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MARCH 07, 2003 Here Comes the Sun
We are basically at the same point we were at the beginning of this installment – needing to get rid of unwanted information. We solved the problem by applying a mask, and that solution will work here as well. If you want to get a precise mask that fits around the spherized area, create a new mask (Layer>Mask>New Mask), then bring up the Mask Shape window (Layer>Mask>Mask Shape). In this window you can enter the radius values directly or even enter simple math formulas to calculate the point positions.[an error occurred while processing this directive]The radius of the Spherize effect is 200 pixels, so that will be the radius for mask. The center of the mask will reside at 500, 500, so the left most point should be 500-200, which gives us the value of 300. The other points are as follows: Left: 300 Top: 300 Right: 700 Bottom: 700  With the mask applied, the flat disk looks more like a ball because of the distortion, but how do we fake the rotation?
In the Effect Controls Panel twirl down the Transform control for the Fractal Noise effect. Make sure the Timeline Indicator is at the beginning of the Timeline and create an initial keyframe for Offset Turbulence. The Offset Turbulence controls the position of the fractal pattern. By animating the turbulence from left to right we can create the illusion that the sun is rotating.  Move the Timeline Indicator to the end of the Timeline by pressing the End key on the keyboard. Change the value of the X value of the Offset Turbulence to a value that you like. The more offset you have the faster the sun will appear to rotate. For this example, I offset the X value by approximately 6000 pixels over 10 seconds. If you want the sun to appear to be churning up material from inside out, animate the evolution controls. If you make a RAM preview you will see a fairly good representation of a rotating sun. But it still lacks something. It doesn’t appear bright or punchy enough. A quick Glow effect will fix that problem. From the Effect menu select Stylize>Glow and apply it to the Sun layer. Change the Glow Threshold to 65%, the Radius to 5 and the Intensity to 20. The Glow Operation should be set to Screen. Select A/B colors to give the bright spots of the sun a glow that makes it look like hot material is bursting through the surface. In this exercise, I used 238, 178, 139 for the A color, and 227, 94, 10 for the B color. 
Finally, the edge of our sun is a bit hard. Press F on the keyboard to bring up the Mask Feather Property for the sun layer. Change the feather amount to 60 pixels on the X and Y-axes. Not only does this give us a more pleasing image, it will also allow for some light wrapping we will do in the next installment.
Ok, there you have it – your very own stylized rotating sun. Because of the mask that is applied, it will be a snap to composite the original sun animation, or even this stylized sun over any layer in the Timeline. There are a few more things that need to be done to these sun animations (namely adding back in the flares and corona), but that will have to wait until the next time. When not working deep in the labs of the DMN Central Division testing the latest and greatest software/hardware products Stephen Schleicher can be found at the local university teaching a few courses on video and web production. He can be reached at schleicher@mindspring.com. You can also visit him on the web at www.mindspring.com/~schleicher Related sites: • Animation Artist • Animation Supplement • AV Video • Content Mastering • Corporate Media News • Creative Mac • Design Supplement • Digital Animators • Digital Post Production • Digital Producer • Digital Video Editing • DV Format • Film Imaging • Hollywood Industry • Presentation Master • Presentation Supplement • Production Supplement • Siggraph News • The WWUG Related forums: [an error occurred while processing this directive] 
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