Apple Motion 5: Volumetric Lighting Tutorial

hi this is simon from tokyo productions and welcome to another tutorial for motion 5 and today we're going to be looking at creating this volumetric lighting effect and volumetric lighting is the effect that you get when light passes through an atmosphere that has dust particles or smoke or fog or water vapor just as in this instance and that allows you to see the path of the light so let's dive in and get started I've got a project that is 1920 1080 24 frames a second and the duration is 15 seconds I'm going to start off by creating a background so come to the library command to generators I'm going to select color solid and I'll apply that hit f4 to come to its controls select the color and drag that all the way down to black and we'll call this background will twirl it closed and we'll lock it not an essential step but it's good practice to have a solid background so the next step is to create a floor so let's make a new group come on shift in come back to the library command 2 and we're going to select checkerboard and apply that f4 to come to its properties i've select color 1 and I've got a preset swatch here that's a nice dark d saturated blue and we're going to use that I'm going to set its width and height to 4,000 pixels so 4000 by 4,000 I'm going to hit f1 to come to its transform I'm going to move it back to minus thousand pixels on Z and I'm going to rotate it through minus 90 degrees on X now we need to add a camera so we can see what we're doing so let's hit alt command C and switch to 3d f-14 it's transform I want to set a Z position of minus 500 and an X rotation of minus 10 degrees so we can look down on the floor I also just want to add a behavior so we can move around this scene quite easily so command to to come to the library so come to behaviors select camera and we'll select sweep and we'll apply that and we'll hit f2 to come to its behavior properties we'll set a start position of minus 45 and an end position of 45 and as you see that allows us to sweep around the scene next I want to make a cutter for the pool so I'm going to select my group which I'll call room and I just want to quickly turn it back to 2d as I make my cutter so everything lines up so control D will turn it back to 2d control D next I'm going to hit select the rectangle tool by pressing R and I'll draw a rectangle roughly like that doesn't have to be accurate at this point f12 come to its transform and well hit the reset button here to Center it up f4 to come to the shape properties and geometry and what I'm going to do is 4 points 1 2 4 I'm going to enter some exact values so I have a square that's 400 by 200 I'm going to start with minus 400 tab to the next field 200 tab 400 tab 200 tab 400 have - 200 tap - 400 tab - 200 so now I've got a precise rectangle and it's always a good idea to use exact numbers when you're working with geometry that locks together so f1 for its transform and we'll rotate it through - 90 on X as we did with the checkerboard let's switch the group back to 3d by hitting ctrl D let's select the checkerboard and we'll add an image mask and we'll use command shift M to do so well take the rectangle and drag it into the image mask and we need to hit invert mask to swap it around and cut a hole in the floor just like that I'm going to take that rectangle and I'm going to rename it cutter because we're going to be using it quite a lot in fact we're going to use it straight away because I want to make an edge to the pool so let's hit command D I'll call this pool edge and I'll turn it on so I'll come to the style for that shape click on the fill color and I'll select that same dark blue f-14 it's transform and I want to scale it by 110 on X and 120 on Y and I also want to add an image mask to it so command shift M and again we'll drag the cutter into the image mask and invert it and now we've got an edge to the pool okay so our next step is to build the internal geometry of the pool and to do that I'm going to take the cutter and duplicate it so that's command D and I'm going to turn it on by hitting its hide/show button I'm going to rename it pull back come to the style fill color and I've got a nice pale blue here and I'm going to use that and I need to come to f1 for its transform and I'll set a Y position value of minus 200 a Z position of minus 200 and I'll 0 add that extra tation and that pops that at the back there in actual fact what I now want to do is so we can see the geometry better is add a light otherwise it won't look plausible so let's hit command shift L that adds a light let's set its Y position to 200 and it's dead position to not and let's just crank the intensity up to 400 just so we can see a bit better okay let's take pull back and duplicate it command D and we'll call it spool left f12 come to the transform we need to do a bit of rotation and translation so minus 400 on X minus 400 on Y zero on Zed the Y rotation will set to 90 and the Z rotation to 90 pops it in on the left-hand side of the pool well duplicate that command D we'll call it pool right f1 for its transform and we simply need to enter a value of plus 400 on X to pop that on to the other side now we need to make the base of the pool so in order to do that we'll use the cutter again command D we'll turn it on well rename this pool base f-14 it's transform and we need to set a y position value of minus 40 just to drop it down a little bit to simulate the surface of the water f4 for the shape style click on the fill color and select that same pale blue and we've now got a water surface next we're going to add some water texture and to do that we're going to come to the library command D come to generators and we'll come to clouds and select that apply that f4 for its controls we will twirl open the gradient we'll throw away this left-hand color tab let's just drag it away well click on this top bar here which is the opacity control and that makes a new tab and we'll drag that all the way to the right we'll click on the left tab set the opacity all the way down to zero and down here where it says location will type 35% then I just want to reset the horizontal and vertical scale to 12 F 1 for its transform and I want to set a Y position of - 39 sorry I've done - point three nine I should have been - 39 and that sits it just above that pool base that's one pixel above okay and I also want to apply the image mask to it the cutter other so add an image mask er come on shift em drag the cutter into the image mask just to cut it to shape next I want to add a little bit of movement to those clouds but extra movement I should say so I'll come to the library come on to come to filters distortion category I'll scroll right to the bottom and then I'll select underwater and I'll apply that F 3 for the filter controls so we'll set a size of 0.2 and a speed of 0.2 and that adds a little bit of movement to the water but I want to make it a little bit more complex so what I'll do is I'll duplicate that underwater filter and I'll reduce the size to 0.1 and the speed to 0.1 and that will just give me a bit more complexity of detail in there and then I want to add some caustics so let's come to the library command to come to the generators and we'll select caustics and apply that f4 for its controls we'll set a size of 0.1 and we'll set the refraction to 200 and the brightness I'll crank all the way up to 50 and f-14 it's transform we want to position this at -38 so it's one pixel above the clouds and rotate it through minus 90 on X and obviously we also need to apply it the image mask so command shift m' and we'll use the cutter to cut it out you know what I've done I've entered the wrong y-value again there so it should - 38 as I'm sure you realize not 0.38 typing in the dark here okay so that's the caustics added let's just change its blend mode to linear dodge and that'll brighten it up okay now I want to create some reflections caustic reflections on those side walls so let's take that caustics hit command-d and let's call it caustics back f-14 it's transform I want to zero out that Y value I want to enter the Z value of minus one ninety nine and zero out that X rotation and that's just pushed it to the back there F for for its controls and I would want to reduce that size down to point zero five let's duplicate it again command D call it caustics left f-14 its transform let's set an x value of minus three nine nine and we just want to set the Y rotation to ninety degrees let's now duplicate that commands D call it caustics right f-14 its transform and set an x value of three nine nine so it's sitting on the right-hand edge sorry right hand edge let's come to the light and maybe just turn that down a bit because it's blinding us a bit let's come to two hundred and we'll see that's pool a bit better and those caustic reflections on the side I think I might select all three of those cool sticks and might just reduce the level down to about seventy five percent I think there we go okay so that's our pool and our water done so the final bit of geometry that we need to create is the spotlights that run round the edge of the pool so I'm going to come up here and make a new group command shift n I'm going to set it to 2d by hitting control D I'm going to select the circle tool by hitting C call up the HUD by hitting f7 turn on the outline the fill color I want to be very slightly yellow in the outline let's bring it down till we've got a dark gray and a width of about 10 is probably right close up the HUD and holding down the shift key I'll draw out a circle like so then I'll come to the transform and just for tidiness sake I will hit the reset button there Center it up so L to make a replicator come to its replicator controls leave the shape at rectangle but let's set the arrangement to outline dwell upon the size here I'm going to set the width to a thousand and the height to 600 and I'll have 16 points then I want to hit f1 to come to its transform and I'm going to rotate it through minus 90 on X so then I'll hit control D to make the group 3d and those pop into the scene very nicely let's call that group spots and we'll drag it inside the room there we go so I just want to very quickly adjust the position of the camera so a little bit further out I'm going to set that to zero and now earlier on I made the mistake of telling you to move the checkerboard to minus 1000 that wasn't correct so just let's zero that out and that's taking care of that front edge sorry about that right now we want to start making the exciting part which is the Rays so we need to assemble a group that contains the spots and the caustics so what I might actually just do is take that spots group and drag the original caustics let's call it caustics source we'll drag that into the spots group to close that up and we'll duplicate it command D and we'll drag that out above everything else and we're going to call this group rays let's twirl it open and you'll see I've got my caustics and my spots in there like that and they're going to be the light source for the Rays and the effects we're going to be using to create them is light rays so come to the library filters glow and apply the light rays filter to that rays group and I'll hit f3 to come to the inspector now I need to be very careful here what will I was preparing this tutorial I was endlessly being frustrated because I was trying to adjust the light rays well this group was set to 3d and there's some kind of bug because that means it'll keep crashing if you do that so let's set the a group to 2d by hitting ctrl D and now we can adjust the light rays properties I'm going to set an amount of 100 I went well up in the center here and into that Y value I'm going to type minus 3 now if I turn that group back to 3d by hitting control D you'll see the beginning of the race but you'll also see that there's a problem which is that the Rays are built up of slices and when we look at them sidon like this although it's convincingly 3d it's not they're not convincing as rays so let's sort that out by adding another filter come to the library command to come to the blur section and we will select directional blur and we'll apply that f3 to come to the inspector we'll set an angle of 90 degrees and if we set the amount to 75 you'll see that that's smooth it out those rays and created a much more acceptable looking effect you'll see those rays are genuinely 3d now they're not very strong at the moment and we can adjust that by adding another filter so it comes the library color correction and we're going to use open EXR tone map and we'll drag it in just below the light rays like that and hit f3 to come to the inspector now the really nice thing about yet this filter open the XOR tone map is that it allows us to push the values well above 100% of luminance so if I crank that up you can see that's giving me really nice bright result I think I'm going to stick with a value of 6 that's going to be enough for now so you'll see that the directional blur has pushed the blur down below where it ought to be because it works in both directions so we can just adjust that by coming to the Rays group come to coming to its transform and setting a y-value of +10 and that just pushes them up enough to keep it plausible so if you remember our caustics if we come to it if we hit f4 to come to its properties is a white sauce color so let's just click on that and let's set it to our pale blue and maybe increase the saturation so we get a really nice blue coming off the pool there we go so a couple of extra things I now want to do just to make it look a bit more elegant what I want to do is to create a glow around the edge of the pool so I'm going to take that pool edge which was in my original room group I'm going to duplicate it to command D and I'll call it pool glow and what I want to do is clump its fill color select that pale blue and I want to set the feather to 150 f1 for its blend mode let's set that to screen and let's set the opacity down to 20 and if I toggle that on and off you'll see that that helps to create the illusion that there is light being spilled out around the pool what we also need to do is to crank up the brightness of those spots so let's come to that spots group let's select the replicator and we'll duplicate it so command D f1 for its blend mode and I'll set that to add and that's brighten that up and I want to come to the library filters blur and I'll add a Gaussian blur to that 3 for its controls let's have an amount of 30 and that just makes that makes that look as though glowing okay so just to finish off I've adjusted the camera path so we come down from up here and crank around to the other side and get a lot closer you can adjust that really however you choose because the whole thing is genuinely 3d and you can move around it pretty much as you choose I just want to add some text so I've already got that preset and I will add that from my favorites menu well worth getting used to the favorites menu very very handy let me pull in the volumetric text I just need to make it 3d ctrl D f1 for its transform move it back into the path of the light so minus 50 and that's looking quite nice and one other thing I want to do is I'm going to make a new group come on shift n come to the favorites menu and I've set up some volumetric particles and I'll add those in and if we zoom in you'll see I've added those into the path of the light there and there's enough that really helps to add to the 3d effect because my particle emitter is a box shape which gives me 3d depth to those particles so we actually see them from the side as well as just the front so it's it's so it's a really nice feature that gives added 3d depth okay so here's the final render of that project I hope this has been useful and shown you how you can create your own volumetric scenes needs a little bit of trickery as I say but I think the results are fairly convincing I hope you have fun with it so thanks very much indeed for watching and I hope to see you again next time [Music]

Channel: Simon Ubsdell

Views: 102,547

Keywords: Motion (Software), Apple Inc. (Publisher), volumetric, lighting, light, Tutorial (Media Genre), andrew kramer, after effects, videocopilot, Volumetric Lighting, Lights, Effects, Adobe

Id: uHjQplfDO-8

Length: 26min 5sec (1565 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 10 2014