Rings of Power TL
Author: Tony Lyons - https://compositingmentor.com
An expansion of SpotLight TL, designed around animation. Where SpotLight defines a static ring shape, Rings of Power adds the time dimension — producing looping, animated rings or shockwaves that travel outward from a center point.
Size and Animation Controls
- Size — global scale for the ring, animation-friendly
- Speed — controls how fast the rings travel outward
- Phase — offsets the animation cycle, useful for staggering multiple instances
Radial Masks
Same ring-shaping controls as SpotLight — an outer mask and an inner mask, where the inner is subtracted from the outer:
- Outer Mask / Inner Mask — independent radius, softness, and blur per mask
- Toggle — enable or disable each mask independently
Noise Mask
An experimental breakup layer that adds irregularity to the ring edge:
- The noise follows the center point and tracks with the ring — it won't swim through the animation as the ring moves
- It attempts to scale with the ring, simulating how a shockwave might break apart as it expands
- It's heavier to compute and a little rough around the edges, but can still yield useful results when you need organic breakup
Other Controls
- Set Center — click to pick the center point directly in the viewer
- Overscan — for working in overscanned formats
- Mask input — with inject, invert, and fringe options
- Mix — global fade or opacity control
Use Cases
- Rain shockwaves — rings expanding on puddles or water surfaces as drops hit
- Touch interactions — animate a ring growing from a fingertip or contact point, stagger multiple instances for ripple timing
- Force field hits — a laser or projectile striking an energy shield, rings pulsing out from the impact
- General shockwaves — explosions, impacts, anything that radiates energy outward
Inputs: img (for format) · mask
