Sapphire Plug-ins for Open Fx: Caustics

S_Caustics Simulates the patterns created when light rays are reflected or refracted by a curved surface. Caustics can often be seen at the bottom of a swimming pool in bright sunlight or on objects viewed underwater. In the Sapphire Render effects submenu. Inputs: Source:  Optional.   The clip to be processed. Bumps:  Optional.   The clip to use as height map. Mask:  Optional.   Interpolate between the result and the Source input. White areas use the result of the effect. Black areas use the Source clip.

Parameters:

Load Preset:   Push-button.
Brings up the Preset Browser to browse all available presets for this effect.

Save Preset:   Push-button.
Brings up the Preset Save dialog to save a preset for this effect.

Mocha Project:   Default: 0,  Range: 0 or greater.
Brings up the Mocha window for tracking footage and generating masks.

Blur Mocha:   Default: 0,  Range: 0 or greater.
Blurs the Mocha Mask by this amount before using. This can be used to soften the edges or quantization artifacts of the mask, and smooth out the time displacements.

Mocha Opacity:   Default: 1,  Range: 0 to 1.
Controls the strength of the Mocha mask. Lower values reduce the intensity of the effect.

Invert Mocha:   Check-box,  Default: off.
If enabled, the black and white of the Mocha Mask are inverted before applying the effect.

Resize Mocha:   Default: 1,  Range: 0 to 2.
Scales the Mocha Mask. 1.0 is the original size.

Resize Rel X:   Default: 1,  Range: 0 to 2.
The relative horizontal size of the Mocha Mask.

Resize Rel Y:   Default: 1,  Range: 0 to 2.
The relative vertical size of the Mocha Mask.

Shift Mocha:   X & Y,   Default: [0 0],  Range: any.
Offsets the position of the Mocha Mask.

Dilate Mocha:   Default: 0,  Range: -100 to 100.
Dilates or erodes the Mocha Mask by this pixel amount before using.

Dilation Quality:   Popup menu,  Default: Fast.
Selects whether Dilate Mocha adusts quickly in default Fast mode or looks better in High quality mode.

Fast:  Dilate Mocha in Fast mode for quick adjustments.

High:  Dilate Mocha in High quality mode for a better looking mask shape.

Bypass Mocha:   Check-box,  Default: off.
Ignore the Mocha Mask and apply the effect to the entire source clip.

Show Mocha Only:   Check-box,  Default: off.
Bypass the effect and show the Mocha Mask itself.

Combine Masks:   Popup menu,  Default: Union.
Determines how to combine the Mocha Mask and Input Mask when both are supplied to the effect.

Union:  Uses the area covered by both masks together.

Intersect:  Uses the area that overlaps between the two masks.

Mocha Only:  Ignore the Input Mask and only use the Mocha Mask.

Ray Focus:   Default: 15,  Range: 0 to 50.
Alter this to bring the caustic pattern into focus.

Ray Density:   Integer,  Default: 2,  Range: 1 to 5.
Increasing this value will increase the quality of the caustic pattern.

Ray Blur:   Default: 0.02,  Range: 0 to 0.5.
Softens the caustic pattern.

Frequency:   Default: 3,  Range: 0.01 to 20.
The frequency of the cautic pattern. Increase for more and smaller elements, or decrease for fewer and larger.

Complexity:   Default: 2.5,  Range: 0 to 5.
The complexity of the caustic pattern. Increase for more high frequency companents within the casutic pattern

Shift:   X & Y,   Default: [0 0],  Range: any.
Translation of the caustic pattern. This parameter can be adjusted using the Shift Widget.

Speed:   Default: 1,  Range: 0 to 10.
Animation speed of the cuastic pattern.

Seed:   Default: 0.123,  Range: 0 or greater.
Used to initialize the random number generator. The actual seed value is not significant, but different seeds give different results and the same value should give a repeatable result.

Blur Bump Image:   Default: 0,  Range: 0 to 1.
The blur applied to the height map

Brightness1:   Default: 0.5,  Range: 0 or greater.
Scales the brightness of Color1. Increase for more contrast.

Color1:   Default rgb: [1 1 1].
The color of the 'brighter' parts of the texture. The colors of the result are determined by an interpolation between Color0 and Color1.

Color0:   Default rgb: [0 0.05 1].
The color of the 'darker' parts of the texture.

Offset0:   Default: 0,  Range: any.
Adds this value to color0. Decrease to a negative value for more contrast.

Bg Brightness:   Default: 1,  Range: 0 or greater.
Scales the brightness of the Background input.

Bg Combine:   Popup menu,  Default: Screen.
Determines how the texture is combined with the Background.

Caustic Only:  gives only the caustic texture with no Background.

Mult:  the texture is multiplied by the Background.

Add:  the texture is added to the Background.

Screen:  the texture is blended with the Background using a screen operation.

Difference:  the result is the difference between the texture and Background.

Overlay:  the texture is combined with the Background using an overlay function.

Mask Use:   Popup menu,  Default: Luma.
Determines how the Mask input channels are used to make a monochrome mask.

Luma:  the luminance of the RGB channels is used.

Alpha:  only the Alpha channel is used.

Blur Mask:   Default: 0.05,  Range: 0 or greater.
Blurs the Mask input by this amount before using. This can provide a smoother transition between the masked and unmasked areas. It has no effect unless the Mask input is provided.

Invert Mask:   Check-box,  Default: off.
If on, inverts the mask input so the effect is applied to areas where the Mask is black instead of white. This has no effect unless the Mask input is provided.

Show Shift: Check-box, Default: on.
Turns on or off the screen user interface for adjusting the Shift parameter.

See Also:

Sapphire Plug-ins Introduction