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Randomly flashing lights
Posted: 04 May 2012 07:29 AM   [ Ignore ]  
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Joined  2010-08-21

I have a scene of a soccer player kicking a ball. I would like to have background camera flashes in a random manner as the player runs up to kick the ball. Just as you would see in a stadium.

My question is how to handle this part of the animation, in Cinema 4d or in After Effects. I set up a wall in the background made up of a light in a cloner with random effector applied. However, is there an xpresso setup that can handle the random flashes? Or, should I just export the 3d data for the bulbs and handle the flashes in AE?

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Posted: 04 May 2012 02:32 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]  
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Hey Vrauckis,

The simplest set up I can think of is a Plain Effector to handle the light. Set the Color of the clones on the Cloner Effector to black for that!

Then set up a Standard Particle Emitter that will “rain” 1,000s of particles over the the “photographer”.

Apply then this Emitter to the Falloff part of the Plain Effector, where the falloff is set to Source. A small falloff is needed for the Particles as you like to have a flash, and not an ease in ease out effect. But it needs large enough to hit from time to time a “flash”

The Flash lights could be set up with a Target Effector following the player… Well, flashlights don’t work on that distance but we love the effect in a stadium :o)

Have a nice weekend

Sassi

P.S.: I forgot to mention, that you should cache the Cloner Effector and switch of the Emitter to speed up your scene.

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CV2_r13_drs_12_MGfl_01.c4d.zip  (File Size: 276KB - Downloads: 336)
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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
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Posted: 04 May 2012 02:43 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]  
Total Posts:  97
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Thank you, Dr. Sassi. I am always amazed how someone asks a question and is returned with a working version of the solution. You are the greatest. BTW, how long before your masterpiece tutorial is coming?  =>

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Posted: 04 May 2012 03:12 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]  
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Hey Vrauckis: Thank you very much. Hehe, masterpieces, thank you. Few series of these new ones are completely scripted, and edited by my partner, she has a native tongue, so I hope they will be well received. The Cinematography series has gotten already three awards, I look forward to share this series here :o)

I have submitted all my material, I wait for the release as well :o)

I work on a little iBook about JET, stuff that won’t fit here, as it is more chit-chat, “Memories of a DOP” hehe, but it might be interesting for one or the other. It won’t be expensive, and is more a fund raiser for the next project. I save since long any cent for a little RED. I hope to share more RED/C4D material in the future. Both are certainly great options in production.

BTW, I work as well since a while on the next “torrent” of “stuff” hehe. Looking back on 20 years digital production, I have learned a lot and especially my photography experience (since even longer) will show up in some of the next series.
I always have seen C4D as a “studio in a pocket” with all options available. Which means using it requires to wear many “hats”. I like to cover this large area here. Having said that, I love to go very deep this time :o) (Deep…hint: I work at the moment myself through “Digital Video and HD” from Charles Poynton) Great material and certainly first hand information (just had a little chat with him about “camera s-log”, something that I love always to have for my tutorial preparation. :o)

I wish you a great weekend

Sassi

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
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Posted: 08 May 2012 06:21 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]  
Total Posts:  97
Joined  2010-08-21

This solution worked very well. In fact, I used an xpresso pstorm and a float slider to regulate the rate of the emitter. so, the camera flashes seem to all go off at the most important moment.

Thank you for the idea!

Vytas Rauckis (vrauckis)

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Posted: 08 May 2012 02:50 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]  
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Hey Vytas Rauckis,

Sounds good! Thanks for the reply.

BTW, I try to use the “Avatar name” as long as I do not find a name in the the post, which I do based on each thread. I hope that is OK with everyone. I like real names, but of course I’m all in for “Artists names”. Everyone should feel well here.

Have a great day

Sassi

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
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Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
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Posted: 15 June 2017 04:24 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 6 ]  
Total Posts:  138
Joined  2012-04-04

This is pretty cool.  I was looking for a way to evoke brain activity by having a bunch of random flashes happen on the outer surface of a brain model, and this approach works great.  Until I saw this thread I never noticed that you could use an object in a scene as a falloff for an effector, and I never would have thought to use particles as that object.  Neat.

Shawn Marshall
Marshall Arts Motion Graphics

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Posted: 15 June 2017 05:15 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 7 ]  
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Thanks a lot for the feedback, Shawn Marshall!
Very nice of you.
ENJOY.

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
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Posted: 21 June 2017 10:29 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 8 ]  
Total Posts:  138
Joined  2012-04-04

I have this working for my brain flash setup, but I’m not 100% clear on HOW it’s working. 

In your sample you have a light cloned around a circle and you have the color in the cloner set to BLACK.  This results in none of the lights being lit.  Then, when you pass a Plain Effector (with the Color Mode set to ON) across the clones the lights light up where they intersect with the Plain Effector.

Questions:

1.  Why does setting the Cloner color to black make the lights turn off?  I assume the color is being tied to the intensity of the light.  Is that just the way it automatically works when you clone lights?

2.  Why does passing a Plain Effector with Color Mode ON ramp up the intensity of the lights it intersects?  Is it because the “ON” setting automatically defaults to white?

Thanks.

Shawn Marshall
Marshall Arts Motion Graphics

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Posted: 21 June 2017 11:16 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 9 ]  
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Hi Shawn Marshall,

The yes and yes to both points. The simplest way to see the effect is, to make the Cloner Object editable (while active, press c), all the lights that were clones are now objects with a specific setting.

I guess part of the question comes from anyone’s previous use of the Random Effector. It works there without setting the Cloner to Black (well kind of). Why? Because the Attribute Manager> Effector> Min/Max value are set by default to -100 to 100. With -100 of the Random Effector setting, the Cloner Object sets the resulting value for the clones to somewhat to 0-100. Again, this is my guess/observation why there could be some confusion, it seems to work and sometimes not. But is sums up nicely, once the numbers are clear, doesn’t it.

The Plain Effector has no color, even the option says so, it is just many shades of gray. For keeping things consistence, the term color is used, even many people would argue about gray… you get the idea wink

Do I missed anything or do you have a follow up question? Please let me know.
If something in your project isn’t working, please ask!

My best wishes for your project

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
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Posted: 24 June 2017 10:59 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 10 ]  
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This flashing light setup is working great when I have my light in a cloner, but I’m not having any luck adapting it to a situation where I want some lights I’ve precisely placed to flash the same way.

I’m using a cloner to place neuron models on the surface of a sphere, and I’m using another cloner with the same settings to place lights within the nucleus of each neuron.  These are to create neurons in the far distance with corresponding random flashes.

I have 15 or so neurons closer to the camera which I’ve placed along my camera path; I don’t want to move those.  I’ve manually placed a light within the nucleus of each neuron.  I was hoping I could drop these lights within a Fracture object and use the same approach as above to make them flash; use a Plain Effector that uses a particle emitter for falloff that intersects randomly with the lights.  Though I can see the Open GL of my lights changing intensity, when I render the scene the lights do not illuminate, ever.  If I turn off the Fracture object they all light up.

Any suggestions as to a quick workaround to this?

Thanks.

Shawn Marshall

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Posted: 24 June 2017 11:19 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 11 ]  
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Hi Shawn Marschall,

I have attached two files for you, in one zip file.

The file with the ending _11 has a Fracture Object in use, and works here, Visible, Volumetric, as well creates Shadows.

The file with the ending _21 uses a Cloner object, as it works obviously for you. To place the lights as in the Fracture Object, the file is set up with Polygons. Just check the Connect Object and move one or the other Polygon, the lights will follow. Also here, I tested the lights in many ways.

Scene files:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/IECaE4OyvV2NZE3sWGXn9hTTXFkh4quUPHQxWq7rRMC?ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

Please share a file/example if the things above won’t work for you.

All the best

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
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Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
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Posted: 25 June 2017 01:42 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 12 ]  
Total Posts:  138
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Hi:

Thanks again for the speedy reply; I appreciate it.

This is obviously odd, but your Fracture solution does not render for me.  No illumination on the plane or torus, no visible light (when enabled), no lens effects.  The light icons in my viewport change from black to white, but my render of the scene is 100% black.

The Cloner/Connect solution does render, but I’ve already placed my lights in the scene, and dropping lights under the Connect object doesn’t seem to work.

I had another thought a few hours ago which seems to work in your scene.  It looks like I can drop lights into a Mograph Tracer (Connect all objects, linear, no intermediate points) and use that as the source for a Cloner set to Object/Iterate/Vertex distribution.

I’ll now try that in my Neuron scene.

Best,

Shawn

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Posted: 25 June 2017 02:10 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 13 ]  
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Hi Shawn,

You’re very welcome.

Please check out the file below:
Scene file
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/mdeWt1IT86Pgy8FSEqQ8qinyVVU01oAH2vJVV1S5yCz?ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

The scene has connected light sources via XPresso to the Fracture object. I guess for a test this might be close enough.

Since you used the scene from above, with no changes, and get a different result, what else would be advisable? Asking which version you use? But updating in the middle of a project (if needed) is not always a good idea.

Yes, transferring the positions via Tracer allows for a position transfer, perhaps have a look here, which might work as well, … just a thought

Scene file:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/auJAd2ld73p9xR0pj75i5rAzYN12LtujUq0eart7pLh?ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

Let me know if there is something else, I’m happy to look into it.

Enjoy

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
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Posted: 25 June 2017 03:29 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 14 ]  
Total Posts:  138
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Hi:

I’m running R18.048.

Here’s a screen grab showing my attempts to render a Fracture setup.  Nothing.  Turning off Fracture makes all of the lights render, as I’d expect.  Maybe there’s some weird render setting I’m missing, but I don’t know what it would be.

http://marshall-arts.net/Support/CINEMA_4DScreenSnapz001_1.mp4

My Tracer/spline/cloner workflow is working in my main project, so I’ll keep using that.

Thanks.

Shawn

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Posted: 25 June 2017 04:17 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 15 ]  
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Thanks for the screen cast, Shawn.

Here is a workaround with this version: (Just one Cloner Object on top of the Fracture, done)

Scene file:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/ue0cwKqCtHyrI9bq1gbQHIhFCRy2Vc00Lz5ngp9ueyE?ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy
It might be needed to switch off the Cloner Object>> Attribute manager> Object> Fix Clones.
BTW, “Count” is set here to one.

Screen Shot with 18.048:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/Q5tM0AVd1CoafgcldyuF0nI1nAbvNYsHIVT6KVttFfh?ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

Besides that, if this isn’t working:
With the information you shared so far, my only suggestion for now is to check with the support, as it seems to go in to an area where I have to let the support take over.
https://www.maxon.net/en-us/support/how-can-we-help/

Please let me know if the workaround (Cloner Object as parent) works for you. Thank you.

All the best

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
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