Skip to content

Light & lasers effect

Spark Burst

Spark Burst is a neon and laser effect in FRCTL, the browser VJ studio. Bursts of sparks thrown from the bright parts of the picture, falling as they fade.

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 Spark Burst 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 with pale gold spark clusters bursting near the left edge and lower left — Spark Burst, default settings

What Spark Burst does

Fires bursts of simulated sparks, 8,192 of them in sixteen staggered groups. Each group picks a bright spot in the picture, throws its sparks outward in every direction, lets them fall and fade fast, then fires again somewhere new. Burst sets how hard and bright they're thrown, Life how long each wave lasts, Fall and Direction the pull on them, and Tint borrows the colour beneath.

Using Spark Burst

Where it works: Fireworks and ember moments for a drop, a logo sting where sparks spit off the bright letters, and festival covers. Because spawn points follow brightness, sparks come off the lit parts of the art rather than at random.
With the music: Bursts fire on their own staggered timing, not the beat. Send B1 kick to Burst so each kick flashes the sparks brighter and throws the next wave harder, and B2 sub bass to Size for fatter sparks on the low end.
Starting point: Burst at three-quarters, Life at a quarter, Fall at centre, Size at a quarter, Tint hard left, Direction on Down, for short hot showers of orange sparks.

Controls

Burst: How hard each wave of sparks is thrown.
Life: How long a spark lasts before the next burst replaces it.
Fall: Downward pull on a spark once it is in the air.
Size: Size of one spark.
Hue: Spark colour.
Tint: Pulls each spark towards the colour of the picture beneath it.
Direction: Which way gravity pulls a spark once it is in the air.
Speed: Rate of the effect motion. Centre is the authored speed, hard left a tenth of it.

Pairs well with Spark Burst