Animated glowing textures - how?

Question

A common effect I'd like to understand is how to achieve moving, glowing lines. An example is on Robert Hodgin's "Taxi, Taxi!". (I don't know what he uses, but have an idea it might be Houdini). Another is Cristóbal Vila's beautiful animations (e.g. Nature by Numbers - Mobo).

I have coded a Python script that lays out geocoded spline curves on DEM terrain together with Open Street Map building data (see here), but the material for the moving assets is stumping me. I'd like to replicate Robert Hodgin's animation - can anyone explain in outline how this effect might be achieved in Blender?

Many thanks.

Hi. From the tag, you're specifically looking to do this with Python? — Ray Mairlot, Jun 30 '20 at 15:18
Hello Ray - the location will be dynamic and taken from a database of realtime bus movements so I imagine it will have to be coded. — Richard, Jun 30 '20 at 20:59

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 30 '20 at 16:35

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You can use curves, give them some extrusion and an emissive material. Then animate the bevel start and end factors, like in these links:

How to create light streaks

How to make an object appear/visible along a path

The main problem you will face is that you need to separate the curves created by OpenStreetMap or create new ones. OSM creates multiple segments on a single curve object and that would not work for animating Bevels.

answered Jun 30 '20 at 16:35

susu

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That's helpful, thanks - I can see how that works. I've created the curves so all I have to do is create new ones for each of the moving objects. Best wishes – Richard Jun 30 '20 at 21:01

Animated glowing textures - how?

1 Answers1