Blender : Animating a Lightning Strike By Saraja Olivier

This tutorial shows how easy it is possible to play with the Build effect to model a good looking lightning strike. As the Build effect enables the building of an object but not its disintegration, we will also see in this tutorial how to use the Alpha parameter in the Ipo section to make it disappear at the end of the desired lifetime. The material properties shoulb be adjusted on the case by case basis by the practicer of this tutorial, and it will be function of the size and the distance of his/her lightning from the camera. Give a few minutes to different tries to achieve the desired effect.

Important note : this tutorial requires you to have some basic skills with creation and edtition of Ipo keys. Methods pertaining to these fields will only be rudimentarily discussed.