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MARCH 14, 2003 Here Comes the Sun: Part 3
Shine works best when you have duplicates of the layer you want to apply the effect to. Create a New Composition by pressing Command+N on the Mac or Control+N on the PC. Use the DV NTSC preset and create a comp that is 10 seconds long (the length of our rotating fractal sun from the last exercise).[an error occurred while processing this directive]  To this composition add the Fractal Sun Composition that we created last time. You may remember that this composition was rather large (1000 x 1000 pixels in size). This was to help us get the most out of our fractal noise pattern, and to prevent problems with light rays getting clipped at the edge of the frame.
Duplicate the Fractal Sun layer by pressing Command+D on the Mac or Control+D on the PC. If we were to apply the Shine effect to bottom layer now, resizing the layer would result in the same clipping problems we encountered when using the original SOHO images from the first installment. In order to get Shine to extend outside the boundaries of a layer, the best solution for this exercise would be to apply Shine to an Adjustment layer.  From the Layer menu, select New>Adjustment Layer. Position the Adjustment layer between the two Fractal Sun layers in the Timeline.  With the Adjustment layer selected, apply the Shine effect (Effects>Trapcode>Shine). Because the Sun has already been masked, there is very little we need to do in the Effects Controls Panel. Make sure the Source Point is placed in the middle of the Sun. Adjust the Ray Length and Boost Light values to your liking. I used 10 and 10 for this exercise simply to show how bright the effect could be. Obviously the Fractal Sun needs to be much brighter and rotate much faster for a more believable effect. Finally, parent the bottom Fractal Sun layer to the top Fractal Sun layer. Now if you need to scale the sun, the bottom layer will match exactly and the Adjustment layer will compensate for the change.
The previous installments can be found here, and 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 • Broadcast Newsroom • Content Mastering • Corporate Media News • Creative Mac • Design Supplement • Digital Animators • Digital Game Developer • Digital Post Production • Digital Producer • Digital Video Editing • DV Format • Film and Video Magazine • Hollywood Industry • Mac Supplement • Production Supplement • Siggraph News • The WWUG Related forums: [an error occurred while processing this directive] 
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