Using GIF-X's Fireworks effect, you can create amazing 'fireworks' effects with virtually any selection area - enhance any image with a streaming starburst.

The Fireworks effect gives you complete control over all the factors that affect how a firework explodes. 

To Add Fireworks:

1. Open an image within the image editor in which you use GIF-X.Plugin.
2. Create a selection area around the part of the image where you want fireworks.
3. Click the Ulead Effects: GIF-X menu command. It is located on your image editor's Filters menu, or where ever it places APS plug-ins. (For example, in Adobe Photoshop, you click the Filters: Ulead Effects: GIF-X menu command, but in Ulead PhotoImpact you should click the Effects: Ulead Effects: GIF-X menu command.)
4. When the GIF-X dialog box opens, select Light on the title bar to work with the Light effects.
5. Select the Fireworks effect from the Effects thumbnails. The effect parameters change accordingly.
6. Select the Brightness you want for the Firework.
7. Set the Density value to define how dense the streams of sparks are.
8. The Fall speed determines how much the streams of sparks are seen to 'fall' as the firework appears, bursts and fades.
9. Modifying Hue change causes the complete firework to vary between other colors during the animation.
10. Completeness corresponds to what stage the firework is in. This number increases frame by frame as the firework progresses; "100" is a completed firework. 
11. Initial speed controls whether the firework bursts towards the right or the left. When set at "0" the firework bursts evenly to the right and left.
12. Increase the Hue Variation to create multicolored fireworks. To select individual colors for a firework, change the Star color and Sun color. 
13. Choose the Ambient light that you want for the background of your firework. Darker backgrounds make the firework's colors more vibrant.
14. To animate the firework, click the Play button in the Key Frame Control. The firework animates between the two different settings. You can save your animation by clicking the Save button, or you can create a still image based on any of the frames by clicking Ok.

Beyond the Basics: Combining Effects

The Fireworks example shown above was created by combining a meteor with a firework.

Once you have created an effect, you can combine it with another Light effect by following these steps: 

1. Press the plus sign (+) on the Elements box (located under the Key Frame Control). Notice that a "Firework 2" has been added. 
2. For this example, click on the Meteor thumbnail.
3. "Firework 2" has now changed to "Meteor 1".
4. The preview pane displays the firework and meteor happening concurrently. This is the default when two effects are combined.
5. The order of occurrence can be altered by adjusting the Key Frame Control for each of the two effects.
6. You can toggle between settings for "Firework 1" and "Meteor 1" by clicking on the desired effect in the Elements box.