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The Global Corrections group have parameters that let you quickly adjust the overall quality of the flare effect.
— Global Scaling: Lets you make every element of the flare effect larger or smaller at once.
— Anamorphism: Lets you stretch all flare elements horizontally to simulate an anamorphic lens’ stretching effect.
— Lens Center X and Y position: Lets you offset the center of the simulated lens that’s causing the flaring, about which the various elements of the flare pivot.
— Global Defocus: Lets you blur the overall flaring effect being created to soften the effect.
— Global Brightness: Lets you raise and lower the overall level of flaring being produced.
— Global Saturation: Lets you adjust the overall color intensity of the flaring.
— Colorise Result: Lets you choose how much to tint the flare, if at all. At a value of 0 (the default), no colorization is applied at all.
— Colorization Color: Lets you choose a color to use to colorize the flare via the Colorize Result slider above. You can use either a color control or eyedropper to sample color from the source RGB image of the current node.
Aperture
The Aperture parameters let you define the aperture of the simulated camera apparatus through which the flare is being generated. The shape defined by these parameters affects the look of the “starburst element” of each flare, as well as the look of any aperture-shaped “ghost elements” you’re turning on.
— Aperture Blades: Defines how many blades make up the aperture. You can choose from
3 to 16 (defaults to 6). The diffraction of the lens flares is symmetric, so an odd number of blades will give you twice as many rays as the number of blades, while an even number of blades will give you the same amount of rays.
— Angle: Sets the angle of the resulting Aperture shape.
Elements
The Elements drop-down is a deceptively simple set of controls that let you expose the customization controls of each of the layers and elements that combine to create the simulated lens flare. Up to ten levels of elements can contribute to a lens flare effect. Each element and ghost shape has a different set of parameters unique to that type of element. Available elements in this pop-up menu include:
— Full-Screen Glare: A simulated overall flaring that covers the entire frame at its most intense. This glare increases as the flare nears the center of the screen and decreases as the flare moves toward the edges of the frame. Recommended for extremely big flaring effects. Parameters include:
— Glare Brightness: A slider; set this to 0 to eliminate glare.
— Glare Color: A color picker and eyedropper combination that lets you tint the glare.
— Flare Spot: Simulates the central light source that’s triggering the flare. Parameters include Flare Size (set this to 0 to eliminate the flare spot), Flare Irregularity (which lets you create a more organic-looking, off-balance flare), Flare Softness, and Flare Color.
— Starburst: Rays of light stretching out from the center of the flare. Parameters include Starburst Size (set this to 0 to eliminate the starburst), Starburst Softness, Starburst Split Angle (which splits each streak of the starburst into a wider feathered pattern), Starburst Split Balance (which lets you adjust the brightness between each half of split streaks), and Starburst Color.
— Ghost elements: Seven available layers of Ghost Elements can be enabled and set to different optional shapes for each lens element you want to simulate. Each of the Ghost element layers can use one of five types of shapes, including:
— None: Turns that particular ghost element off.
— Aperture Shape: A polygonal shape defined by the number of blades in the aperture you’ve selected.
— Anamorphic Streak: A wide horizontal artifact typical of anamorphic lenses.
— Disc Shape: A round ring artifact.
— Bubble Shape: An oval with haze within.
— Corona Rays: A ring of streaks stretching outward.
Ghost elements share many parameters in common, although specific elements have unique parameters. These parameters are as follows:
— Color: A color picker and eyedropper combination that lets you colorize that specific element.
— Position: A slider lets you set that element’s position along the optical path that’s defined by the angle from the (Flare) Position X and Y to the Lens Center X and Y parameters. A value of 0 centers that element on the Lens Position, while larger values push that element farther and farther away from the Lens Position.
— Size: Sets the size of that flaring element, or in the case of the Anamorphic Streak, the width.
— Height: (Anamorphic Streak only) Sets the vertical thickness of the streak.
— Center Brightness: (Aperture, Disk, and Anamorphic Streak only) Defines the brightness in the middle of that element, filling it to appear as a solid element. Set this closer to 0 if you want the element to appear hollow.
— Edge Brightness: (All but Anamorphic Streak) Defines the brightness of the edge of that element. Raising this value while lowering the Center Brightness lets you create outlined element effects.
— Softness: Lets you blur that element.
— Bristle Density: (Corona Only) Lets you alter the number and arrangement of the optical bristles that appear. At lower values, fewer bristles appear, at higher values, more bristles appear. As you change the value of this parameter, the placement of bristles shifts, allowing you to change distribution as well as density with a single control.
— Bristle Scale: (Corona only) Lets you alter the thickness of the bristles that appear. Smaller values result in thicker bristles, higher values result in smaller bristles more tightly packed together.
— Ringing: (All types but Bubble) Simulates a pattern of diffraction artifacts. Higher values increase the number of rings or streaks comprising the element.
— Chromatic shift: Simulates chromatic aberration effects.