To access useful presets per section, click the Section Presets button at the
top of the Spice, Displacement, Light,
or Spice Texture sections.
Spice/Position
At
the top of the FlowTexture are the Choose Spice
File button and related controls for positioning and modifying a spice
file. Click the Choose Spice
File button to choose from lots of Pixelan's top-rated, industry-standard "spices"
to form the basic geometry of FlowTexture's displacement effect. If you also have
our SpiceMASTER plug-in, the controls work identically.
H Flip -- Flip the spice horizontally.
V Flip -- Flip the spice vertically.
Invert -- Reverse spice (invert the effect).
Center -- Drag the handle or enter X and Y coordinates to move the spice.
Rotate -- Rotate the spice.
Mixer -- Use the Mixer slider to mix the luminance of the selected spice file and the luminance of the
image as the basis of the displacement effect.
Displacement
Seven sliders
determine the basic character of the displacement effect. To vary the effect over
time, keyframe any of the sliders.
Progress -- Sets the progress of the effect, typically keyframed from 0% to 100%. Note
that 0% and 100% are identical, which is handy for creating a FlowTexture effect
that smoothly grows and then recedes during the clip.
Height -- Determines the "refraction strength" -- how much the image is distorted by
the displacement waves.
Waves -- Sets the number of waves radiating
from the displaced edge. The slider can range from 0.0 to 10.0 waves (up to 100.0
can be entered in its text box), but for most effects values below 3.0 or 4.0
will be ideal.
Softness -- Can significantly smooth the wave
results, especially in fine-textured displacements. And reduce potential banding
in very simple spice geometries. An important control for creating realistic waves.
Spread -- Sets the relative distance between
waves. The slider can range 0.0 to 1.0, but up to 10.0 can be entered in its text
box.
Ramping -- Higher values move the maximum wave point from the inner wave toward the outer
wave. The slider ranges from 0.0 to 1.0.
Gamma -- Controls the amplitude of the inner/outer waves relative to the maximum wave point.
Rotation -- Controls the refraction direction.
Anti-alias -- Turn on to give to distorted regions a smooth, anti-aliased look.
Light
This section determine the character of the simulated light on the waves.
Intensity --Sets the strength of the simulated light on the waves, from 0% to 100%.
Softness -- Controls light/shadow details
independent of the displacement detail set by the Displacement > Softness slider.
Angle -- Sets the angle of the simulated light,
from 0 degrees (image right) rotating counter-clockwise to 360 degrees (return
to image right).
Blend -- In addition to the Normal light blending, Add and Multiply are available for harsher light looks.
Spice Texture
This section can add variably-sized organic texturing to the displacement effect.
Amount -- Determines the intensity of the texture.
X Size and Y Size --These sliders stretch the texture horizontally or vertically. Values
range from 1 (single pixel) to 100 (frame width or height). This enables you to
create random streak effects (increase one slider much more than the other), large
particles (increase both sliders, but stay below the 100 maximum), weaves, and
other cool textures. Several presets show the creative possibilities.
Density -- Lower values reduce the density
of the texture elements.
Spectrum -- Adjust the noise spectrum to generate cloud-like patterns.
Motion -- Progressively adds random movement/animation
to the texture elements during the effect. |
