Fast Light Effects

Fast Light Effects

Category: Light

Shader Type: Light

Output: Color (RGB) value

This all-in-one effects shader can quickly create a variety of light effects.

Lens Effects

Flare File	Defines a flare image file to use. Click Edit to open a property page for the image clip being presently used. To retrieve a new clip, click New and indicate whether you wish to create a new clip or create one from a source. You can choose a flare pic file from dozens of types of flares in the Softimage library (%SI_HOME%\Application\phenolib\Shader_Lib\FLARES).
Image View Window	Displays the selected image. You can right-click on the image to access the Image Clip Property Editor. If the image is a sequence, use the playback controls to play the sequence image.
Samples	Defines how often the lights are sampled. Very useful in reducing render times for area lights.
Virtual Radius	Lets the lights fade out along with their flare. Unless 0 is selected, the light is given a virtual radius; i.e., non-area lights, such as spot lights, can be partly obscured by objects in the scene, and the flare is diminished accordingly.
Brightness	Defines the brightness or intensity of the lens flare.
Scale	Defines the scaling/size of the flare.
Aspect	Controls the aspect ratio of the flare elements.

Glow

Glow	Makes the light to glow.
Size	Defines the overall glow size.
Brightness	Defines the glow’s brightness.
Falloff	Controls how quickly the glow’s light falls off.

Stars

Star	Places a star over the light.
Automate	Makes the star automatically rotate as it moves across the camera’s field of view.
Points	Defines the number of rays the star will emit.
Length	Defines the length of the star ray.
Length Jitter	Controls the jitter, or twinkle, of the ray.
Thickness	Defines the thickness of the star ray.
Thickness Jitter	Controls the jitter, or twinkle, of the ray’s thickness.
Rotation	Defines the offset angle to rotate the star.
Brightness	Defines the star’s overall brightness.
Twinkle	Defines a random intensity over time that simulates a flicker or twinkle.

Projector

Projected Image	Defines an image to be projected from the light source (as a projector). Click Edit to open a property page for the image clip being presently used. To retrieve a new clip, click New and indicate whether you wish to create a new clip or create one from a source.
Image View Window	Displays the selected image. You can right-click on the image to access the Image Clip Property Editor. If the image is a sequence, use the playback controls to play the sequence image.
Scale	Allows the map to be resized relative to the lit area. Use this to make the map take up more or less of the projection area. By default, the image is actual size (1).
Rotation	Rotates the projection map. When using a spot light, the projection map rotates about its center (center of the light cone). With point lights, the map is rotated longitudinally (like the earth spinning).
Tile	Tiles the map over the light area. Used when the projection map is scaled down and you wish to avoid having the edge of the map take up the color of the light source.

Volumic Properties

Map Size	Defines the volumic map size. A high value will increase the size of the volumic effect.
Force Volume Shadows	Forces the light to cast shadows in its volumetric effects. This speeds up rendering and lets you keep volumetric shadowing effects.
Allow Transparency	Casts the volumetric effect through partially transparent or transparency mapped objects. When off, any occluding object will completely shadow the volumetric effect.
Brightness	Defines the brightness or intensity of the light effect.
Start Distance	Defines the distance from the light source at which the effect starts.
Inverse Square Falloff	Makes the intensity of the light fall off with the inverse square of the distance; i.e., a very natural effect. When off, the light is constant over the length of the cone. This parameter applies only to spot lights.
Scaling	Defines the distance before the light intensity is calculated.

Shards

Light Rays	Switches on a ray effect to produce beams, or shards, of light.
Scale	Defines the size of the beams/shards.
Intensity	Defines the strength of the light beams/shards.
Animation Speed	Defines the rate of change of the beams/shards.

Render Tree Usage

This shader can be connected in the render tree as well as the light shader stack. Select the light and click Update in the render tree command bar. Connect this shader to the Light Shader input. The default Soft_Light shader is connected to every light to give it a color and falloff and cause it to create shadows. You can also use a Color Correction, Invert, or any other type of Image Processing shader to fine-tune or alter the light effect. Make sure it is the last shader connected to the Light Shader input.

Autodesk Softimage v.7.5