Sapphire Plug-ins for After Effects: Dust

S_Dust

Generates random specks of dust that move around the screen. Specks can vary in brightness and color, can move in different directions in a pseudo 3D space (making some appear larger or smaller), and can flicker at different rates.

In the Sapphire Render effects submenu.


Inputs:

Source: The current layer. The clip to be processed.

Matte: Defaults to None. If provided, the specks have their brightness scaled, or are selectively occluded, or flicker only in specific regions, depending on the Use Matte For parameter. The matte can have color to selectively adjust the color of specks in different regions.

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.

Number Of Points: Integer,  Default: 200, Range: 1 or greater.
Approximate number of dust specks to render. Specks may enter or leave the screen, but the average number of visible specks will stay consistent.

Size: Default: 3.12, Range: 0 or greater.
Scales the size of all specks of dust.

Brightness: Default: 0.75, Range: 0 or greater.
Scales the brightness of the result.

Color: Default rgb: [0.5 0.5 0.5].
The overall color of the specks of dust.

Vary Hue: Default: 0, Range: 0 to 1.
Randomly varies the hue of each speck of dust.

Vary Saturation: Default: 0, Range: 0 to 1.
Randomly varies the saturation of each speck of dust.

Vary Brightness: Default: 0.5, Range: 0 to 1.
Randomly varies the brightness of each speck of dust.

Softness: Default: 0.1, Range: 0 or greater.
Softens the edges of specks of dust.

Near Plane: Default: 30, Range: 0 or greater.
Adjusts the minimum distance away from the viewport where specks of dust can exist. If Box Depth is not zero, setting this to a lower value will make some specks appear closer and larger than the rest, whereas setting this to a higher value will reduce the size differences between specks.

Box Depth: Default: 500, Range: 0 or greater.
Adjusts the maximum distance away from the viewport where specks of dust can exist (in reality, the maximum distance is near_plane + box depth). Setting this to a higher value will make most specks appear farther and smaller, whereas setting this to zero will make all specks appear to be at the same distance and identical in size.

Field Of View: Default: 90, Range: 0 to 179.
Introduces a simulated parallax effect where dust specks closer to the viewport appear larger and move faster. Setting this to a higher value will push more of the closest specks off screen, but most specks will still be visible.

Near Plane Fade: Default: 20, Range: 0 to 100.
Adjusts the distance at which dust specks start to fade when approaching the viewport. Setting this to zero makes dust specks suddenly disappearing when going past the near plane.

Seed: Default: 0.125, Range: 0 or greater.
Initializes the random number generator for dust speck position, motion, size, color, and flicker variation. The actual seed value is not significant, but different seeds give different results and the same seed should give a repeatable result.

Scale Drift: Default: 2, Range: 0 or greater.
Scales all drift related parameters except for angles.

Drift Speed: Default: 30, Range: 0 or greater.
Determines how fast the specks of dust move in directions parallel to the screen (does not affect their distance to the viewport).

Vary Drift Speed: Default: 10, Range: 0 or greater.
Controls the variations in speed of the specks of dust (parallel to the screen, like Drift Speed). Setting this to twice the drift speed will make some specks not move (assuming no turbulence) and make some specks move at twice the average speed.

Drift Angle: Default: 0, Range: 0 to 360.
Determines in which general direction the specks of dust move, parallel to the screen. A value of 0 or 360 means "toward the right", and the angle value goes counterclockwise.

Vary Drift Angle: Default: 20, Range: 0 to 360.
Controls the variations in direction of the specks of dust (parallel to the screen, like Drift Angle). Setting this to zero makes all specks go in the same direction (assuming no turbulence), whereas setting this to 360 makes specks go in completely random directions (which then means the value of Drift Angle has no effect).

Drift Z: Default: 0, Range: any.
Determines how fast the specks of dust move in the Z direction, that is away from or toward the viewport (positive or negative value respectively).

Vary Drift Z: Default: 0, Range: any.
Controls the variations in speed of the specks of dust in the Z direction (perpendicular to the screen, like Drift Z).

Scale Turbulence: Default: 10, Range: 0 or greater.
Scales all turbulence related parameters except for octaves.

Turbulence Speed: Default: 0.2, Range: any.
Controls how noisy the turbulence is. If no other type of motion is present (no drift), this determines the average speed of all specks of dust (how fast the turbulent flow is).

Turbulence X: Default: 25, Range: 0 or greater.
Scales the turbulent motion in the X direction.

Vary Turbulence X: Default: 15, Range: 0 or greater.
Controls how noisy the turbulence is in the X direction.

Turbulence Y: Default: 25, Range: 0 or greater.
Scales the turbulent motion in the Y direction.

Vary Turbulence Y: Default: 15, Range: 0 or greater.
Controls how noisy the turbulence is in the Y direction.

Turbulence Z: Default: 0, Range: 0 or greater.
Scales the turbulent motion in the Z direction.

Vary Turbulence Z: Default: 5, Range: 0 or greater.
Controls how noisy the turbulence is in the Z direction.

Turb Octaves: Integer,  Default: 2, Range: 1 to 10.
Controls the amount of detail in the turbulence noise.

Flicker Amp: Default: 0, Range: 0 or greater.
Scales the variations in brightness of flickering dust.

Flicker Speed: Default: 40, Range: 0 or greater.
Determines how fast the specks of dust flicker.

Flicker Randomness: Default: 0.5, Range: 0 to 1.
Determines how dissimilar the flicker of a speck of dust is to other nearby specks. A value of zero means that all specks flicker in unison, whereas a value of 1 means each speck flickers independently from all others.

Flicker Octaves: Integer,  Default: 2, Range: 1 to 10.
Determines how random the flickering pattern is (the amount of detail).

Coverage Percent: Default: 30, Range: 0 to 100.
Determines how many specks of dust flicker. This is a percentage, so a value of 0 means none of the specks flicker, whereas a value of 100 means all specks flicker. Exactly which specks flicker and which do not is random, but using a mask can help better control in what regions the dust specks flicker.

Depth Blur Amount: Default: 0, Range: 0 or greater.
Blurs all specks of dust depending on Focus Depth and Depth of Field. The farther from the focus depth (in the Z direction) a speck is, the more blurred it becomes.

Focus Depth: Default: 50, Range: 0 to 100.
Adjusts the distance at which all specks of dust are in focus. This is expressed as a percentage of Box Depth, so if that value is zero, then the value of Focus Depth does not matter. A focus depth value of zero corresponds to the near plane.

Depth Of Field: Default: 10, Range: 0 to 100.
Adjusts the depth range where the dust specks stay in focus.

Use Matte For: Popup menu,  Default: Brightness .
Determines what the matte is used for.
Brightness: Scales the brightness of the specks of dust with the matte value.
Occlusion: Use the matte to occlude the specks of dust.
Flicker: Makes the specks of dust flicker only in some regions, depending on the matte.

Blur Matte: Default: 0, 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 Matte: 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.

Matte Type: Popup menu,  Default: Luma .
This setting is ignored unless the Mask input is provided.
Luma: uses the luminance of the Mask input.
Color: uses the RGB channels of the Mask input.
Alpha: uses the alpha channel of the Mask input.

Combine: Popup menu,  Default: Screen .
Determines how the specks of dust are combined with the source image.
Dust Only: gives only the specks of dust with no source.
Mult: the specks of dust are multiplied by the source.
Add: the specks of dust are added to the source.
Screen: the specks of dust are blended with the source using a screen operation.
Difference: the result is the difference between the specks of dust and source.
Overlay: the specks of dust are combined with the source using an overlay function.


See Also:

BokehLights
NightSky
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