Surface Effectors:
Make the impossible possible!
For only $60 bucks!?!
EDITOR'S NOTE: The pricing structure and feature set of Surface Effectors has changed dramatically since this article was originally authored. It still remains a STEAL at $100.
  • Have you ever wished there was some way to animate surface parameters like Specularity, Luminosity, Transparency - even things like Fractal Noise, & Index of Refraction?
  • Have you ever wanted to make a character blush with emotion?
  • Have you ever tried to strafe a vehicle with bullet holes?
  • Or create burning parchment, like the old Bonanza TV series?
  • Would you believe that a single plug-in can do all this, and more? 
  • ….. For only $60?!?

The Surface Effector plug-in by Prem Subrahmanyam is an excellent example of how powerful LightWave's plug-in architecture can be. This cheap, easy to use, plug-in adds so many new features to LightWave that I consider it a 'must have' for any LightWave animator. Surface Effectors is a Layout plug-in for LightWave 5.0 (a non-GUI version is available for LightWave 4.0) and is available on all platforms. ($60 for Intel, $80 for all other platforms)

This plug-in can simplify many tasks that previously required complex layers of animated image sequences - and does other things not even possible with LightWave alone. A few appropriately placed Surface Effectors can quickly create a dramatic effect that might have taken hours of tedious image mapping. A Surface Effector uses a specially named Null Object to create a spherical area of effect wherein the animator can manipulate a wide range of surface parameters. Once the size of the area has been specified (using the definable settings), the animator is free to effect virtually any parameter found in the surfaces control panel. 

Specifically, a single Surface Effector allows you to alter the following surface parameters: Red, Green, & Blue levels, Diffusion, Luminosity, Specularity, Reflection, Index of Refraction, & Edge softness. Additionally, it's possible to vary several parameters for the effector itself. You can animate the inner and outer range, add fractal noise, adjust softness & clip levels to create a wide range of effects.

Figure 1: A simple cube & two surface effectors.

Figure 1 shows a simple example: a white cube, with three different surfaces. Two surfaces (#2 & #3) have the Surface Effector Shader plug-in enabled, while the top surface (#1) is unaffected. There are two Surface Effectors in the scene, one at each corner of the cube. The one on the right effects the color, transparency, and luminosity of the surface (turning it a glowing red), while the surface effector in the left corner merely effects transparency. Notice that any surface or object not using the selected Shader plug-in remains unaffected. 

Figure 2: Surface effectors are used to erode a ship in this image by Tim Donley, from 'Shattered Steel', a new game by Interplay.

A good example of how effective this plug-in can be is seen in the accompanying image by the talented artists at Interplay who are using LightWave and Surface Effectors in many of their upcoming game titles (Shattered Steel, Starfleet Academy, & Star Trek 4: Vulcan's Fury, to name a few). The image shows a ship being vaporized by the expanding shockwave of an explosion. The ragged edges of the ship can be seen eroding as the ball of plasma engulfs the ship. To quote Tim Donley (the artist in charge of this sequence): 
 

    "The image is a combination of two main surface effectors to achieve the glowing effect and a transparent fractal edge. The surface effectors are animated to make the fractal edge create a burning effect as it moves down the ship."
Without the Surface Effector plug-in, this probably would have entailed creating an animated greyscale clip map to dissolve the ship away. (You could offset the image sequence a few frames to create the luminosity map.) You'd then have to synchronize the dissolve effect with the leading edge of the plasma sphere - after 10-20 test renders (and several hours), you'd probably have something that looks halfway decent.

With Surface Effectors, all you have to do is create two Surface Effectors (one for the glowing steel, the second to vaporize the steel a few frames later), parented to the exploding plasma object. Make the size of the Surface Effectors slightly larger than the exploding plasma, add some fractal noise, and the next thing you know, the ship is vaporizing right before your eyes!

Figure 3: A Klingon ship being blasted by Surface Effectors in this image from Starfleet Academy. Compliments of Michael Sherak & Interplay.

Punching blast holes into a detailed steel deck plate is as easy as placing Surface Effectors where you want holes to appear. Not only are the holes immediately visible in Layout (great for aligning blast holes with the object creating the hole!), but you don't have the positioning, memory, and pixelation problems inherent in using bitmaps as clip maps. (You can also parent several Surface Effectors together to create, for example: hot, glowing, edges around the holes.)

Figure 4: Here, you can see how two identical Surface Effectors were used to put some blush in the cheeks of a flower.

OK, lest anyone get the impression that this plug-in is a cure-all to everyone's rendering problems, let me assure you it does have its limitations. There's no way to apply an image map using a surface effector, and it can only effect the base color of any procedural texture (i.e.: a Surface Effector will wash out any pattern with the new base color, losing any detail like marbling, ripples, etc.) Complex hierarchies can lead to lots of extra Null Objects (for control), and documentation is only available in electronic form. Creating the blush in the flower cheeks above was simple - a matter of ten minutes. On the other hand, developing a complex blast sequence involves more than just a few surface effects, and editing the parameters can be as tedious as any other algorithmic surface texture.

Primary release of this product has been through the Internet, so there is no packaging or printed instructions to speak of. All documentation is available in the form of text files in the included archive (including some great tutorials!) While some users might be put off by the lack of printed help, this plug-in is well worth the extra effort. It is possible to order the plug-in on disk directly from Prem, but, Internet savvy purchasers will benefit greatly from the constant updates made available online.

To retain compatibility with LighWave 4.0, early versions of SE shipped with a 'command line' interface that was kind of clunky. Fortunately, version 2.0 has been released, and it incorporates a more intuitive control panel (for LightWave 5.0 users) similar to the one shown in Figure 2.

Figure 5: The configuration panel for the Surface Effectors plug-in.

Each of the parameters on the SE Configuration screen can be set to an initial value. Once an envelope has been selected for a given value, SE creates a standard 'Null Object controller' for that surface parameter. This allows the animator to individually control surface attributes on a frame by frame basis - something impossible with LightWave 5.0.

All these weirdly named NullObjects and 'controllers' might seem a little intimidating at first, but fortunately this plug-in includes lots of tutorials. Beginning with creation of a simple Surface Effector, the tutorials advance through parenting & hierarchical control, all the way to a simulation of a photon torpedo blast, and a fairly decent replication of the old 'Bonanza' effect (where the parchment map burnt through from the center to reveal the credits.) There are even a few generic hierarchies saved out, so you can load complex Surface Effectors into your scene instead of building them manually. (By the way, make sure and read the warranty! - it's not your standard boiler plate document!) 

For the price ($60), it's the plug-in deal of the century, and I have to admit that I'd like to see more plug-ins in this price range! Unlike more expensive plug-ins, I bought this one without any specific need for it - it just seemed like a 'must have' tool because of it's utility. If more plug-ins were this cheap, I think there'd be a lot more LightWave plug-ins sold. 

I first heard about this plugin on the LightWave Mailing List on the Internet , and thought '…for the price, I can't go wrong!' One postal money order, and a few days later, I had a small unassuming archive in my e-mail box. Having used it for several small projects, I have to say that it's lived up to most of my expectations. If plug-ins are like new tools for our LightWave toolbox, then Surface Effectors is the 'Craftsman' of plug-ins - cheap, functional, and effective. (Maybe not guaranteed for life, but show me a software program that is!) 

For more information about the plug-in, visit the surface Effector Web Page at:
http://www.noblestar.net/~prems/surfeff.html
Or, contact:
Prem Subrahmanyam ([speaking phonetically] SOO-brah-MAHN-yum)
prems@star.noblestar.net 

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About the author: 
Erik Flom is the founder of: ELFWorks - 3D Construction Co. - A full service multimedia facility in the San Francisco bay area. Please visit our web page at: ELFWorks.com