ANR Bubble Field

Overview

Bubble Field draws bubbles that rise through the whole frame and drift sideways, coming back in at the bottom after they leave the top. Each bubble is a thin rim with a small highlight at its upper left. Bubbles sit at different depths: nearer ones are bigger, faster and more opaque, which gives the field some parallax.

The field runs by itself, with nothing to key. Bubbles are drawn over Source, or alone on transparency; use Mask to keep them inside a glass, a tank or any other area.

Inputs

1. Sourceoptional

   The image the bubbles are drawn over. Leave it empty for bubbles alone on transparency.

2. Maskoptional

   Limits where bubbles appear: where its alpha is black, Source shows unchanged.

Output. Bubbles over Source, or alone on transparency with their own alpha, covering the project format.

Quick start

1. Add ANR Bubble Field. Connect your plate to Source, or leave it empty.
2. Set Bubbles for how many are on screen, and Radius and Rim Width for their size.
3. Set Rise Speed and Drift.
4. Set Opacity and Color.
5. Connect a matte to Mask to keep the bubbles inside an area.
6. Change Seed for a different arrangement.

The panel

The node's panel as Nuke shows it, with the values of a new node. Click any control to see what it does; tabs and sections work as in Nuke.

All controls

Tips

• Stack two Bubble Fields with different Seed, Radius and Rise Speed: many small, slow bubbles behind and a few large, fast ones in front read as more depth.
• Soften the back layer with a slight blur to push it further away.
• To pass bubbles behind something in the plate, connect an inverted matte of that object to Mask.
• Speeds are per second: set Frames per Second to your project's frame rate.

Good to know

• The bubbles are outlines drawn over the image; they do not bend or magnify what is behind them.
• The number of bubbles stays constant: they loop through the frame instead of being born and popping.
• Nothing is simulated or cached: each frame depends only on its own frame number and inputs, so scrubbing, render order and farm renders all give the same frames.

Works with

ANR Snow DriftAnimated falling snow over your image, with wind, a gentle side-to-side flutter and depth: near flakes are bigger and faster.ANR Rain StreaksAnimated falling rain over your image, in depth: near drops fall faster and look longer and stronger than far ones.ANR Ripple TankWater ripples from one or two drops that spread, bounce off the frame edges and fade, as a height map or as a ripple distortion of your image.