Here's a sentry bot that's been hanging round for hundreds of years, wandering without purpose. As a result, it's covered in rust and mud and fuel stains. I tried to make the left machine gun barrel look like it was glowing from just having been fired, but alas, the effect isn't terribly convincing. Next time...
Glowing effects are really, really hard to do, at least that's my conclusion. You're simulating transmitted light using reflected light, and the two types of light don't share a lot in common. For glows, you need a dark background, and then overloaded light which is white slightly tinted with the glow colour. The overloaded light is at the core of the light emitter. Then you need really careful application of a gradient that goes from the overloaded colour to the background colour through the saturated glow colour.
ReplyDeleteJames Gurney discusses this, and I don't find his effort to be particularly convincing. However I certainly don't do any better.
Excellent analysis, Jeff! Thank you.
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