Blackmagic Forum

Hi all,

what render pass do you usually use for a realistic looking light glow effect ?
And if you don't use any render pass, what's your favorite method or technique, node, etc ?

Thx for any little tips, hints, expertise,
appreciate it !

Nothing major, but here is my small tip. What I usually do is combine several glows or blurs. I start out with an isolated image of the item I want to glow. Then I add 3 or 4 blur/glow nodes in parallell. That is, I don't connect them one after another, instead I take the output from the image and connect it to the nodes in parallell. The 1st node has a very small size/blur, the second one a slightly larger and so on to the last which has a large blur/glow, that is fairly weak in effect.

Then, I merge these nodes together again, with the Screen Mode. Second to last step is then to merge it together (screen again) with a BG-node that has the color I want the outline to be, and finally I combine that with the alpha I have from before I make that final merge.

Something like the code below.

Kind regards
Ulf

Code: Select all

{
   Tools = ordered() {
      MatteControl1 = MatteControl {
         CtrlWZoom = false,
         Inputs = {
            MatteCombine = Input { Value = 4, },
            PostMultiplyImage = Input { Value = 1, },
            Background = Input {
               SourceOp = "Merge4",
               Source = "Output",
            },
            Foreground = Input {
               SourceOp = "Merge3",
               Source = "Output",
            },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 834, 154 } },
      },
      Ellipse1 = EllipseMask {
         Inputs = {
            MaskWidth = Input { Value = 1280, },
            MaskHeight = Input { Value = 720, },
            PixelAspect = Input { Value = { 1, 1 }, },
            ClippingMode = Input { Value = FuID { "None" }, },
            Width = Input { Value = 0.224934300529583, },
            Height = Input { Value = 0.224934300529583, },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 94, 36 } },
      },
      Background2 = Background {
         Inputs = {
            Width = Input { Value = 1280, },
            Height = Input { Value = 720, },
            ["Gamut.SLogVersion"] = Input { Value = FuID { "SLog2" }, },
            TopLeftRed = Input { Value = 1, },
            TopLeftGreen = Input { Value = 1, },
            TopLeftBlue = Input { Value = 1, },
            Gradient = Input {
               Value = Gradient {
                  Colors = {
                     [0] = { 0, 0, 0, 1 },
                     [1] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 }
                  }
               },
            },
            EffectMask = Input {
               SourceOp = "Ellipse1",
               Source = "Mask",
            }
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 218, 76 } },
      },
      Merge4 = Merge {
         Inputs = {
            Background = Input {
               SourceOp = "Background1",
               Source = "Output",
            },
            Foreground = Input {
               SourceOp = "Merge3",
               Source = "Output",
            },
            ApplyMode = Input { Value = FuID { "Screen" }, },
            PerformDepthMerge = Input { Value = 0, },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 702, 155 } },
      },
      Merge3 = Merge {
         Inputs = {
            Background = Input {
               SourceOp = "Glow1_1_1",
               Source = "Output",
            },
            Foreground = Input {
               SourceOp = "Merge2",
               Source = "Output",
            },
            ApplyMode = Input { Value = FuID { "Screen" }, },
            PerformDepthMerge = Input { Value = 0, },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 611, 112 } },
      },
      Background1 = Background {
         Inputs = {
            Width = Input { Value = 1280, },
            Height = Input { Value = 720, },
            ["Gamut.SLogVersion"] = Input { Value = FuID { "SLog2" }, },
            TopLeftRed = Input { Value = 1, },
            Gradient = Input {
               Value = Gradient {
                  Colors = {
                     [0] = { 0, 0, 0, 1 },
                     [1] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 }
                  }
               },
            },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 178, 188 } },
      },
      Merge2 = Merge {
         Inputs = {
            Background = Input {
               SourceOp = "Glow1_1",
               Source = "Output",
            },
            Foreground = Input {
               SourceOp = "Glow1",
               Source = "Output",
            },
            ApplyMode = Input { Value = FuID { "Screen" }, },
            PerformDepthMerge = Input { Value = 0, },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 515, 69 } },
      },
      Glow1_1_1 = Glow {
         Inputs = {
            Blend = Input { Value = 0.2, },
            XGlowSize = Input { Value = 58.0952380952381, },
            Glow = Input { Value = 0.914285714285714, },
            Input = Input {
               SourceOp = "Background2",
               Source = "Output",
            },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 367, 123 } },
      },
      Glow1_1 = Glow {
         Inputs = {
            Blend = Input { Value = 0.2, },
            XGlowSize = Input { Value = 81.4285714285714, },
            Glow = Input { Value = 0.876190476190476, },
            Input = Input {
               SourceOp = "Background2",
               Source = "Output",
            },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 360, 76 } },
      },
      Glow1 = Glow {
         Inputs = {
            Blend = Input { Value = 0.2, },
            XGlowSize = Input { Value = 100, },
            Glow = Input { Value = 0.847619047619048, },
            Input = Input {
               SourceOp = "Background2",
               Source = "Output",
            },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 363, 27 } },
      }
   }
}

There are two macros out there that might help.
One is "exponential glow" by Stefan Ihringer:
http://www.comp-fu.com/2012/06/fusion-s ... ollection/

the other is multistep glow, by Gregory Chalenko "Gringo". It used to be on vfxpedia..I'll have to look that one up..EDIT: http://pigsfly.com/index.php?/topic/507 ... low/page-2
They both have nice ways of dealing with glows and falloff.
Hope this helps.

Joël

Thank you both for your hints and tips.

@Ulf:
What you mean by isolated image by the item ?
A mask, mulitmatte ?
What exactly do you mean by parallel ?
Do you have a screenshot of your node ?
Do you also have an image or comp/example so I can see how it actually looks like ?
What can I do with the code you provided - load it into Fusion ?


@Joel:
Thank you. I tried to get both mentioned macros. But all sites are down !!!!
Couldn't find any working link.

What happened to vfxpedia ?
Not online anymore ?

This page for ExponentialGlow (and many others):

http://www.steakunderwater.com/VFXPedia ... and_Macros

This one for MultistepBlur (and many others):

http://www.steakunderwater.com/VFXPedia ... arty_Fuses

Enjoy!

Hi

I mean that the image containing the item to glow doesn't contain anything else. That is, it's has a matte/mask/key so that nothing else is there.

Select the code, copy it, and then paste it into the work area of Fusion, and my comp will show up (one of the features I love with Fusion ). I think it will be clearer what I mean then

Kind regards