This week's GIF-X 2.0 Tip takes a look at the Animated Lightning effect. As with all GIF-X effects, the Lightning effect uses Key Frames to define how the animation will appear. For more on Key Frames and how they work, see Part I of this series.
The lightning effect has two main sets of controls: Basic and Advanced. The Basic controls are used to create the animation, and the advanced controls are used for fine tuning the forks extending from the lightning, and the glow surrounding the lightning.
Basic Lightning Effects
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Advanced Lightning Effects
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We'll start out by setting the lightning controls to the above settings. If you'd like to save these setting for future use, click the Add button near the bottom of the screen. Next, drag and drop the top of the lightning bolt to the area where you want it to start coming out of the sky. Then drag the bottom of the lightning bolt until the bolt looks the way you want it to for the beginning of the animation.
| NOTES: If you feel the scene in the preview window looks too dark, increase the amount of Ambient light. The control is located just above the "Okay" button. Also, if the auto-reverse button is turned on, be sure to turn it off. |
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Now that the lightning bolt is in position, we'll set up the Key Frames. For the lightning effect, we'll use a 5 frame animation, with Key Frames at frames 1, 2, and 5.
We'll make the following changes to the animation's Key Frames:
Frame 1: Opacity = 0
This will cause the lightning bolt to be completely transparent in the first frame of the animation. So, when the animation loops, there will be a pause between the end of one loop and the beginning of the next loop.
Frame 2: Brightness = 40
If this frame is blank in the preview window, confirm that Opacity is set to its original value (100). Setting the Brightness to 40 will allow the bolt's brightness to gradually increase as the animation reaches its final frame, in which the Brightness is already set at 80.
Frame 5: Reposition the Lightning Bolt (no other changes)
Drag and drop the bottom of the lightning bolt so that it looks the way you want it to when the bolt is closest to the ground.
That's It ! Click Save to create the animation and save it to your hard drive. You can use the file as is, or open the file in an animation program such as Ulead GIF Animator 4 to make changes to the animation's speed and to optimize its compression.
Here's a look at the final animation:
Anthony L. Celeste
