Real Lens Flare
Real Lens Flares Designer
IMPORTANT NOTE IF YOU’RE IN A HURRY:
This User Guide travels in an orderly fashion through the VFX Real Lens Flares interface and works to introduce lens flares from foundational concepts through more complex layering and adjustment. If you’re thinking, “Shut up and just show me how to put a killer lens flare on my footage!” we’ve got you covered with three basic steps:
- Click on Stylized Flares under Presets.
- Pick one of those 18 gorgeous lens flares. Maybe twiddle with the flare angle and exposure settings on the right if you have a minute.
- Click the Confirm button in the lower-right corner to drop the flare into After Effects.
But come on. There’s way more where that came from. Let’s dig in.
Overview
VFX Real Lens Flares Designer’s engine provides the ability to make a practically unlimited number of lens flares and adjustments to those lens flares. The idea is that if there’s a lens flare effect you want, from what a cheap, smeared cameraphone lens would make to the artifacts obtained in premium IMAX equipment, Designer can create it. Today, VFX Real Lens Flares Designer provides the most realism possible. Over time, expect more features designed to help users easily implement artistic and futuristic effects.
Note that lens flares can be applied directly to a footage adjustment layer. However, we recommend composing flares on a black field, then blending the flare with After Effects’ Add mode. This will give the most flexibility and help make lens flares look even brighter. Throughout this User Guide, we will illustrate Designer lens flare previews on a black background for optimal visibility. (Toggle the Image button in the top-right of the Preview Pane to revert to this black background.)
The following image shows the main areas within the Designer interface. We will describe each section and its features in following User Guide sections.
