Animating a Lens Flare

The purpose of this tutorial is to show how to use Bryce's plug-in folder for creating animating effects using the Picture Library.
This Tutorial will show how to animate a lens flare completely inside Bryce ( 4 or 5 ). Using the Image Library and a 2D plane as a picture object. It is necessary that the plug-in folder Bryce is directed to has a lens flare generator in it. For this tutorial KPT 6 Lens Flare plug-in will be used.

A blank black image needs to be create, and imported into the Image library. For best results the dimensions for images used in Bryce should be square and equivalent to multiples of 2. Example: 2X2=8, 8X2=16, 16X2=32, 32X2=64, 64X2=128, 128X2=256, 256X2=512, ect....
For this tutorial a resolution of 1024X1024 will be used.


Setting Up the Scene


Set-Up the scene's sky and other objects, for this tutorial it will be a simple spaceship going into hyper space where the lens flare will occur. After the scene is set-up create a 2D plane scale, rotate and position it where it's needed.


With the 2D plane selected go into the Material Lab and enable a texture window for the Diffuse and Ambient Color Channels, also uses the same texture window in the Transparency Optic Channel. Set the Material options to cast no shadows and enable Blend Transparency. Set the texture window to use an image, with the mapping mode to Object Top, then enter the Picture Library.


Load the blank black image into the first available image space. Then click the arrow next to the first image window to bring up the current plug_in folder Bryce is pointing to. ( To select a new plug-in folder see page 147 of the manual for Bryce 5, or for B5 or B4 install the plug-ins into the current selected folder ). Select the Plug-in to be used for creating the flare, ( KPT 6 lens flare for this tutorial ).

This will take the blank black image into the plug-in interface, or the plug-in options will pop up on the screen.


A test render should be done, with the flare in full color and size, to make sure the lighting set-up is adequate. Create the flare effect and exit the plug-in. Then copy and paste the image to the center window in the Picture Library. Adjust the light or add lighting if need be.



After the lighting set-up is complete, go back into the picture library and delete the test image, the decide how many frames per second the animation will be, and how long the lens flare will last, and load the blank black image into the library the same amount of frame as the flare will last plus one more.
Example: if the Frame rate is 10 FPS and the flare will last for one second, then 11 blank black images need to be loaded into the picture library. The extra one is to make the 2D plane completely invisible by leaving it black.



Setting Up the Animation


Go to File/Animation Set-up and type in the frame rate and length of time the animation will last.


Then enable Auto Key ( if you like ) and set the Ticker Marks for every Frame. Then With the time marker on the first frame set a keyframe, and go into the material lab. ( setting keyframes for the object is not a required step, but setting a keyframe for the object where a material keyframe will be set makes it easy to track the material keyframes while in the scene window )



In the material lab set a keyframe and go into the Image Library. Make the first blank black image current then copy and paste it into the middle window. This will make the 2D plane completely invisible.



Move the time marker to the frame where the lens flare will start, and set a keyframe for the 2D plane. Then enter the material lab and set a keyframe ( for the material ) and enter the Picture Library. Select the second blank black image from the library then enter the plug-in and make the first frame of the flare. After the filter is created in the first window, copy and pasted it to the middle window, then exit the picture library and the material lab.




Keep repeating this process of moving the time marker, key framing the 2D Plane and Material, then selecting the next blank black image and altering it in the plug-in filter. The idea behind this technique is to animate the images created by the plug-in filter to create the desired effect. For a further understanding of setting keyframes for this type of animating see the Lightning Tutorial.

This animation tutorial is written and provided by : Stephen Ray