Streaks Question

[captainrex]

I've seen in tons of video games, movies, and other things that use streaks. Usually there is a glow applied to them. Is it not possible to do that in A.M. because I have tried adding glow to the sprite streaks and nothing happens. Just wondering if there is a way

[robcat2075]

Sprites and streaks are two different things, which do you mean?

[Rodney]

Glow in A:M is primarily controlled by Ambiance Color and Intensity.

Glow can be turned on in any Surface property.

The global intensity of the glow can be further controlled within the Choreography environmental settings.

 

So any object (not just streaks) can be set to glow.

 

I'm sure the image here doesn't represent the effect you are going for but it's an example of glow being used in several ways. As I recall, there are no lights in the image as all surfaces are glowing to some extent.

 

To ensure your surface will glow make sure the color you use is not set to black.

Of course, if you wish to dampen the effect of the glow on some select surfaces while others are effected you may want to set the Ambiance color of those areas to black.

[robcat2075]

Rodney, can you post a sample PRJ that shows glow working on a streak particle? I couldn't get it.

[Rodney]

Rodney, can you post a sample PRJ that shows glow working on a streak particle? I couldn't get it.

 

Hmm... not sure you can but I'll check.

I was thinking more in terms of animating objects/patches instead of particles.

I'll investigate.

 

It should be noted here that it's good to have a target to shoot for when trying to recreate an effect.

I'm not sure what that target looks like yet.

 

There are a lot of glowing effects in games these days.

The last time someone asked for a similar effect it took awhile but eventually we discovered it was sword slashing circular effect.

 

Added: If you cannot get the glow effect applied to a particle stream then you can surely add the glow in post.

- Render out the particles/streaks normally first (use a white color for your test).

- Apply the rendered image sequence to a single patch image and place that model in your Choreography (place the corners of the model at the corners of the Camera cut off)

- Animate the Ambiance setting and color of the Image or Patch.

- Adjust the Chor's glow as necessary.

etc.

Rerender to see the full glowing effect

 

I don't think I still have the project file for it but the following is an example of one such effect where a small object (I think it was a single 5 point patch) is applied to a path:

zapz.mov

[Rodney]

I seem to be relearning a lot today.

 

When considering Ambiance it's best to avoid black *and* white as a base color as these colors override the ambiance effect.

When adding color, a mid gray generally works best as a base color.

 

As for streak and sprite glow I don't see any way to control that within the system/emitter as there is no place to set Ambiance or Ambiance Intensity.

My memory says the Additive Color combined with Transparency should generate the closest 'in particle system' glow effect but I'm still looking into that.

 

I still maintain that adding the glow effect in post will give you maximum control of the effect.

I had a successful rendering but hardly worth sharing. Let's see what else I can come up with.

[captainrex]

ok thnx for the help