5D.Lightning

PURPOSE
Simulates lightning bolts (and sparks).

INPUT CLIP
Background: the image over which a lightning bolt is to appear.

POSITION
Start XY (Default: image top left)
XY co-ordinates on the image at which the lightning bolt originates.

End of XY (Default: image bottom right)
XY co-ordinates on the image at which the lightning bolt strikes.

Percent (Min: 1.0 Max: 100.0 Default: 100.0 )
This is a new feature for v3.0. How much of the lightning bolt is drawn. By animating the value from Min to Max. over the required number of frames, the lightning bolt will draw draw on.

BRANCHES
These can markedly effect the appearance of the result, adjusting it from a bolt of lightning in the distance, to an intense mass of sparks near high voltage electrical equipment. The defaults are for a bolt in the distance.

Density (Min: 0.0 Max: 5.0 Default: 1.0)
Controls how many 'tributary' branches you will get along the length of the bolt. The control scales a default 'density' and, as everything is a little random, it isn't a simple 'number of branches'. Zero will give no branches, however.

Minimum Angle (Min: 0.0 Max: 180.0 Default: 20.0)
Minimum angle between the main branch and the tributary. If the tributaries are confined to a narrow cone, the result is more 'spark-like'.

Maximum Angle (Min: 0.0 Max: 180.0 Default: 50.0)
Maximum angle between the main branch and the tributary.

Generate (Default: On)
Off=0: No lightning is drawn. This is an easy way to get lightning to flash on and off with an animation channel.
On=1: generate a bolt on this frame.

APPEARANCE
Thickness (Min: 0.2 Max: 5.0 Default: 1.0)
Controls the thickness of the main bolt, as a scale of something that generally works quite well.
WARNING: Increasing this above the default will slow the processing.

Intensity Wobble (Min: 0.0 Max: 100.0 Default: 0.0)
Amplitude of random 'wobbles' in the bolt intensity. This gives the appearance of thinner and thicker and parts to the bolt, which are often seen in photographs.

Brightness (Min: 0.0 Max: 100.0 Default: 100.0)
Controls the brightness of the bolt as a whole.

ENVIRONMENT
Style (Default: Add)
Add=0: the lightning bolt is added to the background image.
Illuminate=1: the intensity of the background image is scaled down according to Environment Light. The lightning bolt area is than used to increase the intensity of the background image near it, making it look as if the background has been lit up by the lightning.

Light (Min: 0.0 Max: 100.0 Default: 100.0)
Specifies how bright the background image is to be away from any illumination due to the bolt. If set to 100.0, the background image is unchanged.

Illumination (Min: 0.0 Max: 200.0 Default: 0.0)
Specifies how much light is to be added to the background image near the bolt.

AIRGLOW
Radius (Min: 0.02 Max: 100.0 Default: 10.0)
Scales the radius of a glowing region around the main bolt.

Brightness (Min: 0.2 Max: 500.0 Default: 10.0)
Scales the brightness of a glowing region around the main bolt.

Red/Green/Blue (Default: light blue)
Sets the color of a glowing region around the main bolt.

Seed (Min: 1.0 Max: 99999999.0 Default: 955)
Pseudo-random number generator seed. Setting this (and leaving other parameters alone) lets you repeat sequences of bolts.

Index