Lightform Creator provides a library of built-in content and also lets you import your own content to create unique projected AR experiences.
Asset Browser
When the Asset Browser is selected, a drawer slides out from the right-side of Lightform Creator. All assets exist in this Asset Browser.
Built-In Asset Library
Lightform Creator provides a library of built-in custom effects and generators, images, and videos to instantly apply animations and motion content to your scene.
Effects & Generators
- Effects: Utilize the scan data (colors, disparity, normals, edges, and distance to edges) to create context-aware graphics
- Generators: Procedurally generate graphics that are not affected by scan data
How To: Add an Effect or Generator
- Select a surface that you’d like to add an effect or generator to
- Click on the Asset Browser on the Toolbar or press
CMD+P - Click on the Built-In Assets tab
- Choose an Effect or Generator asset from the panel by double-clicking on the asset or by selecting it and pressing the Insert Content button
How To: Modify an Effect or Generator
- Select the Effect or Generator asset in the Layers Panel
- Properties will appear in the Properties Panel on the right side of the screen
- You can adjust the parameters of the asset by editing property values
Live Effects
Live Effects run in real-time on your Lightform device and can be controlled and modified after you publish your project. Live Effects are a Lightform Labs feature and can be applied to any effect or generator asset.
Images and Videos
Lightform Creator provides a set of Built-In Images and Videos to apply to your scene.
How To: Add an Image or Video
- Select a surface that you’d like to add an image or video to
- Click on the Asset Browser on the Toolbar or press
CMD+P - Click on the Built-In Assets tab
- Scroll down and choose an Image or Video asset from the panel by double-clicking on the asset or by selecting it and pressing the Insert Content button
Stock Asset
Lightform Creator provided access to a video and animation library of thousands of downloadable assets through August 2022. While Lightform Creator no longer provides the in-app catalog for downloading new assets, you have access to any assets already downloaded that have been archived in previous projects.
How To: Add a Stock Asset
- Select a surface that you’d like to add a stock asset to
- Click on the Asset Browser on the Toolbar or press
CMD+P - Click on the Stock Assets tab
- Double-click on the asset or by selecting it and pressing the Insert Content button
Please Note
If you have not archived projects including stock assets prior to August 2022, you will not have the Stock Assets tab on the Asset Browser within Creator.
You can also find and save the .mp4 assets you’ve already downloaded onto your local computer to bring them into Lightform Creator as imported project assets individually as needed. See where to find the .mp4 files here: What directory on my computer are stock-asset downloads saved to?
Imported Your Own Project Assets
You can add your imported media (video or images) to your project.
Lightform Creator supports the following video and image file types:
| Video | .mov, .mp4, .mpg, .mpeg, .gif, .mkv, .dvx, .flv, .avi* |
| Image | .bmp, .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif, tif, .tiff, .tga |
Unsupported - On windows, we cannot accept files from network drives. Please copy any files to your local drive before importing them into Lightform Creator.
Please Note
*We recommend encoding your videos with the h264 codec, .mp4 container, at 30fps, with H.264 Profile: "High". Any bitrate will work, but generally higher is better. Youtube has some helpful guidelines.
How To: Add an Imported Project Asset
- Select a surface that you’d like to add an imported asset to
- Click on the Asset Browser on the Toolbar or press
CMD+P - Click on the Project Assets tab
- Drag an image or video from your computer into the Project Assets panel or click the Choose a file or drag it here link
- The asset will appear in the Project Assets tab
- Double-click on the asset or by selecting it and pressing the Insert Content button
To browse content that has already been created, check out this list of online resources that provide video files as a service (some free and some paid).
Adding Text
Add text to your project with the Text Tool.
How To: Add text
- Select a surface that you’d like to text to
- Click on the Text icon on the Toolbar or press T. A text box will appear.
- Text properties are shown in the Properties Panel. Edit the text under the Text property.
How To: Scale text
Asset Properties
Click on an Asset layer to view its properties in the Properties panel.
Content can be positioned in a Surface independently. The position, scale, and rotation of assets can be changed either in the move tool or via the Properties Panel under Transform.
The perspective of content can be adjusted using the Perspective Warp tool.
Read more about asset properties here.
Custom Effects and Generators (Lightform Labs)
You can also create your own custom effects and generators by enabling Lightform Labs. Click Help > Enable Labs. Read more about this process here: Custom Effects and Generators.
Please note-- We do not recommend using Lightform Labs features for installations or productions where dependability is required. These features are experimental and unsupported.
Comments
4 comments
I´d like you to be more specific. I imported files with h.264 codec, less than 20MB, and it lags when playing..
What other recommendations do you have for video importing.??
Hi Alejandro,
Really sorry about the lags you're experiencing. Lightform Creator is optimized for 30fps videos compressed with the h.264 codec. Could you make sure that the videos are 30fps? Would you also mind sending us any of the videos via private ticket to help us investigate the issue?
Best,
Brittany
In Adobe's Media Encoder is a there preset that you found that works the best for original content? Also is there a sweet spot for how long each video should be for optimization? Thanks for an amazing product.
Is there an easy way to replace imported media, while retaining the transforms and masks of the originally used material (assuming both files are the exact same specs)?
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