About Lightbox

Unlike Matchbox GLSL shaders, Lightbox shaders are available exclusively in Action, relying on the Light framework, to which a Lightbox node is parented in the Action scene. Lightbox shaders allow you to create and use a wide range of effects that affect one fragment at a time, allowing a casting of colour effects through the light cone, respecting every aspect of Light behaviour, including shading, decay, and feathering. Lightbox nodes can be useful in the lighting pipeline to develop a look at the scene level of Action, or to help with blue screen or green screen work.

Lightbox effects are based on the OpenGL Shading Language (glsl) programming language and can be created by users to use in Action, or to share with other Flame users (a number of preset and example shaders are also available). For this reason, a Lightbox API is available, and gives you access to Action scene information (such as distance, normals, camera position, and other 3D environment variables).

To add a Lightbox node in Action:

  1. Do one of the following:

    • With a Light node selected in the schematic, double-click the Lightbox node in the All Nodes or Relighting bin.

      The file browser opens to allow you to select a Lightbox effect. When selecting a shader from the file browser, you can use the File Format box to display shaders in .glsl format or encrypted Lightbox .lx format.

    • With a Light selected in the schematic, double-click a Lightbox preset node from the dynamic Lightbox node bin.

      The Lightbox node is added to the scene as a child of the selected Light. If no light was selected prior to adding the Lightbox node, a new Directional Light is added to the scene as the parent of the Lightbox node.

    Tip: Lightbox nodes are displayed as white in the schematic to help you identify them. If you added the Lightbox from the dynamic node bin, the name of the effect also appears on the node in the schematic.
  2. Double-click the Lightbox node in the schematic to display its menu.

    The Lightbox node populates the menu dynamically, based on the .glsl (and .xml) code, but there are a few UI elements that are constant, located in the Shader tab.

  3. If you added a Lightbox effect from the All Nodes or Relighting bin, you can change the effect by clicking Change Shader in the Shader tab of the Lightbox menu.

Here are a few highlights and tips to help you when working with Lightbox in Action: