BCC+ Light Leaks

Category: BCC Lights

Effect Name: BCC+ Light Leaks

The BCC+ Light Leaks filter, part of the BCC Transitions category, simulates the visual effect of light leaking through gaps in a camera and partially exposing the film/sensor. The light elements are animated over time to create stylized looks ranging from subtle, diffuse glows to bright and/or rapidly flickering flares. The BCC+ Light Leaks filter builds its pattern of leaks by layering up to four separate leak generators on top of each other with additional controls over the scaling, intensity, and apply mode of the combined leak elements.

Working with the Filter

FX Editor and Presets

• Use the FX Editor to load or save presets for reuse.
• To load a preset: Open the FX Editor, select a preset from the Presets panel, and click Apply to return to the host application.
• To save a custom preset: While in the FX Editor, click the Create Custom Preset icon in the parameter list, enter a preset name, and click Done. Additionally, a custom preset can be saved from the main menu bar by selecting File->Save Preset.
• To import custom presets from another drive: While in the FX Editor, select File->Import Preset from the main menu bar.

Effect Controls

Mocha Mask and Track

Continuum effects include integrated masking and matte tools that allow you to restrict the effect to specific regions of the image.

• Mocha masks: used to create custom spline masks. Mocha also includes Matte Assist ML and Matte Refine ML, which use machine learning to generate and track masks.
• Pixel Chooser: used to generate geometric shapes, gradients, or mattes based on channel, luma, or color-based selections. Additionally, an AI depth map generator, and an AI-powered face detection model allow for precise control of masks and mattes.

For more information, see Mocha and Pixel Chooser.

Compare Mode

The Compare Mode is used to view the filtered result alongside the original source layer. Several split-screen and side-by-side display options are available.

For more information, see Compare Mode.

Beat Reactor

The Beat Reactor is an audio-driven animation system that links effect parameters to an audio track. This allows visual effects to react dynamically to sound without manual key-framing.

For more information, see Beat Reactor Documentation.

Geometry Group

Controls the overall geometric properties of the combined leak generator map.

• Position: Sets the X/Y location of the combined leak map. Adjusting the position will change the location of all leaks generated simultaneously. For example, if all four generators are enabled, all four leak maps will have their location adjusted.
• Rotation: Sets the rotation of the combined leak map around the Position point.
• Scale Master: Sets the scale of the combined leak map around the Position point in both the X and Y dimensions.
• Scale X: Sets the scale of the combined leak map in just the X axis.
• Scale Y: Sets the scale of the combined leak map in just the Y axis.

Stylize Group

Controls the look of the combined leak generator map.

• Opacity: Sets overall opacity of the combined leak map as it is applied over the input clip.
• Exposure: Increases or decreases the light exposure of the leak by modifying the intensity of the combined leak map. Exposure affects both the opacity and the color brightness.
• Hue: Sets the hue of the combined leak map.
• Saturation: Sets the saturation of the combined light leak.
• Blur Master: Sets the intensity of the blur amount.
• Blur X: Sets the blur amount along the horizontal axis.
• Blur Y: Sets the blur amount along the vertical axis.
• Glow Intensity: Sets the intensity of the glow applied to the combined leak map.
• Glow Radius: Determines the radius over which the glow spreads to surrounding regions in the combined leak map.
• Glow Threshold: Sets the pixel values that are affected by the glow – a setting of 0 will apply a glow to all of the pixels in the input clip, while a setting of 100 will not apply any glow to the combined leak map.
• Flicker Amount: Sets the intensity of the exposure flickering added on top of the normal evolution of the texture. This permits flickering in brightness while maintaining the same (or a slowly evolving) texture pattern as opposed to increasing the Texture Mutation Rate which causes the entire texture pattern to change more rapidly.
• Flicker Speed:Sets the speed of the exposure flicker.
• Flicker Randomness: Adds randomness to the exposure flickering. When set to 0, the exposure will oscillate up and down in a steady wave-like pattern, whereas increasing values generate more random flicker evolution.
• Texture Mutation Rate: Controls the rate at with the texture auto-animates.
• Random Seed: Sets the random seed for the starting the texture shape generators.
• Use Source Alpha: Controls whether or not the filter retains the original alpha channel of the clip. When enabled, the original alpha channel is preserved whereas when disabled the leak map will tend to expand the alpha in regions where the leaks are present.
• Blend Mode: Selects the apply mode used in blending the leak map with the original image. The choice of apply mode can dramatically affect the feel of the final composite.
• Blend Mix: Blends between the result of the selected Apply Mode and a “normal” apply mode to allow a range of apply mode intensities and styles.

Generator Groups

Create up to four separately generated light leak maps, each with independent controls over all properties, which are then composited into a single combined light leak map before being applied over the source clip. The controls in each generator group are the same, but they may have different settings by default.

• Enable Generator: Enables or Disables the generator group.
• Shape: Determines whether a shape mask is applied to the generator map to limit the output to a smaller region.
• None: No shape mask applied.
• Parabola: Limit the shape to an open parabolic shaped region.
• Ellipse: Limit the shape to a closed elliptical region.
• View Shape: Preview option which when enabled, renders the selected shape in white to facilitate setup.
• Shape Width: Sets the width of the shape mask.
• Shape Height: Sets the height of the shape mask.
• Fade: Sets the feather/fade of the the shape boundary.
• Position: Sets the X/Y position of the individual leak map and its shape mask (if used).
• Rotation: Rotates the leak map around the master position point in the main Geometry group.
• Scale Master: Sets the scale of the leak map in both the X and Y dimensions.
• Scale X: Sets the scale of the leak map along the X axis only.
• Scale Y: Sets the scale of the leak map along the Y axis only.
• Threshold: Sets the cutoff intensity between which regions of the generator map are transparent and which contribute to the light regions.
• Start Color: Sets the color the of the darker regions of the leak map.
• Mid Color: Sets the color the of the mid tone regions of the leak map.
• End Color: Sets the color the of the brighter regions of the leak map.
• Mid Color Position: Shifts the relative spacing of the leak color gradient.
• Blur: Sets the edge softness of the leak map.
• Opacity: Scales the peak opacity of the generator map.
• Texture Amplitude: Increases the contrast of the raw texture map which tends to produce sharper, more extreme texture gradients and more well defined distinctions between opaque and transparent regions.
• Texture Offset: Increases or decreases raw texture map levels to adjust how much of the map falls within the threshold and the various color ranges.
• Texture Frequency: Sets the rate at which the texture changes with respect to image dimensions, with higher values yielding smaller texture patterns.
• Texture Aspect: Sets the relative stretch of the texture pattern in the X/Y directions to give the ability to generate patterns with more horizontally or vertically squished textures.
• Texture Detail: Sets the level of detail in the texture pattern with large values generating more complex shapes.
• Mix with Original: Blends the source and filtered images. Use this parameter to animate the effect from the unfiltered to the filtered image without adjusting other settings, or to reduce the effect of the filter by mixing it with the source image.
• GPU Rendering:Specifies how the effect is rendered.
  • Default: Uses product-wide default of 16 bit half-float GPU rendering.
  • 16 Bit Float: Manually force 16 bit half-float GPU rendering.
  • 32 Bit Float: Manually force 32 bit full-float GPU rendering.
  • Disabled: Forces CPU rendering.