destroys your mailbox, it's a federal crime.

 

[unpopular]

Here's what you do. In blender, you make a non-rendering mockup up the scene using the image of the mailbox as the background layer. Set the non-rendering geometry of the mailbox to interact with a smoke simulation to render the fire accurately o_o

 

[unpopular]

If you burn or destroy your own mailbox with the intent to remove it's designation as a place to put your mail - no problem, just replace it.

I think local fire codes would be more problematic than federal mailbox laws. I am sure it is illegal to have an uncontrolled fire within a few feet of a public right of way. Even if you were charged with some sort of federal mailbox crime, it would be in response to your neighbors complaining about you burning stuff in the front yard.

Doing it in your backyard under controlled circumstances makes more sense, a stereotypical mailbox will cost about $10-15 at lowes, and an appropriate post another $10-20 at most. Pretty inexpensive prop, and you'll have a backup mailbox in case Josh does something crazy.