Yesterday was a day of learning how to animate lightning. The first scene was of Zeus with pink lightning flashing from his finger tip. I created the animation in After Effects using an advanced lighting tool along with several expressions to effect the flashing brightness and conductivity. I learned quite a bit about how to get just the right amount of glow but there was little control over how the lighting animated. The scene worked an I moved on.
The second shot was of a basketball rebound with lighting flashes in the background. For this shot I hand animated the lightning and the result was far more dynamic. A single lightning bolt was drawn with wide jagged edges and then the next frame would be a single thin line down the middle of the bolt. Alternating back and forth the lightning flickers. Adding a single black bolt then adds some retinal burn. I was quite pleased with the result. Callipeg the animation program I used has no blur effect so the glow had to be hand painted. Since the flash happens so fast that wasn’t much of a problem.
I animated the viruses in this scene and now I plan to go back and add the lightning effect to the fissures in his body. I plan to do this lightning effect on a separate version of the scene and then export it as it’s own movie. I will then add it to the final composite in After Effects. I am thinking I might be able to add a blur to the lighting in After Effects. Once I discover the limitations of one program I have to find some work around so that eh effect can be achieved in another program. I know what I want to achieve now I just need to experiment and make it happen.