Optical Flare After Effects
Margarita Lovvorn
As far as building a better looking flare goes, I tried a Google search for better lens flare after effects and got some good results:
A tutorial here on the COW [link]
And a tutorial on Creative Dojo that also links to a good Harry Frank tutorial on the same subject [link] I believe they use a 3rd-party plugin called Shine for some of it, but you can recreate Shine with some of the built-in effects too. CC Light Burst or CC Light Rays coupled with some color correction effects should do it.
Lens flares are largely just shapes with transparency, blending over the composite with an add or screen transfer mode. The positioning of these shapes can be based on rules which you can codify into a series of expressions, or perhaps handle in 3D with parenting and auto-orient.
Video Copilot Optical Flares is the perfect way to add cinematic flair and realism to your footage! Enjoy creating intricate lens flares in After Effects with an elegant, user-friendly interface. Plus, Open GL acceleration makes it super simple and fast. So, you can make stunning visuals without taking up too much of your precious time. Bring some extra sparkle into life with Video Copilot Optical Flares!
Every flare is completely customizable so the options are limitless. Plus, over 90 minutes of After Effects training with Andrew Kramer is included so new users can get comfortable quickly. Optical Flares is an affordable way to add sophistication and magic to your motion graphics and visual effects!
Plug-ins with M1 compatibility can run in the new M1-native version of After Effects, which is already up to 3x faster than previous versions on the Mac. And now, with M1-compatibility, Video Copilot plug-ins are ready to go!
The Render version of the plugin requires the same license process as the plugin itself but they can use the attached key file if they do not have access to the GUI (typical of AE Render or true nodes with no monitors).
The plugin is FANTASTIC, and ToolFarm made it effortless to download the plugin after purchase. The Plugin itself is Amazing, and everything they say it is. It has made my life so much easier, and my videos have come to life. I definitely recommend this product to people who are looking for that extra umph for their video editing.
It has a beautiful interface - makes using it great fun. As another reviewer said, it would be nice if there was a demo, but if you're looking for a flares plug-in just know that this is the one to get.
This is the new industry standard for Lens Flares! Optical Flares is by far the best plugin for creating lens flares. Not only are the possibilities endless but you can also create lens flares that look very realistic.The plugin comes with a variety (about 50-60) of presets wich are very helpful if you don't want to design your own lens flare. Plus it makes it very easy to combine different lens flares, position them with or without the help of AE Lights and much more.And it's fast. Even with a cheap graphics card you can preview the slowest lens flares in realtime. My last thought is just: Who needs Knoll Light Factory any longer?
As a compositor and motion graphics designer, light and lens effects can really mean the difference between a polished-looking or half-baked shot. Video CoPilot's Optical Flares is one-stop shopping for that final pass on your comp. Adding lens flares in post fell severely out of favor as After Effects' stock flare effect became more and more tired and outdated. But the highly customizable flare settings in Optical Flares helps breathe new life into that kind of design element, and more importantly, does a fantastic job simulating REAL flares-- hugely helpful in my work for matching shots acquired from different cameras. The do-it-yourself flare building options are actually quite daunting at first, so I depended heavily upon the really excellent presets that come bundled with the license until I learned the ropes. It's a great product and VCP's support are great as well when you have questions.
I was initially super excited for the release of Optical Flares and Video Copilot blew me away by exceeding all of my expectations. There is no doubt that Optical Flares will become an industry-standard suite in no time. It's unfortunate that a demo is not available for download, because I'm convinced that once most users get their hands dirty with Optical Flares they will immediately be hooked.
Read the full review of Optical Flares 1.0 by Nikc Miller at Microfilmmaker Magazine, June 1, 2010.
Toolfarm is the top third-party reseller for professional plugins and software for motion graphics, visual effects, 3D, video, and audio. Our extensive range of top-quality visual effects, 3D, motion graphics, plugins, and tools are sure to elevate your projects to new heights.
1999-2024 Toolfarm Inc.
This link is being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; it does not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Toolfarm.com of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual. Toolfarm.com bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.
Just wondering if blender is going to have more options for simulating lens flares, since you can only use halo in blender render and paste over a cycles scene or use the ghosts node. and sort of makes it hard to add different non repeditive lens effects to a certain scene (outer space etc.).
Thanks
I thin it would be nice if Blender had a lens flare tool/node, sure, people may use lens flares too much, but that goes for chromatic aberration, DOF and probably a bunch of other things Blender has in it already.
I dont stop using hammers because other people may over use them. Tools should be made accessible to those who want to use them in any way they see fit. To block the development of flares because you dont like then is rather short sighted and naive.
The ghosts node in the compositor actually works really well especially in complex scenes. Why? because it creates real effects, not what you normally think of as a lens flare, and therefore much more acceptable. Applied subtly, I have gotten some great results out of it that are not too cliche.
Lens flares were so over used that they became a no option tool for serious designers. The two here demonstrated examples are of a different kind and very much are more like sun blinding effects than what one would understand as lens flare.
I think it is also there are type of lens flare - but I agree that this would be a good effect for the compositor so you can adjust it there later as an overlay, what it also is in reality, because the lens flare does not interact indirect light wise etc. with the scene objects.
VFX 2024.1 brings a set of new features to Real Lens Flares. Obscuration allows you to add fully integrated flare effects to any shot and the new Light Ball core projection option gives flares a physical presence in the scene.
2D + Distance gives you the ability to customize the distance of the light source in Z-Space, adding dimension to your shot. With the help of the Distance Affects Size and Size Affects Brightness Parameters you can change the moving flare.
Thanks to the upgraded lens simulation engine with support for anamorphic lenses in Real Lens Flares, filmmakers doing 3D renders, shooting video or doing motion graphics work can add Real Lens Flares to their shots.
Changing the aperture is one of the most dramatic ways that the user can change the look of the flare. With Real Lens Flares, you can change the number of blades, curvature, twist, and countless other properties of the aperture to tweak the look of your flare.
Real Lens Flares works like a real camera lens, you set the type of light, position and intensity, and our engine calculates a realistic flare based on the exposure that you set. Light Control also enables you to precisely place flares in 3D-tracked scenes based on After Effects Lights.
In addition to being able to control the color of the light of your flares, artists now can edit the properties of each piece of glass to change the color of the reflections that it creates. The color of your reflections is the color of your flare.
The Lens Flare 3D is a highly sophisticated lens flare visual effect generator that can produce many different styles and looks, from the traditional lens flare that occurs when a point light source is turned toward a camera lens to the more spectacular special effects that are often seen in science fiction movies.
A base requirement for the generation of Lens Flares is a point light source, and the BCC Lens Flare 3D includes a built-in light source, with parameters to control the position of the light in 3D space and in addition to this, the filter is aware of any After Effects native lights that have been added to the scene and can set to use any or all of these lights as source lights for the generation of single or multiple Lens Flares.
As the case with all filters in the Continuum filter set, the BCC Lens Flare 3D filter includes a preset pop-up selector that can be used to load any of the factory installed preset looks, which can be used as-is or can serve as a useful starting point in generating a customized look which can be saved and reused on future projects and comps.
At the bottom of the Lens Flare filter control list you will find both a motion tracker control group and a beat reactor group. Both groups are used to control the movement of the Lens Flare in the image clip. The Motion Tracker can be used to automatically lock or track the Lens Flare to a specific scene element. The beat reactor can be used to lock the movement or the visibility of the Lens Flare in syncopation with the beat of an audio track.
c80f0f1006