WARP SLINGSHOT

A TUTORIAL

DISCLAIMER: This tutorial was found on the web, and the originating website no longer exists. The author is unknown. If you know who created this tutorial, please let us know on the forums.

NOTE: This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of Lightwave 3-D layout. No knowledge of Lightwave Modeler is required.

LET'S JUMP RIGHT IN:

1. Load the starship you want to jump to warp.
2. Lock it into a good beginning point at keyframe 1. Then decide at which frame you want it to start to "stretch" into warp. Keyframe it. (This tutorial uses frame # 25 as the jump frame.)
3. Now move the starship away from the camera until it is barely recognizable. Keyframe the position about 30 frame from the jump frame. (IE. Frame 55 for the tutorial.)



Here is a shot of the ship at frame #25 with no effects yet.

4. Okay, now go into the EFFECTS MENU. Select "IMAGE PROCESSING" and check the box labeled ENABLE GLOW EFFECT. You'll notice several envelope settings, one for GLOW RADIUS, and one for GLOW INTENSITY. You'll be using both. If you're not familiar with envelopes, now is the time to learn! An envelope simply tells Lightwave to increase or decrease the amount or variable of an effect over a number of frames. Envelopes are most commonly used with lights, but they are very useful here, as we'll see.
5. Leave the default settings for the envelopes alone and go ahead and make an envelope keyframe for both the INTENSITY and RADIUS at frame #15. Now make another keyframe for both at frame 25, and again at 35. Now drag the key at 25 up to "50" for RADIUS and all the way up to "1000" for intensity.
6. Now double check to make sure your starships warp blue glow surface has GLOW ENABLED on the ADVANCED settings. All this can be checked under the SURFACES menu.
7. Do a test render at frame 25. You should have something that looks sorta like this:



You'll notice the actual blue cowlings are not effectively glowing. There are ways to fix this with SURFACES, but an easier way I like to use is simply adding a few blue lights to the nacelles. Usually one light per nacelle is sufficient, but you can play with it.

8. Go to the LIGHTS menu and ADD a light. Switch off its intensity to zero. Go into the LENS FLAIRE menu and switch off CENTRAL RING and RED OUTER GLOW. Make sure the light color is pure blue. Give it a LENSE FLAIR ENVELOPE similar to the one you used for the GLOW RADIUS, except it should be zero until frame 15 and go up to 100 at frame # 25, then back down to zero by frame #35. Again, playing with the variables will give you the best results.
9. Parent the new lights to your starship, and use the X, Y, and Z modifiers to move them over the proper nacelles.
10. Do another test render. Should look about like this:



Looking much better. You COULD do the entire effect with a series of parented lights, but the glow effect really just helps cut down on the number of lights needed. I only used 3 additional blue lights here. One for each nacelle.

11. Now comes the fun part! Use the cursor or numerically move ahead exactly five frames from your jump point. (Frame #30 for the tutorial.) Select the STRETCH modifier and disengage the X and Y values. STRETCH the object on its Z-axis until the end of the bounding box comes back almost to where the bounding box ended for frame #25. This part requires the most trial and error. If you stretch back too much, it looks really cheesy, and if you stretch back not enough, the effect will not be noticeable.
12. The reason for exactly 5 frame for the stretch keyframe is simply my own trial and error. I've tried different lengths and 5 seems to look the best. Judge for yourself. Here is what my frame 30 looked like:



Note: This shot was before I added the 3 blue lights.

13. The last part is the easiest. ADD another light. Leave it white and position it right on top of the starship at frame 55. DO NOT "PARENT" this light to the starship! Give it an envelope like this: Frame 48: 0, Frame 55: 150, Frame 65 or 70: 0.
14. Okay, that's it. Render the thing out and enjoy!