Lighting Controls For The Caustics Effect; Material Controls For The Caustics Effect; Foam Effect - Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 Manual

Lighting controls for the Caustics effect

Specifies which type of light you want to use. Distant Source simulates sunlight and casts shadows in one
Light Type
direction, where all the light rays strike the object from virtually the same angle. Point Source is similar to a light
bulb and casts shadows in all directions. First Comp Light uses the composition's first light layer, which can use a
variety of settings.
Specifies the power of the light. The higher the value, the brighter the layer. Other lighting settings
Light Intensity
affect the overall light intensity as well.
Specifies the color of light.
Light Color
Specifies the position of the light in (x,y) space. To position the light interactively, Alt-drag
Light Position
(Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) the light's effect point.
Specifies the position of the light in z space. Negative numbers move the light behind the layer.
Light Depth
Distributes light over the layer. Increasing it adds an even illumination to all objects and prevents
Ambient Light
shadows from being totally black. Turning Ambient Light all the way to pure white and setting all other light controls
to 0 makes the object fully lit and eliminates any 3D shading from the scene.

Material controls for the Caustics effect

The Material controls specify the reflection values of the cards.
Gives objects form-defining shading. Shading depends on the angle at which the light strikes the
Diffuse Reflection
surface and is independent of the viewer's position.
Takes into account the position of the viewer. It models the reflection of the light source back to
Specular Reflection
the viewer. It can create the illusion of shininess. For realistic effects, you can animate this control by using higher
and higher values to mask the transition from filtered to nonfiltered versions of the layer.
Controls shininess. Very shiny surfaces produce small tight reflections, while duller surfaces
Highlight Sharpness
spread the highlight out into a larger region. Specular highlights are the color of the incoming light. Because light is
typically white or off-white, broad highlights can desaturate an image by adding white to the surface color.
In general, use the following process to adjust lighting: Set Light Position and Diffuse Reflection to control the overall
light level and shading in a scene. Then adjust Specular Reflection and Highlight Sharpness to control the strength
and spread of highlights. Finally, adjust Ambient Light to fill in the shadows.

Foam effect

This effect generates bubbles that flow, cling, and pop. Use the effect's controls to adjust attributes for the bubbles
such as stickiness, viscosity, life span, and bubble strength. You can control exactly how the foam particles interact
with each other and with their environment, and specify a separate layer to act as a map, controlling precisely where
the foam flows. For example, you can have particles flow around a logo or fill a logo with bubbles.
This effect works with 8-bpc color.
Original (left), with Foam applied (center), and with a robot layer used as the Bubble Texture Layer (right)
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User Guide