Pulse Rays

Light ray treatments, where streaks of color extend from type, a logo, or image, are popping up everywhere these days. But you’ve no doubt heard the saying “familiarity breeds contempt” - and we have to admit, many of those treatments are starting to look a bit…familiar.

At their stock settings, most light ray effects look too solid or static to our eyes. The excellent Shine light ray plug-in from Trapcode has an animateable Shimmer parameter that adds some animation to its rays, but it seems few are taking advantage of this feature. Even with Shimmer, we’ve been interested in finding ways to make rays seem more ghostly and animated.

As it so happens, we recently had a client approach us asking if we could make light rays look as if an energy pulse was flowing out from the center. After some experimenting, we hit upon a formula using stock After Effects Professional plug-ins in conjunction with Shine which we think did the trick - see the figures at the top of this page.

Gobos and Gels

Finishing our tour of 3D lighting in After Effects, we’ll discuss gobos and gels. For those new to lighting, a gobo is an opaque object that blocks off some of the rays cast by a light, either to more carefully control where they fall, or to give the impression of light streaming through an object such as a window blind or the leaves of a tree. A gel is a translucent object placed in front of a light, which colorizes the rays cast by it. It is generally a solid color, but can be a graphic. Here are a few different approaches to replicating these inside After Effects.

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