da vinci code lightrays (gfx joe)

hi everyone

i know this is an after effects question but am in need of some help!
can anybody find a way of recreating the light rays at the end of
the da vinci code trailer? ( would you know gfxjoe?)

[www.apple.com]

never worked with light rays in after effects before so am a little stuck and still quite new to after effects!

anybody with any help would be fantastic!

thanks
alex

There is a few ways to attack this.

1. You can shoot it.

2. I don't have time to write a tutorial for it right now as I am up against deadlines, but CC Light Rays does a nice job & so does Trapcode's Shine.

To make a long story short (and to give you something to play with), drop a running ftg clip in your timeline, pull it up to the upper left corner of your comp and precomp that (that is your light source from which the rays will emulate). You will apply your FX to the precomp so the edges do not get cut off. Play with the settings. Shine is better IMHO because it recognizes 16Bit Colorspace so the gradients are smooth as silk while CC Light Rays are all banded out.

The trick to a pretty effect is to get a nice subtle smokey haze floating through the rays to give it a volumetric lighting feel. You can also attack this from different angles...you need either a smoke / fog Quicktime and use the "Screen" transfer mode to get rid of the black...or use Fractal Noise and create your own smoke (again...no time to write a tut on that either). THEN, you place the Fog layer on top of your Rays layer & use the Fog layer as a Luma Matte for the Rays layer. Duplicate the Rays layer, put it over both those layers and use the Add transfer mode. Looks awesome right here.

That's the best I can do for you right now, Alex. Play with the settings. Experiment. Have fun.

Joey



When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Man, that's pretty damn cool GFX Joe - cheers.

I agree with Joe about shine - you get a much more polished finish with Shine. (sorry couldn't resist the pun)

Re tutorials and not wanting to take away the possibility of a GFXJOE tutorial at a later date!

Have a look at the tutorials on Creative Cow for Trapcode Shine or even on the trapcode website itself.

[www.trapcode.com]

[forums.creativecow.net]

Regarding smoke footage for overlay (if you don't have any of your own) there is some royalty free smoke footage that comes with Apple Motion - do a search for 'smoke.mov' on your Mac - you should find it in users/shared/motion/library/content/smoke if not load it from the Motion install DVD.


Ben





For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

i have found that genarts saphire "edge rays" smokes them all - even though i do own and love shine.

but the genarts stuff IS EXPENSIVE - and doesnt allways behave predictably in FCP.

but download the demo, its free for like 3 weeks and totally functional...

Good luck with Sapphire...though a nice full set of plugs...it's ridiculously overpriced.

Sapphire Lighting Effects ONLY (without the other modules): $599

Trapcode's Shine (works in all programs): $99

CC Light Rays: FREE (included on your After Effects Pro installer disc)

- Joey



When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

the big diff between saphire edge rays and trapcode shine in my opinion is testosterone!!! now i havent updated my shine since i got the genarts stuff a couple years back - so this may not be a factor anymore, but shine was always very "crystaline" and tastefull (which is a GOOD THING) but edge rays can be cranked to hell for a full-on, super-freakin-nova, right outta satans colon type blast and has a really agressive "edge" to it...

it kind of reminds me of an article i read in a guitar magazine a few years back. i [think] it was billy duffy (guitar player for the cult) was saying that he had the opportunity once to play eddie van halens live rig and said that it was so hot rodded and tweaked that he could hardly control it

- thats the first thing i thought when i first got my saphire suite

You ought to upgrade your shine then Wayne - you could blow the range off of a Grade 1 monitor with Shine if you so desired!

At the end of the day it's up to you Alex, try the Sapphire plug-ins - because as Wayne mentioned they are free for a month which is about the time you need to play with all of them and decide to find a client that wants to pay an extra $1500 to get the whole suite cus you just gotta have them!!!

However all trapcode plugins are just so damn fantastic especially at the prices. They are definately worth getting even if you get Sapphire as well.

Ben



Post Edited (04-24-06 10:51)



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

wise advice! that is EXACTLY how i was able to purchase mine. a client who HAD TO HAVE like 3 of the effects...

the cool thing about the gen arts stuff (as in most plugin collections) you'll rarely ever use about 75% of it, you'll use 21% of it twice a year - but you'll use 4% of it every day (ok, maybe every week). id gamble that even a recreationally- professional workload would justify its cost in a short while...

without doubt! trapcode stuff is some of the most useful in the business!

although $750 for SEVEN plugins - aint exactly "brunch" either...

I used to use Sapphire on Avid Symphony and I have used them on occasion on FCP and I will be buying some (if not all) of the suites for my own kit as they are just a joy to use and can help to make ok images great and great images wonderful...

How much more pluging (damn puns get in everywhere!) do you guys think I need to do before Genarts send me a complimentary copy?

Hehe





For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

thats what i was thinking?!?!? ive been singing promax's praises here for years, now and no endorsement offers from them yet either?!?!?!?!

; )

Maybe we should use bigger type?

or have animated gif signatures with "I LOVE GENARTS SAPPHIRE FILTERS" on?





For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

oh boy wayne...testosterone? You should get out more...really. If you haven't "upgraded" your Shine in a "couple of years", you can't honestly & objectively compare it to Sapphire plug-ins. As a matter of fact, Shine is pretty much the industry standard Light Ray plug-in...EVERYONE is using it.

"...$750 for SEVEN plugins - aint exactly "brunch" either..."

You haven't upgraded Shine in a couple of years...have you even used any of the Trapcode Suite? You have obviously not used Particular. This plug-in ALONE is worth the $$$:

[www.trapcode.com]

There's nothing CLOSE to Particular in the Sapphire set. Anyway, we're talking about After Effects plug-ins...not FCP.

Back to the original subject:

Alex,

Some folks are very passionate about their purchases and think that their plug-ins are better than everyone elses (justifying cost, who knows). The idea is NOT "my plug-ins are better than yours", but get what works for you. I use Tinderbundle & Trapcode Suite...because I like them and they give my clients a very high end finished project. I never say they are better than any others. What I have laid out above looks just like the Davinci Code Trailer light rays - and the plug-ins are FREE (included in your AE Pro software installer disc). If you want Shine, it's $99.



Post Edited (04-24-06 13:08)

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Oh...I'm sorry, wayne...I may have misinterpreted your quote here:

"...i have found that genarts saphire "edge rays" smokes them all"



When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

so i guess the rest of that same post didnt also point out some drawbacks of edge rays?????

i guess im just going to have start adding the "my two cents" insurance policy to ALL my posts from now on???

Let it go guys. Not worth it.