BCC+ Waves

Category: BCC Warp

Effect Name: BCC+ Waves

The BCC+ Waves filter, part of the BCC Warp category, distorts the source image by generating a series of parallel waves that travel across the frame. Controls for wave height, width, direction, speed, and phase determine the size, orientation, and motion of the distortion.

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.

• View: Determines which representation of the Wave effect is displayed in the viewer while adjusting the filter.
  • Output: Displays the final processed image with the Wave distortion applied.
  • Grid: Displays a reference grid that visualizes the shape and displacement produced by the wave distortion.
  • Grid over Source: Overlays the reference grid on the source image so that the distortion can be evaluated in relation to the original image.

Waves Group 1-3

The Waves Group contains controls for configuring up to three independent waves used to generate the overall distortion. Each wave sub-group can be enabled or disabled, and their parameters adjusted independently from each other. Each group contains the same parameters.

• Enable: Toggles the wave on or off.
• Height: Sets the amplitude of of the wave and therefore the amount of displacement produced in the primary wave direction.
• Perpendicular Height: Sets the amount of displacement generated perpendicular to the primary direction of the wave.
• Width: Sets the wavelength of the wave, determining the distance between successive peaks and valleys in the distortion.
• Speed: Determines the rate at which the wave travels across the image over time.
• Direction: Sets the angle at which the wave travels across the image.
• Phase: Offsets the position of the wave within its waveform cycle, allowing the wave pattern to be shifted without changing its other properties.

Waveform

The Waveform sub-group provides controls for defining and modifying the shape and characteristics of the wave.

• Waveform Shape: Determines the mathematical waveform used to define the shape and profile of the wave from the available waveform types.
• Spectrum Hybrid: Modifies the waveform by combining spectral characteristics to produce a more complex wave shape.
• Spectrum Blend Strength: Sets the amount of spectral blending introduced by the Spectrum Hybrid parameter.
• Wave Distortion: Introduces additional variation into the selected waveform to produce a less uniform and more complex distortion pattern.
• Intensity: Determines the overall intensity range used when generating the selected waveform.
  • Low: Generates the waveform using a reduced intensity range for a more subtle distortion.
  • Normal: Generates the waveform using the standard intensity range.
  • Super: Generates the waveform using an increased intensity range for a more pronounced distortion.
• Peak Point: Sets the position of the waveform's peak within each wave cycle.
• Decay Distance: Sets the distance over which the waveform decreases in strength from its peak.
• Decay Ratio: controls the rate at which the waveform decreases in strength across the specified Decay Distance.

Global Group

The Global group provides master controls that modify corresponding properties across all three waves simultaneously.

• Height: Globally scales the primary displacement height of all enabled waves.
• Perpendicular Height: Globally scales the perpendicular displacement height of all enabled waves.
• Width: Globally scales the wavelength of all enabled waves, changing the overall spacing of their wave patterns.
• Speed: Globally scales the animation speed of all enabled waves.
• Direction: Globally offsets the direction of all enabled waves, allowing the complete distortion pattern to be rotated.
• Phase: Globally offsets the phase of all enabled waves, shifting the position of the combined wave pattern.

Lights Group

The Lights group adds simulated lighting to the distorted surface to emphasize the contours created by the wave deformation.

• Light Level: Sets the overall intensity of the simulated lighting applied to the distorted surface.
• Light Color: Sets the color of the simulated light used to illuminate the wave distortion.
• Light Width: Sets the width of the illuminated regions generated across the distorted surface.
• Light Focus: Controls the concentration or sharpness of the simulated lighting, with higher values producing more focused highlights.
• Ambient Light: Controls the amount of uniform illumination applied to the image independently of the directional lighting.
• Blend Mode: Determines the blending operation used to composite the generated lighting with the processed image.

Chromatic Separation Group

The Chromatic Separation group introduces color separation into the wave distortion by offsetting the image channels to create chromatic fringes and multicolored distortion detail.

• Spread: Controls the distance over which the separated color channels are distributed, with higher values producing greater separation between colors.

• Bias: Shifts the distribution of the chromatic separation to alter the balance and positioning of the separated colors.

• Spectral Blend: Controls the amount of blending between the separated color components, with higher values producing smoother transitions between colors.

• Samples: Controls the number of samples used to generate the chromatic separation, with higher values producing smoother and more continuous results at the cost of additional processing.

Advanced

The Advanced sub-group provides independent controls for adjusting the contribution of each image channel to the chromatic separation effect.

• Red Amount: Controls the amount of chromatic separation applied to the red channel.

• Green Amount: Controls the amount of chromatic separation applied to the green channel.

• Blue Amount: Controls the amount of chromatic separation applied to the blue channel.

• Alpha Amount: Controls the amount of separation applied to the alpha channel.

Pinning Group

The Pinning group provides controls for constraining or reducing the effect in selected areas of the image using edge-based and point-based pins.

• Edge Pin: Determines which image edges are constrained to reduce or prevent the effect along the selected boundaries.

• Edge Pin Width: Controls the distance from the selected image edges over which the edge-pinning constraint is applied.

Point Pin 1

The Point Pin 1 sub-group provides controls for constraining the effect around a user-defined point in the image.

• Position X/Y: Sets the horizontal and vertical location of the first pin point.

• Strength: Controls how strongly the first pin point constrains or suppresses the effect.

• Radius: Controls the size of the area surrounding the first pin point that is influenced by the pinning operation.

• Falloff Hardness: Controls the sharpness of the transition between the pinned and unpinned regions surrounding the first pin point.

Point Pin 2

The Point Pin 2 sub-group provides controls for constraining the effect around a second user-defined point in the image.

• Position X/Y: Sets the horizontal and vertical location of the second pin point.

• Strength: Controls how strongly the second pin point constrains or suppresses the effect.

• Radius: Controls the size of the area surrounding the second pin point that is influenced by the pinning operation.

• Falloff Hardness: Controls the sharpness of the transition between the pinned and unpinned regions surrounding the second pin point.

• Edge Mode: Determines how the filter generates pixels when the wave distortion samples areas beyond the boundaries of the source image.
  • Transparent: treats areas beyond the source image boundaries as transparent.
  • Repeat: extends the pixels at the edges of the source image to fill areas sampled beyond the image boundaries.
  • Reflect: mirrors the source image at its edges when the distortion samples beyond the image boundaries.
  • Wrap: wraps sampling from one edge of the source image to the opposite edge.
• Mix with Original: Blends the filtered result with the unfiltered source image, with higher values restoring more of the original 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.