2D water caustic light refraction effect

This is an effect I've been trying to achieve from the very first day I began using 2D animation software. In Flash, with only the Blur Filter to play with, the effect is always very crude. However with ToonBoom software, I've used 2 effect modules in conjunction with my hand-drawn effect to get something that looks realistic, yet retains those characteristic irregularities of hand-drawn 2D animation.

Note that up until now this effect, being incredibly complex and difficult to animate, even by the most experienced effects animators, is almost always programmed. Alternatively, scenes are composited with live action footage of the effect. The problem with these methods is that the ultrarealism of a programmed simulation or a live action composite clashes terribly with hand-drawn animation. The treatment below, while relatively simple to implement, does require advanced animation skill in the area of water effects, as well as familiarity with the physical technicalities of the real life behaviour of light and liquid.

Note that the sequence is animated as a 32fr (2ft) cycle, which means you can incorporate it into a scene of any length and it will loop.

If you would like to purchase the effect template for use in your own ToonBoom project, or an image sequence of the cycle with an alpha channel, please contact me. If you would like to commission me to create a specific treatment of this effect, please send a 'Work Inquiry' through my Contact form.

In order to use this effect template in your project, you will need to do the following:

• Toonboom Animate Pro 2
  • Place the template into your Animate Pro library directory
  • In Animate Pro 2, drag the template from your library into the network
  • Rotate the effect Peg in 3D so that the effect conforms to whatever surface
  • Locate the 'Lines' colour and adjust for your scene
  • Apply a cutter module to confine the effect to the appropriate areas (e.g, the rocks in the example above)
• All other software (e.g Flash CS4)
  • Import the image sequence (32 frames)
  • Place the sequence into a movieclip symbol
  • Drag the movieclip symbol onto the Stage
  • Rotate the movieclip in 3D, so it conforms to the surface you want it applied
  • Mask the effect to the appropriate areas (e.g, the rocks in the example above)

©2010 Adam Phillips
www.biteycastle.com