Creating a Glowing Stripes Effect

by Jonathan Williamson

Hey guys, this was one of the free tutorials featured with our 2010 Christmas present. This year we wanted to also make sure the contents were out in the public to allow others to enjoy which may have missed the original download post. :)

In this special Holiday Blender 2.5 tutorial we go about recreating the infamous glowing stripes effect from Tron. Although the subject is not seasonal in its self, many of you have probably made it one of your holiday movies. The tutorial covers the processes of creating the materials, lighting, rendering, and post processing of the scene.

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Discussion

41 Responses to “Creating a Glowing Stripes Effect”
  1. Starduster
    Posts: 4

    Nice Tut! I see You posted the one from the package! Verry Nice Tutorial again, simple and awesome! Love the Tron Style :]

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    1
     Jan 10, 2011 at 8:32 pm
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    • Jenkins
      Posts: 1

      Thanks, this was really cool and useful.

      So what happens if you want to make glow a darker color, like red? As the post processing does not seem to add glare effects to darker colors. I am guessing you would use render layers?

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      1.1
       Jan 12, 2011 at 7:00 pm
      Reply
  2. Starduster
    Posts: 4

    Nice Tut! I see You posted the one from the package! Verry Nice Tutorial again, simple and awesome! Love the Tron Style :]

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    2
     Jan 10, 2011 at 8:32 pm
    Reply
  3. Young Apprentice
    Posts: 11

    Wooh! Nice job guys! Love this tutorial! HDRI really adds that extra little kick. Wonderful, really. I learned a lot about the compositor from this.

    Bravo! ;D

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    3
     Jan 10, 2011 at 9:17 pm
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  4. Urenze
    Posts: 15

    Nice!

    Stupid question: how did you model this, so as to have sharp edges on a curved surface? I have been trying to replicate this without success for some time now.

    Thanks!
    Urenze

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    4
     Jan 10, 2011 at 11:07 pm
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    • CHhronox
      Posts: 1

      Option 1:
      If you are using a subfivision surface modifier, use Ctrl+R to add another edge loop near the edge, and slide it over as close as you want, but try not to slide it all the way.

      Option 2:
      If you are using shade smooth, you can select the edges, then Ctrl+E and mark sharp. After selecting shade smooth, you can use a edge-split modifier to sharpen the edge back.

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      4.1
       Jan 11, 2011 at 1:14 am
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    • jonathanwilliamson
      Posts: 1761

      The hard edges are done with a combination of close-proximity edgeloops and edge creasing. The creasing can be done by selecting the edges you wish to crease and pressing SHIFT + E.

      -Jonathan

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      4.2
       Jan 11, 2011 at 9:50 am
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    • Urenze
      Posts: 15

      Thanks! I will take a look at the .blend file to see how it is done!

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      4.3
       Jan 11, 2011 at 4:17 pm
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  5. trinity5150
    Posts: 55

    I just saw Tron this weekend and loved the CG that was presented. This tutorial is a very cool one. I’m also struggling with making a groove on a curved surface but I have a few more ideas I can try though :)

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    5
     Jan 11, 2011 at 12:29 am
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  6. Jeff Perkins
    Posts: 1

    That is really awesome!

    Thanks for the quick tutorial, and keep up the great work!

    Is there a way to add more of a fog/mist to the scene and have the light more directional (think a laser through some smoke)?

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    6
     Jan 11, 2011 at 12:33 am
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    • jonathanwilliamson
      Posts: 1761

      The quick and dirty way to add fog to the scene is to use the mist option in the World settings. However, the Durian team showed a really sweet technique at the Blender Conference that made use of the Mist pass from a RenderLayer, which they could then use as an overlay or as a alpha mask to get some really nice effects.

      -Jonathan

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      6.1
       Jan 11, 2011 at 9:53 am
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      • Moolah
        Posts: 59

        Jonathan, do you have a link on the video from that part of the conference?

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        6.1.1
         Jan 11, 2011 at 3:17 pm
      • jonathanwilliamson
        Posts: 1761

        Which part of the conference?

        -Jonathan

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         Jan 11, 2011 at 3:20 pm
      • Moolah
        Posts: 59

        “…a really sweet technique at the Blender Conference that made use of the Mist pass from a RenderLayer…”
        that part :)

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         Jan 12, 2011 at 9:16 am
      • jonathanwilliamson
        Posts: 1761

        Ah yes! Unfortunately there is no video of that part as it was in the small studio which wasn’t filmed. I definitely intend to cover the topic in a future tutorial, though.

        -Jonathan

        #
         Jan 12, 2011 at 12:45 pm
  7. larssl
    Posts: 43

    Great tutorial, just one question: The reflections from the ground plane are seen in the banner pic, but not in the tutorial renderings. What’s the difference between the two, is it just the material settings on the ground plane?

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    7
     Jan 11, 2011 at 3:40 am
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    • jonathanwilliamson
      Posts: 1761

      Actually I believe I just forgot to enable the reflections on the ground plane in the tutorial. You can do it just by enabling Ray Mirror on the material and increasing the amount of mirror.

      -Jonathan

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      7.1
       Jan 11, 2011 at 9:54 am
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  8. Moolah
    Posts: 59

    Thanks for this tutorial, Jonathan!
    This is my little try: http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1336.snc4/162865_1394402719624_1818875109_733516_2122423_n.jpg

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    8
     Jan 11, 2011 at 6:35 am
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    • sneeman
      Posts: 6

      whoa. that looks amazing.

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      8.1
       Jan 19, 2011 at 5:06 pm
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  9. misterdudeman
    Posts: 2

    I generally like to add an emit pass to the render layer, then blur it and mix it. this looks really cool too though.

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    9
     Jan 11, 2011 at 5:54 pm
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  10. trinity5150
    Posts: 55

    This still has to be one of my favorite tutorials :)

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    10
     Jan 11, 2011 at 10:04 pm
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  11. greg cervall
    Posts: 8

    Thanks Jonathan, it’s a really cool effect…

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    11
     Jan 12, 2011 at 6:46 am
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  12. Artorp
    Posts: 11

    Well made tutorial as always! Just one note, the “Blend” slider affects the blending between the horizon color to the zenith color, if you have “blend sky” enabled that is. And for animation it’s crucial to enable the “Real Sky” checkbox to map the angular map to the scene instead of the view/camera.

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    12
     Jan 12, 2011 at 11:02 am
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  13. sntgmdm
    Posts: 1

    Hi, excelent tutorial, but i have a problem with the world texture. When i set the mapping to AngMap it just looks like lines going to the middle.
    http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/911/problemzr.png
    I’m using Blender 2.5 6a

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    13
     Jan 12, 2011 at 6:41 pm
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    • Artorp
      Posts: 11

      That’s the way angmaps are portrayed by the preview. Should render out correctly regardless.

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      13.1
       Jan 18, 2011 at 8:54 am
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  14. biswajyoti
    Posts: 2

    Thanks for Very Nice Tutorial again

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    14
     Jan 14, 2011 at 1:33 pm
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  15. Anthony Brown
    Posts: 1

    Great tutorial John, i have just started using blender after years of not touching a 3d program and i have been practicing your techniques while trying to build an old school yet updated Tron light Cycle and the new one, do you think you will be doing a tutorial on making a tron cycle in the future? i only ask as tron was really the kick start of the Cg industry and with legacy just out it seems fitting to see what could be done in blender?.

    I love watching your tutorials your great at getting across the techniques involved, keep up the good work!!

    Anthony

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    15
     Jan 19, 2011 at 9:01 pm
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  16. cutting edge
    Posts: 1

    guys, can someone explain me how to model this. please.

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    16
     Jan 22, 2011 at 12:27 pm
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  17. Terminator
    Posts: 2

    Hey, i really like this tutorial! very simple with a great outcome. But i cant figure out how to save the image after im done adjusting with the node editor.

    Thanks in advance.

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    17
     Jan 23, 2011 at 4:03 pm
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    • jonathanwilliamson
      Posts: 1761

      First be sure that your node results are being fed into the “Composite” node, then you can save your image from the UV/Image Editor. The image should already be there, but if it is not then just choose it from the image list, it should be the “Render Result”.

      -Jonathan

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      17.1
       Jan 23, 2011 at 5:00 pm
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      • Terminator
        Posts: 2

        Ah, got it. thanks!

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        17.1.1
         Jan 24, 2011 at 2:47 pm
  18. Gabriel
    Posts: 1

    Can you make a tutorial of this sphere?

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    18
     Feb 17, 2011 at 6:24 pm
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  19. Bignose_on_nes
    Posts: 2

    Extremely Grateful! Very concise tutorial.

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    19
     Mar 2, 2011 at 12:05 am
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  20. Isaac Ong
    Posts: 1

    I really a beginner and I’m just wondering how to make those “indents/stripes” in the UV sphere.

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    20
     Mar 17, 2011 at 3:00 am
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  21. Usman Olomu
    Posts: 1

    That was a brilliant tutorial dude, been looking for something like that for while. I used it for this

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOgNFydipAI&feature=channel_video_title

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    21
     Sep 12, 2011 at 12:49 pm
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  22. itegami13
    Posts: 1

    In the ball, how did you separate the layers? I’m trying to make something reflect thats part of the UV mesh, but I don’t want the entire material affected

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    22
     Sep 14, 2011 at 9:35 pm
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    • mariomix
      Posts: 26

      If you select the Unwanted mesh then you can separate it by pressing p and then you can modify that part of the mesh.

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      22.1
       Sep 21, 2011 at 5:42 pm
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  23. Jeshjod
    Posts: 2

    Hi, when I use the nodes to add the blur effect to the tron-lights, why does only the white light become blurred?

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    23
     Sep 17, 2011 at 9:46 pm
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  24. khalidcgt
    Posts: 1

    Great Tutorial. It is a cool effect.
    Thanks Jonathan.

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    24
     Oct 29, 2011 at 4:00 pm
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  25. kevin
    Posts: 2

    Great tut’, but I need to make the effect on numbers that would be modelled the same way as the stripes in this tutorial, but how can do that? how can i extrude a letter or number into a UV sphere, without damaging the round surface?

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    25
     Nov 21, 2011 at 3:33 am
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  26. kitmorgan
    Posts: 1

    Hi!
    Could someone let me know how to seperate the stripes from the ball or at least point me to the tutorial that explains that? :D I was able to get the sharp edges but haven’t figured out how to seperate the stripes.
    Thanks!
    -Kit

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    26
     Mar 1, 2012 at 7:50 pm
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