Ignite Pro provides the most efficient and high quality tools for creating lightsword effects, reducing the rotoscoping requirements and automating key visual elements such as the motion blur trails.
Lightsword Ultra (Glow Only) allows you to create an external glow to any layer’s shape. You can use masks to define or animate a layer’s shape, then add a glow around the outside of that shape. This technique is commonly used to create the lightsword core using a masked plane, then multiple Lightsword (Glow Only) effects can be added to create a rich, complex glow. Extensive built-in distortion effects allow you to customize the shape of the glow for a variety of different results.
- Preset Menu: Choose from one of the built-in presets as a starting point for the effect. Presets should be chosen before you begin animating the effect’s position.
- Source: Choose any layer on the timeline to create a glow based on its shape.
Flicker
Adding flicker to the effect can make it more exciting, interesting, and less refined.
- Amount: Adjusts the scale of the flickering, to control its intensity.
- Probability: Adjusts how often the flicker affects the blade. Set the percentage of frames which will be randomly altered by the flicker.
- Frequency: Adjusts how many frames in sequence make up the flicker.
- Seed: Each seed value gives a unique pattern to the flicker.
Inner Glow
Two glows are built-in to the effect. Varying the width of the inner and outer glows allows you to layer the glow and create a more natural falloff around the edges of the effect. The inner glow is controlled here, and the outer glow controls are found below.
- Width: Adjusts the overall width of the inner glow, in pixels.
- Color: Choose a color for the inner glow. The inner glow color should generally be set to a bright, highly saturated color. You can use the eyedropper to choose a color from the layer, or click the swatch to open a color picker and choose any color you prefer. You can also manually enter the color values for the red, green, and blue channels.
- Alpha: Adjusts the opacity of the inner glow.
- Stability: Lowering the stability causes the inner glow to fluctuate in size, making the blade appear unstable.
- Flicker: Sets the intensity of the flicker applied to the glow’s brightness. This does not alter the shape of the glow.
Distortion
Inner Glow Distortion changes the form of the effect’s inner glow.
- Distortion: Adjusts the amount of distortion applied to the inner glow.
- Type: Distortion is based on fractal patterns. Choose the fractal pattern used to generate the distortion.
- Energy: A pattern of thin, energetic strings.
- Fluid: Replicates a pattern similar to the caustics created by looking through a volume of water.
- Heat: Wavering distortion replicating a natural heat haze.
- Smoke: Soft, billowing shapes like the texture of smoke.
- Noise: Adjust the settings used to control the distortion pattern.
- Noise Scale: Changes the size of the details contained in the distortion.
- Bias: Adjusts the balance between the initial fractal pattern and the sub-fractals that create finer levels of detail.
- Complexity: Increasing complexity adds more sub-levels of noise, breaking up the distortion into finer details.
- Invert: Reverses the fractal patterns for an alternate result.
- Seed: Each seed value creates a unique pattern, to add variety to the effect.
- Animation: Adjust the motion behavior applied to the distortion.
- Wind Direction: Rotate the wheel to select the angle of motion applied to the effect.
- Wind Speed: Adjusts the intensity of the movement.
- Noise Speed: Adjusts the speed of the sub-fractals, independently from the speed of the initial fractal pattern.
- Motion Blur: Adds an angle blur aligned with the Wind Direction. Increasing the value adds more blur.
Outer Glow
Two glows are built-in to the effect. Varying the width of the inner and outer glows allows you to layer the glow and create a more natural falloff around the edges of the effect. The outer glow is controlled here, and the inner glow controls are found above.
- Width: Adjusts the overall width of the inner glow, in pixels.
- Color: Choose a color for the inner glow. The outer glow color can be set to a similar color to the inner glow color, for a traditional look, or to an entirely different color to create a gradient in the glow. You can use the eyedropper to choose a color from the layer, or click the swatch to open a color picker and choose any color you prefer. You can also manually enter the color values for the red, green, and blue channels.
- Alpha: Adjusts the opacity of the inner glow.
Distortion
Outer Glow Distortion changes the form of the effect’s outer glow.
- Distortion: Adjusts the amount of distortion applied to the outer glow.
- Type: Distortion is based on fractal patterns. Choose the fractal pattern used to generate the distortion.
- Energy: A pattern of thin, energetic strings.
- Fluid: Replicates a pattern similar to the caustics created by looking through a volume of water.
- Heat: Wavering distortion replicating a natural heat haze.
- Smoke: Soft, billowing shapes like the texture of smoke.
- Noise: Adjust the settings used to control the distortion pattern.
- Noise Scale: Changes the size of the details contained in the distortion.
- Bias: Adjusts the balance between the initial fractal pattern and the sub-fractals that create finer levels of detail.
- Complexity: Increasing complexity adds more sub-levels of noise, breaking up the distortion into finer details.
- Invert: Reverses the fractal patterns for an alternate result.
- Seed: Each seed value creates a unique pattern, to add variety to the effect.
- Animation: Adjust the motion behavior applied to the distortion.
- Wind Direction: Rotate the wheel to select the angle of motion applied to the effect.
- Wind Speed: Adjusts the intensity of the movement.
- Noise Speed: Adjusts the speed of the sub-fractals, independently from the speed of the initial fractal pattern.
- Motion Blur: Adds an angle blur aligned with the Wind Direction. Increasing the value adds more blur.
Mask
- From: Choose a layer whose shape will be used to mask the
- Use Source:
Background Distortion
Background Distortion warps the background layer where it is visible through the glow of the lightsword effect.
- Distortion: Sets the intensity of the distortion applied to the background within the glow. Lower values give a smoother, more refined effect. Higher values will make the edge irregular, and increasingly distort the background behind the glow of the effect. This can help to make the effect feel more convincing, as part of the scene.
- Type: Distortion is based on fractal patterns. Choose the fractal pattern used to generate the distortion.
- Energy: A pattern of thin, energetic strings.
- Fluid: Replicates a pattern similar to the caustics created by looking through a volume of water.
- Heat: Wavering distortion replicating a natural heat haze.
- Smoke: Soft, billowing shapes like the texture of smoke.
- Noise: Adjust the settings used to control the distortion pattern.
- Noise Scale: Changes the size of the details contained in the distortion.
- Bias: Adjusts the balance between the initial fractal pattern and the sub-fractals that create finer levels of detail.
- Complexity: Increasing complexity adds more sub-levels of noise, breaking up the distortion into finer details.
- Invert: Reverses the fractal patterns for an alternate result.
- Seed: Each seed value creates a unique pattern, to add variety to the effect.
- Animation: Adjust the motion behavior applied to the distortion.
- Wind Direction: Rotate the wheel to select the angle of motion applied to the effect.
- Wind Speed: Adjusts the intensity of the movement.
- Noise Speed: Adjusts the speed of the sub-fractals, independently from the speed of the initial fractal pattern.
- Motion Blur: Adds an angle blur aligned with the Wind Direction. Increasing the value adds more blur.
- Blend: Choose the blend mode that is used to composite the effect onto the underlying layers.