Adobe After Effects CS3 - Manual (Page 521)

AFTER EFFECTS CS3
User Guide
516
Damping Specifies how quickly a wave’s energy is absorbed by the liquid it travels through. The higher the value, the
quicker the wave energy is absorbed, and the shorter the distance the wave travels.
Wave Speed, Damping Specify the apparent viscosity of the liquid, and the apparent size of the body of liquid. For
example, waves in water move faster and farther than waves in honey; waves in a sink move much faster and fade out
much more quickly than waves in a lake.
Note: Wave World is optimized for small- to medium-sized bodies of water—anything from a teacup to a small lake.
Large bodies of water, like an ocean, include swells or wide, stable waves with no apparent slowdown. Even at the lowest
settings, Wave World cannot generate swells because the waves fade out relatively quickly.
Reflect Edges Specifies how waves bounce off the edges of the layer and back into the scene.
Pre-roll (seconds) Specifies when the waves start moving. By default, the effect starts with a still surface without
waves or ripples. Use this control to start the waves moving before the layer begins. The settings at the first frame of
the effect are applied to the layer during the pre-roll.
Ground controls
The Ground controls specify the appearance of the ground layer.
Ground Specifies the layer that appears at the bottom of the water. If you use an animated layer for the ground, Wave
World samples only the first frame. Wave World determines the intersection of the water’s surface with the edge of
the ground, computes the waves bouncing off the shore, and properly adjusts the speed of the waves depending on
the depth. The ground surface is determined by the layer’s brightness: White represents higher elevation, and black
represents lower elevation.
Steepness Adjusts the steepness of the ground by expanding and contracting the height of the displaced wireframe.
The mesh is locked at the black level, so it always grows up from the bottom. In other words, you cannot adjust the
bottom of a canyon to be deeper; instead, you can adjust the rim to be higher. To make the canyon deeper, combine
a higher Steepness setting with a lower Height setting.
Height Controls the distance between the water surface and the ground’s deepest possible point. Use this control to
make the body of water deeper or shallower. When you change the depth of the water, the waves behave accordingly:
They move faster in deep water and slower in shallow water. (Adjusting the Height control when using the wireframe
preview may appear to lower the ground level, but the wireframe camera always moves with the water level.)
Wave Strength Controls how big the resulting waves are when the ground height or steepness is animated. A value
of 0 results in no waves.
Note: You can create a pulsing wave effect by animating the ground’s steepness so that the ground pokes through the
water, producing waves. Then use the Wave Strength control to intensify the effect.
Producer 1 and Producer 2 controls
The Producer controls specify the point at which the waves begin.
Type Specifies the type of producer. Ring creates a wave as if a stone were dropped into a pond; waves radiate
outward in circles (or ellipses, depending on the size settings of the effect point). Line creates waves that emanate
from the producer’s position in a line instead of an ellipse. This setting is useful for creating waves that look as though
they were generated from much farther away. The waves are produced perpendicular to the edges of the line. The
length of the line is based on the Height/Length setting.
Position Specifies the location of the center of the wave producer.
Height/Length Specifies the (vertical) height of a Ring producer and adjusts the length of a Line producer.
Width Specifies the (horizontal) width of the producer area.