I like water (and fire and wind) "organic" type effects a lot, like what you're describing... that would be very cool, eg a company logo w/water effect.

What I would do is buy this template and use the (probably sequence of bmps in it), resized and put into the Vegas timeline, for what you're looking for:

http://www.templatemonster.com/flash-templates/9825.html


Let me know if/when you get it done, I'd like to take a look!

Regards,

Ken

Before I said anything I searched Pixelan for this FX but came up empty handed. They might well have it but I wasn't going to recommend someone layout their hard cash or time only to come up empty handed.

Bob.

>>...I searched Pixelan for this FX but came up empty handed...

The Pixelan "Creative Ease" package *does* have the water ripple effect. I can't remember specifically what filter, but it's there. I own these are they are really handy. Inexpensive and terrific-looking. This is *not* the same as the SpiceMaster transitions.

See:

http://www.pixelan.com/ce/features-ft.htm

Hope this helps.

I too was thinking Spicemaster when I started reading this thread, then saw DJPadre chime in about it. It's not the base FX, it's the gazillions of presets that could give you this kind of capability. The base package is $59, someone can certainly decide for themself if its a waste of money or a good deal. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it's tiny compared to learning a monster package like Boris Grafitti. An hour or two and you should be able to use the package.

Mostly its for transitions, but you can apply it to FXs, mask generators, etc. You could try out the demo (not sure, but maybe it puts a watermark on the output to encourage you to buy the real package).

Thanks for the link but as even they say:

"It is much more powerful than standard displacement effects, which tend to be not very adjustable and only create a few kinds of (mostly unattractive/unusable) wave/ripple/emboss looks."

Well if you're after a ripple FX hardly a recommendation for their own product, given also that they give examples of everything but a ripple FX.

Bob.

I was previously thinking of the transitions, but this looks much more appropriate.

I think they were criticizing "standard displacement effects", not their own product. That's how I read it.

This one looks like a ripple...

http://www.pixelan.com/images/ce/featureft1-large.htm

Also, you can try the newly down-priced Poser 5 for $20, insert a flat 3D plane instead of a person, and make it do dang near anything, as an exportable animation in many formats...?

Also, seems like little Ulead 3D Studio had an effect like that.

the filter your lookign for is form the pixelan filter library
Its called "Pixelan Flow Texture"
and within it, you can allocate a gradient as the "shape" (ie logo) then keyfrane its behaviour as it cycles through

If youve ever used particle illusion, the keyframer is VERY similar to that (ie ramps)U can also alloate whether the SOURCE is displaced, or whether the texture is overlayed.
No need for displacement or bump maps or any compositing, as you cn use this filter to do all this.

I dont know if the render engine is HT through.. but it would still be faster than a composite (from what ive seen)

As suggested I ordered Pixelan Spicemaster 2.5 Pro and hope to get/find the required effect and settings. Otherwise I will settle for something less complicated this time.

~Dries.

if thats to much for people to accept, so be it..

For the record, I have no problem "accepting" your solution. I just thought it was odd that you would call the other solutions "workarounds," especially since they used the tools given in the way they were intended. :)

Rob

Spicemaster 2.5 Pro and FlowTexture can make similar wave/ripple effects, but FlowTexture have more precise control over effect displacement/light. Also - FlowTexture operates on a single clip while Spicemaster 2.5 Pro is more transition-oriented. Why don't you download Spicemaster/FlowTexture DEMO's and see what is better for you?

I have seen several posts that suggest using a height map for various motion solutions.
In this thread - ripple water, in a question I asked - dreamy wavey Motion.

What I have not been able to find - and it is not listed in the Vegas Manual - What is a Hieght map?

I know I have my main clip - and an underlying clip with the motion - and then we get the motion to blur through - but I have not seen a definition of height map - I also saw someone said they did a height map tutorial but have not been able to find it yet.

Thanks
allen

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updated
OK looking for "composte mode" helps me a bit more here.
On Vaast I was able to find the .veg sample for watery text which is an update to the Height Maptutorial but still can't get the tutorial itself.

Is this the one with this?

In a height map white (1) is multiplied by a constant (the altitude) to give a 'height' at that point in the frame. Black (0) multiplied by the altitude constant gives an elevation / altitude of zero.

It's almost an odd thing to be doing in a 2D space but the effect does work, sort of.

If you want to see height maps at work Bryce uses them to build terrains. You can just paint a black and white image (or use an existing one) and turn it into mountains etc. For a real buzz you can turn text into a terrain, complete with trees or grass etc.

Serena: yes.
Tor