Sapphire Plug-ins for After Effects: 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: The current layer. The clip to be processed.

Bumps: Defaults to None. The clip to use as height map.

Mask: Defaults to None. 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.

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 0.2.
Softens the caustic pattern.

Frequency: Default: 3, Range: 0.1 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.

Input Opacity: Popup menu,  Default: Normal .
Determines the method used for dealing with opacity/transparency.
All Opaque: Use this option to render slightly faster when the input image is fully opaque with no transparency (alpha=1).
Normal: Process opacity normally.
As Premult: Process as if the image is already in premultiplied form (colors have been scaled by opacity). This option also renders slightly faster than Normal mode, but the results will also be in premultiplied form, which is sometimes less correct.

Output Opacity: Popup menu,  Default: Copy From Input .
Determines the opacity/transparency of the result. This effect does not process the opacity (alpha channel) of its input but it can either copy the opacity from the input, or output a fully opaque result.
All Opaque: Makes the result fully opaque with no transparency.
Copy From Input: Copies the opacity/transparency from the current layer given to this effect.

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 Matte input by this amount before using. This can provide a smoother transition between the matted and unmatted areas. It has no effect unless the Matte input is provided.

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

Show Shift: Check-box, Default: on.
Turns on or off the screen user interface for adjusting the Shift parameter.This parameter only appears on AE and Premiere, where on-screen widgets are supported.


See Also:

Sapphire Plug-ins Introduction

List all effects with pictures

List all effects by name

List all effects with a brief summary

General User Info
What's New In This Version
Compatibility Notes
Loading a Plug-in
Color Management with OpenColorIO
Loading and Saving Presets
Designing Lens Flares and Glares
Using the Sapphire Effect Builder
Using Mocha in Sapphire
Resetting Parameters to Defaults
Online Documentation
About GPU Acceleration
About Motion Blur
About Matte Inputs
About Alpha Processing
About Angle Parameters
About Pixel Aspect Ratios
Customizing Plug-ins
Known Problems
3rd Party Licenses

Glow Effects
Glow
GlowAura
GlowDarks
GlowDist
GlowEdges
GlowNoise
GlowOrthicon
GlowRainbow
GlowRings
UltraGlow
ZGlow
Light Beams
Rays
EdgeRays
Streaks

LensFlares
LensFlare
LensFlareAutoTrack
LightLeak
Glints & Glares
Glint
GlintRainbow
Glare

Other Lighting
BokehLights
DropShadow
Flashbulbs
Light3D
SpotLight

AutoPaint & HalfTone
AutoPaint
Sketch
Etching
Brush:Oil
Brush:Chalk
Crosshatch
Cartoon
CartoonPaint
Posterize
HalfTone
HalfToneColor
HalfToneRings

Kaleidoscopes
Kaleido:Triangles
Kaleido:Squares
Kaleido:Diamonds
Kaleido:Oct
KaleidoPolar
KaleidoRadial
FlysEyeCircles
FlysEyeHex
FlysEyeRect
TileScramble
Film Effects & Grain
FilmEffect
FilmDamage
Vignette
BleachBypass
Grain
GrainStatic
UltraGrain
Diffuse
VintageColor2Strip
VintageColor3Strip

Edge Effects
EdgeDetect
EdgeDetectDouble
EdgesInDirection
EdgeColorize

Embossing
Emboss
EmbossShiny
EmbossDistort
EmbossGlass
Other Stylize
BandPass
ColorFuse
DogVision
DigitalDamage
JpegDamage
TVDamage
Grunge
Mosaic
PixelSort
PseudoColor
PsykoBlobs
PsykoStripes
PrismLens
RomanTile
ScanLines
ScanLinesMono
Solarize
StripSlide
Zebrafy
ZebrafyColor
ZFogExponential
ZFogLinear

Adjust
ChannelSwitcher
ClampChroma
DuoTone
Gamma
Hotspots
HueSatBright
Invert
Monochrome
OCIOTransform
QuadTone
Threshold
Tint
TriTone
ShowBadColors

Composite
EdgeFlash
Layer
MathOps
MatteOps
MatteOpsComp
ZComp
Blur+Sharpen
Beauty
Blur
BlurChannels
BlurChroma
BlurDirectional
BlurMoCurves
BlurMotion
DefocusPrism
Convolve
ConvolveComp
Deband
EdgeBlur
EdgeAwareBlur
FreeLens
GrainRemove
Median
RackDefocus
RackDfComp
Sharpen
SoftFocus
ZConvolve
ZDefocus
ZBlur

Distort Effects
Distort
DistortBlur
DistortChroma
DistortRGB
Warps & Shake
InfiniteZoom
ParallaxStrips
WarpBubble
WarpBubble2
WarpChroma
WarpCornerPin
WarpDrops
WarpFishEye
WarpMagnify
WarpPerspective
WarpPolar
WarpPuddle
WarpPuff
WarpRepeat
WarpTransform
WarpVortex
WarpWaves
WarpWaves2
Shake
StretchFrameEdges

Lightning Zaps
UltraZap
Zap
ZapTo
ZapFrom

Gradients, Grid & Shape
Gradient
GradientMulti
GradientRadial
Grid
Shape

Procedural Textures
Caustics
Sparkles
SparklesColor
TextureCells
TextureChromaSpiral
TextureFlux
TextureFolded
TextureLoops
TextureMicro
TextureMoire
TextureNeurons
TextureNoiseEmboss
TextureNoisePaint
TexturePlasma
TextureSpots
TextureTiles
TextureWeave

Fractal Clouds
Clouds
CloudsColorSmooth
CloudsMultColor
CloudsPerspective
CloudsPsyko
CloudsVortex
Other Render
Aurora
LaserBeam
Luna
MuzzleFlash
NightSky
Time Effects
CutToDissolve
Feedback
FeedbackBubble
FeedbackDistort
FieldRemove
FreezeFrame
GetFrame
JitterFrames
MotionDetect
NearestColor
RandomEdits
RepairFrames
Retime
ReverseClip
ReverseEdits
TimeAverage
TimeDisplace
TimeSlice
TimeWarpRGB
Trails
TrailsDiffuse

Flicker Tools
Flicker
FlickerMatch
FlickerMatchColor
FlickerMatchMatte
FlickerMchMatteColor
FlickerRemove
FlickerRemoveColor
FlickerRemoveMatte
FlickerRmMatteColor

Effect Builder
Effect
Transition
Dissolve Transitions
Dissolve
DissolveAutoPaint
DissolveBlur
DissolveBubble
DissolveDefocus
DissolveDiffuse
DissolveDigitalDamage
DissolveDistort
DissolveEdgeRays
DissolveFilm
DissolveFlashbulbs
DissolveGlare
DissolveGlint
DissolveGlintRainbow
DissolveGlow
DissolveLensFlare
DissolveLuma
DissolvePixelSort
DissolvePuddle
DissolveRays
DissolveShake
DissolveSpeckle
DissolveStatic
DissolveTiles
DissolveUltraGlow
DissolveVortex
DissolveWaves
DissolveZap

Wipe Transitions
WipeBlobs
WipeBubble
WipeCells
WipeChecker
WipeCircle
WipeClock
WipeClouds
WipeDiffuse
WipeDots
WipeDoubleWedge
WipeFlux
WipeFourWedges
WipeLine
WipePixelate
WipeRectangle
WipeRings
WipeStar
WipeStripes
WipeTiles
WipeWedge
WipePlasma
WipePointalize
WipeWeave
WipeMoire
SwishPan
Swish3D

Other Transitions
CardFlip
FilmRoll
FlutterCut
HyperPull
HyperPush
ParallaxStripsTransition
StripSlideTransition
SwishPan
Swish3D
TVChannelChange WhipLash