• Adobe After Effects Expressions

  Help with tracking 2D flare to 3D null?

  Posted by Greg Neumayer on August 17, 2006 at 8:49 pm

  Hi there, I know I’ve read something on this subject, but can’t seem to find it anywhere. Can someone shed some LIGHTor POINT me in the right direction before my temper FLARES and leaves me NULL? (yuk, yuk)

  I’ve got a 3D scene, with a bunch of lights which I’m using lux with to give them visible light cones. How can I attach a lens flare to the light source? Is there a way to connect this up with expressions? Other workaround or tutorial?

  Thanks,
  Greg

  Antifreeze Design
  https://www.antifreezemotiongraphics.com

  Greg Neumayer replied 19 years, 9 months ago 3 Members · 6 Replies
• 6 Replies

• 

  Greg Neumayer

  August 17, 2006 at 9:00 pm

  p.s. I’m looking through my camera the whole time, so the soution will need to take into account either the actual z depth, or some way to extrapolate the depth based on the camera’s position to the light or null.

  Antifreeze Design
  https://www.antifreezemotiongraphics.com
• 

  Greg Neumayer

  August 17, 2006 at 9:01 pm

  p.s. I’m looking through my camera the whole time, so the soution will need to take into account either the actual z depth, or some way to extrapolate the depth based on the camera’s position to the light or null.

  Antifreeze Design
  https://www.antifreezemotiongraphics.com
• 

  Jim Wilcox

  August 17, 2006 at 9:09 pm

  You might visit Dan’s site at:

  https://www.motionscript.com/

  The first example right at the top could get you rolling…
• 

  Greg Neumayer

  August 17, 2006 at 9:14 pm

  Ah, perfect. Thanks. I was actually almost there with the same basic process from the tutorial from Trapcode:
  https://www.trapcode.com/in_action/shine_gobo.html

  but hadn’t yet considered the cool distance/brightness idea from your link.

  Here’s my line of code I used:
  src = thisComp.layer(“null for flare1”); src.toComp(src.anchorPoint);

  Thanks!
  -Greg

  Antifreeze Design
  https://www.antifreezemotiongraphics.com
• 

  Matt Silverman

  August 17, 2006 at 10:54 pm

  If you are using Knoll Flare, you can parent a small solid to your light (or six solids to make a cube if you are doing heavy camera moves). Then duplicate this comp and turn everything off but the solids. Precompose, then use Knoll LFP Spectacular to make your flares jump to the alphas of the solids. The latest version has the ability to use the alpha’s grayscale to dictate flare size, so you can use Depth Cue’s Fog to generate this gray value and get some very realistic lighting effects.
• 

  Greg Neumayer

  August 18, 2006 at 12:39 am

  Cool. I got Knoll about a year ago, so I may need to upgrade. I’ll have to try it.

  Just out of curiosity, I’m using a fractal as a luma matte for my (Trapcode) Lux layer, and offsetting the turbulence by about .5 of my camera distance to the subject to create varying levels of opacity in my light cone (i.e. smoke-look). It’s a gimmick for sure, but works pretty well if I don’t move the camera too much.

  Is this the best way to approach creating varying levels of opacity in Lux? Is there a better way to get 3D light cones that have some substance?

  Thanks,
  Greg

  Antifreeze Design
  https://www.antifreezemotiongraphics.com

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