The Shimmer group contains controls that can make light appear to gleam and flicker. Ray length modulates by an animatable fractal, so rays seem to move in and out and sideways.
Predictably, the Amount control sets how much Shimmer effect applies to the image. The following example pair shows no Shimmer (value: 0.0, left) compared against the maximum slider amount (400.0, right). Note that Amount’s slider value tops out at 400, but you can drag or manually enter much higher values.
In the above illustration, we have Detail set to a moderate value (25.0). Now, let’s flip things around and set Amount to 200.0 while we compare Detail at 0.0 (left) against Detail at a higher value of 50.0 (right). As with Amount, you can drag or manually enter much higher Detail values.
As you can see, there is an interplay and overlap between the Amount and Detail functions, wherein different values may yield similar-looking results.
Next, if you check the Source Point affects Shimmer checkbox, you’ll see the Radius and Reduce flickering controls enable. Source Point affects Shimmer means that as the Source Point moves, the shimmer will automatically animate in a way that looks natural for the movement. This can be tough to capture in a highly compressed MP4, but let’s try it.
Radius controls how much your shimmer animates when the Source Point moves a certain distance. Low settings will give faster animation; higher settings may yield the opposite. Sometimes, especially when working with a logotype, Radius values may produce flickery results.
If you do get flickery effects, try enabling the Reduce flickering checkbox. If your shimmer still looks unsatisfactory, uncheck Source Point affects Shimmer and let the shimmer be still.
Alternatively, the other primary way to animate Shimmer is with the Phase control. Phase makes shimmering move randomly. You can keyframe Phase and use its radial control to adjust movement.
To make a seamless Phase loop, enable the Use Loop checkbox and set Revolutions in Loop to the desired amount. For example, to make the loop four seconds long and composed of two complete phase revolutions, you would set two keyframes for Phase, one with a value of 0 at time 0 and one with a value of 2 at a time of 4 seconds. Make sure the last frame (the one at 4 seconds) is not included in the loop. If the last frame gets included, it will produce two identical frames following each other. In this example, you would set Revolutions in Loop to 2.