The S_LaserBeam filter comes from the Emmy award winning Boris FX Sapphire filter set.

Render.

To select a preset, pick one from the Presets window.

The effect is advanced in time.

Start of the beam.

End of the beam.

Moves the Start and Stop points shifting the whole beam to a different location.

Where the drawn beam segment should appear along the beam trajectory. At values between 0 and 1, the beam segment will appear along the beam trajectory.

Length of the drawn beam segment.

Width of the drawn beam segment.

Color at the center of the beam.

Color at the edge of the beam.

Adjusts the balance between the core and edge colors.

Brightness of the beam.

Softness of the texturing in the beam.

Fades out the brightness of the back half of the beam. Setting this to 1 will fade to black at the very back of the beam. Higher values will fade out more quickly.

Fades out the brightness of the front half of the beam. Setting this to 1 will fade to black at the very front of the beam. Higher values will fade out more quickly.

The shape of the drawn segment of the beam.

The segment is drawn with a circular profile.

The segment is drawn as a symmetrical shape with sharpened ends.

The segment is drawn as an asymmetrical shape with the leading end wider than the trailing end.

The segment is drawn as an asymmetrical shape with the trailing end wider than the leading end.

The strength of the perspective effect. At 0, there is no effect. Positive values move the bolt nearer to the target than it otherwise would be at a given beam position, while negative values move it nearer to the source.

As this increases, the drawn beam segment become more and more ragged.

Overall smoothing applied to the beam segment.

Atmosphere gives the effect of the laser shining through a dusty atmosphere and picking up light or getting shadowed. This parameter adjusts the amount, or amplitude of the atmospheric effect. 0 gives a smooth beam while higher values give a more dusty look.

Controls the spatial frequency of the atmospheric noise. Turn this up higher to get finer details or turn down for broader overall variation.

Controls the amount of fine detail in the atmosphere simulation. Decrease to get smoother atmosphere or increase for a more crunchy, grainy look.

Used to initialize the random number generator for the atmospheric noise. The actual seed value is not significant, but different seeds produce different results and the same value should give a repeatable result.

Determines how the beam image is combined with the background.

Blends the beam with the image which can help prevent overly bright results.

Add the beam image to the image.

Shows the beam over a transparent black background.

Enables/disables the on-screen control for adjusting the Start parameter.

Enables/disables the on-screen control for adjusting the Stop parameter.

Enables/disables the on-screen control for adjusting the Shift parameter.