Particle Lights

Particle Lights

ParticleLights

Particle Lights is a custom relight node that, enables particles to cast lights into a scene.

 

The ParticleToImage Node

ParticleToImage

ParticleToImage is a hidden node in Nuke that translates particle data into image data. So if you have 8 particles, the ParticleToImage node will create a 3x3 image with 8 colored pixels and 1 black. Each colored pixels represents a particle and so the R, G and B channels directly translates to that particle's X, Y and Z coordinates. If enabled you can also output the color of the particle as a seperate channel.

Video Demonstration

Frame Median

Frame Median

FrameMedian

FrameMedian is a temporal median toolset, that calculates the median value for each pixel from a set of frames, to generate a clean plate.

 

   

Unlike other temporal effects such as Frameblend and TimeEcho, the FrameMedian is much better to generate a cleanplate without ghosting and trailing.

   

This means that you usually have to use much less frames to generate a "clean" "plate".

Features

UI

Using the “Frame Range” process method you can specify a Start and End frame, and how many samples you want.
Then FrameMedian distributes samples evenly across that range.

You can also use the “Specified Frames” method, that allows you to specify what frames you want to sample.

 

For the best result the input plate must be stabilized and not have too much chroma/luma alteration. So in case of Day-to-Night timelapses pick frames/frame range within same light.
Due to the nature of the median function more samples is not always better, so its good to try out different frame ranges and sample count.

Video Example

Spotflare

Spotflare

MainLogo

Spotflare

Spotflare is a procedural flare generator, that generates a general radial light but also allow for light shimmer and "cone" masking.

At the core of spotflare is a radial light, that is generated from the inverse square of the distance to the center. Unlike a liniear falloff, a inverse square falloff gives a very realistic light look.

If you look at the diffrence between a gaussian and a gamma adjusted inverse square profile you can clearly see the effect.

   Spot_Radial

   Spot_Radial_Meter

This is the gaussian profile of the Radial Node. As the highlight rolls off at 1.0 any luminance adjustments down the line can make the light look flat.

   Spot_Invsq

   Spot_Invsq_Meter

This is the profile of Spotflare. The highlights have a steep peak, making it always blow out even if luminance is adjusted. The spread of this profile can be adjusted in the gamma control of the toolset.

Light Shimmer

The Nuke Expression Node contains a fBm noise function that takes a X,Y and Z offset as input. To generate a 2D cartesian Noise you simply add the 2D X and Y coordinates into the X and Y offset and leave the Z as a static.   

To generate the light shimmer i calcualte the polar coordinates from the center of the flare, so that X becomes the rotation and Y becomes the distance from the center. I then apply thoes values as the X and Y offset, this gives the light shimmer streaks we need.  

Noise_Radial

 Noise based on polar coordinates

Noise_Cartesian

 Noise based on cartesian coordinates

Light Mask

Adjusting the profile spread using the gamma slider.

Shimmer animated over time.

Controlling the light mask.