SpeedSix.RainDrops   (Discreet Box22)



PURPOSE

Water falling onto a surface and running down.

raindropsa.jpg raindropsb.jpg



INPUT CLIPS

 1: Background Clip
 2: Birth



RainDrops   CONTROL PAGE

Restart+PreRoll  (Pushbutton)
     Restarts and pre-rolls the rain for the current value of PreRoll.

PreRoll  (Number  Min: 1, Max: 1000, Default: 20)
     Rain for the specified number of pre-roll frames before generating the first frame of the output clip.

Inter Frames  (Number  Min: 0, Max: 50, Default: 6)
     On: Position of drops rendered inbetween frame positions. Use for fast movements.

Drops  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 5.0)
Drop Vary  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 10.0)
     The actual number of drops born at each frame is the average number specified by basic birth rate plus or minus a random amount ranging up to the specified variance.
Note: if you are using a birth matte you may not get the full amount as checks are made on the probability of finding a suitable place to create a particle. Without this the particle system could try indefinitely to create the RainDrops and you would not like that!

Scale Fecundity  (Checkbox  Default: On)
On: when you change your working resolution on the Settings page, the number of drops born is scaled accordingly. Lower resolution equals fewer drops. This is for clarity and speed.
Off: whatever the resolution the same quantities of drops are created.

Advance  (Pushbutton)
     Click to advance system one frame without changing frames or other settings. Useful for checking frame by frame evolution and motion speeds.

Initial Velocity  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 50.0, Default: 2.0)
     This is the remaining velocity the drops have after hitting the surface.

Vel Mag Var  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 100.0)
     A random amount, plus or minus the initial velocity, is added to vary the initial velocity.

Vel Dir  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 360.0, Default: 270.0)
     The direction in which the drops are moving, measured in degrees. 0 being East, 90 North, 180 West and 270 South.

Flow Scale Speed  (Number  Min: 10.0, Max: 500.0, Default: 100.0)
     If the motion you have set up is too fast or slow then use this global speed change control to adjust the pace of the drops. It will not change any of your set values, but scales them appropriately behind the scenes for you.

Note: this will not affect Turbulence Map options.

Seed  (Number  Min: 0, Max: 999, Default: 127)
     Change to have a different pattern of rain drops.

Use Birth Matte  (Checkbox  Default: Off)
On: Drops will only be born in the non-black regions of the images in the birth matte clip.

Lifetime  (Number  Min: 1.0, Max: 5000.0, Default: 500.0)
     The average number of frames for which a drop will live. It will definitely be killed after it has lived this number of frames (plus or minus the Lifetime Var below).

Lifetime Var  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 100.0)
     The actual lifetime of a drop is the average lifetime plus or minus a random number ranging up to LifetimeVar.

Lump Rad  (Number  Min: 1.0, Max: 40.0, Default: 5.0)
Lump RadVar  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 100.0)
     The size of each drop is scaled to the Lump Radius plus or minus a random Radius Variance.

MonoVar  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 10.0)
     The base density of each drop is modulated by the variance. At 0.0 they are all the same maximum intensity [nearly white]; at 100.0 they range from 0.0 [black] to the maximum intensity.

Fade Out  (Number  Min: 50.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 95.0)
     The rate at which the trail created by the drop running down the surface fades away. The higher the value the slower the fading. Lower values minimise the trail effect.

Demos  (List Box  Options: Default | Light Shower | Another Shower | Heavy Static | Heavy Runny | Steamy, Default: Default)
Select a preset to get you going.


Forces   CONTROL PAGE

Restart+PreRoll  (Pushbutton)
     Restarts and pre-rolls the rain for the current value of PreRoll.

Gravity  (Checkbox  Default: On)
Gravity  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 50.0, Default: 4.5)
Grav Angle  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 359.0, Default: 270.0)
     At values over 0.0 gravity acts on the RainDrops dragging them in the direction set by the Gravity Angle. A setting of 270.0 degrees is downwards. A natural choice, but varying the angle can bias the movement for artistic purposes.

Dribble Chance  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 0.0)
     Percentage chance of a drop rolling down the glass.

Dribble Wait  (Number  Min: 0, Max: 500, Default: 0)
     A wait time [in frames] before any dribbling starts.

Dribble Speed  (Number  Min: 1.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 1.0)
     Random variation of the speed of the dribble.

Friction  (Checkbox  Default: On)
Friction  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 1.0, Default: 0.05)
     Friction slows things down. Rubbing against the air and each other, friction will reduce the momentum of the drops,

Turbulence  (Checkbox  Default: On)
SwirlDens  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 100.0)
SwirlAmp  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 14.0)
SwlMaxTim  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 1000.0, Default: 0.0)
     For natural swirls and eddies of the air through which the RainDrops move you need turbulence. The Density is the fineness of the turbulence patterns. The lower the Density value the broader the sweeps of turbulence are. High values give rapid changes in direction. The motion can be exaggerated with the amplitude setting, dramatically forcing the RainDrops around or subtly twisting them as they move. The effect of the turbulence can be built up using Swirl Maximum Time. At 0.0 the RainDrops are influenced by the turbulence immediately. Otherwise it takes that number of frames from birth for the turbulence to build up.



Glass   CONTROL PAGE

Restart+PreRoll  (Pushbutton)
     Restarts and pre-rolls the rain for the current value of PreRoll.

Distort  (Checkbox  Default: Off)
On: Turn on to see what will happen when a Glass effect is added after this effect. For more flexibility use the basic output of this effect and combine it with a Glass node.

Distortion  (Number  Min: 1.0, Max: 10.0, Default: 1.2)
     How much the droplets distory the backgroung image. Smaller values are subtle but effective.

Light Active  (Checkbox  Default: Off)
On: to enable the light settings.
Off: to disable the lighting without losing your settings.

Light  (Position  Default: 0.95,0.95)
     The light source position.

LightZ  (Number  Min: -5.0, Max: 5.0, Default: 0.05)
     Defining the angle at which the light hits the glass surface.

Brightness  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 200.0, Default: 100.0)
     How bright the light is. Values over 100.0 will start to burn out.

Gloss  (Number  Min: 1.0, Max: 1000.0, Default: 45.0)
     Sets how sharp the specular lighting highlights on the glass surface will be. The higher the number, the tighter they will be.

Light  (Colour Box  Default: white)
     The colour of the light.

Steamy Glass  (Checkbox  Default: Off)
On: Activate the steam over the surface.

Blurring  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 26.0)
     Gently soften the background image, not too much though.

Lift  (Number  Min: -100.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 26.0)
Brightness  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 82.0)
     Use Lift and Brightness to gently lighten the image.

Mix  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 24.0)
     Mix the lightened, defocused image back over the original.

Index