Trapcode Lux
Interface Overview
Point Lights
|
Point lights in After Effects are points in 3D space that emit light uniformly in all directions. Lux uses three of the point light properties to render its representation: position, color, and intensity. |
In Lux, there are controls for how point lights render. The controls are:
Point Light Model
The Point Light Model controls the type of visualization used, meaning the look of the point lights. There are five settings:
|
|
|
Light's Intensity
The Light's Intensity check box controls if the lights' intensity values should be used. It is on by default, but can be switched off when desired. Being off results in all point lights looking the same regardless of their individual intensity settings.
|
Intensity This slider acts as a master slider for all point lights' intensities. By increasing this value, Lux will visualize all point lights with more intensity. However, the setting has no effect on the lights' own intensity values, only on how they are rendered by Lux. The top row in the image on the left shows how a light using the Natural Point Light Model is affected. The bottom row shows a light using the Radius model. |
|
Softness The Softness slider sets the visualization's softness. The top row in the image on the left shows how a light using the Natural Point Light Model is affected. The bottom row shows a light using the Radius model. |
Radius
The Radius slider only works when Point Light Model is set to Radius or Radius+Source. It controls the size of the spheres.
Individual Radius
The Individual Radius pop-up menu only works when Point Light Model is set to Radius or Radius+Source.
Sometimes, you may want to size point light representations individually. This pop-up gives four choices on how the radius of lights can be affected:
| None | All lights have the same radius. |
| Intensity | The radius is affected (multiplied) by the light's Intensity value. |
| Shadow Darkness | The radius is affected (multiplied) by the light's Shadow Darkness value. |
| Shadow Diffusion | The radius is affected (additive) by the light's Shadow Diffusion value. |
Example: There are three lights in a scene. The first has an Intensity of 100%, the second 200%, and the third 400 percent. If Radius is set to 100 and Individual Radius is set to Intensity, then the first point light will have a radius of 100, the second 200, and the third 400.
Source Intensity
The Source Intensity slider only works when Point Light Model is set to Source or Radius+Source. It controls inner sphere intensity.
Source Radius
The Source Radius slider only works when Point Light Model is set to Source or Radius+Source. It controls inner sphere size.
Spot Lights
Spot lights in After Effects are points in 3D space that emit light in a certain direction and with a certain spread (cone angle). Lux uses six point light properties to render its representation: position, direction, color, cone angle, cone feather, and intensity.
The image on the left shows After Effects properties for a spot light. In this user guide, the setting called Intensity is sometimes referred to as the light's own intensity.
|
Lux features controls for how spotlight cones render. These controls are described below. |
Spot Light Model
The Spot Light Model controls the appearance of spotlight cones with four settings:
| Off | No visualization of spot lights. |
| Natural | Light falls off with distance squared (1/R^2). This is the most physically correct model. |
| Distance | Light falls off with distance (1/R). |
| Constant | Constant light intensity. |
Light's Intensity
The Light’s Intensity check box controls if the lights' intensity values should be used. It is on by default, but can be switched off when you want all spotlight cones to have the same intensity, regardless of their own intensity setting.
|
Intensity Intensity acts as a master slider for all spotlights’ intensities. By increasing this value, all spotlights will be visualized by Lux with more intensity. However, the setting has no effect on the lights’ own intensity values, only on how Lux renders them. The image to the left shows how a light using the Natural Spot Light Model is affected. Notice how the lit area on the layer below (the “floor”) remains unchanged. To also affect the lit area, the light’s own intensity value should be changed. |
|
Start Distance Start Distance is the distance from the light to where the light cone starts. |
|
Reach The Reach slider controls how far the light cone reaches. This setting is only active if the Reach Comp Layer is not checked. |
|
|
Individual Reach
Sometimes, you may want to give spotlight representations individual reach length. This pop-up gives four choices on how individual lights' lengths should be affected:
Example: There are three spot lights in a scene. The red light has intensity 100%, the blue has 200%, and the green 400 percent. If the Reach control is set to 100 and Individual Reach is set to Intensity, then the red spot light will have a reach of 100, the blue 200, and the green 400. |
||||||||||||
|
Reach Comp Layer When Reach Comp Layer is activated, a 3D layer can be selected in the layer pop-up below. The spotlight cones will then reach that layer. Set Reach Layer When a layer is selected in this pop-up menu, all spotlight cones will reach that particular layer. As soon as the layer has been selected, the pop-up will flip back to its original state (None) and a new light called “Lux Reach [layer-name]” will be created. This is a locked light. You are not supposed to edit it. It’s just there to keep track of the reach layer. The layer selected here must be a 3D layer, otherwise it will have no effect. This control only works when Reach Comp Layer is checked. |
||||||||||||
|
Reach Both Sides All layers have two sides. Normally, Lux doesn’t care which side faces the light; it will still get stopped by the reach layer. But if this option is unchecked, only one side of the layer will stop (cut off) the light cone. The other side will do the inverse (start the light cone). The image on the left shows what happens when Reach Both Sides is off and the reach layer is rotated so that its other side faces the light. |
||||||||||||
|
General The settings in the general group affects both point and spot lights. Use Lights that are The setting allows for using only lights that are switched on, only lights that are off, or all lights regardless of whether they are on or off. Name starts with Using this option, Lux will only visualize lights with names that start with a certain word. This gives flexibility to add many lights to the scene, but only let a few of those be rendered by Lux. It also helps when you want to have lights behind and in front of some layers. In this case, two instances of Lux are used. One is placed on top of the layer stack and another at the bottom. This pop-up can then control which lights are rendered in a given Lux layer.
Important note: Changing the name of a light does not force After Effects to re-render. This must be done manually by, for example, purging the image cache or switching the Lux layer off and then back on. |
|||||||||||||
|
Look This setting controls how lights mix together and the overall brightness and look of the result. There are six modes for Look:
Gamma The two last Look modes (the adjustable modes) enable this gamma slider, which allows for adjusting the overall brightness and look. |
