Lines Down Settings group

Lines Down creates a strobe effect of lines moving downwards through the holograph image. The Lines Down parameters control how opaque the lines are, how fast they move, and their height and vibration. There are two other Line effects, Lines Up and Scan Lines. Lines Up is the same set of parameters as Lines Down, but with the lines moving upwards instead of down.

At left, the Lines Down settings. At right, the Lines Down checkbox.

At left, with Lines Down. In middle, without Lines Down. At right, without Holomatrix. Original footage courtesy of www.allbetsareoff.com<

LD – Speed

Controls the speed of the lines as they move downwards. Default setting is 80. Value range is -500 to 500. Higher values make the lines move faster.

LD - Line Height

Controls the thickness of the lines. Since the lines move vertically, their thickness is technically the height of the lines.

Default setting is 100. Value range is 0 to 2,000. At low values, the lines are thin like 'regular' lines. Higher values make the lines thicker, or wider in height. At very high values, the lines get thick enough that you will only marginally see them as they move downwards, which creates a more subtle effect.

Left to right, Line Height at 0, 40 and 90.

LD - Random Seed

Randomly changes the appearance (like brightness and position) of the lines. Default setting is 0. Value range is 0 to 100. Changing the value selects a different random seed.

LD - Opacity Min

Sets the minimum opacity for the lines during strobe. Default setting is 15%. Value range is -100 to 100, measured in percentage. Higher values give a greater opacity to the lines. Lower values make the lines more transparent.

LD - Opacity Max

Sets the maximum opacity for the lines during strobe. Default setting is 30%. Value range is 0 to 100, measured in percentage. Higher values give a greater opacity to the lines. Lower values make the lines more transparent.

Opacity Min and Max work together. Min sets how transparent the lines can be, while Max sets how opaque (or solid) they can appear.

At left, Opacity Min at 15 (default), Opacity Max at 30 (default). In middle, Min at 40, Max at 80. At right, Min at 80, Max at 100.

LD - Strobe Every X Frames

Sets how often the lines strobe. Default setting is 0. Value range is 1 to 100, measured in frames. Higher values make the strobe happen less frequently.

LD – Fade Instead of Strobe

Determines if the lines 'fade' or 'strobe' between Min and Max opacity values. This checkbox is turned off (unchecked) by default.

When the checkbox is off, the lines do a 'strobe'. This means their opacity jumps between the Min and Max values over time, determined by the parameter Strobe Every X Frames. When the checkbox is on, the lines do a 'fade'. This means they interpolate between values, becoming more or less visible over time.

The longer your strobe time, the more you will see the difference between a strobe and a fade. If your strobe time is only a few frames, the fade up and down will happen quite quickly, almost looking like a strobe light effect, especially if you are using a low frame rate.