When I first tried Natron, I was frustrated with inability to use particle effects like smoke.
It took me a while to figure it out. But finally I have a solution!
Here is step-by-step instruction:
1. Install Natron from natron.fr
2. Install community plugins from github.com/NatronVFX/natron-plugins
3. Run Natron, add node “Shadertoy” from “Filter” section
4. In the ShaderToy property click on “Image Shader”. It will expand a large section of parameters.
5. In “Load From Preset” select something (for example, “Bubbles”) to make sure it works (connect “ShaderToy” node output to “Viewer” input, of course)
6. Now go to shadertoy.com and search for “Smoke” (or whatever effect you need). Click on it. Copy the source (in C-like language) from the window on the right
7. Back in Natron, select in “Load From Preset” “No Preset”, clean up the Source window and copy there the code.
8. It will fail! You need to go through the code and replace iTime with iGlobalTime and also texture with texture2D. there might be no “texture”, but for sure there will be iTime.
9. Compile! The “Compile button looks like it is disabled, but it works indeed!
10. It works? Great! Now make it permanently available! Go to C:\Program Files\INRIA\Natron-2.3.2\Plugins\OFX\Natron\Shadertoy.ofx.bundle\Contents\Resources\presets\default\ and create a file with extension .glsl, like myeffect.glsl
11. Edit C:\Program Files\INRIA\Natron-2.3.2\Plugins\OFX\Natron\Shadertoy.ofx.bundle\Contents\Resources\presets\default\Shadertoy.txt – add a line
“My Effect” “myeffect.glsl”
It is easy to group items. Use this instead:
“My Effects/MyEffect” “myeffect.glsl”
12. Restart Natron and enjoy!
I tried blacklight and camera flash, but they do not produce enough power for the whole spiderweb to glow. I can make a little piece glowing, but that’s no fun. But I like how it turns pink in the flash light. And it looks cool enough even without glowing.
