Neon Lights enhances the edges of the frame and provides a surreal, colored glow.
Setup
First prepare the light source. This is the part of the video image from which the light should shine. So, adjust the Light Source parameters to isolate the portion of the picture that will source the light rays. Once the Light Source is ready, design the shape and rotation of the light with the Light Twist control group. Then, set the Shimmer controls to add random motion to the light. Finally, set the Mix levels.
- The Edge group sets up the initial intensity and shape of the light source.
- Sensitivity sets the strength of the light source. As the sensitivity is dialed up, more and more of the image becomes part of the light source.
- Density sets how busy the lines are. Increase this value to clear out all the individual bits of lines..
- Contrast increases the contrast between dark and light in the picture.
- The Glow group sets up the glowing light behavior.
- Blur sets the width of the glow. Drag to the right and lighter picture elements increasingly shed colored light over the adjacent image. Drag to the left and darker picture elements shed colored light over the adjacent image.
- Halo sets the strength of the glow. Drag all the way to the left to show just the original image. Drag to the right to increase the intensity of the glow until it becomes a harsh light.
- Color sets the color of the actual halo. Use the color dropper to select a color directly from the video. Or, click on the color swatch to create or edit the color directly.
- Mix Color determines how strongly the glow color is mixed into the glow.
- The Shimmer group sets random noise to make the light flicker and move.
- Size sets the size of the random noise.
- Intensity sets the strength of the shimmer effect.
- Rate sets the speed at which the changing light moves and mutates.
- The Mix group has four controls:
- Background sets a background color that is blended with the original image.
- Opacity sets the opacity (opposite of transparency) of the background color. This, in conjunction with the Picture control, determines how much of an underlying image from another track shines through.
- Picture sets the level of the original image displayed under the neon lights. Note that turning down Picture brings up the Background color and then the transparency is determined by the Opacity setting.
- Glow sets the brightness of just the light.