Lens flares

[cableon]

Hum, I would have sworn I had found a specific topic dedicated to lens flares on the forum earlier today, with someone complaining that ASP didn't include that preset, and therefore asking how to make those...

Well, even though a couple other topics suggest solutions (one of which refers to Moho, and the other one includes deleted videos), and in spite of the fact that I am neither a specialist in optical matters, nor the ultimate JJ Abrams connoisseur, here is a very basic .anme file that you can use freely if you will, and probably improve too :

Here (zip archive, 19ko)

The file itself is composed 1°) of a single bone layer, in which 16 vector layers ("flares") are included, either in "Normal" or "Screen" mode, and 2°) of a black vector layer for the background.
The bone layer itself comprises 2 bones : one controling the flares' direction, and the other one (actually a smart bone) governing their amplitude.
Very simple.



As for the flares themselves, they are very directly inspired from this Photoshop tutorial, especially this picture :



All the flares in the .anme file are therefore circular, not polygonal -- but I guess that with a little work and patience that can be improved, too : either with multiple bone layers, each of them including specific polygonal vector shapes, or a single smart bone that modulates the shape of the nested vectorial flares themselves. Being enough busy at the moment, I'll leave this up to you.

Here are a couple cheap animated samples :

1°) basic .anme file with black background



2°) adaptation on blue sky



The "sky" version is fairly perfectible I'll admit, either by switching the top bone layer to "Add" mode, or increasing the opacity of the various vector layers.

Just tell me what you think anyway : this is my very first "technical" contribution to the forum, and even though I do keep Slowtiger's words in mind about "the odd feeling" of combining elements that don't match (ie lens flare effects on drawn characters for instance), I hope this little homemade attempt will be of some utility to some of you.

[Víctor Paredes]

Thank you for sharing the file, Cableon. I don't know when, but I'm sure it will be handy some day. Actually, this kind of files should be on the library in the future, I think. Would you like to share the file for the library?

Also, thank you for pointing that old thread about animating on twos. It's a fantastic debate and Slowtiger's posts are extremely interesting. I was already part of the forum that time (actually, now I see I have been 10 years and 1 month fluttering here, we really should drink a beer together), but I couldn't understand what this guys were talking about. My English and animation understanding have grown a lot since that years (both thanks to this forum). It's fantastic to see Moho now finally have that interval option they discussed about.

[chucky]

Dude there are lens flares in the 10 custom content. I made a full kit a long time ago but only included one specific to the project which is more subtle and particular to the Crustacea project.
Open the Crustacea scene file from the library.
I actually made it way back when and I would (given time) adapt it in V10 to warp the rainbow and such using smart bones.
Check it out any way. I used translation constraints which makes it interactive and there are instructions how to use it ( as note layers) in the file.
There is even lens filth that interacts with the flare.
Drag out the flare to a new project.

Love what you've done though, nice.

[chucky]

Turn on labels and un-hide controlled bones
In the crustacea file there are some much more subtle and effective rainbow effects.
The additive layer mode is pretty hard to work with in ASP it can be time consuming getting the best results.
You'll see how I used the then in this video, here and there.

[slowtiger]

Selgin: thanks for reminding me what a smartass I already was 10 years ago! *g*

[cableon]

Oops, hadn’t noticed the much more elaborate lens flares in the crustacea project Chucky, nice job!

I would of course be stoked, and honored, to have this veeery modest and basic contribution implemented to the ASP library Selgin — even though it might therefore appear as a cheap duplicate.

Just let me know, anyway!

[patricia3d]

Please share your above file in 9.5 version

[cableon]

Sure thing! Done.

I have slightly modified the .anme file by the way, by putting both the bone layer and the black vectorial background in a same folder set in "Screen" mode, with an opacity of 70% -- just as suggested in the above Photoshop tutorial link.

Here is the ASP10 version again.

And here is the ASP9 version.

Hope it suits you!

[chucky]

I find add mode works better, in most cases. Screen tends to bleach out the colour.