Laser references

For the two beams: A, the prismatic beam from his finger, and B, the lens's burning beam from the shaft of light. Pick the clips (or the qualities below) each beam should follow. Clips loop; "source" opens the original at the moment.

Ours now

Round 11: a static line each, no movement along it, no onset, almost no impact.

AThe prismatic beam

A white line with faint red and blue fringes, there for a quarter of a second.

BThe lens beams (four, the lens alone)

Orange lines from above to a small hot spot with sparks.

A: the prismatic beam

From his fingertip, piercing a snake and chaining to the next.

ATerraria: Last Prism

Six coloured beams swing in and converge into one thick white beam in a rainbow sheath. It pulses and sheds prismatic sparks. The idea to take: light gathering into one beam.

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ADiablo 3: Disintegrate

Seen from above like our room camera. A beam from the hand with a hot flare at both ends; it sweeps smoothly from one target to the next.

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ADiablo 3: Ray of Frost

Thin, pale and precise, a white-hot point at the hand and at the hit. It still reads at a small size from high above.

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AReal: white light through a prism

What dispersion really looks like: one white ray leaves the glass as an ordered band, red on one edge to violet on the other, soft-edged.

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ADestiny 2: Divinity

Secondary. A white-blue core with violet crackle along it, ending in a cage of light on the target.

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B: the lens beam

Sunlight gathered by a lens in the shaft, one hot beam down to the floor, sweeping and cutting.

BTutorial preview: a vertical beam (Unreal Niagara)

A beam coming down from above: strands scrolling down inside a hot core, a ring of light and a burst of sparks where it lands. The closest to a lens beam from the shaft.

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BRisk of Rain 2: Stone Titan

A red glow charges at the eye first, then a thick beam tracks across the ground, the hit point bursting.

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BReturnal: Phrike

Orange beams with white cores, flickering along their length, shedding sparks as they sweep across the floor.

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BPath of Exile: Scorching Ray

A golden beam with rings travelling along it, a burning ball where it hits, heat shimmer around it.

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BReal: sunlight through a lens

A real lens: the focus is a tiny blinding spot, the material smokes at once and a black scorch spreads.

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BDiablo 4: Incinerate

Secondary. A channelled fire beam wrapped in flames and swirls, a spinning ring of fire at the impact.

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Both

How beams are built, and how real ones look in the air.

BOTHTutorial preview: a stylized beam (Unity VFX Graph)

A glowing ball at the origin, electric strands flowing along the beam, sparks spraying off the end.

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BOTHReal: lasers in haze

Real beams are thin, hard lines that only show where the air holds something (smoke, dust), brighter where it is thick.

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Qualities to pick from

What these references do that ours doesn't; name any for either beam.

  1. Layers: a white-hot core inside a coloured glow, not one flat line
  2. Energy running along it: streaks, strands or rings travelling the length of the beam
  3. A flicker: its width and brightness trembling all the time
  4. Onset: a charge or gathering at the source first, then the beam shoots out to the target
  5. Offset: it thins out and fades rather than vanishing
  6. Source flare: a hot point at the fingertip (or the lens) while it fires
  7. Impact: a splash where it hits: a flare, sparks, a ring on the floor
  8. Light and shake: it lights the room around it; the screen shakes when it hits
  9. Spectral order: for the prismatic beam: fringes in order, red on one side to violet on the other
  10. Haze: the beam catching dust in the air, like the shaft of light already does
  11. Scorch: for the lens: a burnt line left on the floor where the spot passed