Element: Stripe

Stripe renders a tapered line. Its two colors create a laser beam sort of look with a small sharp inside color and a softer outer glow.

What it is based on

Stripe is based on many anamorphic lenses which exhibit a blue horizontal streak through the center. Some video cameras also exhibit a reddish vertical streak through the center.

Position

Sets the location of the Stripe element. The position is always along a line that passes through both the center of the image and the light source. Alternately, you can click inside the Preview Window and reposition the element with the cursor crosshair.

A value of 1 sets the element at a light source. A value of 0 sets the element in the center of the composition frame. A value of -1 sets the element on the opposite side of the frame from the light source.

Brightness

Sets the brightness of the stripe. High values make the stripe brighter. Low values make the stripe less bright and more transparent.

Length

Sets the length of the stripe. You can adjust Length to make the stripe very small, almost a small box instead of a stripe, or make it almost infinitely long.

Softness

Creates a soft glow around the stripe. The higher this is set, the wider the glow is. The slider limit is 50, but hand-typing in a much higher value, say 500, will create a very wide band. If Length is set to a very small amount, then you’ll get a variant of the stripe going perpendicular to the angle the stripe should be going.

At left, Brightness set medium, Length at 1.5, Softness at 10, Angle at 20, Center on.
In middle, Brightness set low, Length at 1.5, Softness at 40, Angle at 0, Center off.
At right, Brightness set high, Length at 0.10, Softness at 200, Angle at 0, Center off.

Center checkbox

Turns off the center color, leaving just a single color stripe.

Outer Color

Sets the color along the border of the stripe.

Center Color

Sets the color inside the stripe. This can be turned off with the Center checkbox.