Changing the weather has never been easier! GIF-X.Plugin's Lightning effect is the perfect way to liven up city skylines or other backgrounds.

GIF-X.Plugin gives you a high degree of control over how and where the lightning occurs against the backdrop of your image. 

To Add Lightning:

1. Open an image within the image editor in which you use GIF-X.Plugin.
2. Create a selection area around part (or all) 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 Lightning effect from the Effects thumbnails. The effect parameters change accordingly.
6. Select the desired Width you want for the lightning. The trunk and the branches are widened proportionately.
7. Set the Seed value to define how much the lightning branches out.
8. The initial Frequency determines how much the lightning will branch out to the left and the right.
9. Set the Amplitude parameter to define how straight the lightning bolts are.
10. The Brightness parameter controls how bright the lightning is. Unlike Width, the trunk and the branches are brightened uniformly.
11. Opacity controls how transparent the lightning is.
12. Select the Color you want for your lightning bolt. The default is white.
13. Select the Ambient light that you want for the background image. Darker backgrounds serve to brighten the lightning.
14. To animate the lightning, click the Play button in the Key Frame Control. The lightning 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

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

1. Press the plus sign (+) on the Elements box (located under the Key Frame Control). Notice that a "Lightning 2" has been added..
2. For this example, click on the Halo thumbnail.
3. "Lightning 2" has changed to "Halo 1".
4. The preview pane displays the lightning and halo 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 "Lightning 1" and "Halo 1" by clicking on the desired effect in the Elements box.