trying to create an electrical surge

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

I have used Knoll Lens Flare Pro before to create that kind of spark. If I remember well, the Arch Welder preset.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Walter Soyka]

You might try the Advanced Lightning effect [link].

It’s an often-overlooked effect, but it’s a nice simulator of electrical discharge with some powerful features. You can use the Alpha Obstacle feature to guide the lightning around (or inside) the letters you want to form.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Heather Crank]

Thanks Ted, I Will look into that!

[Heather Crank]

Thanks Walter, I’ll look into that. I usually avoid the lightening effect because it’s a little cheesy…but I have to admit I haven’t played around with advanced lighting…I’ll give it a shot thank you!!!!

H

[Walter Soyka]

[Heather Crank] “Thanks Walter, I’ll look into that. I usually avoid the lightening effect because it’s a little cheesy…but I have to admit I haven’t played around with advanced lighting…I’ll give it a shot thank you!!!!”

Out of the box, yes, it is cheesy — but once you work your way through all the different properties, you can get a much more refined and realistic look. You could also get a lot more control over the flow of Advanced Lightning if you combined it with the Puppet tool.

Genarts Sapphire S_ZapTo might be another good third-party option.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events