The background in the above screenshot is rendered with a few plasma layers. The template used is from BixPack 27.

What can I do with the plasma layer?

With the plasma layer you can create colourful animated backgrounds.

How do I create a plasma layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add plasma layer... to create a new plasma layer.

Choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach plasma to active layer... to attach a new plasma layer to the active layer.

The new plasma layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it the active layer.

Examples

The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the plasma layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Plasma folder.

To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of the file dialog.

Blobs

With the 1st layer style dropdown you can set the plasma style.

This example uses the Blobs style.

Density & Radiation

With the Density property you can set the amount of plasma elements.

The Radiation property controls the size of the elements.

Additive blending

Plasma layers are rendered with additive blending. This means that plasma layers are mixed.

This example uses 2 plasma layers.

Filter effect

In this example, the Effects/Filters/Circles effect is applied to the plasma layer.

Plasma as colourmap

Click on the Attach plasma to active layer... button. The 1st texture is now replaced by the plasma layer.

Plasma as displacementmap

There are 2 ways to use a plasma layer as a displacementmap:
1) Attach a plasma layer to a picture layer that is using the Displacementmap effect.
2) Render the plasma layer as a child of a colourmap layer and use this colourmap layer as the displacementmap in a picture or landscape layer that is using a displacementmap effect.

For the best quality, select the HDR displacementmap style in the 2nd dropdown of the plasma layer. Make sure to use the HDR style in the colourmap layer as well.

You can make the plasma layer seamlessly looping by adapting the show duration to the plasma speed. For example when using a show duration of 10 seconds and a plasma speed of 0.1 it loops seamlessly. The formula is:

Show Duration * Plasma Speed = 1

Duration is the duration of the show in seconds that you can set with the FILE > Set show duration... menu item. Speed is the Speed property of the plasma layer. Here are some examples:

Make sure to unmark the Include last frame checkbox in the FILE > Export as video... dialog.

With the first layer style dropdown you can set the plasma style. The current version features the following styles:

Solid

Vertical gradient

Double Vertical gradient

Horizontal gradient

Radial gradient

Blobs

Spots

Lines

Horizontal lines

Vertical lines

Line segments

Circles

Triangles

Rectangles

Tunnel

Spiral

Rays

Copper list

Fractal cloud

Perlin noise

White noise