Creating realistic lighting to encapsulate an object within a scene?

[Chris Smith]

You keep switching the word lighting for lightning. Is it a Lightning effect that encapsulates the vehicle?

Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com

[Michael Munkittrick]

Sorry about that. I meant that I need a means to create lightning strobes all around a solid mass embedded within the video file. I

[Chris Smith]

I think ideally it’s done in 3D by mapping a bunch of lightning movies and other elements onto the surface of a taurus. Then render these out and recomp them in AE so that each rendered clip has different opacities, blur, color, etc in AE to help build up a big nasty ring of lightning.

If you have to stick in AE alone, maybe map the lightning onto the surface of CC Sphere or CC Cylinder and play with angles to match up. Then roto out the parts of the sphere you don’t need.

But basically I think it’s a matter of mapping lots and lots of elements onto a shape.

Kind of like in a recording studio how they take one or two singers and keep overdubbing the same lines over and over again changing pitches every once in a while to get a huge backing vocal sound after 24 – 40 overdubs.

I think this is the same approach but visually. Even add in some noise elements, some particle stuff, etc.

I’d just create a bunch of greyscale layers that are rendered out. Bring them back in and just futz with them. Change their tint, blur, opacity, transfer mode, speed, etc…

Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com

[Chris Smith]

Also, very important.

A gag with illumination just does not work unless it affects the other objects in the scene. So remember to give the illusion that is ligting up your car and the ground as well.

I mild use of lens flares would probably help with this as well. If you have Knoll Flares, create flares without all the lens elements so it stays simple and use it to give the illusion that the lightning ring and it’s surroundings are illuminated.

Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com

[Vinnie]

If you dont have Knoll Light factory, I have had good luck with AE lense flare and shine. Just map the source point to the lense flare source and change color and other to your liking.

good luck,
Vinnie