Adobe After Effects CS4 - Manual (Page 493)

487 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4
Effects and animation presets
Last updated 12/21/2009
Advanced Lightning effect
The Advanced Lightning effect creates simulations of electrical discharges. Unlike the Lightning effect, Advanced
Lightning doesn’t self-animate. Animate the Conductivity State or other properties to animate the lightning.
The Advanced Lighting effect includes the Alpha Obstacle feature, with which you can make the lightning go around
designated objects.
Chris Zwar provides a detailed description on his website of how he used the Advanced Lightning effect to simulate
blood vessel capillaries.
Eran Stern provides a video introduction to the Advanced Lightning effect on the Motionworks website .
This effect works with 8-bpc color.
Lightning Type Specifies the characteristics of the lightning.
Note: The type determines the nature of the Direction/Outer Radius contextual control. In the Breaking type, the
branches are focused toward the Direction point as the distance between Origin and Direction increases.
Origin Specifies the point of origin for the lightning.
Direction, Outer Radius This control changes depending on the Lightning Type:
• Not In Use The Direction or Outer Radius control is not available if Lightning Type is Vertical.
• Outer Radius Specifies the distance that the lightning travels from its origin. This control is enabled if Omni or
Anywhere is selected as the lightning type. Use it to terminate the lightning at a defined distance from the origin.
• Direction Specifies the direction that the lightning travels. This control is enabled if any of the following lightning
types are selected: Direction, Strike, Breaking, Bouncy, and Two-Way Strike.
Conductivity State Changes the path of the lightning.
Core Settings These controls adjust various characteristics of the core of the lightning.
Glow Settings These controls adjust the glow of the lightning.
Note: To disable the glow, set Glow Opacity to 0. This setting can speed up rendering time greatly.
Alpha Obstacle Specifies the influence of the alpha channel of the original layer on the path of the lightning. The
lightning attempts to wrap itself around opaque areas of the alpha channel of the layer, seeing them as an obstacle.
Note: If Alpha Obstacles is set to a value other than 0, it’s not always possible to preview the correct result in less than full
resolution; full resolution may reveal new obstacles. Be sure to check the result in full resolution before final rendering.
Turbulence Specifies the amount of turbulence in the lightning path. Higher values result in a more complex strike
containing more branches and forks, and lower values produce simpler strikes with fewer branches.
Forking Specifies what percentage of a branch is forked. Turbulence and Alpha Obstacle settings influence forking.
Decay Specifies the amount of continuous decay or dissipation of the lightning strength and influences where the
opacity of the forks begins to fade.
Decay Main Core Decays the main core along with its forks.
Composite On Original Composites the lightning with the original layer using the Add blending mode. When
deselected, only the lightning is visible.
Complexity Specifies the complexity of the turbulence in the lightning.
Min. Forkdistance Specifies the minimum pixel distance between new forks. Lower values create more forks in the
lightning. Higher values result in fewer forks.