light fixture color change

  • I have a client that has asked me to create a animation with neon lights along a building that will change color as the camera moves along the building...

    Can Enscape do this? if not, is this something that you would be working on? real time light color and intensity variations would/will/is very desirable.

  • Enscape itself doesn't support any lighting animation, but you may be able to achieve what you want by using a video texture.

    Here as an example


    ElasticBlueGermanshorthairedpointer.mp4


    I've used a basic video texture with self illumination applied


    poux8.mp4


    I'd imagine if you found some quite interesting effects with gradient videos and adjusting the UV of different lights

  • Hmmmm, very interesting... i get the concept of a video placed on a surface, but in thinking about what they want, they want it to light up the area under a skywalk, and im guessing it doesnt actually cast any real light.. or does it?


    if it does, how did you get the video you wanted?

  • Hmmmm, very interesting... i get the concept of a video placed on a surface, but in thinking about what they want, they want it to light up the area under a skywalk, and im guessing it doesnt actually cast any real light.. or does it?


    if it does, how did you get the video you wanted?

    Emissive surfaces do cast light into the model, certainly in screen space. You would probably need to bump up the brightness quite considerably beyond what I've got there to have it hit other things, there may be some delicate balancing (as there often is) to get the


    The video I included in the post was a gif that cycled through colours - which I converted to an MP$, you could make one with different types in a video editor by fading between different colours or perhaps by transforming the position of a RGB gradient image.. If you search for stock footage of gradient light or colour changing backgrounds you may be able to find something suitable.

    Adam Fairclough

    Customer Success Manager

    SketchUp UK / Elmtec UK

  • You could also make 3 or 4 different short clips - each with a different color but the same camera movement. Each clip would stack directly on top of one another, and you'd keyframe a fade effect from one clip/color to the next. You could also then use a colored spot light to cast more color under your skywalk...