Light Streams

Procedural generator that draws one or two sets of light streams along a horizon. The animation simulates data flowing up- or down-stream, and provides huge opportunities to customize color and geometry over time.

Compatibility

Light Streams is compatible with Final Cut Pro, Motion, Premiere, After Effects and DaVinci Resolve.

Parameters

Center

Location within the frame that divides top and bottom light streams.

Rays

Number of rays projected on each side of the horizon. When light rays are projected in both directions, the total number of ray on screen will be double the value chosen for this parameter.

Location

The following options are available:

  • Both (default) — Light rays are visibile on both sides of the horizon.
  • Top only — Light rays are visible only on the top side.
  • Bottom only — Light rays are visible only on the bottom side.

Size

Size of the 3D volume where light rays are drawn. Changing this parameter has the effect of zooming in or out of the center.

Small vs large size
Small vs large size

Spread

Controls how far light rays are allowed to draw away from the center.

Narrow vs wide spread
Narrow vs wide spread

Aspect Ratio

Controls the aspect ratio of the 3D volume where light rays are projected. Visually, this parameter determines whether the top and bottom sides appear to move away from each other quickly, or remain almost parallel to each other as they approach the viewer.

Narrow vs wide aspect ratio
Narrow vs wide aspect ratio

Gap

Distance between the top and bottom sides of the horizon. Increasing or animating the gap allows you to insert video content such as titles in between the top and bottom.

Angle

Angle of the horizon.

Coloring

Gradient

The following options are available:

  • Sharp — Half the light rays will be drawn with Color 1, the other half with Color 2, with no blending occurring between the two colors.
  • Linear (default) — Uses perceptual color blending to interpolate between Color 1 and Color 2. Note that the gradient will appear smooth across all light rays only when no Entanglement or Displacement are occurring.
  • Radial — Interpolates between Color 1 in the center and Color 2 on the outside side using a perceptual color space. Note that the gradient will appear smooth across all light rays only when no Entanglement or Displacement are occurring.
  • Hue — Starts at Color 1 and interpolates across a portion of the spectrum, as determined by the Hue Range parameter. The speed at which colors shift over time depends on Hue Speed.

Hue Range

When Gradient is set to Hue this parameter determines how much of the entire color spectrum to cover, starting from Color 1.

Hue Speed

When Gradient is set to Hue this parameter determines how fast colors are shifting from their initial state over time.

Glow

Controls how much light emanates from each ray.

Gamma

Controls how fast light decays away from each emitting light ray.

Softness

Softnes the shape of each light ray, which has the immediate side effect of dimming the output and blurring it evenly to give it a foggier appearance.

Background

Background Opacity

By default light rays are drawn with an alpha channel, making them suitable to be composited over existing media on your timeline. Increase this parameter from its default value of 0% to draw a solid background behind all light rays. When doing so, you can then pick a Background Color and Blend Mode to composite all light rays over the chosen background color.

Background Color

Color used to fill pixels behind light rays. The Blend Mode parameter below affects how the two are composited together.

Blend Mode

Controls the blend mode used to composite light rays with the chosen Background Color. This parameter is only avaialble when Background Opacity is higher than 0%.

Streams

Entanglement

Controls whether light rays are allowed to stray from a straight path from their origin towards the camera.

Displacement X

Controls whether light rays are distorted horizontally as they travel from their origin towards the camera.

Displacement Y

Controls whether light rays are distorted vertically as they travel from their origin towards the camera.

Sway Range

Controls how far light rays are able to swing from one side to the other. The speed at which this happens is controlled by the Sway Speed parameter below.

Sway Speed

Controls how fast light rays are allowed to swing from one side to the other within the maximum range defined vby the Sway Range parameter.

Bending

Controls whether light rays are allowed to curve during their trajectory, or whether they resist bending and therefore end up producing sharp turns more reminiscent of lightning.

Bendy vs straight
Bendy vs straight

Flow

Direction

The following options are available:

  • Downstream first (default) — The left half of light rays will animate with an downstream flow, the right half will use a upstream flow.
  • Upstream first — The left half of light rays will animate with an upstream flow, the right half will use a downstream flow.
  • Downstream only — All light rays animate with a single downstream flow.
  • Upstream only — All light rays animate with a single upstream flow.

Flow Length

Controls the length of each burts in the flow. At 100% the light rays are uninterrupted: fully illuminated across their whole trajectory.

Flow Contrast

Contrast between segments of a ray that are emitting light vs those that are not.

Flow Tunneling

Controls whether light rays go through a simulated narrowing in portions where Flow is not at maximum. While similar in concept to Flow Contrast this parameter gives you control over the shape of the tail, and may be used when contrast is at 0% to create light rays with varying thickness.

Flow Speed

Controls how fast the flow progresses over time. Affects upstream and downstream flows equally.

Animation

Center

Turn on to animate the Center parameter.

Center Animation

Size

Turn on to animate the Size parameter.

Size Animation

Gap

Turn on to animate the Gap parameter.

Gap Animation

Color 1

Turn on to animate the Color 1 parameter.

Color 1 Animation

Color 2

Turn on to animate the Color 2 parameter.

Color 2 Animation

Background Color

Turn on to animate the Background Color parameter.

Background Color Animation

Glow

Turn on to animate the Glow parameter.

Glow Animation

Gamma

Turn on to animate the Gamma parameter.

Gamma Animation

Softness

Turn on to animate the Softness parameter.

Softness Animation

Flow Length

Turn on to animate the Flow Length parameter.

Flow Length Animation

Flow Contrast

Turn on to animate the Flow Contrast parameter.

Flow Contrast Animation

Spread

Turn on to animate the Spread parameter.

Spread Animation

Angle

Turn on to animate the Angle parameter.

Angle Animation

Entanglement

Turn on to animate the Entanglement parameter.

Entanglement Animation

Displacement X

Turn on to animate the Displacement X parameter.

Displacement X Animation

Displacement Y

Turn on to animate the Displacement Y parameter.

Displacement Y Animation

Sway Range

Turn on to animate the Sway Range parameter.

Sway Range Animation

Bending

Turn on to animate the Bending parameter.

Bending Animation

Time Offset

A global time offset, to start Flow, Sway and Hue animations earlier or later than the default.