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AGE PAGE
Age-Effects Now lets add some Age-Effect colours so that the colour of the puff will change as it Ages. On the Age Page, double click the Knot at the left end of the Colour Gradient and change it to a pure red, and double click the Knot at its right end and make it green (see picture below). Again look at a new sample puff rendering, and when moving the slider you would expect that the colour would be red at birth and green at death (because the Colour Gradient in the Ages Page controls the puff colour as it ages). But there is no change. That is because all you have done is to specify the Age-Effect colour change, but it is inactive at the moment. It is the Colour Mix Gradient that activates this change. This gradient specifies how much of the Globals effect will be shown and how much of the Age-Effects will be shown. Wherever the Colour Mix Gradient is white, the colour at the same point on the Age Colour Gradient will be exclusively used to colour the puff. To activate the Colour Mix Gradient, change the left end Knot of the Age Page Colour Mix Gradient to white. A pure white colours the puff with the colour that is at that particular point (left end) in the Age Page Gradient. That is red in our case, which is at the birth end of the Birth/Death sequence, so the resulting puff will be red when young. A pure black colour in that Colour Mix Gradient will do the opposite - it will colour the resulting puff with the colour (or colours) in the Globals Page Colour Gradient. In our case that is yellow inside and blue outside. Therefore that will be the colour when the puff is old. Move the slider in the Preview Window to the left (birth) and Preview it, and you will see our puff as solid red. This is because the Colour Mix Gradient is pure white, therefore it is the Age Page's colour that is displayed, and that is red near the birth end. The red is unaffected by the Global Colour Gradient which is yellow inside and blue outside. Move the slider to the middle and the red has gone, and the yellow of the Global Colour begins to appear with a little darkening of the outside of the puff - perhaps this is the beginning of the blue outside part of the puff specified in the Globals Colour Gradient. The Global Colour Gradient and Age Page Colour Gradient are being mixed because the Age Page's Colour Mix Gradient is grey (in between black and white) at this point. Move the slider to the right (death) and the puff is identical to the one shown earlier before any Age-Effects are present. That is correct because the Age Page's Colour Mix Gradient is pure white, and that means no Age-Effects are present. But what about the Age Page's green colour in its Colour Gradient? It cannot be seen. This is also correct because the green is at the death end of the Age Page's Colour Gradient, and at the point no Age Page Colour is present (because the Age Page's Colour Mix Gradient is pure black.) |
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This Page controls what colours, and the degree of transparency, occur as the Puffs move from birth to death - as they Age. Click on the Age Page (Material Manager > PyroCluster > Age button) and check Use Age-Effects. The Gradients have been changed from their default settings to make each gradient ineffective (for demonstration purposes). In the Preview Window (if it has disappeared, click on the Globals Page again and press the Preview button and then return to the Age Page), you will see that there is still no difference as you move the slider. (When checking for no change, pressing the blob on the slider does not always create a new sample puff. The only safe way to ensure that a new sample puff is rendered is to change to the Globals Page and press the Preview button - tedious I know.)
Wherever the Colour Mix Gradient is black, the colour (or colours) in the Globals Colour Gradient will be exclusively used to colour the puff. A grey will mix the colour (or colours) on the Globals Colour Gradient with the colour at the middle point on the Age Colour Gradient. (Page 29 of the Pyrocluster manual). It is possible to have a colour Mix Gradient that changes from black to white and black again, etc., if you want, so producing puff colours which jump between the Globals Colour Gradient and the Age-Effects Colour Gradient.
