Plexus Documentation Installation: To install Plexus, run the “Plexus Installer.mpkg” executable if you are using Mac OS X 10.4 or above. If you are using Windows XP SP3 and above, run the “Plexus Installer.exe” to install Plexus for the appropriate version of After Effects. Usage: To start using Plexus, click the Effect Menu -> Rowbyte -> Plexus. Then, you’ll see Plexus applied to the layer in the Effect Controls Window. Now, you’ll see two effects in the Effects Window, “Plexus Toolkit” and “Plexus”. “Plexus Toolkit” is just a dummy effect, that adds new Objects and Effectors to the effect stack. Registration: If Plexus isn’t registered you’ll see a watermark rendered by the plugin. To remove the watermark, you have to register the plugin with the serial you have purchased. To register, click on the “Register” button in the effect controls of Plexus. 1.Plexus Toolkit: Its only function is to add Objects and Effectors. It has only two parameters. Add Object: Adds an Object (Path Object/Light Object/OBJ Object) to the effect stack. Add Effector: Adds an Effector to the effect stack. 2. Plexus:
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Plexus Documentation Installation:To install Plexus, run the “Plexus Installer.mpkg” executable if you are using Mac OS X 10.4 or above. If you are using Windows XP SP3 and above, run the “Plexus Installer.exe” to install Plexus for the appropriate version of After Effects. Usage:To start using Plexus, click the Effect Menu -> Rowbyte -> Plexus.
Then, you’ll see Plexus applied to the layer in the Effect Controls Window.
Now, you’ll see two effects in the Effects Window, “Plexus Toolkit” and “Plexus”. “Plexus Toolkit” is just a dummy effect, that adds new Objects and Effectors to the effect stack. Registration:If Plexus isn’t registered you’ll see a watermark rendered by the plugin. To remove the watermark, you have to register the plugin with the serial you have purchased. To register, click on the “Register” button in the effect controls of Plexus. 1.Plexus Toolkit:Its only function is to add Objects and Effectors. It has only two parameters.
Add Object: Adds an Object (Path Object/Light Object/OBJ Object) to the effect stack.
Add Effector: Adds an Effector to the effect stack. 2. Plexus:
This is the Main rendering object. It should always be at the bottom of the effect stack after Objects and Effectors.
Parameters:Blending Mode: Changes the Blending Mode of the Plexus. Textured Sprite: A Custom Sprite is rendered instead of a circular point in the plexus. If no layer is selected, the default particle is drawn.
Override Points Color: Overrides the color of the point obtained from the Object.
Override Points Opacity: Overrides the opacity of the point obtained from the Object. Points Perspective Aware: Makes the points perspective aware. If selected, the size of the points vary depending on the perspective of the camera, i.e. near points appear bigger and farther points appear smaller.
Maximum Distance: The Distance between two points until which the line connecting between them remains solid.
Fade-Out Distance: The Distance after Maximum Distance, until the lines gradually fades away into zero.
Max No.of Points to Search: The number of Points to search for possible connections per each point. For example if this value is 10, each point in the plexus searches for the 10 nearest points for possible connections.
Lines Color: The color of the lines to be rendered.
Get Colors From Points: If selected, the ‘Lines Color’ parameter is overridden and the color is obtained from the points. If the two points have different colors, the color is linearly interpolated between them.
Get Opacity From Points: If selected the ‘Lines Opacity’ parameter is overridden and the opacity is obtained from the points. If the two points have different opacities, the opacity is linearly interpolated between them. Lines Opacity: The Opacity of the lines to be rendered.
Line Thickness: The thickness of each line in the Plexus.
Lines Perspective Aware: Makes the lines perspective Aware. If selected, the thickness of each line varies according to the perspective i.e. A line is thicker when closer to the camera and the line is thinner when far away from the camera.
Draw: Popup to draw either Points or Lines or Both Points and Lines. Drawing only points when working saves a lot of render time.
Draw Lines Between: Popup to Draw lines in between the same group, or in between different groups or in between all the groups. Draw Only Connected Points: Only Points that are connected to alteast one other different point are rendered. If they are not connected to any other point, they are not rendered.
Objects:Objects create Points/Particles. There are three types of Objects in Plexus.1. Light Objects2. Path Objects3. OBJ Objects. 1. Light Objects:Light Objects create points based on the point lights in the Composition.
Parameters:
Light Name Begins With: Only Lights that begin with this name will considered by the effect. All the other lights in the composition are ignored. If “All Lights” is selected, all the point lights in the composition are considered. If “Custom” is selected, you can create a Custom Name. You can change the Custom Name by clicking the “Options...” button in the Effect Controls.
Get Color From Lights: If selected, the point color is set from the color of the point light in the composition. This overrides the default color of the point.
Get Opacity From Lights: If selected the point opacity is set from the “Intensity” of the point light in the composition. This overrides the default opacity of the point.
Color: The default color of the points.
Opacity: The default opacity of the points.
Replication: The points created by this object can replicated in 3D space.
Total No. Copies: The number of Objects to be created. By default only one instance is created.
Extrude Depth: If multiple copies are created, they are extruded to a certain depth.
Replicate Direction: The direction of the extrusion. Can be Positive Z axis/Negative Z Axis/ Both.
Rotation Center XY: The XY co-ordinates of the Rotation center, by which all the copies are replicated.
Rotation Center Z: The Z co-ordinate of the Rotation Center, by which all the copies are replicated.
X Start Angle: The X Rotation Angle of the first instance.
X End Angle: The X Rotation Angle of the Last instance. All the X Rotation angles of the instances in between are calculated based on the X Start Angle and the X End Angle.
Y Start Angle: The Y Rotation Angle of the first instance.
Y End Angle: The Y Rotation Angle of the Last instance. All the Y Rotation angles of the instances in between are calculated based on the Y Start Angle and the Y End Angle.
Z Start Angle: The Z Rotation Angle of the first instance.
Z End Angle: The Z Rotation Angle of the Last instance. All the Z Rotation angles of the instances in between are calculated based on the Z Start Angle and the Z End Angle.
Group: The Group which the Object belongs to in the Plexus.
2. Path Objects:Path Objects create Points from Masks and Text Layers.
Parameters:
Mask Name Begins With: Only Masks that begin with this name will considered by the effect. All the other masks in the applied to the layer are ignored. If “All Masks” is selected, all the masks in the layer are considered. If “Custom” is selected, you can create a Custom Name. You can change the Custom Name by clicking the “Options...” button in the Effect Controls.
Subdivide Masks: Subdivides the Masks into additional number of points. If unselected, only the original vertices are considered.
Points on Each Mask: Number of Additional Points on Each Mask, if Subdivide masks is selected.
Get Paths From Text: If Selected, the Path outlines from text layers are considered.
Get Color from Masks: Get the Color from the Mask Color. To see changes, make sure to purge since AE doesn’t report changes to the color of the Mask actively to the effect. This overrides the default color of the points.
Get Opacity From Masks: Get the Opacity from Mask Opacity. This overrides the default opacity of the points.
Color: The default color of the points.
Opacity: The default opacity of the points.
Replication: The points created by this object can replicated in 3D space.
Total No. Copies: The number of Objects to be created. By default only one instance is created.
Extrude Depth: If multiple copies are created, they are extruded to a certain depth.
Replicate Direction: The direction of the extrusion. Can be Positive Z axis/Negative Z Axis/ Both.
Rotation Center XY: The XY co-ordinates of the Rotation center, by which all the copies are replicated.
Rotation Center Z: The Z co-ordinate of the Rotation Center, by which all the copies are replicated.
X Start Angle: The X Rotation Angle of the first instance.
X End Angle: The X Rotation Angle of the Last instance. All the X Rotation angles of the instances in between are calculated based on the X Start Angle and the X End Angle.
Y Start Angle: The Y Rotation Angle of the first instance.
Y End Angle: The Y Rotation Angle of the Last instance. All the Y Rotation angles of the instances in between are calculated based on the Y Start Angle and the Y End Angle.
Z Start Angle: The Z Rotation Angle of the first instance.
Z End Angle: The Z Rotation Angle of the Last instance. All the Z Rotation angles of the instances in between are calculated based on the Z Start Angle and the Z End Angle.
Group: The Group which the Object belongs to in the Plexus.
3. OBJ Object:Creates Points from OBJ files.
To Import OBJ File, click on the “Import OBJ” and select the File to be imported. Parameters:
OBJ Sequence: Loads an OBJ Sequence from the file selected in alphabetical order.
OBJ Sequence Loop: Popup to choose between the type of loop, to loop the OBJ Sequences.
OBJ Resolution: Controls the resolution/No. of Vertices of the OBJ File.
Transform OBJ: Controls the position , rotation and scale of the OBJ.
Color: The default color of the points.
Opacity: The default opacity of the points.
Group: The Group which the Object belongs to in the Plexus. Effectors: Effectors are used to manipulate the position and color of the points.
1. Noise Effector: Adds Noise to the Position of the points in the Plexus.
Parameters:
Noise Amplitude: The amount of Noise to be applied to the points in the Plexus.
Noise X Scale: The scale value of the noise values in the first dimension.
Noise Y Scale: The scale value of the noise values in the second dimension.
Noise X Offset: The offset of the noise values in the first dimension.
Noise Y Offset: The offset of the noise values in the second dimension.
Noise Evolution: The evolution of the noise values in all the dimensions.
Evolution Rate: The rate at which noise values are evolved.
Apply Noise to: Applies Noise to either X dimension, Y Dimension, Z Dimension, XY Dimension, YZ Dimension, XZ Dimension, XYZ Dimension.
Noise Values: Choose to generate either Positive/Negative/Both values.
Use Lights for Noise: Use Point Lights in the Comp, to control the noise effector. If using lights, only points that come in the radius of the light (“Intensity”) are affected by the noise.
Noise Effector Name Begins: Only Lights that begin with this name will considered by the effect. All the other lights in the composition are ignored. If “All Lights” is selected, all the point lights in the composition are considered. If “Custom” is selected, you can create a Custom Name. You can change the Custom Name by clicking the “Options...” button in the Effect Controls.
Noise Octaves: The number of octaves used to generate the noise values.
Noise Seed: The Random seed used to generate the noise values.
Effect Only Group: Only Points generated from this Group will be affected by this effector. If “All Groups” is selected all points in the Plexus are affected.
2.Spherical Field Effector:Generates a Spherical Field in the Plexus, where points moves away from the center of the field.
Parameters:
Field XY Location: The XY Location of the center of the field.
Field Z Location: The Z Location of the center of the field.
Use Lights: Use Point Lights in the Comp, to control the noise effector. If using lights, multiple fields can be created with the “Position” of the light being the center of the field and the “Intensity” of the light being the radius of the field.
Light Name Begins: Only Lights that begin with this name will considered by the effect. All the other lights in the composition are ignored. If “All Lights” is selected, all the point lights in the composition are considered. If “Custom” is selected, you can create a Custom Name. You can change the Custom Name by clicking the “Options...” button in the Effect Controls.
Apply Field to: Applies Spherical Field to either X dimension, Y Dimension, Z Dimension, XY Dimension, YZ Dimension, XZ Dimension, XYZ Dimension.
Effect Only Group: Only Points generated from this Group will be affected by this effector. If “All Groups” is selected all points in the Plexus are affected.
3. Container Effector:Container Effector Locks all the points in a Cube/Sphere shaped Container.
Parameters:
Container Type: Type of Container, either Cube or Sphere.
Container XY Location: XY Location of the center of the container.
Container Z Location: Z Location of the center of the container.
Cube Width: Width of the Cubical Container.
Cube Height: Height of the Cubical Container.
Cube Depth: Depth of the Cubical Container.
Sphere Radius: Radius of the Spherical Container.
Effect Only Group: Only Points generated from this Group will be affected by this effector. If “All Groups” is selected all points in the Plexus are affected.
4. Transform Effector:Translates and Rotates the Points in a Plexus.
Parameters:
X Rotate: Rotates the Plexus along the X axis.
Y Rotate: Rotates the Plexus along Y axis.
Z Rotates: Rotates the Plexus along Z axis.
X Translate: Offsets the Plexus along X axis.
Y Translate: Offsets the Plexus along Y axis.
Z Translate: Offsets the Plexus along Z axis.
Effect Only Group: Only Points generated from this Group will be affected by this effector. If “All Groups” is selected all points in the Plexus are affected.
5. Color Map Effector:Applies a Color Map to the points in the Plexus. It colors the points according to the index of the point and its respective location on the color map.
Parameters:
Color Map: Layer from which colors are to be applied to the Plexus.
Flip X: Flip the Color Map Horizontally. (Internally, doesn’t really flip the layer in the composition).
Flip Y: Flip the Color Map Vertically. (Internally, doesn’t really flip the layer in the composition).
Effect Only Group: Only Points generated from this Group will be affected by this effector. If “All Groups” is selected all points in the Plexus are affected.
6. Shade Effector:Applies shading to the points in the Plexus.
To apply shading to the points in the Plexus, you have to create Point Lights in the composition and the points are shaded based on the location, intensity and the color of the points lights. Parameters:
Shading Lights name starts with: Only Lights that begin with this name will considered by the effect. All the other lights in the composition are ignored. If “All Lights” is selected, all the point lights in the composition are considered. If “Custom” is selected, you can create a Custom Name. You can change the Custom Name by clicking the “Options...” button in the Effect Controls.
Ambience: The amount of color to be inherited by all the points, irrespective of their location and proximity from a point light. For example if the value is 10%, all the points receive 10% of the color from every shading light in the composition irrespective of their distance from the light.
Effect Only Group: Only Points generated from this Group will be affected by this effector. If “All Groups” is selected all points in the Plexus are affected.
Hope you enjoy Plexus!
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