Refract

Use the Refract effect to create effects such as ripples and heat haze. This effect is based on the refraction of light, which occurs when a beam of light passes through media of different density, causing the light to refract or change angles. This effect makes objects appear distorted or offset from their actual positions. If you imagine an object in a pool of water the part beneath the surface of the water appears offset from its true position.

To create a refraction effect, you need a matte with alpha values. This creates the effect of a volume passing over an image, refracting the light that bounces off the contents below. For a ripple effect moving across an image, you must move the matte with a Peg layer.

If your matte is only black and white, meaning that there is no gradients and only solid colours in your matte drawing, you will need to connect a Blur Radial module after your matte Drawing module to soften the edges and get nicer waves.

Use the Refract editor to control the effect.

Intensity: The amount of refraction to apply to the image.
Height: The amount of depth to add to the refraction effect. When coupled with the Intensity effect, this value can create the effect of bending the objects below the refraction matte.

Attaching the Intensity and Height values to function curves changes their values over time.

Related Topics 

Using Effects