Ultraflares is 100% multi-threaded capable of using an unlimited number of cores for ultimate speed.

Ultraflares is the definitive solution for any hobbyist or professional digital artist, designer or photographer demanding cutting-edge, high-quality lens flares and light effects. Download the demo today.

Light leaks are indispensable for adding creative personality to photography or reducing that computer generated look in 3D renders. But why spend hundreds on prefabricated light leaks that can’t be modified when you can create your own? Creating light leaks in Ultraflares is incredibly easy and its included library of 40 light leaks provides numerous options to start from. Best of all, lens flares, anamorphics, glints and light leaks in Ultraflares are all resolution independent and aspect conforming so the same light leak that works on a 1K composite will also work on a 4K composite.

Ultraflares has an unlimited number of applications including the generation of volumetric lights, glows, light glints, star filters, sun glows, star bursts, film burns & aberrations, light leaks, highlight accents, photo filters, bokehs, lens textures, and much, much more. It is an indispensable tool for 3D artists looking to push their 3D renders to the next level.

Ultraflares is much more than a lens flare plugin; it’s a full feature light studio. Not only does it allow the artist to produce sophisticated lens flares, but also the ability to generate a wide variety of complex camera lens effects, all modeled after real-world light phenomena.

Ultraflares pulls lens textures from the image channels which means once you can store lens textures in any file format supporting multiple image channels such as PSD. This allows your to store as many as you want in one file and easily access them using Ultraflares from within a convenient drop-down menu.

Ultraflares brings the power of lens textures to the artist’s fingertips. Select any lens texture and watch as Ultraflares realistically illuminates the texture according to its lens flare color, location and structure. Choose Ultraflares’ own highly configurable procedural lens orbs object or use custom textures of any kind. Embedded custom textures in compatible file formats such as PSD allow Ultraflares to easily toggle between multiple textures.

Ultraflares provides a powerful and versatile built-in object called lens orbs for dynamically generating complex lens textures! Lens orbs mimics real-world lens dirt that accumulates on the front and rear element of the camera. Lens Orbs are illuminated by objects in the stack so moving the flare around will result in correctly revealed lens dirt yielding stunningly realistic results. Because lens orbs are modeled after the multi-iris object, you can tweak just about any settings such as coloring them chromatic, setting polygonal iris blades, introducing optical vignetting for unique cat’s eye iris, and much, much more.

Ultraflares is easy to realistically integrate within your images.

Ultraflares provides both object-specific and global blending modes. This means the artist can decide how each lens object should be composited with the previous one, and how the final flare should be composited with the image. This advanced precision in local and global compositing allows for particular flare objects to flare up and intensify while others maintain their fine details.

Ultraflares boasts an extremely powerful feature called triggering. Triggering allows any objects setting to change according to the flares location. This results in extremely realistic flare behavior where the intensity may increase near the center of the screen, where chroma hoops may scale in size close to screen edges, and where streaks may flare out when located outside screen coordinates, for instance. Virtually any object variable can be triggered and thereby affected both positively or negatively using its own distinct trigger mask. Trigger masks can be inverted, modified and toggled to react to lens flare center points or lens flare emission points.

Ultraflares harnesses the power of Adobe Photoshop and allows the artist to automatically sample both the intensity and hue of the image by clicking in the preview window. Darker parts of the image will dim the flare while image hues will color the flare accordingly, all in real-time. Global adjustments can be made on-the-fly and will impact all lens flare objects thereby affecting the entire lens flare as a whole. Some of these global settings include color, blending mode, position, center, intensity, scale, aspect, rotation, chromatic aberration and saturation.

Ultraflares features stunningly-realistic iris effects such as spherical aberration, aberration scale, aberration offset and asymmetry for replicating ultra-realistic natural lens flares. Circular completion controls how much of the iris diameter (in degrees) is visible while light distribution , a new and truly unique feature specific to Ultraflares only, controls the illumination across the iris with its respective angle. Chromatic aberration can be globally applied to the entire flare while spectral coloring can work on any number of specific objects. Add subtle touches like iris edge ringing to push the realism to the next level.

Ultraflares features chromatic aberration, an optical effect that is caused by a lens’s inability to focus all three wavelengths together on the same focal plane. This results in red, green and blue color fringing. Chromatic aberration can be applied globally to the entire flare, thereby simulating real-world camera lenses.

Ultraflares offers a highly versatile multi-iris object with an insane limit of up to 1000 irises. Their positioning along the light vector can be random, even or semi-random while their spread can be clustered together or fully separated. Their corresponding color, intensity, size, offset, spherical aberration, feathering, light distribution and circular completion can be randomized to any particular degree for truly natural results. Each object carries its own adjustable random seed ensuring no two objects are ever alike.

Ultraflares is capable of generating virtually any type of flare or light effect.

Ultraflares features a powerful coloring engine allowing each and every object to be uniquely shaded by a single color, two blended colors based on screen location, two gradient colors, or a full spectral array. Each coloring mode features offsetting, scaling, saturation, and even spectral blending with the underlying color to reproduce distinctive natural phenomena such as solid colored rays with spectral ray ends. Ray-based objects such as shimmers and spikeballs extend coloring features even further by providing random ray-color controls.

Ultraflares provides a set of highly specialized transformation tools that allow for inherently complex lens flare object movement. Each object can be free to move in all axes, horizontal only, vertical only, none (for light leaks), or custom (which controls the range of horizontal and vertical movement inherent to anamorphic flare behavior). A secondary distance controller provides additional positioning tweaks for horizontally-locked, vertically-locked objects or unmovable objects resulting in extremely natural flare movement.

Ultraflares ships with an easy-to-use, intuitive GUI boasting production-proven features. The stack can be easily navigated and any particular object can be renamed, deleted, duplicated, soloed, moved up, moved down, moved to the top or moved to the bottom easily and effortlessly with the click of a button. A powerful, built-in file browser provides super-fast, immediate flare load / preview. This efficiency results in increased productivity and faster lens flare development.

Ultraflares offers unlimited power and flexibility through the assembly of lens flare objects in a hierarchical stack to produce any number of flare variations, with any amount of complexity. The artist can choose from a range of 13 realistically-modeled flare objects such as iris, multi-iris, spot glow, halo, ring, caustic, shimmer, lens orbs, spikeball, hoop, sparkle, streak and glow. Each object has been carefully developed to match real camera optics thereby producing photorealistic results. Every object features its own massive set of specific variables allowing the artist to tweak just about any feature and produce just about any result.

Ultraflares packs some of the world’s most realistic lens flares, all modeled after existing real-world lens flares, anamorphic flares, glints and light leaks. As a matter of fact, Ultraflares’ technology has been built upon the careful study and research of real-world light phenomena thereby resulting in some of the most sophisticated flares available today.

Ultraflares is arguably the most powerful and sophisticated lens flare solution for Adobe Photoshop and compatible hosts. Backed by over a year and a half of research and development, Ultraflares boasts some of the most advanced and realistic lens flare features available today. Ultraflares comes packed with hundreds of presets including over 65 natural flares, over 60 stylized flares, over 35 glints and over 40 light leaks.

Workflow

Ultraflares operates by combining various predesigned lens flare components together to create a complex lens flare. These components are called objects and the list of these combined objects is called the stack. The stack defines the lens flare in its entirety and due to its workflow, provides non-destructive modification. The stack is the most important part of the Ultraflares GUI and having a clear understanding of its operation will ensure you get the most out of the software.

It is helpful to visualize the stack as a number of transparent, glass panes. Each time a new object is added, a new pane is placed on top of the previous one, combining the images on the panes into a lens flare. You can adjust the order of the panes by deleting, duplicating, renaming or disabling them. When the lens flare is applied to the image, the stack is essentially flattened into one pane and placed over the image.

Every object dropped into the stack holds its own unique set of parameters based on the type of object that it is. For instance, a glow object will have a gamma parameter (among many others) while an iris object will have a number of blades parameter (among many others). Each object can be meticulously adjusted using these parameters to reach the desired look intended. Additionally, each object may have its own set of transformation parameters. This describes how the object moves in relation to the lens flare light source. Some objects may be free to move in all axes, while others may be locked to horizontal or vertical axes. By combining various movement ranges together, lens flares can be designed to behave in very realistic ways.

The multi-iris object is the most complex object Ultraflares has to offer. Adding a multi-iris object will unlock an additional set of controls that affect the sub-objects in the multi-iris object such as intensity, sizing, positioning, etc.

Finally, each object also carries its own specific trigger mask. A trigger mask is a gradient that defines how objects behave according to what position they are at. Triggering opens up an infinite number of possibilities. For instance, an iris can scale up as it moves towards the screen edges, a glow can become brighter as it approaches screen center, or a streak can flare up when it leaves the screen altogether. Triggering is an extremely powerful tool for creating ultra-realistic lens flares. Each object’s trigger value is located to the right of its controller value and the trigger mask can be displayed by clicking on the Display Trigger button. Most triggering values range from 200 to -200 but the scale triggering value ranges from 1000 to -1000.

In addition to the object-specific parameters discussed above, Ultraflares also has global parameters. These parameters affect the entire lens flare as a whole and therefore they are not saved. For instance, the global scaling controller will scale all lens flare objects while the global flare center controllers will adjust the center-point of the lens flare that affects all objects. These global parameters are meant to be used as final adjustments for compositing the lens flare on the image. Perhaps the most important controller in this section is the blending mode controller that defines whether to composite the final lens flare using additive mode or screen mode. Depending on the image and the lens flare, the artist should select the more visually compelling mode. There is no right or wrong choice, rather what is more appropriate for the image. If the lens flare is blowing out too much, it is encouraged to use screen mode.

Workflow Tips

Glows are generally placed first in the stack. Unlike the rest of the objects, the glow object requires full-screen drawing and is therefore computationally expensive. If you do not require a large glow, consider using the spot glow object instead.

Lens Orbs are generally placed last in the stack. This is because lens orbs are illuminated by the previous objects in the stack. If it is placed first in the stack, there will be no previous objects available to illuminate it and it will therefore be invisible.

Ultraflares performs heavy computations and requires as many cycles of drawing as there are objects in the stack. As a result, the more objects that there are and the larger that the objects exist on screen, the slower the performance. If feedback is slow, reducing the preview window size will greatly improve response time.

A commonly-used method of non-destructive lens flare compositing is to apply the lens flare to a black frame and then set that frame to additive or screen mode over your original image layer. This will allow you to keep your lens flare on a separate layer and preserve your original image.

Ultraflares can be maximized and minimized using the top-right hand corner button on the interface. This allows you to use your entire screen resolution and work with a much large preview window. The interface can also be dynamically resized and the browser can be maximized and minimized as well, once again, resulting in a large preview window with which to work with.

Stack Parameters

Object Selector: Specifies which object to add to the stack. Ultraflares currently supports 13 predesigned lens flare objects. Each object carries its own set of adjustable parameters. These objects include iris, multi-iris, spot glow, halo, ring, caustic, shimmer, lens orbs, spikeball, hoop, sparkle, streak and glow. Some objects will unlock additional controls such as the multi-iris object. As stated in the workflow tips above, glows tend to be placed first in the stack while lens orbs tend to be placed last.

Ultraflares object types

Stack: The stack lists the objects that make up the lens flare. Clicking on an object will update the GUI and display its specific parameters. Adjusting a parameter will update the object in the preview window.

Active: Toggles the object on and off. This is useful for disabling an object instead of deleting it which will ensure the object is saved but does not display in the lens flare.

Custom Attribute: Depending on which object is selected, this dropdown will display specific object-related options. Please review individual objects below to see what this parameter does in more detail.

Blending Mode: Specifies the blending mode used to composite each object onto the previous ones. It is important to understand the difference between these local blend modes and the global blend mode. These local blend modes describe how to composite each object with those below it in the stack. This differs from the global blend mode that describes how to composite the final lens flare with the image. The local blend modes are saved as they impact the lens flare structure while the global blend modes aren’t as they are meant to be chosen according to the image and lens flare used. Generally, one will stick to screen mode for compositing objects together as with additive mode they may blow out too quickly. However, an intense spot glow may be more dramatic with additive mode than with screen.

Transform Axis: Specifies which axis the currently-specified object is able to move in. Free allows the object to move unrestricted in both horizontal and vertical axes. Horizontal allows the object to move only horizontally. Vertical allows the object to move only vertically. None prohibits all object movement (this is generally reserved for light leaks). Custom allows the object to move horizontally and vertically only according to the horizontal and vertical ranges specified in the transform controllers. The transform controllers are the green-colored controllers and more information on these can be found further below.

Circular Completion Axis: Specifies whether circular completion auto-rotation should lock to lens flare center or lens flare light source. Please read further below for more information on circular completion.

Light Distribution Axis: Specifies whether light distribution auto-rotation should lock to lens flare center or lens flare light source. Please read further below for more information on light distribution.

Reseed: Generates a new number to initialize the pseudorandom number generator. Almost every Ultraflares object uses random numbers for generation. For instance, the multi-iris object randomizes intensity, position, color, scale, etc. By reseeding, one can regenerate new intensities, colors, scales, etc until a suitable one is found. The seed is object-specific. This means that changing the seed will only randomize the current object’s random parameters.

Name: Display the name of the currently-selected object. Any object can be renamed to something more descriptive for ease of use.

Stack Operators

The stack operators are used to move objects within the stack. This is helpful from an organizational standpoint so as to keep sets of objects together. Additionally, some objects are position-dependent such as the lens orbs and these may need to me moved to the end of the stack at one point or another. Finally, some operators may become enabled or disabled depending on which object is selected and its position in the stack.

Delete: Deletes the currently-selected object. Deletions cannot be undone.

Duplicate: Creates a copy of the currently-selected object (with the currently-specified parameters) and places it at the bottom of the stack.

Solo: Isolates and displays the currently-selected object only. This is useful for working with a specific object and displaying it without the rest of the lens flare for clarity.

Move Up: Moves the currently-selected object one position up in the stack.

Move Down: Moves the currently-selected object one position down in the stack.

Move Top: Moves the currently-selected object to the top of the stack.

Move Bottom: Moves the currently-selected object to the bottom of the stack.

Transform Controllers

The transform controllers are colored green for ease of identification. These controllers specify where the object will be placed along the light vector, and therefore how the currently-selected object will move. By assigning different transform parameters to different objects, one can create extremely complex lens flares that behave in very realistic ways. Certain transform controllers become enabled or disabled depending on the transform axis specified.

Distance: This is the main (and most often used) transform controller. A value of 0 places the object at the light source whereas a value of 100 places the object at the end of the light vector. Distance is enabled when the transform axis is set to anything except none.

Distance 2: This is a secondary transform controller for placing horizontally or vertically locked objects along the light vector. A value of 0 places the object at the light source whereas a value of 100 places the object at the end of the light vector. Distance 2 is enabled when the transform axis is set to anything except free.

X Range: Specifies the horizontal movement range of an object. A value of 0 restricts all horizontal movement while a value of 100 allows all horizontal movement. X range is only enabled when the transform axis is set to custom.

Y Range: Specifies the vertical movement range of an object. A value of 0 restricts all vertical movement while a value of 100 allows all vertical movement. Y range is only enabled when the transform axis is set to custom.

Iris Object

The iris object is determined mainly by the shape of the camera lens and can be best seen on out-of-focus highlights which assume the shape of the lens aperture. A lens with few aperture diaphragm blades (say 5) tends to produce pentagonal irises, whereas a lens with more aperture blades (say 7-8) tends to produce rounder (heptagonal/octagonal) irises. Ultimately, a higher number of aperture blades will produce more circular irises. In the custom attribute dropdown menu, the iris can be toggled between a circular or polygonal iris.

Intensity: Specifies the intensity of the iris.

Scale: Controls the size of the iris.

X Offset: Controls the horizontal position offset of the iris.

Y Offset: Controls the vertical position offset of the iris.

Aspect: Controls the aspect ratio of the iris. Aspect ratio is also useful for anamorphic flares.

X Stretch: Horizontally stretches the iris.

Y Stretch: Vertically stretches the iris.

Rotation: Controls the angle of the iris blades. Auto will automatically rotate the iris according to the flare position.

Blades: Controls the number of iris blades when the custom object attribute in the top menu is set to polygonal.

Blade Curve: Controls the roundness of the iris blades.

Aberration: Controls the spherical aberration of the iris.

Aberration Scale: Controls the size of the spherical aberration of the iris.

Aberration Offset: Controls the offset of the spherical aberration of the iris.

Asymmetry: Controls the lens barrel optical vignetting of the iris.

Rings: Controls the intensity of the iris edge rings.

Feather: Controls the softness of the iris.

Light Distribution Intensity: Controls the intensity of the light distribution across the iris.

Light Distribution Rotation: Controls the angle of the light distribution across the iris. Auto will automatically rotate the light distribution according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Light Distribution Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion: Controls how much of the iris is visible throughout the circumference.

Circular Completion Rotation: Controls the angle of the circular completion. Auto will automatically rotate the circular completion according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Circular Completion Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion Feather: Controls the softness of the circular completion.

Multi-Iris Object

The multi-iris object is identical to the iris object but instead of dealing with one iris, it generates an array of them. As a result, they both share the same parameters with an additional section that becomes unlocked when multi-iris is selected. This section of controllers is colored gray for ease of identification.

The multi-iris object is especially useful for quickly creating clusters of irises that would have otherwise taken considerable time to produce one at a time. Using the multi-iris controls, they can be easily varied in intensity, scale, position, etc.

Iris Objects: Specifies how many iris objects to generate.

Position Randomness: Controls the randomness of the position of each iris along the light vector. A value of 0 places each iris object equal distance from one another along the light vector.

Spread: Controls how far apart the irises lie from each other along the light vector. A lower value clusters irises closer together.

Color Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected color.

Intensity Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected intensity.

Scale Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected scale.

Offset Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected X & Y offset.

Aberration Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected spherical aberration.

Feather Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected feather.

Light Distribution Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected light distribution.

Circular Completion Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected circular completion.

Spot Glow Object

The spot glow object is a small, concentrated light glow. Unlike the glow object, a spot glow is size dependent so a small one will be generated much faster than a standard glow which requires the full screen canvas. Spot glows are ideal for a wide variety of uses but some of the key ones are the hot flare centers or small light spots throughout the light vector.

Intensity: Specifies the intensity of the spot glow.

Scale: Controls the size of the spot glow. Be aware that large spot glows are as computationally expensive as glows.

X Offset: Controls the horizontal position offset of the spot glow.

Y Offset: Controls the vertical position offset of the spot glow.

Aspect: Controls the aspect ratio of the spot glow. Aspect ratio is also useful for anamorphic flares.

X Stretch: Horizontally stretches the spot glow.

Y Stretch: Vertically stretches the spot glow.

Rotation: Controls the angle of the spot glow, which becomes evident when using X or Y Stretch. Auto will automatically rotate the spot glow according to the flare position.

Gamma: Controls the gamma (midpoint grays) of the spot glow. Gamma is especially useful for generating hot & concentrated spot glow versus soft & diffused ones.

Halo Object

The halo object is a circular, hollow shape that comes in the form of a halo disc or halo donut depending on the object’s custom attribute selected in the top menu. A halo object shares many of the same parameters of an iris object.

Intensity: Specifies the intensity of the halo.

Scale: Controls the size of the halo.

X Offset: Controls the horizontal position offset of the halo.

Y Offset: Controls the vertical position offset of the halo.

Aspect: Controls the aspect ratio of the halo. Aspect ratio is also useful for anamorphic flares.

X Stretch: Horizontally stretches the halo.

Y Stretch: Vertically stretches the halo.

Rotation: Controls the angle of the halo, which becomes evident when using X or Y Stretch. Auto will automatically rotate the halo according to the flare position.

Aberration: Controls the spherical aberration of the halo.

Aberration Scale: Controls the size of the spherical aberration of the halo.

Aberration Offset: Controls the offset of the spherical aberration of the halo.

Feather: Controls the softness of the halo.

Light Distribution Intensity: Controls the intensity of the light distribution across the halo.

Light Distribution Rotation: Controls the angle of the light distribution across the halo. Auto will automatically rotate the light distribution according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Light Distribution Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion: Controls how much of the halo is visible throughout the circumference.

Circular Completion Rotation: Controls the angle of the circular completion. Auto will automatically rotate the circular completion according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Circular Completion Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion Feather: Controls the softness of the circular completion.

Ring Object

The ring object will generate a ring with adjustable thickness and feather. By combining multiple ring objects together, complex natural shapes can be easily created.

Intensity: Specifies the intensity of the ring.

Scale: Controls the size of the ring.

X Offset: Controls the horizontal position offset of the ring.

Y Offset: Controls the vertical position offset of the ring.

Aspect: Controls the aspect ratio of the ring. Aspect ratio is also useful for anamorphic flares.

X Stretch: Horizontally stretches the ring.

Y Stretch: Vertically stretches the ring.

Rotation: Controls the angle of the ring, which becomes evident when using X or Y Stretch. Auto will automatically rotate the halo according to the flare position.

Thickness: Controls the thickness of the ring.

Feather: Controls the softness of the ring.

Light Distribution Intensity: Controls the intensity of the light distribution across the halo.

Light Distribution Rotation: Controls the angle of the light distribution across the ring. Auto will automatically rotate the light distribution according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Light Distribution Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion: Controls how much of the ring is visible throughout the circumference.

Circular Completion Rotation: Controls the angle of the circular completion. Auto will automatically rotate the circular completion according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Circular Completion Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion Feather: Controls the softness of the circular completion.

Caustic Object

The caustic object creates a star-shaped pattern of focused light.

Intensity: Specifies the intensity of the caustic.

Scale: Controls the size of the caustic.

X Offset: Controls the horizontal position offset of the caustic.

Y Offset: Controls the vertical position offset of the caustic.

Aspect: Controls the aspect ratio of the caustic. Aspect ratio is also useful for anamorphic flares.

X Stretch: Horizontally stretches the caustic.

Y Stretch: Vertically stretches the caustic.

Rotation: Controls the angle of the caustic. Auto is always enabled for this object and will automatically rotate the caustic according to the flare position.

Distortion: Controls the star-shaped distortion of the caustic.

Aberration: Controls the spherical aberration of the caustic.

Aberration Scale: Controls the size of the spherical aberration of the caustic.

Aberration Offset: Controls the offset of the spherical aberration of the caustic.

Feather: Controls the softness of the caustic.

Light Distribution Intensity: Controls the intensity of the light distribution across the caustic.

Light Distribution Rotation: Controls the angle of the light distribution across the caustic. Auto will automatically rotate the light distribution according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Light Distribution Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion: Controls how much of the caustic is visible throughout the circumference.

Circular Completion Rotation: Controls the angle of the circular completion. Auto will automatically rotate the circular completion according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Circular Completion Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion Feather: Controls the softness of the circular completion.

Shimmer Object

The shimmer object is somewhat similar to the spikeball object but they are computed in very different ways. The shimmer object is always generated within a bounding box whereas the spikeball object is generated per ray. This means that if one requires a small number of rays it may be more effective to use a spikeball. In contrast, if one requires a large number of rays, it may be more effective to use the shimmer object as it will draw its bounding box size regardless of how many rays are required. Aesthetically, both objects feature similar results but the spikeball offers more ray customization.

Intensity: Specifies the intensity of the shimmer.

Scale: Controls the size of the shimmer.

X Offset: Controls the horizontal position offset of the shimmer.

Y Offset: Controls the vertical position offset of the shimmer.

Aspect: Controls the aspect ratio of the shimmer. Aspect ratio is also useful for anamorphic flares.

X Stretch: Horizontally stretches the shimmer.

Y Stretch: Vertically stretches the shimmer.

Rotation: Controls the angle of the shimmer. Auto will automatically rotate the shimmer according to the flare position.

Width: Controls the width of all shimmer rays.

Rays: Controls the total number of all shimmer rays.

Angle Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected shimmer ray angle.

Intensity Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected shimmer ray intensity.

Width Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected shimmer ray width.

Circular Completion: Controls how much of the shimmer is visible throughout the circumference.

Circular Completion Rotation: Controls the angle of the circular completion. Auto will automatically rotate the circular completion according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Circular Completion Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion Feather: Controls the softness of the circular completion.

Lens Orbs Object

In addition to the capability of using custom texture maps (more info on this below), Ultraflares also provides a lens orbs procedural object for creating out-of-focus lens dirt. The lens orbs object is based entirely upon the multi-iris object so they share common iris parameters, as well as the gray-colored multi-iris controls. However, lens orbs do not behave like other objects in that they cannot move. Additionally, lens orbs are tiled so offsetting them in the horizontal or vertical axis will result in a perpetually-repeatable texture. Using asymmetry on the lens orbs object will result in the unique and realistic cat’s eye bokeh. Lens orbs, like custom lens textures, can introduce an unparalleled level of realism to lens flares.

Please note that like the iris object, lens orbs also share the common object custom attribute in the top menu where one can specify circular or polygonal iris.

Finally, it is important to understand that lens orbs are illuminated by the previous objects in the stack. As a result, lens orbs should be placed last in the stack. If lens orbs is placed first (or early) in the stack, there will be an insufficient number of objects previous to it for illumination. Lens orbs will be illuminated by the color of the previous objects so violet streaks, for instance, will illuminate those parts of the lens orbs in violet whereas yellow glows will illuminate those parts of the lens orbs in yellow. This is based on how real-world lens dirt is illuminated.

Intensity: Specifies the intensity of the irises.

Scale: Controls the size of the irises.

X Offset: Controls the horizontal position offset of the irises.

Y Offset: Controls the vertical position offset of the irises.

Aspect: Controls the aspect ratio of the irises. Aspect ratio is also useful for anamorphic flares.

X Stretch: Horizontally stretches the irises.

Y Stretch: Vertically stretches the irises.

Rotation: Controls the angle of the irises, which becomes evident when using X or Y Stretch. Auto will automatically rotate the irises according to the flare position.

Blades: Controls the number of iris blades when the custom object attribute in the top menu is set to polygonal.

Blade Curve: Controls the roundness of the iris blades.

Aberration: Controls the spherical aberration of the irises.

Aberration Scale: Controls the size of the spherical aberration of the irises.

Aberration Offset: Controls the offset of the spherical aberration of the irises.

Asymmetry: Controls the lens barrel optical vignetting of the irises.

Feather: Controls the softness of the irises.

Light Distribution Intensity: Controls the intensity of the light distribution across the irises.

Light Distribution Rotation: Controls the angle of the light distribution across the irises. Auto will automatically rotate the light distribution according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Light Distribution Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion: Controls how much of the irises are visible throughout the circumference.

Circular Completion Rotation: Controls the angle of the circular completion. Auto will automatically rotate the circular completion according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Circular Completion Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion Feather: Controls the softness of the circular completion.

Spikeball Object

The spikeball algorithm is very effective for producing singular rays. The spikeball object provides more control over each ray whereas the shimmer object provides more control over the entire object as a whole.

Intensity: Specifies the intensity of the spikeball.

Scale: Controls the size of the spikeball.

X Offset: Controls the horizontal position offset of the spikeball.

Y Offset: Controls the vertical position offset of the spikeball.

Aspect: Controls the aspect ratio of the spikeball. Aspect ratio is also useful for anamorphic flares.

X Stretch: Horizontally stretches the spikeball.

Y Stretch: Vertically stretches the spikeball.

Rotation: Controls the angle of the spikeball. Auto will automatically rotate the spikeball according to the flare position.

Width: Controls the width of all spikeball rays.

Rays: Controls the total number of all spikeball rays.

Angle Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected spikeball ray angle.

Intensity Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected spikeball ray intensity.

Length Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected spikeball ray length.

Falloff: Controls the falloff curve of the spikeball ray width.

Flare: Controls the flare of the spikeball ray.

Flare Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected spikeball ray flare.

Spread: Controls the spread of the spikeball rays.

Color Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected spikeball color.

Circular Completion: Controls how much of the spikeball is visible throughout the circumference.

Circular Completion Rotation: Controls the angle of the circular completion. Auto will automatically rotate the circular completion according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Circular Completion Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion Feather: Controls the softness of the circular completion.

Hoop Object

The hoop object creates a circle of radiating lines that streak through the center of the light source. It is often chromatic and therefore usually colored using the spectrum coloring mode. The hoop is a common lens flare object albeit quite peculiar in appearance and behaviorally different from the rest.

Intensity: Specifies the intensity of the hoop.

Scale: Controls the size of the hoop.

X Offset: Controls the horizontal position offset of the hoop.

Y Offset: Controls the vertical position offset of the hoop.

Aspect: Controls the aspect ratio of the hoop. Aspect ratio is also useful for anamorphic flares.

X Stretch: Horizontally stretches the hoop.

Y Stretch: Vertically stretches the hoop.

Rotation: Controls the angle of the hoop, which becomes evident when using X or Y Stretch. Auto if always enabled for this object and will automatically rotate the hoop according to the flare position.

Width: Controls the width of the hoop rays.

Rays: Controls the number of hoop rays.

Position Randomness: Controls the randomness of the hoop ray positions.

Intensity Randomness: Controls the randomness of the hoop ray intensity.

Length Randomness: Controls the randomness of the hoop ray length.

Falloff: Controls the falloff curve of the hoop rays.

Angle Randomness: Controls the randomness of the hoop ray angle.

Length: Controls the hoop ray length.

Spread: Controls the spread of the hoop rays.

Color Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected hoop color.

Circular Completion: Controls how much of the hoop is visible throughout the circumference.

Circular Completion Rotation: Controls the angle of the circular completion. Auto will automatically rotate the circular completion according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Circular Completion Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion Feather: Controls the softness of the circular completion.

Sparkle Object

The sparkle object is a series of light rays that have broken up into smaller ones. Sparkles are great for adding substance to lens flares.

Intensity: Specifies the intensity of the sparkle.

Scale: Controls the size of the sparkle.

X Offset: Controls the horizontal position offset of the sparkle.

Y Offset: Controls the vertical position offset of the sparkle.

Aspect: Controls the aspect ratio of the sparkle. Aspect ratio is also useful for anamorphic flares.

X Stretch: Horizontally stretches the sparkle.

Y Stretch: Vertically stretches the sparkle.

Rotation: Controls the angle of the sparkle. Auto will automatically rotate the sparkle according to the flare position.

Width: Controls the width of all sparkle rays.

Rays: Controls the total number of all sparkle rays.

Position Randomness: Controls the randomness of the sparkle ray positions.

Intensity Randomness: Controls the randomness of the sparkle ray intensity.

Length Randomness: Controls the randomness of the sparkle ray length.

Falloff: Controls the falloff curve of the sparkle ray.

Angle Randomness: Controls the randomness of the sparkle ray angle.

Length: Controls the sparkle ray length.

Spread: Controls the spread of the sparkle rays.

Color Randomness: Controls the randomness of the currently-selected sparkle color.

Circular Completion: Controls how much of the sparkle is visible throughout the circumference.

Circular Completion Rotation: Controls the angle of the circular completion. Auto will automatically rotate the circular completion according to the flare position and will orient it to either the center or light source, depending on what setting the Circular Completion Axis in the top menu has been set to.

Circular Completion Feather: Controls the softness of the circular completion.

Streak Object

The streak object is often the second most commonly-used object next to the glow. Streaks are a key component of anamorphic lens flares and by using the rotation controls, streaks can also be used to easily create glints and starbursts. The object custom attribute dropdown in the top menu provides four different streaks with varying falloff algorithms.

Intensity: Specifies the intensity of the streak.

Scale: Controls the size of the streak.

X Offset: Controls the horizontal position offset of the streak.

Y Offset: Controls the vertical position offset of the streak.

Aspect: Controls the aspect ratio of the streak. Aspect ratio is also useful for anamorphic flares.

X Stretch: Horizontally stretches the streak.

Y Stretch: Vertically stretches the streak.

Rotation: Controls the angle of the streak. Auto will automatically rotate the streak according to the flare position.

Length: Controls the length of the streak.

Width: Controls the width of the streak.

Glow Object

The glow object is the most important lens flare object. It should be included in every lens flare and usually as the primary object. Glows require full screen drawing so they can be computationally expensive. If one requires a smaller glow, it is recommended to use the spot glow object instead.

Intensity: Specifies the intensity of the glow.

Scale: Controls the size of the glow.

X Offset: Controls the horizontal position offset of the glow.

Y Offset: Controls the vertical position offset of the glow.

Aspect: Controls the aspect ratio of the glow. Aspect ratio is also useful for anamorphic flares.

X Stretch: Horizontally stretches the glow.

Y Stretch: Vertically stretches the glow.

Gamma: Controls the gamma (midpoint grays) of the glow. Gamma is especially useful for generating hot & concentrated spot glow versus soft & diffused ones.

Coloring

Ultraflares features a powerful coloring engine allowing each and every object to be uniquely colored by a single color, two blended colors based on screen location, two gradient colors, or a full spectral array. Each coloring mode features color offsetting, color scaling, color saturation, and even spectral blending with the underlying color to reproduce distinctive natural phenomena such as solid colored rays with spectral ray ends. Ray-based objects extend coloring features even further by providing random ray-color controls.

Color Mode Select: Specifies which coloring mode to use for the currently-selected object. Certain color controls will become enabled or disabled depending on what selection is made here.

Color Offset: Controls the shift of the colors when gradient or spectrum color mode is selected.

Color Offset Randomness: Controls the random shift of the colors when gradient or spectrum color mode is selected. This mode only works on objects consisting of multiple rays.

Color Scale: Controls the size of the colors when gradient or spectrum color mode is selected.

Color Scale Randomness: Controls the random size of the colors when gradient or spectrum color mode is selected. This mode only works on objects consisting of multiple rays.

Color Saturation: Controls the saturation of the colors when spectrum color mode is selected.

Color Saturation Randomness: Controls the random saturation of the colors when spectrum color mode is selected. This mode only works on objects consisting of multiple rays.

Color Spread: Controls the masking of the gradient or spectrum colors when gradient or spectrum color mode is selected. The masked areas will reveal the underlying color swatch 1. This feature is quite powerful and ideal for creating colored rays that require spectral ends.

Color Spread Feather: Controls the mask feather of the gradient or spectrum colors when gradient or spectrum color mode is selected.

Reverse Spectrum: Reverses the spectrum color order.

Triggering

Ultraflares provides an impressive feature called triggering. A trigger mask is a gradient that defines how objects behave according to what screen location they are at. With triggering, an iris can scale up as it moves towards the screen edge, a glow can become brighter as it approaches screen center, or a streak can flare up when it leaves the screen altogether.

Triggering is an extremely powerful tool for creating ultra-realistic lens flares. Each object’s trigger value is located to the right of its controller value and the trigger mask can be displayed by clicking on the Display Trigger button.

To use triggering, include a positive or negative value in the trigger box located to the right of any object’s value box. For instance, to increase the intensity of a glow near the center of the screen, set the glow intensity value to 100 and the glow’s intensity trigger value to 100, and invert the glow’s trigger mask so that the red mask is more opaque towards the center of the screen. Now, the trigger value of 100 will be added to the glow’s intensity value of 100 as the lightsource moves near the center of the screen, as described by the inverted trigger mask.

In another example, to increase the scale of a hoop near the edge of the screen, set the hoop scale value to 0 and the hoop’s scale trigger value to 100. In this case, we do not want to invert the hoop’s trigger mask because we want the red mask to be more opaque towards the edge of the screen. Now, the trigger value of 100 will be added to the hoop’s scale value of 0 as the lightsource moves near the edge of the screen, as described by the trigger mask.

Display Trigger: Displays the currently-defined trigger mask in the preview window. The trigger mask is displayed in red. Red parts describe which parts of the screen will influence the object.

Trigger Axis: Specifies the trigger mask axis. To Center will lock the trigger mask to the camera center while To Light will lock the trigger mask to the light source.

Invert Trigger: Inverts the trigger mask.

Trigger Gamma: Controls the gamma (midpoint grays) of the trigger mask.

Global Parameters

The global parameters affect the entire lens flare as a whole, as opposed to individual objects. They are used primarily to tweak the final lens flare and control its compositing with the source image. Using global parameters, one can control the lens flare’s color, blend mode, position, center axis, intensity, scale, aspect ratio, rotation, chromatic aberration and saturation. Additionally, one can set up a lens texture, enable / disable the matte box and sample both intensity and color.

Finally, the global parameters section also includes useful interface tools such as displaying stack numerics, center axes, and aspect ratio guides.

Active: Enables / disable the current lens flare.

Color Tint: Specifies a global color to colorize the lens flare. Specifying a color here will tint all objects in the lens flare with this color. It is useful for color correcting any lens flare to match the image.

Zoom: Allows the preview window to be enlarged or reduced.

BLK: Draws the lens flare over black instead of the background image. This is especially useful for building / editing flares which should be done over a black background for best visibility. This is also useful for non-destructive flare workflow.

Blend Mode: Specifies the blending mode to use for compositing the lens flare onto the image. The blending mode is often chosen according to the lens flare and image. If the image is relatively bright, and the lens flare is strong, additive mode may blow out the image too much and screen mode may be more desirable.

Display Numerics: Numbers the objects in the stack. This is useful to get an immediate report of how many objects are in the stack.

Display Center: Displays a cross in the preview window to show where the camera center currently lies. The camera center may be adjusted using the horizontal and vertical controls.

Fit To Preview: Forces the preview image to fit the largest possible image.

100%: Forces the preview image to 1:1 ratio which is ideal for viewing close-up details.

Guides: Displays various common industry aspect ratio guides.

Position X: Controls the horizontal flare position.

Position Y: Controls the vertical flare position.

Center X: Controls the camera’s horizontal center position.

Center Y: Controls the camera’s vertical center position.

Intensity: Controls the lens flare’s intensity.

Scale: Controls the lens flare’s size.

Aspect Ratio: Controls the lens flare’s aspect ratio.

Rotation: Controls the lens flare’s rotation.

Chromatic Aberration: Controls the lens flare’s chromatic aberration.

Saturation: Controls the lens flare’s saturation.

Enable Lens Texture: Enables the use of a lens texture. Lens textures add a higher level of realism to lens flares. Ultraflares allows the use of any map to be used as a lens texture right within Photoshop. To use a lens texture, please review the Lens Textures section below.

Intensity: Controls the lens texture intensity.

Enable Matte Box: Enables the matte box. A matte box is a device used on the end of a lens to block the sun or other light source in order to prevent glare and lens flare. The effects of the matte box can be seen when the light source exits the screen extents. With the matte box disable, the lens flare will maintain its intensity. With the matte box enabled, the lens flare will lose its intensity the further it travels away from the screen extents, as specified by the fade parameter.

Fade: Controls the matte box intensity distance. A low value will quickly reduce lens flare intensity while a high value will slowly reduce lens flare intensity.

Sample Intensity: When enabled, Ultraflares will read the pixel values of the source image in the preview window and intensify the lens flare accordingly. For instance, if the artist clicks on a dark sky to place the lens flare, the dark sky values will greatly reduce the lens flare’s intensity. Alternately, if the artist clicks on a bright star to place the lens flare, the bright star values will greatly increase the lens flare’s intensity. By clicking and dragging the mouse over the preview window, one will see the lens flare intensity continually adjusting itself in accordance with the source image luminance.

Sample Intensity Matrix: Specifies the sample intensity matrix. 1×1 will read every pixel’s unique values. 2×2 will return the average weight of 4 neighboring pixels. 3×3 will return the average weight of 9 neighboring pixels. Higher values will produce less flickery sampling.

Sample Color: When enabled, Ultraflares will read the pixel hues of the source image in the preview window and tint the lens flare accordingly. For instance, if the artist clicks on a blue sky to place the lens flare, the blue sky hues will tint the lens flare blue. Alternately, if the artist clicks on a yellow star to place the lens flare, the yellow star hues will tint the lens flare yellow. By clicking and dragging the mouse over the preview window, one will see the lens flare tint continually adjusting itself in accordance with the source image hues.

Sample Color Matrix: Specifies the sample intensity matrix. 1×1 will read every pixel’s unique values. 2×2 will return the average weight of 4 neighboring pixels. 3×3 will return the average weight of 9 neighboring pixels. Higher values will produce less flickery sampling.

Lens Textures

Ultraflares uses custom lens textures stored as extra channels. The benefits of this is that the textures can be stored and saved with the image provided one uses a file format capable of storing these channels such as PSD, TGA, TIFF, etc. Another benefit is that multiple channels can be stored using particular file formats such as PSD, allowing the image to carry multiple lens textures from which Ultraflares can choose from. Lens textures are stored as grayscale maps which is ideal since the illumination of them depends on the lens flare colors, not the texture itself.

Use images as custom lens textures.

Easily apply lens textures to your flares.

To use a custom lens texture please follow the steps outlined below:

Ensure that your working layer is the base background layer in Photoshop. If not, you will need to flatten your layer into the background layer.

Click on the image channels.

Click on the top, right-hand corner to create a new channel.

A new channel prompt will appear. Click ok to create the new channel.

A new channel will appear in the channels list.

Copy and paste the lens texture into this new channel. Repeat above two steps for multiple lens textures.

Using the shift key, select all the channels and launch Ultraflares.

The Enable Lens Texture button will now be accessible and depending on how many lens textures you have added, you can select them from the list. To see the lens texture, load a flare or drop in some objects such as a glow. The lens texture intensity can be adjusted with the intensity slider.

Browser

Ultraflares provides a simplified, easy-to-use file browser for quick and immediate access to pre-saved flares. The browser can be minimized to increase the preview window size.

To use the browser, first load any lens flare using the load button. Ultraflares will scan the specified folder and display all existing lens flare filenames in the browser. Clicking on a filename will immediately load the lens flare. Loading another flare from a different folder will update the browser with a new scan from the new folder. Be careful as clicking on any flare in the browser will overwrite the current lens flare and settings.

Changelog

v1.0 – First release.

v1.1 – Fixed file access crashing bug in Windows 10.

v1.2 – Maximize & minimize interface to fullscreen.

v1.2 – Maximize & minimize browser.

v1.2 – Resizeable dialog.

v1.2 – Numerics counter now starts from 01.

v1.2 – 100% feature added for 1:1 preview display.

v1.2 – Zoom enlarge / reduce moved to global settings section.

v1.2 – CPU cores display added.

v1.2 – Included presets have been modified to disable autorotation on spikeballs, shimmers and sparkles.

v1.3 – Fixed incorrect logo display when using larger fonts or DPI.

v1.3 – Centered interface to screen on first launch.

Special Thanks