How to add this type of "glow" effect? (example, the ki attacks in DBZ)

[rocco123]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKlT_fUcq-Q

Here you can see it several times



As you can see the thing is white but its not plain, it has a glow effect which makes it look like light. Those cartoons are really old so im guessing modern video editors can do this easily? But I don't know how.

I use Sony Vegas for editing so im interested in learning this trick on there if possible.

PS: It's an animation, so I don't want to spend a week editing manually frame by frame. I just want a pluging that automatically detects pure white color and adds glow around it.

[racer-x]

Have you tried searching for "Glow effect in Vegas" ? https://www.google.com/search?q=glow+effect+in+Vegas

[budwzr]

Look for the "Dimensionality" tool in Compositors. (Vegas Pro Only).

Or you can do it as a PNG Still in a Graphics Editor. Make a "Keyhole Shape" and a Circle, and boomp dah it izz.

Make your glow by doing a clone, then enlarge a bit, then throw a gradient on the edge.

[rocco123]

Guys, im making an animation, it's not a single picture. I can't be editing millions of frames for a kame effect...

Isn't there a way to automatically add in glow around pure white? It's like, I model my kame 3d model in pure white, then in Sony Vegas, some pluging or something, that detects pure white color and adds a glow around it without you having to waste a week in manually cutting a mask etc... something like this should exist in 2016

Have you tried searching for "Glow effect in Vegas" ? https://www.google.com/search?q=glow+effect+in+Vegas

Yes, I havent found what I want to do.

[raffriff42]

In terms of Vegas or other NLE, you would basically...

1. Using a luma mask, make a clip what's white where the base clip is really bright, and black elsewhere.
2. Blur it. A lot.
3. Overlay onto your base clip. Experiment with blend modes (lighten, screen, softlight etc)

[poisondeathray]

Isn't there a way to automatically add in glow around pure white? It's like, I model my kame 3d model in pure white, then in Sony Vegas, some pluging or something, that detects pure white color and adds a glow around it without you having to waste a week in manually cutting a mask etc... something like this should exist in 2016

What 3d application ? It's better to do glows in your 3d application, because the light falloff affects other objects , shadows fall properly. ie. If something "glows", typically it is supposed to illuminate the objects around it. It will usually look better if done in the 3d application

If it's "cartoon 2D" type , (such as in your dbz example in the 1st post), then you can render the wanted objects only as white on a black background as an object matte, or with alpha channel. They will be used as a mask in vegas to apply the glow. This way you control what is isolated as the source of the glow(s)

If you cannot do that in your 3D program, then an alternate way is to use a luma key to isolate bright white objects. This is analogous to what rr42 is suggesting in avisynth. The problem with this way is it's not as selective and you can get overlap on unwanted objects . Isolating the mask in your 3d program is the preferred way because the isolation is perfect. You define exactly where you want.




So for vegas, to get a peripheral glow or outline, you need to generate a mask, and a 2nd version of the mask expanded and make a difference. Thus you will be left with a "ring" outline . To do this apply the mask generator in vegas , set to luminance. This will isolate the "white" areas that are 100% (you can tweak the values if you're not 100% white). The 2nd track is just a copy of the 1st, then you can use "min and max" set to max to expand the mask. Then add a blur something like a gaussian blur, tweak to your taste. Set the compositing mode to "difference" and you will be left with a white ring, blurred on the edge which will be the faded glow periphery. The 3rd track should be a black track, to remove any alpha channel. Now save the project and nest it into a new project. (it's analogous to "precomposing" in after effects, except a bit "clunkier" in vegas). This "nesting" is required because you're using it as a "track matte" and the mask is "procedurally generated" based on more than 1 layer - you have to be able to set the layer mode and it has to be "seen" as 1 layer - you can't do that unless it's precomposed . Another option would be to render that out and import a physical file. But the nesting method allows you to adjust parameters on the fly (when you save the project file, changes are reflected live in the 2nd vegas instance, and there aren't any large intermediate files)

In the 2nd vegas instance or project import the 1st veg. onto track 1. Use the mask generator set to luminance as before. Set the track 1 compositing mode to multiply (mask). But this time, on the 2nd layer, add a solid color the main color of the glow ring that you want. Or you can use the "glow" effect on that layer and adjust it on the fly to different colors. In this example I used a "teal" bluish color and set the blend mode to "add". Set track 2 a compositing child of track 1. Track 3 is you background clip, or the original clip

This is a crappy 1 glow example to illustrate, but you can use multiple concentric "ring" glows, layer blend modes and opacities to make it stand out better. For example , the innermost glow might be brighter, a different shade than the outermost glow ring . Because you have blurred the mask, you already have a sort of "falloff", and depending on how you adjust the blur (view the mask to see what I mean), you can control the falloff as well. You just do the same thing, expand the mask if you want to add an outer ring. You can also manipulate the masks with various effects as well . Obviously the original "panty" wasn't pure white, but you would render out of your application as such, the mask generator in vegas , or masktools in avisynth (you can use mt_binarize, or lumamask) will "detect" it . The problem most people have is selectivity. E.g. if you had bright "white" clouds in the scene, or bright eye whites (sclera) - they are going to glow too. That's why doing the glow or at least mattes in the 3d program is much better because it's 100% accurate. There is a tolerance or margin of error if you use the mask generation by luminance (either avisynth or vegas, or any program). Also , you wouldn't be able to "automatically" do a shot like your 1st example properly, because there are at least 2 different glow layers from the 2 different characters. They would be accessible separately with object mattes exported from a 3d program, but in vegas, the background glow and foreground glow would all be treated as 1 glow instance (you won't have separation unless you do some manual work)

[rocco123]

Isn't there a way to automatically add in glow around pure white? It's like, I model my kame 3d model in pure white, then in Sony Vegas, some pluging or something, that detects pure white color and adds a glow around it without you having to waste a week in manually cutting a mask etc... something like this should exist in 2016

What 3d application ? It's better to do glows in your 3d application, because the light falloff affects other objects , shadows fall properly. ie. If something "glows", typically it is supposed to illuminate the objects around it. It will usually look better if done in the 3d application

If it's "cartoon 2D" type , (such as in your dbz example in the 1st post), then you can render the wanted objects only as white on a black background as an object matte, or with alpha channel. They will be used as a mask in vegas to apply the glow. This way you control what is isolated as the source of the glow(s)

If you cannot do that in your 3D program, then an alternate way is to use a luma key to isolate bright white objects. This is analogous to what rr42 is suggesting in avisynth. The problem with this way is it's not as selective and you can get overlap on unwanted objects . Isolating the mask in your 3d program is the preferred way because the isolation is perfect. You define exactly where you want.




So for vegas, to get a peripheral glow or outline, you need to generate a mask, and a 2nd version of the mask expanded and make a difference. Thus you will be left with a "ring" outline . To do this apply the mask generator in vegas , set to luminance. This will isolate the "white" areas that are 100% (you can tweak the values if you're not 100% white). The 2nd track is just a copy of the 1st, then you can use "min and max" set to max to expand the mask. Then add a blur something like a gaussian blur, tweak to your taste. Set the compositing mode to "difference" and you will be left with a white ring, blurred on the edge which will be the faded glow periphery. The 3rd track should be a black track, to remove any alpha channel. Now save the project and nest it into a new project. (it's analogous to "precomposing" in after effects, except a bit "clunkier" in vegas). This "nesting" is required because you're using it as a "track matte" and the mask is "procedurally generated" based on more than 1 layer - you have to be able to set the layer mode and it has to be "seen" as 1 layer - you can't do that unless it's precomposed . Another option would be to render that out and import a physical file. But the nesting method allows you to adjust parameters on the fly (when you save the project file, changes are reflected live in the 2nd vegas instance, and there aren't any large intermediate files)

In the 2nd vegas instance or project import the 1st veg. onto track 1. Use the mask generator set to luminance as before. Set the track 1 compositing mode to multiply (mask). But this time, on the 2nd layer, add a solid color the main color of the glow ring that you want. Or you can use the "glow" effect on that layer and adjust it on the fly to different colors. In this example I used a "teal" bluish color and set the blend mode to "add". Set track 2 a compositing child of track 1. Track 3 is you background clip, or the original clip

This is a crappy 1 glow example to illustrate, but you can use multiple concentric "ring" glows, layer blend modes and opacities to make it stand out better. For example , the innermost glow might be brighter, a different shade than the outermost glow ring . Because you have blurred the mask, you already have a sort of "falloff", and depending on how you adjust the blur (view the mask to see what I mean), you can control the falloff as well. You just do the same thing, expand the mask if you want to add an outer ring. You can also manipulate the masks with various effects as well . Obviously the original "panty" wasn't pure white, but you would render out of your application as such, the mask generator in vegas , or masktools in avisynth (you can use mt_binarize, or lumamask) will "detect" it . The problem most people have is selectivity. E.g. if you had bright "white" clouds in the scene, or bright eye whites (sclera) - they are going to glow too. That's why doing the glow or at least mattes in the 3d program is much better because it's 100% accurate. There is a tolerance or margin of error if you use the mask generation by luminance (either avisynth or vegas, or any program). Also , you wouldn't be able to "automatically" do a shot like your 1st example properly, because there are at least 2 different glow layers from the 2 different characters. They would be accessible separately with object mattes exported from a 3d program, but in vegas, the background glow and foreground glow would all be treated as 1 glow instance (you won't have separation unless you do some manual work)

Thanks, that is a funny gif. I also realized I would stumble upon the same problem (white clouds or white eyes would glow too if I used some sort of automatic approach) so I would need to mask and shape frame by frame which im not going to do.

The program im using is a very simple animating 3D program and it's impossible to do that kind of glow, I can add light sources, it has real time shadows.. and that's about it. No fancy lighting effects, so I think the next immediate best thing to do would be to do like you said, separate the kamehame from the rest by rendering it in solid white with a background of another solid color. This way I have it isolated and already animated. I think I can do this in the animating program. I will set the sky, ceiling and everything else set to black and disable all other objects, so I only have the solid white kame left. So I have that clip, then I render the same sequence again with the rest enabled and now I have control over the kame in an isolated way.

What if I just use the "glint" effect? I discovered it makes a layer of solid white look exactly like a DBZ ball energy thing pretty much with default settings lol

I will try later and see how it goes.