HairLines plug-in> Lines group

This section controls some of the behavior of your line particles by setting the type of line or the lines' visual properties.

 

 

 

Normal Line Width, Randomness

Sets the width of the lines in pixels. If ripples are on, they affect the width of the lines. If you remove the ripples (let's say by turning down Ripples> Frequency) and turn Randomness to 0, all the lines will be the Normal Line Width value. NLW Randomness varies the default width between different lines.

 

 

Stressed Line Width

Sets the width of the line when it is distorted or stressed. Imagine a rod of metal being bent; this is when the ripples distort a line. Stressed Line Width goes from –100 to 100 percent. In the positive direction, the stressed area of the line becomes bigger, in the negative direction the line becomes smaller. When Stressed Line Width is set to an extreme value, the 'stress' point will be thinner or fatter than the regular lines.

The ripples will always change the width of the lines, but by increasing or decreasing the Stress, you will make the width difference more dramatic. At the 'stress' point, you will typically see a difference in color.

 

Left to right, Stressed Line Width at -100 and 100. The points where the lines curve are the 'stressed' points.

 

 

Distortion, Randomness

Works in conjunction with Affect popup in the Ripples section. If that popup is set to Horizontal or Vertical, then Distortion controls how much of an effect this causes. Setting it higher will increase the amount that the crossing lines are affected.

 

 

Normal Color, Stressed Color swatches

Line Widths have accompanying color chips which determine what color the line will be. With no ripples, the lines will just be the Normal Line Color. Where ripples distort the line, the line will become the Stressed Line Color. In between the colors blend together.

This is meant to reproduce, to some degree, the way you might see the color of metal change as it gets bent and twisted. The color on the bend, particularly if it heats up, is different than the normal metal. Of course, you can make both chips the same color and make the lines all the same color, ripples or not.

 

 

Blend Amount

Determines how much the two colors blend together. This effectively moves the midpoint of the gradient. Setting it to 0% will cause the lines to only be the Normal Color and setting it to 100% results in lines that are only the stressed color. The closer it is to either extreme will result in a larger area of the line be taking up by the appropriate color.

 

 

Opacity, Randomness

Sets how opaque or transparent the lines are going to be. The lower the setting the more transparent each line will be. This behaves like normal Opacity in After Effects and should be familiar to you.

 

 

Angular Lines checkbox

If you want a smooth line, turn Angular Lines off. Angular Lines is turned on by default, which means lines are affected by ripples in a smooth way and don't distort into sharp angles. With Angular Lines off, the lines stay in straighter segments.

 

Left to right, Angular Lines turned off and turned on.

 

 

Tolerance

Causes the lines to be made of straight segments. This allows you to quickly and easily get straight lines. A high Tolerance doesn't guarantee a smooth line, but it comes close.

The higher the Tolerance, the more segments are used to create the line. At 20, the line is very smooth. At 1, the lines are practically straight or are made up of long straight lines. This can produce some great effects. For instance, take a look at the 'vert_lines.ffx' favorite that came in the Animation Presets.

Ripple Size will affect Tolerance, even with Tolerance set to 1. With a low Tolerance, the lines are usually reduced to single straight lines and the ripple causes the entire line to move. Normally, a large ripple would cause more distortion in the line, but if the resolution of the line is very low (only 1 segment), it just moves the line.

Once the Tolerance starts to get higher, particularly above 8, the ripples cause the normal distortions. Instead of smooth curves, the curves are angular since they're made out of straight segments.

A good way to think about Tolerance is to imagine a circle made out of straight segments. A stop sign (an octagon) is really a low resolution circle made from 8 segments. If you increased the number of sides to 64 or 128, you'd be hard pressed to realize that it's made up of straight segments unless you looked at it closely. From even a short distance, it would appear as a smooth circle. Such is the case here. With Tolerance cranked up high, enough small straight segments are produced to give the appearance of a smooth line.

 

Left to right, Tolerance at 1 and 10.

 

 

Composite on Original checkbox

Turn this checkbox on to show the source layer through the HairLines effect.