Rail of Light

[jason1025]

Hey folks

 

How would you create a rail of light? Like say a florescent light bulb?

[agep]

Like a fluorescent tube? How about animate the light from one end to the other end within a frame and render with multipass?

[agep]

Hmm, that didn't work.. I have forgotten how u did this trick

[agep]

Ah, yeah. create an action, animate the light within eg 16 frames. put the action on the model in the chor and set the cycle lenght to 1 frame. I'll do a test and see

[Paul Forwood]

Interesting solution. You might be able to do that by just selecting all of the keys in the action and then dragging the right end of the selection bar to the left to scale it, forcing keys onto subframes. Same thing, different approach.

[agep]

Quick test

 

 

tube1.zip

[jason1025]

Thanks for the RND.

 

Although this is a great solution.

 

Do you think we should make a feature request to be able add in addition to regular lights, neon or florescent style light bulbs?

[jason1025]

Agep

 

In your example does this work for actual animation or just stills?

[robcat2075]

Do you think we should make a feature request to be able add in addition to regular lights, neon or florescent style light bulbs?

 

agep's solution is the way A:M supports that need. "Any spline can be a light"

 

True area lights are time consuming to render and probably wouldn't be any faster than the multipass solution.

[jason1025]

Do you think we should make a feature request to be able add in addition to regular lights, neon or florescent style light bulbs?

 

agep's solution is the way A:M supports that need. "Any spline can be a light"

 

True area lights are time consuming to render and probably wouldn't be any faster than the multipass solution.

 

 

Yes but I don't see the solution for animation just still frame. Remember we are using "Animation Master"

[jason1025]

I also dont understand how you can turn a spline or mesh into a light, please explain

[robcat2075]

you path constrain a light to a spline

 

you set its ease to traverse that spline in less than one frame and repeat that every frame

 

multipass renders the light at all the different points of the spline creating the effect of a non-point light.

 

The same technique is used for spinning light rigs and works fine for animation.

 

This is really a light "Array" but with the great convenience of not having to create numerous separate lights and the option to do quick tests with fewer passes.

 

 

Here's a page from a book in which they discuss true area lights and their downside even in a vastly more expensive app.

[jason1025]

Thanks Robert.

 

I dont suppose you want to do a quick video tutorial. The concept of steps in a frame is hard for me to grasp. Maybe I need to see the process.

[NancyGormezano]

As Stian said:

 

create an action, animate the light within eg 16 frames. put the action on the model in the chor and set the cycle lenght to 1 frame.

 

Thats how you get the light to travel a path in 1 frame.

[HomeSlice]

Thanks Robert.

 

I dont suppose you want to do a quick video tutorial. The concept of steps in a frame is hard for me to grasp. Maybe I need to see the process.

 

Just follow agep's instructions. Set the Action to "Repeat" however many times necessary for the length of your chor.

[robcat2075]

Here's the non-action method:

 

After You got your light constrained to a path:

 

then set the ease to 0% at 0 seconds

 

100% at 1 second

 

100% at 5 seconds

 

 

 

 

grab it and squish it all down to 1 frame. Use CP settings to make the last one exactly at frame 1.

 

 

 

Then select it all again and >Curve>PostExtrap Method>repeat

 

 

 

render with multipass and motion blur set to 20%

 

the guide spline has been set to render as line to make it visible.

 

 

5 passes shows obvious stepping but gives a quick approximation

 

36 passes looks smooth

 

81 passes is only slightly different than 36

[jason1025]

Thanks guys.

[photoman]

Wow never thought of doing lighting setups like this too much. Here is a quickie ring fluorescent light I created:

36pass

 

Photoman

[jason1025]

Wow never thought of doing lighting setups like this too much. Here is a quickie ring fluorescent light I created:

36pass

 

Photoman

 

 

Can you post the project and complete render settings?

[jason1025]

No one has posted an example of animation yet

[photoman]

Wow never thought of doing lighting setups like this too much. Here is a quickie ring fluorescent light I created:

36pass

 

Photoman

 

 

Can you post the project and complete render settings?

 

Sure Ill post and example. Ill post one once I render it real fast, (dont expect High Quality)

 

Photoman

[robcat2075]

No one has posted an example of animation yet

 

What is stopping you?

[photoman]

OK here is my try.

Ringlight_EXAMPLE.mov

16pass for 30 frames.

 

The light rig is just a ring with a bulb light moving around it. I set the cycle length of the action to .1 and to repeat 300 times (1:00 long). I rendered with 100 % motion blur though... didnt work without that on...

 

Project:

Light_Rig_EX.prj.zip

 

Photoman

[jason1025]

OK here is my try.

Ringlight_EXAMPLE.mov

16pass for 30 frames.

 

The light rig is just a ring with a bulb light moving around it. I set the cycle length of the action to .1 and to repeat 300 times (1:00 long). I rendered with 100 % motion blur though... didnt work without that on...

 

Project:

Light_Rig_EX.prj.zip

 

Photoman

 

 

Thanks that helps

[Xtaz]

Hi friends...

I created a similar scene in this post

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=36185

 

the principle of mufoof was used....

[jason1025]

Any chance we will ever finish the camaro?