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Light & lasers effect

Echolocation

Echolocation is a neon and laser effect in FRCTL, the browser VJ studio. Sonar sweeps reveal neon outlines only where the pulse lands.

Runs live on video, images, a camera or generated art. Stack it with any other effect, and route LFOs, envelopes or any of ten audio bands to its controls so it moves with the music.

Try Echolocation free All effects

The untouched demo art: an eye inside a triangle over wavy teal, blue and peach lines — Source

The eye-in-triangle art dimmed almost to black, with magenta neon outlines lit only in the four corners — Echolocation, default settings

What Echolocation does

Darkens the picture to about a third and sends a single ring out from the centre to the corners, then starts again. Only edges under the ring light up, in a neon colour that shifts with distance from the centre, so the art appears in pieces and drops back to dark behind it. Pulse widens the ring, Edge sets how faint a line it lights, and Neon sets the brightness.

Using Echolocation

Where it works: Slow breakdowns and dark intros where the picture should be revealed rather than shown, and a teaser clip for a release, since each sweep only hints at the artwork before it goes dark again.
With the music: The ring runs on its own clock, about one sweep every two and a half seconds at centre Speed, so set Speed until it lands on the bar. An Envelope triggered by the beat on Neon makes the lit edges flash on each hit.
Starting point: Pulse at three-quarters, Edge at a quarter, Neon at three-quarters, so a wide ring picks up most of the linework as it passes.

Controls

Pulse: Sonar ring width and falloff.
Edge: Sobel edge gate for neon reveal.
Neon: Outline emissive brightness.
Tint: Where the sweep palette starts on the wheel.
Speed: Rate of the effect motion. Centre is the authored speed, hard left a tenth of it.

Pairs well with Echolocation