Electricity and lightning

[markzebra]

Greg hmmm - is that the Difference Clouds, Levels adjust lightning you came up with? Always wondered about that one

[Greg Vander Houwen]

Yes, if you mean,

Run a black to white narrow gradient at your desired angle about the width of the zig-zag width you want for your lightning.

Run Difference Clouds on it.

Go to Levels and invert the Output sliders 255, 0 then set the Input sliders to about 5, 3.50, 150 (to taste) click OK.

The result will composite nicely over an underlying image when on a layer set to Screen mode.

Layer Mask or erase extra cloudy bits.

Do a few of these layers set to screen rotate, scale and mask to create forks.

...

I was on a plane sitting between Steve Broback and Steve Roth, the principals of Thunder Lizard productions and we were coming back from a Photoshop Conference, (95 in New York I think) where I had one of the best presentations on SFX I ever gave. There was a huge lightning storm out the window and Roth said that I had done some sweet stuff in my presentation but if I could do lightning that would be really cool. I kinda slumped down in my seat and started thinking and came up with this. I couldn't wait to get back to my machine to try it out.

I was really pleased with that one, it took a mental leap to snag the difference clouds move.

Since then I have developed it into a number of electricity effects, the latest being a Tesla coil. I saw an old one in this really cool antique radio museum in Bellingham. No glass sphere, just the coil out in the open. When the guy wound it up the blue sparks just started shooting off in all directions. Kind of made you want to duck. You could smell the ozone. He gave me a floresent tube to hold and it lit up just in its presence. Really neat stuff.

On the drive back I was thinking about how I could make one. Here is the rough sequence.

Run a horizontal black to white gradient all the way across the image.

Go to Curves and apply a solarization curve (shaped like an inverted V). to make this just drag the white point dowm to black and then click-drag the midtone up to white. Click OK.

Press Command-Option-M (Mac) or Control-Alt-M (PC) to open and load the last Curve. Repeat 3? times or so. This should result in 4-5 black to white gradient columns.

Run a Filter-Distort-Polar Coordinates.

Apply Difference Clouds.

Apply levels to isolate the "spark bolts".

Apply Hue/Saturation, Colorize and shift the hue to electric blue.

Add a sphere in the middle for the electrode.

Dupe the electricity layer and drag the dupe above the electrode. Set it to Screen. Flip, rotate... so it is different.

Dupe that layer and Blur it a bunch for environmental lighting.

...

I have an example of this around here somewhere. I did this at the last PS conference (I think). I'll try to find it and post it for you.

Greg

[Scott W.]

Very cool, Greg.

My image is probably a little different (I did a couple of other things as well).

[Greg Vander Houwen]

I feel like I am being sucked in Scott ;).

Here are those images I mentioned.

[Greg Vander Houwen]

and the Tesla coil,

[Scott W.]

Not sucking anyone into anything, Greg.

I got closer to your images after playing a bit more.

Nice technique.

[Greg Vander Houwen]

This has me thinking. I'll bet if you ran distort, twirl, right after the polar coordinates step, you would get a swirl of electricity.

That is one of the cool things about this technique. Any black to white gradients will work so you can distort them, liquify them...

Greg

[Scott W.]

Yeah, it's a real cool effect.

I just had to narrow down some of the step you posted above to get the right effect.

[BabbleGrabble]

Thanks for yet another great tutorial. I tried out a little of that twirl action:

[lokki]

Here's my attempt...

[lokki]

...and an odd effect on the center 'sphere'...

[Chyld]

Hi Chyld here.

How did you produce your lightning? I can see that your bolts seem to be straighter in comparison like a direct attraction to something external which to me, looks more realistic.. I've played with the white to black gradient tool set at different widths then ran the difference clouds and played with the levels, but it looks NOTHING like what you have done here. It's beautiful. I'd love to know if you have time to tell me?

Thank you.

[Greg Vander Houwen]

Chyld,

Can you tell me a bit about what is wrong with yours. Maybe I can figure it out from there.

Greg

[Chyld]

Right, I'm going to include what I've done here. What I have are 4 bolts of lightning.

To give you further information, all four of these layers are done so they seem to have a black background each, setting them to screen seemed to make that black go away somewhat.

But I don't seem to be able to get a background of my choice in there....

Well, I hope this works...

Can anyone give me a clue as to how to get rid of the black background without compromising the quality of the lightning bolts?

Here Goes!
http://www.chyld.co.uk/images/lightningtest.jpg

[Greg Vander Houwen]

Chyld,

What do you want to see through to? What is the lightining supposed to be over?

Greg

[Chyld]

Well, in all honesty, I'd like to get 'anything' behind the lightning. Just as long as I don't have to stick to a black background that altering the levels will give me.

BTW, I just left a huge Brushed Chrome tutorial in the tips and techniques section.

http://photoshoptechniques.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1730

I don't know if it is any good since you guys are bloody gods! but it took some working out on my part. And since everyone here likes to share....

[lokki]

Chyld,

I just followed Greg's outline, with a few nudges here and there. It's mostly random, so what I ended up with is just one of infinitely possible variations.

However, to get something behind the lightning, you might want to try several approaches, and see what works for you. One of the first things I'd try is to play with the layer Blend If... modes. This appears to be a staple in Greg's use of blending, and he uses it to incredible, delicate effect. Don't forget that you can alt-click(PC) on the little triangles to seperate them, which allows for a gradation between cutoff values (if it isn't already, this will become clear when you play with it).

Another approach would be to simply mask the lighting, perhaps merging the layers first so you could have a generalized blend setting (screen, overlay, etc).

Finally, and this is the tricky bit, buy some fireworks for Greg and he'll let you into the 'inner sanctum' :) ...really, though, I bet he'll share, anyway.

[Greg Vander Houwen]

Yep, you're dead on Lokki, I'm a slider splitter from way back.

For those of you that don't get the Blend if: sliders, take a moment and play with them. They are both color an luminosity masks with very subtle edge control. And, they are key "virtual compositing" tools. This is a term I came up with a long time ago that refers to tools that don't physically alter pixels and thus offer an effectively unlimited undo. Key players in the virtual compositing toobox are; Layer Masks, Modes, Adjustment Layers, Vector Masks, Pattern Fills... but back to Blend if.

These sliders now reside at the top level of the Layer Style dialog under "Blending Options:". To access them all you need is a real layer (not a background) targeted and then you can use the Layers palette drop down and select Blending Options or just double-click on the layer's thumbnail.

At the bottom of the dialog you will see two sets of sliders, This Layer and Underlying Layer. Here's how I think about what they do.

This Layer could be thought of as Make This Layer Transparent. If I move the dark slider in I am saying, make everything darker than this level transparent. If I move the light slider in I am saying, make everything lighter than this level transparent.

Underlying Layer could be thought of as Force The Underlying Imagery Up Through the active layer. If I move the dark slider in I am saying, force everything darker than this level up through. If I move the light slider in I am saying, force everything lighter than this level up through.

So essentially this is a slider controlled luminosity mask. But wait there's more ;).

The sliders are unique in Photoshop in that the have a little line right down the center. This indicates that they can be split. To split the sliders hold Option for Mac or Alt for PC and drag on of these "ears" to pull the slider apart. You can think of this as sort of a feather the transition function. For lightning, for instance, you want to keep the bright stuff so you would move the unsplit, dark slider up to make most of the dark areas in the image transparent. You will notice that the edge is very harsh and "aliased" because you are saying make everything darker than the level you set entirely transparent and everything lighter than that level entirely opaque. There is no transitional tones in this mask, below that one level is transparent and on the very next level above it's opaque.

So to sofften the transition you split the slider. By doing this you are essentially saying everything up to the first "ear" is gone but from that ear up to the next ear, fade up to full opacity. This allows you to specifically set the totally transparent areas, the tonal position to begin the fade towards opacity and the tonal position where the image will be totally opaque. In short the distance between the sliders is your transparency to opacity fade range and the ears are the endpoints between opacity and transparency.
Once you get what this is doing it is magically easy.

But wait, there is still more ;).

The Blend if: sliders can be targeted to work on any component channel in an image as well as its composite luminosity if needed. By default they work on luminosity but if you want to remove a blue sky for instance, you can click-drag down to Blue on an RGB document and then the sliders will focus on just the blue component channel. I have used this to remove skies in seconds. It doesn't always work because it depends on the contrast in the channel but it is often where I start to get well on my way before I finish up with a Layer Mask. Not only that but each channel is independent so you could have a luminosity based Blend if: setting working in concert with a Blue... Blend if: setting.

But wait, well you know...

These also work really well in concert with modes and they are right there at the top of the dialog. So for Lightning I might set the Mode to Screen because I only want the light stuff and then use the Blend if: sliders to hide the light fog around the lightining, with a slider split to keep some of it around the edge for a nice glow.

So if you ever say to yourself, gee, I just want to keep the light stuff, dark stuff, blue stuff, green stuff, red stuff... think Blend if: sliders. Over my career these have saved me maybe months of manual masking work.

But wait, there is still more.

For you advanced users consider the power of Lab mode here. Conversion to Lab doesn't hurt your color or tonality (probably an exception) so if RGB isn't doing it for you take the image to Lab and now you have a Luminosity channel, an a channel and a b channel to mask with. But be warned that conversion back to RGB will reset your sliders so you may want to merge the Lab Blend if: layer down onto a transparent layer to "harden" the virtual transparency before you do the mode conversion.

If you still want more, I rant about this in a now "classic" demo (because it has been used by so many people I don't even show it anymore) in the "Tao of Layers" section of Photoshop Studio Techniques, The Photoshop Bible, Gold Edition and on one of Deke's videos. In fact, now that I think of it, Deke did the exact demo I used to, even the same source images, here (http://www.totaltraining.com/html/movies/totalphotoshop03.mov) as a quicktime movie. He even tells the story I use to ;).

So, I guess you could say, I like this function.

If you don't use it, do yourself a favor and check the movie out. It is a huge timesaver and a great creative tool.

whew... I need a nap.

Greg

[BabbleGrabble]

Right on, lokki.
That was excellent, Greg. Great video, too!
BRAVO!!!
*applause*
:)

[Greg Vander Houwen]

I had some questions about the Tesla coil technique so I thought I would post the layer set I built to show the steps. This Layer stack is built to show the steps, starting from the bottom up. See the seccond post in this thread for the text steps.

[Hyper Tret]

Wow can someone teach me on how to do what Lokki did step by step. I admire all of your works.#:}

[Hannu Hurme]

I think Greg just did. ;)

Btw Greg, that was very through out explanation. }$

[lokki]

Hyper Tret,

Do you mean the lightning or the spheres? For the lightning, I'll refer you to Greg's explanation and layers... what I got was just blind luck in that department ;}

The sphere took in some tweaking with the spherize filter, and some repeating of the polarize filter. The first version is the result of only using spherize, but duplicating the layer and blending it a bit with various modes to get a little depth.

The second version goes like this:
spherize
polar coordinates (polar to rect)
wind
motion blur
polar coords again (rect to polar)
Adjust Hue layer
sign your name and sell! Z:b2

That is from memory, so I may have missed some steps, but that should get you going in the right direction.

Be sure to post some of what you create, and welcome to the group!

[screamkitty]

Wow, you've all done an excellent job of creating realistic tesla coils. I thought you all might be interested in this (http://www.srl.org/shows/webbys/13.html) then. They're pictures of a giant tesla coil created and operated by Survival Research Labs. It's an organization that puts on dangerous shows using machines they build from scratch. The link takes you to a set of pictures from one of their shows, but if you look around you can find a movie of the tesla coil in action. It's really amazing to watch. If you can't find it from my link, start from www.srl.org and maybe you'll have better luck. Enjoy!

[Greg Vander Houwen]

Thanks screamkitty,

Looks like a sweet event. I would love to be there.

Greg

[screamkitty]

I would also love to attend one of their destructive shows. I included the link in the hopes that they'd give everyone an idea of how a real tesla coil looks in action. If you do find the movie, like I said, it's really fun to watch. -=}

Edit: Okay, I thought it would be a whole lot easier if I just posted the link to the movie, so here (http://www.srl.org/shows/webbys/tesla.mpg) it is. Enjoy!

[Greg Vander Houwen]

No, I missed the movie. I'll take another look.

Greg

[BabbleGrabble]

Wow - great site and great movie, screamkitty. There are also a lot of interesting links from that site to others.

So who's up for the challenge of creating on animated tesla coil?

[screamkitty]

I'd love to give it a shot BG. Sadly, I don't know how to use ImageReady at all yet. I would definitely be interested in seeing what you guys can create, though. I might try fooling around with it, and if I get anything worth posting, I'll be sure to do it. -=}

[mark ward]

I was going to ask about animation but someone has already said it. I have Livemotion too, and i was wondering if anyone knows if you could use that for animating? Having the lightning come down would be great

mark w

[Rantin Al]

..and mine. Same basic technique as above.

[aleX]

How do you peices of the lighting? Just lasso it or sumthing?
Cuz I want to do something cool, like a wicked fork or somthing, but if i try and select a part of the page with lasso, then use gradient then D clouds, it always looks copy&pasted in, it's weird, can u help?

[aleX]

Anyway, aside from that.
Look what I made.
http://www.angelfire.com/hero/shalex/graps/stormy.jpg

[aleX]

Nice I fixed my problem!
http://www.angelfire.com/hero/shalex/graps/through_through.jpg
Do you like it??
PLLLEEAASSEE Tell me what you think!

[aleX]

Greg Vander Houwen
This has me thinking. I'll bet if you ran distort, twirl, right after the polar coordinates step, you would get a swirl of electricity.


Greg
Yeah, I agree, it was.
http://www.angelfire.com/hero/shalex/graps/twirly.jpg

[Clumsy]

wow this is a great place to learn PS Techniques!
well... i am quite new to here and this is the first technique i learn here :})

this is my work... Pls give me comments on it... THZ !!!

[screamkitty]

Wow, very nice effect, Clumsy. Mind sharing what you did? Glad to see this thread still thriving.

[Sage of Music]

I was following your second tut, and i was confused on a few parts

#1: What do you mean by apply levels to isolate the "spark bolts" and also

#2: Add a sphere in the middle for the elctrode. How do I do that?

#3: When I am to adjust the polar coordinates, do I use the Rectangular to polar or polar to rectangular?


Those came out good you guys!

thanks 4 the hlep

[screamkitty]

#1: What do you mean by apply levels to isolate the "spark bolts" and also

#2: Add a sphere in the middle for the elctrode. How do I do that?

#3: When I am to adjust the polar coordinates, do I use the Rectangular to polar or polar to rectangular?


Under the 'Image' tab - you can adjust the levels ( GoTo-> Image>Adjust Levels). Play around with the sliders a bit to see exactly what is going on. Then use them to make the 'lightning' more crisp and contrasted, which will make it look more realistic.

There are many ways to draw a sphere. My advice would be to try to figure it out yourself - but just so I'm not being of no help; try drawing a circle and applying a circular gradient to it. That should give you a starting point.

When applying the polar coordinates filter, use whichever looks better - in this case, I believe rectangular to polar produces the desired results. I may be wrong, but I'm not on my PS equipped PC to check it out. If it doesn't work that way, try the other!

Good luck!

[aleX]

Originally posted by Clumsy
wow this is a great place to learn PS Techniques!
well... i am quite new to here and this is the first technique i learn here :})

this is my work... Pls give me comments on it... THZ !!!


hence the url