Glow effect

[tuomok]

Sure it is.

Say if you have a footage of a person walking and you want to have an outer glow around him, you can do it as follows:

- duplicate the footage layer
- rotoscope the person on that layer with (animated) mask
- add Stylize > Glow and choose "On Top" composite original -switch. Now the glow will affect only outside of the mask
- tweak & animate the parameters you want

Hope this was the thing you were looking for...

[Paul-O]

Thanks...

But Im looking for a glow just like this: http://www.drakh.net/images/1992-4.jpg
You can see that a displacement map is used and the glow is glowing blue and white...
And the "glows" keep growing and dissolving..

Is there any way to make this kind of glow (I mean, making a glow that can be brighter in the intersection of two glows and varying its color depending on some value like luminance)???

Thanks!

[tuomok]

A-ha... try something like this:

After rotoscoping the moving person you can try to use some Time > Echo (? or similar) effects to make the trailing images first with perhaps some (directional) blurring. Then use that result as a displacement map on original clip.

The bright intersection is a result of using the same trailing image on it's own layer with "add" blend mode and by tweaking the opacity to your liking.

Should do the trick. Not this easily, but eventually :thumbsup:

[Paul-O]

Thanks Tuomok...

I just dont know how to make the "echo" be a displacement map... I thinks this is more easily accomplished by using the matte and duplicating it a lot of times and making each of them glow..


So you're saying that I should:
1. Rotoscope the object (in this case, a person running)
2. Make the displacement maps in some frames
3. Glow the various displacement maps masks
4. Adjust the glow opacity and blend mode (in this case, 'add')
5. Enjoy the effect...:)

Thanks for the advices....

[tuomok]

When you've done the roto and managed to do the trails somehow (duplicating and offsetting the layers or with some filter) it might be a good idea to render out just that bit as a quicktime clip with an alpha channel for further processing.

With that clip it's much simplier (and faster) to do displacements, glows and whatnot.

Hope to see the result when you're done... :thumbsup:

[mdurwin]

I agree with tuomok, I've done it before, just render the clip with the alpha matte out and reimport it. Repeat the clip several times, pushing it down the timeline by a few frames. Use a layer transparency like Overlay and puch the opacity back to suite your taste. A little horizontal motion blur might be nice, if you're trying to make a movie with the Flash!

[Paul-O]

Thanks for the replies...

Does anyone know how to make this glow grow and dissolve (without having to adjust the parameters for each glow) as if it was a trail of a car moving really fast (F1)?

Thanks again;

[mdurwin]

Are you using the standard glow? You'll need to use a glowing mask to make what you're asking about happen, or use Trapcode 3D Stroke. You'll have to adjust the parameters of each glowing element though, sorry, no shortcut there. Although you could do it once and copy the layer.

[Paul-O]

Thanks for the replies...
I think the glow effect I wanted can be easily done with Trapcode 3d stroke... But my problem now is with the displacement map... Everytime I make someone like the 'invisible woman' (from the recent F4 film) the background gets messed up... Does anyone know how do I do this? (i've already seen the 'invisible man tutorial' from Alan Hamill, http://creativecow.net/articles/hamill_alan/invisible_man/index.html... If you follow the tutorial you will see whats happening)...

[mdurwin]

Paul,
Why don't you post what you're trying to do so we can see. Post a clip before the effect and another after adding the effect.
I've done work with displacement maps and their pretty easy to use. hough I've always used solid shapes. If you're trying to do an invisible man, are you keying out the background? PM me if you want, I'd be glad to play with your footage and send the aep file back. Anything to put my new G5 through it's paces.

[Paul-O]

I am posting an image. You can see a guy running and the trail I've been talking about. There are a lot of displacement maps used. Is there any way to do this besides making a lot of copies of the displacement map (in this case, the guy running)? Or do I have to make a copy of the object each time I want to have another displacement? (All I am saying is if it is possible to make a lot of displacement maps without having to multiply the running guy).

Thanks in advance

[Paul-O]

I am sorry. Im having trouble posting the image...

[mechaXB]

you can upload any image on imageshack (http://www.imageshack.us) and link it

[Vympel]

It makes the rotoscope (isolate the personage) and it uses the time difference ( some time differences), more displace and glow.

[mdurwin]

PM me and I'll give you my email, you can send me the image or video clip and I can post it for you. I haven't had any problems posting images and have plenty of server space to post video.

[Paul-O]

Now.. I am REALLY posting the image...

As you can see the author uses a lot of displacement maps with luminance values on... Do you guys think that the author really had to duplicate the same video a lot (using a lot of displacement maps) to achieve this effect?

[mdurwin]

I think the author created a comp of the figure masked out of the background, then pulled that comp into a new one and treated it as a displacement layer, then he copy and pasted a few and offset them. Pretty simple actually. It helps if you have AE Pro with Vector Paint, or you can key out the character.

[dragonP]

wow this effect is cool gotta try it, but to ask about this effect, how do you include a null so that when you move the null the runner will distort. I only want to make the background distort when the object is in view. Using the null to increase or decrease the effect.

Paul-O you have gotta show us when you finished with this project I would love to see this effect. :thumbsup:

[mdurwin]

If you do it using a displacement layer, only that layer distorts not the runner. You can increase the amount of distortion easily in the displacement layer settings. The screenshots below show the video before, then after the displacement layer has been added then the final video with some adjustments and elements added. This isn't exactly what you're trying to do but using displacement layers like this will get you that effect if adjusted properly.

[mdurwin]

What I gave you above was if you have to mask your character and create a moving mask throughout the segment. I just tried it and it is TEDIOUS work I think the piece you have above was done with the runner on a blue/green screen. Then displacement maps were used. Check out this tutorial:
http://creativecow.net/articles/hamill_alan/invisible_man/index.html

[dragonP]

thanks mdurwin, I see what you mean you dont need a null to change the effect you can just key it. What I wanted to do is to create a similar rig they used for Sue storm in Fantastic 4 movie to get similar results, but this will have to do.

Ya I have already done that tutorial with invisiable man, great tutorial. :thumbsup:

:)

[mdurwin]

I haven't seen the Fantastic Four movie. I don't suppose you have a still or clip that you can post so I know what you're talking about?

[Paul-O]

Thanks for the replies!
I am almost there... The only thing that I still need to do is create the multiples displacements... I dont think I can achieve this effects by using the offset effect (but I dont have any experience with this effect..) mdurwin, could you explain your technique better?

PS: Im posting a image of Sue Storm (Invisible Woman) where we can clearly see the effect (dragonP, there is a very good "making of" movie where they explains the process... I will search for the address and post it here)

[dragonP]

Cool thanks Paul-O cant wait. :)

Im posting a image of Sue Storm (Invisible Woman) where we can clearly see the effect (dragonP, there is a very good "making of" movie where they explains the process... I will search for the address and post it here)

[Paul-O]

The Invisible Woman:
http://images.apple.com/movies/fox/fantastic_f
our/f4-int_fte-invis_woman_m480.mov
(http://images.apple.com/movies/fox/fantastic_four/f4-int_fte-invis_woman_m480.mov)

The Human Torch:
http://images.apple.com/movies/fox/fantastic_f
our/f4-int_fte-human_torch_m480.mov
(http://images.apple.com/movies/fox/fantastic_four/f4-int_fte-human_torch_m480.mov)

The Five Powers:
http://images.apple.com/movies/fox/fantastic_f
our/f4-int_fte-five_powers_m480.mov (http://images.apple.com/movies/fox/fantastic_four/f4-int_fte-five_powers_m480.mov)

..........................................................................................................

The effect Im searching for works kind of like this: imagina a video where a guy is running. What Im trying to do is create a frame of him each time he puts his right foot on the ground. By doing this, we will have a video of a guy running and after a second a frame is created and this frame grows and disapears... In the end, we will have a guy with a lot of photos of him dissolving (growing and lowering the opacity)... This video will turn the displacement map. It is important to understand that the displacements behind the guy wont follow his movements, they are stills... Hope I made myself clear =]....

Is there any effect or plugin that can do this? Thanks a lot

[tuomok]

I wanted to try this out and did a 10 minutes comp out of it.
See if you can find this useful.

displacedTrails.zip (http://www.kulomaa.net/tuomo/cgtalk/displaceTrails.zip) (524 kb, includes aep + source materials)

Cheers,

[Dreamzsguy]

I have worked on this effect and finally i got something like this...
Check this link http://www.redrival.com/andyboy/Glow.mov
Suggestions are accepted.....:)

[Paul-O]

tuomok, thanks for the help. ut in your project you apply the echo effect which makes the "clones" act as copies of the video. I am looking for an effect where the copies work as frames. The copies dont move at all. It works like this: "What Im trying to do is create a frame of him each time he puts his right foot on the ground. By doing this, we will have a video of a guy running and after a second a frame is created and this frame grows and disapears... In the end, we will have a guy with a lot of photos of him dissolving (growing and lowering the opacity)..."

[mdurwin]

I think what you need to do is render out a jpeg sequence, bring it into photoshop and mask each frame, or every few frames, depending on your needs, then import it back in as a Photoshop comp. Use each one as a displacement layer, offset them in the timeline to coincide with the original video.
It's very different from the Sue Storm animation, they used a 3D model with a glass texture and a reflection map with probably a 35 degree image seam angle.
It's kind of an old school way to do an effect, but I think it's the best way to acheive your effect, especially since you're looking to create a trail of still images.

[tuomok]

Ok, now I see where you are going... :argh:

Well, in that case you could try something like this (talking about my demo comp setup here).

Go to comp2 and remove echo effect from the layer. Then use time remapping -feature to create freeze frame (where foot hits the ground the first time). Make sure the layer's in point is at that same frame. Then add a nice fade-out & scale-up animation to that clip.

Ok!

Now duplicate the layer as many times as needed (one for each foot-hitting-ground instance) and move in-point/freeze/fade/scale keyframes to a correct time.

Goody, that's it!

Now when you look at comp3 all *should* be ok. :rolleyes:

(I'm not at my AE workstation now so I'm trying to figure out how it should go... Good luck!)

[Paul-O]

Ok... so there's no easy way to mkae this effect, right? :)

One last thing: does anyone know how to make the displacements dissolve (grow while lowering the opacity) without having to change each parameter manually?

[Dreamzsguy]

I have worked on this effect and finally i got something like this...
Check this link http://www.redrival.com/andyboy/Glow.mov
Suggestions are accepted.....:)

"i have tried has what TU0MOK has posted the steps..."

[Vympel]

Ok... so there's no easy way to mkae this effect, right? :)

One last thing: does anyone know how to make the displacements dissolve (grow while lowering the opacity) without having to change each parameter manually?
Uses the Decay parameter of the Echo effect:thumbsup:

[Paul-O]

... Im not using the echo effect... I guess Ill have to do it manually

Thanks anyway

[dragonP]

Hi Paul-O there is no short way to do the effect you want to achieve. My suggestion is similar to mdurwin but instead of render out Jepg seq render out in filmstrip then rotoscope the effect in. Since you have a image in your mind as how the final render will be like, you can combine the still images of displacement maps and rotoscope a few frames to create the effect.

[mdurwin]

Yeah, no easy way to acheive the effect. But, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it and it wouldn't be cool anymore! The downside of AE is it requires alot of work to do the coolest stuff. The upside is that a) all that work teaches you a bunch of stuff you probably didn't know or forgot, there are alot of opportunities to tweak your process to come up with something truely unique, c) it keeps everyone that owns a computer and a copy of AE from calling themselves animators or motion graphics artists, and d) if it was easy, we couldn't charge so much!

[Paul-O]

So thanks very much for all the help... You guys are truly amazing (and helpful:) )..

[Paul-O]

I dont know if its best to start a new topic, but since its about a glow effect too, I will post it here...

Does anyone know how to create these glow effects?

(In the second image, two clones are becoming one... look at the arm of the character.. thats the effect Im looking for)

[Vympel]

I believe that the first effect can be created using, clouds and or fractal noise, color correct, blur and glow

[Paul-O]

hm... I dont think the AE glow plugin can do such an intense glow... I dont know... Can it?

[Paul-O]

I have only one doubt left... How can we create a glow that uses the "outer" colors of the alpha image to render?

I mean, if we use AE's Glow we need to choose between two colors. Is there any plug-in that enables us to use not two selected colors, but the colors from the image?

Look in this image, for instance: http://forums.cgsociety.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=76612

Notice that the glow of the upper body is red and the glow of the lower body is yellow.The last pixels between the runner and the field are chosen to glow.

Does someone know how I can recreate the effect?

Thanks!

[mdurwin]

I don't think that's a glow effect. It looks like the liquify tool.

[Per-Anders]

these are just layering effects. glow can be achieved a whole host of ways, not just through plugins. try simply duplicating a lyaer applying a levels or curves to it to filter out all but the brightest points and simply blurring it, then changing the layer transfer mode to overlay, or screen, or even for extremes the dodges.

the running one for example could be done by using a simpel trails on another layer and using that for displacement and then overlaying the displacement strength on top.

[Paul-O]

Thank you for the replies!

Mdme_sadie, how do you make sure that only the outer part of the body is going to glow? If you use layers for the whole image the brightests points will glow, but I just whant the "outer" points to glow.

Is there any masking option that allows you to do hide all of the image except the outer part?

I'm sorry for the 'begginer' questions.

[mdurwin]

You can try different layer modes (Burn, Add, etc.), or perhaps a filter such as find edges.

[Vympel]

You can use mask for separate the effect and filters to increase the brightness in determineds areas of image ( find edges for example)

[Paul-O]

Well, I've done some experiences with the 'find edges' command. I have two problems with this method.

1. I just want the outside to be selected. The 'find edges' selects all the edges, so I have more selection than I need.

2. I was thinking in making the image after the 'find edges' command (mostly white and black) as an alpha channel of the image. I don't think this is possible in AE. Is it?

Maybe I should do that in photoshop, right? And then export to AE...

[Vympel]

To localize the effects of find edges duplicate the layer and use masks, you can use this layer as alpha channel for other layer with Glow or other filter:curious:

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