Bifrost develops lightning tool demo 1

[Bruce.Lee.]

HI,
Lightning tool developed using Bifrost 2.1 version point cloud. And, I used this tool to make the first demo. You need Bifrost 2.1 version and Rebel Pack 0.3.0 to run this tool.

This is only the first version, and I hope to update it in the future. My goal is to make it easy for everyone to create any type of lightning effect.
Of course, I also hope that the official BIfrost team can release better lightning tools in the future.

I upload the file here. And, I will upload it in the compound sharing area.
Please enjoy!

Thanks!

Demo:

Tutorial：

[Bruce.Lee.]

HI,
Lightning tool developed using Bifrost 2.1 version point cloud. And, I used this tool to make the first demo. You need Bifrost 2.1 version and Rebel Pack 0.3.0 to run this tool.

This is only the first version, and I hope to update it in the future. My goal is to make it easy for everyone to create any type of lightning effect.
Of course, I also hope that the official BIfrost team can release better lightning tools in the future.

I upload the file here. And, I will upload it in the compound sharing area.
Please enjoy!

Thanks!

Demo:

Tutorial：

[franklinBJBR6]

Thanks for helping out as much as you could. I must be doing something wrong if it works for everyone.
Last question, you put the simulate_lightning folder in your homeuser/Autodesk/bifrost/graphs right ?

[franklinBJBR6]

Thanks for helping out as much as you could. I must be doing something wrong if it works for everyone.
Last question, you put the simulate_lightning folder in your homeuser/Autodesk/bifrost/graphs right ?

[ihooper]

I would definitely recommend deleting the old rebel pack before adding the new one. Also, I don't think they should go in the graphs folder, everything just goes in the "Compounds" directory. On Windows it would be C:\Users\XXXXX\Autodesk\Bifrost\Compounds

See https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/bifrost-forum/how-do-i-install-pre-built-compounds-and-graphs/m-p/890... for some more details.

[ihooper]

I would definitely recommend deleting the old rebel pack before adding the new one. Also, I don't think they should go in the graphs folder, everything just goes in the "Compounds" directory. On Windows it would be C:\Users\XXXXX\Autodesk\Bifrost\Compounds

See https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/bifrost-forum/how-do-i-install-pre-built-compounds-and-graphs/m-p/890... for some more details.

[franklinBJBR6]

Thank you so much ihooper! Putting everything in the "compounds" folder fixed it.

[franklinBJBR6]

Thank you so much ihooper! Putting everything in the "compounds" folder fixed it.

[george.stamenov]

Did it work for anyone of you? When I load the compound it just shows red and doesn't to anything. 

I have the most recent version of Bifrost and Rebel pack. 

What am I doing wrong? 

Thanks in advance 

[george.stamenov]

Did it work for anyone of you? When I load the compound it just shows red and doesn't to anything. 

I have the most recent version of Bifrost and Rebel pack. 

What am I doing wrong? 

Thanks in advance 

[franklinBJBR6]

Hi there,
I had a similar problem and the good folks on here helped me.

1) First off, close Maya. Now deleted everything in here C:\Users\<USERNAME>\Autodesk\Bifrost

2) Create a compounds folder and Paste the Rebel 4.0 contents in that compounds folder.

3) Paste Bruce's files in that same Compounds folder so your folder should look like the image below.

4) Open Maya and it should work.

[franklinBJBR6]

Hi there,
I had a similar problem and the good folks on here helped me.

1) First off, close Maya. Now deleted everything in here C:\Users\<USERNAME>\Autodesk\Bifrost

2) Create a compounds folder and Paste the Rebel 4.0 contents in that compounds folder.

3) Paste Bruce's files in that same Compounds folder so your folder should look like the image below.

4) Open Maya and it should work.

[george.stamenov]

Thank you for the reply. 

Unfortunately it's not working for me 😞 

[george.stamenov]

Thank you for the reply. 

Unfortunately it's not working for me 😞 

[sklauss]

I've had issues in the past when I had more than one version of Bifrost installed. This may not solve your particular problem, but maybe it's worth a try uninstalling old versions if there are any on your system.

[sklauss]

I've had issues in the past when I had more than one version of Bifrost installed. This may not solve your particular problem, but maybe it's worth a try uninstalling old versions if there are any on your system.

[george.stamenov]

Just tried this as well. No luck... 😶

I wonder if anyone of you has is as MB file, this way I can try to open up already compiled scene? 

Is anyone willing to share it with me? I really want to try this compound, have been trying to run it for the past 4 days. 

[george.stamenov]

Just tried this as well. No luck... 😶

I wonder if anyone of you has is as MB file, this way I can try to open up already compiled scene? 

Is anyone willing to share it with me? I really want to try this compound, have been trying to run it for the past 4 days. 

[george.stamenov]

I have finally made it work. After a week of investigation, try and fails, it is finally working. To whoever that might experience the same issues like me, check the comments from the helpful users above and make sure you download the most resent version of the compounds, which Bruce has kindly shared in a comment above. 

Thank you guys!

[george.stamenov]

I have finally made it work. After a week of investigation, try and fails, it is finally working. To whoever that might experience the same issues like me, check the comments from the helpful users above and make sure you download the most resent version of the compounds, which Bruce has kindly shared in a comment above. 

Thank you guys!

[xlearn01]

You have to change imput type of those two nodes from "double" to "float" (L2_amount and L3_amount)

ofc make compound editable to do it.

[xlearn01]

You have to change imput type of those two nodes from "double" to "float" (L2_amount and L3_amount)

ofc make compound editable to do it.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Great tool Bruce, thank you so much.

I want to make this more like a single lightning strike, with Level 2 and 3 tendrels growing before a final bright level 1 hit.  So no continual lightning strikes, but control over the growth and visibility of the strike.  Coming from an animation background I'm looking for keyframing properties, but am guessing you can do this through nodes...problem is, I'm not versed in this world and could use some help.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

David

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Great tool Bruce, thank you so much.

I want to make this more like a single lightning strike, with Level 2 and 3 tendrels growing before a final bright level 1 hit.  So no continual lightning strikes, but control over the growth and visibility of the strike.  Coming from an animation background I'm looking for keyframing properties, but am guessing you can do this through nodes...problem is, I'm not versed in this world and could use some help.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

David

[Bruce.Lee.]

Hi david,

This version may not support lightning growth animation, but they are in my plan, and I hope that the next update can add support for such features.

Thanks.

[Bruce.Lee.]

Hi david,

This version may not support lightning growth animation, but they are in my plan, and I hope that the next update can add support for such features.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick response Bruce.

Looking forward to seeing what's to come.

Best,

David

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick response Bruce.

Looking forward to seeing what's to come.

Best,

David

[francovelazquez2000]

Hi! how are you?? Thanks for the workflow!! I lost like 2 hours to make work the nodes 😞 im very new in this world. But finally i made it.
I have a question. Can i Render the Lightning in Arnold? I want to render a video and i can't see the electricity in the Arnol view. Can you Help me? Thanks in advance!!

[francovelazquez2000]

Hi! how are you?? Thanks for the workflow!! I lost like 2 hours to make work the nodes 😞 im very new in this world. But finally i made it.
I have a question. Can i Render the Lightning in Arnold? I want to render a video and i can't see the electricity in the Arnol view. Can you Help me? Thanks in advance!!

[francovelazquez2000]

Update! I made ir work the render, but when i put the lvl 2 and 3 i cant see even in the normal view, i only connect the nodes like in the video and redered in maya 2.0. Is my problem or how can i fix it?

[francovelazquez2000]

Update! I made ir work the render, but when i put the lvl 2 and 3 i cant see even in the normal view, i only connect the nodes like in the video and redered in maya 2.0. Is my problem or how can i fix it?

[Anonymous]

hey,

the error i am facing is of raycast locations as it is showing it does not hav a node definition

how can i solve it?

i attached the error 

please help me to resolve this

[Anonymous]

hey,

the error i am facing is of raycast locations as it is showing it does not hav a node definition

how can i solve it?

i attached the error 

please help me to resolve this

[Anonymous]

Thanks ,thats great!perfcet!

[Anonymous]

Thanks ,thats great!perfcet!

[Anonymous]

perfcet! thanks!

[Anonymous]

perfcet! thanks!

[jpvfx2]

Hi @Bruce.Lee. , 

Thanks for this setup - it's awesome! Easily the best lightning I've got out of maya. I'm having a little trouble with motion blur and I was wondering if you could help me out - I'm new to bifrost, so let me know if I'm doing something wrong here. 

I need to render the lightning in a separate piece of software, so I'm extruding to strands and then using bifrostGeoToMaya to give me geometry to cache out. This all works fine with a sphere at 0,0,0, but when I move the sphere away from the origin, the newly created geo from bifrostGeoTomaya leaves a bunch of vertices behind at the origin, which when rendered causes motion blur all the way back to the origin. Am I missing something? Is there a better way to do this? ( I tried using the write_Alembic node, but this is part of an automated workflow, and its far simpler for me to use maya's alembic export). 

I'm not clear on whether this is caused by the lightning simulation or whether its bifrostGeoToMaya thats causing the issue, perhaps you could shed some light on it? 

Cheers, 

Joel 

[jpvfx2]

Hi @Bruce.Lee. , 

Thanks for this setup - it's awesome! Easily the best lightning I've got out of maya. I'm having a little trouble with motion blur and I was wondering if you could help me out - I'm new to bifrost, so let me know if I'm doing something wrong here. 

I need to render the lightning in a separate piece of software, so I'm extruding to strands and then using bifrostGeoToMaya to give me geometry to cache out. This all works fine with a sphere at 0,0,0, but when I move the sphere away from the origin, the newly created geo from bifrostGeoTomaya leaves a bunch of vertices behind at the origin, which when rendered causes motion blur all the way back to the origin. Am I missing something? Is there a better way to do this? ( I tried using the write_Alembic node, but this is part of an automated workflow, and its far simpler for me to use maya's alembic export). 

I'm not clear on whether this is caused by the lightning simulation or whether its bifrostGeoToMaya thats causing the issue, perhaps you could shed some light on it? 

Cheers, 

Joel 

[rhsischy]

Looks great!  I keep getting a compilation error when loading this compound. Using rebel pack 0.4.1 and Bifrost 2.2.

 

[rhsischy]

Looks great!  I keep getting a compilation error when loading this compound. Using rebel pack 0.4.1 and Bifrost 2.2.