Best way to get Glow in post? P.S. FREE SOFTWARE

Box8068_31c338ee4b

Hello
I now have hitfilm which is like After Effects. you can to click the link below.
Until Feb 04 they are giving there light version away for free.
https://hitfilm.com/express/free
Anyway one thing I hated in Carrara was the incredible amount of time it took to render a glow channel.
I would like to move some of the glow effect to post. ( carrara's glow isn't always that pretty anyway)

I know I can render an animation in layers. How can I render an animation when I want to add glow to an object that
is in front of some objects and behind others? Any suggestions?
Thanks
Brad

Milo

8068 said:

Hello
I now have hitfilm which is like After Effects. you can to click the link below.
Until Feb 04 they are giving there light version away for free.
https://hitfilm.com/express/free
Anyway one thing I hated in Carrara was the incredible amount of time it took to render a glow channel.
I would like to move some of the glow effect to post. ( carrara's glow isn't always that pretty anyway)

I know I can render an animation in layers. How can I render an animation when I want to add glow to an object that
is in front of some objects and behind others? Any suggestions?
Thanks
Brad

Not having done it, are you going to apply the glow in hitfilm itself in post or trying to add the glow in Carrara. I can think of a couple of ways maybe but would have to try some things. If the glow is lighting the other objects so you have a moving light in the animation. A moving mask on the Glow layer in post might be one way.

wetcircuit

I use a plugin called SHADERS PLUS from Digital Carver's Guild (DAZ tos prevents direct link)

It adds some new "top level" shader trees to the shader room:

Flat - when you want to use an image map or procedural shader, it just takes the color channel and renders it without any light or shadow alterations...

Mask - outputs a solid color (like chromakey blue)

Then you group all your scene lights so you can toggle them on and off by turning off visibility of the group. You render twice, one normal render with your scene lit properly, a second with all your lights hidden (so your scene is completely dark) and using these new shaders you are creating what is essentially a Multi-Pass render. Use the Mask shader to create compositing masks, and the Flat shader to create a "work layer" with just the glowing bits you want to work with.

This is what I do for AfterEffects and/or Photoshop. Then you are building your glow/bloom fx on these layers and compositing the multipass layers together using blend modes.... Thanks for the link to Hitfilm, I've been wanting to check it out!

Dartanbeck

holly wetcircuit said:

I use a plugin called SHADERS PLUS from Digital Carver's Guild (DAZ tos prevents direct link)

Holly, I would love to hear any advice, especially in the form of How-To tutorials, on anything you might know about DCG shaders. They add so much, it takes a bit to sink in all of the power they grant! :)
(EDIT: If, of course, you found some extra time to write, that is ;) )

I have Shader Ops 1 & 2 and Enhance C. They, too have amazing capabilities.
We do have a link for DCG in the Carrara Plugins FAQ, by JAY_NOLA

Garstor

Dartanbeck said:

holly wetcircuit said:

I use a plugin called SHADERS PLUS from Digital Carver's Guild (DAZ tos prevents direct link)

Holly, I would love to hear any advice, especially in the form of How-To tutorials, on anything you might know about DCG shaders. They add so much, it takes a bit to sink in all of the power they grant! :)
(EDIT: If, of course, you found some extra time to write, that is ;) )

I have Shader Ops 1 & 2 and Enhance C. They, too have amazing capabilities.
We do have a link for DCG in the Carrara Plugins FAQ, by JAY_NOLA

I'll echo Dart's request. I have a few DCG plug-ins but have barely used them because I do not understand what they provide.

wetcircuit

:ohh: oh wow... ok. I can not get through a single render without using DCG shaders.... I don't use them *all* - some I have actually never used..., but a few I use in every scene.

Ok, I am trying to put together some new articles/tutorials for Cafe... I know my next topic...

OH! And I screwed up my registration of HitFilm so it is running in demo mode. I don't seem to have a way to reset the registration so I guess I am waiting for it to expire. LOL But I did have a play around in it yesterday... Great program! Not the fastest fx, but a nice balance between an editor and a compositor... It looks a lot like the old Final Cut Pro.

Milo

holly wetcircuit said:

:ohh: oh wow... ok. I can not get through a single render without using DCG shaders.... I don't use them *all* - some I have actually never used..., but a few I use in every scene.

Ok, I am trying to put together some new articles/tutorials for Cafe... I know my next topic...

OH! And I screwed up my registration of HitFilm so it is running in demo mode. I don't seem to have a way to reset the registration so I guess I am waiting for it to expire. LOL But I did have a play around in it yesterday... Great program! Not the fastest fx, but a nice balance between an editor and a compositor... It looks a lot like the old Final Cut Pro.

OOOoooo Love your tutorials Holly! Look forward to it.

There should be an activate button. I don't have it installed on the mac at the moment so I can't see it. However when you first install its in demo mode, then you activate it (serial number and username/login). You have to uninstall or deactivate to go to another machine. You can also i believe if I remember right deactivate it from your hitfilm web account. You have a full version of Express so you should't have to wait.

**** Found this ****
Demo mode

After installation HitFilm will run in demo mode. You can try out all the features but you are restricted to a 30 second export to YouTube. If you'd like to purchase the full version head over to HitFilm.com.

Activation

If you have purchased HitFilm you can activate it immediately to use all of its features.

When you start the software choose Activate from the demo window.

Follow the on-screen instructions to activate your software. If it's the first time you have activated the software your serial code will be registered to an account at HitFilm.com.

Installing on another computer

The HitFilm 2 Express license provides a single activation at a time and the HitFilm 2 Ultimate license allows three concurrent activations.

If you exceed your number of activations your original installation will be deactivated and return to demo mode.

You can transfer to a new machine and reinstall as many times as you want, so there's no need to worry about losing your purchased software.

argus1000

Thanks 8068 for telling us of this freebie. I installed HitFilm 2 Express and I found it an awesome app.

I watched a number of tutorials and I found out that, if you upgrade to HitFilm 2 Ultimate for $300, this app can do most of what Premiere and After Effects can do TOGETHER, but for a small fraction of the price. But even with only the free Express edition, you can do things like flares, particles, keying and motion tracking, not to mention editing.

I am totally sold to this app. Goodbye Adobe and their high prices. Hello HitFilm.

Milo

argus1000 said:

Thanks 8068 for telling us of this freebie. I installed HitFilm 2 Express and I found it an awesome app.

I watched a number of tutorials and I found out that, if you upgrade to HitFilm 2 Ultimate for $300, this app can do most of what Premiere and After Effects can do TOGETHER, but for a small fraction of the price. But even with only the free Express edition, you can do things like flares, particles, keying and motion tracking, not to mention editing.

I am totally sold to this app. Goodbye Adobe and their high prices. Hello HitFilm.

Interestingly Hit Film 2 Ultimate comes with a SONY Vegas (even the HD Home Edition starting in 12 and now just moving to 13) plugin.

Dartanbeck

Yes, Thanks 8068, this is really cool stuff!