Sprite flare

Sprite flare is a Stylise effect.

What it does

Draws a flare from a design: a list of elements such as glows, rays, rings and ghosts, kept in the effect and made in the Flare window. The rows below animate the whole flare. The design itself does not animate.

Ghosts and other elements on the axis line up on the line from the light through the Centre, so they swing across the frame as the light moves.

Parameters

Parameter	Control	Range	Default	Unit
Edit flare…	Button	-	-	-
Light x	Slider	0 to 3840; any value by typing	640	Pixels at composition size
Light y	Slider	0 to 2160; any value by typing	360	Pixels at composition size
Light from	Dropdown	Point · 3D point · Lights · Bright spots · Mask points · Points	Point	-
Light z	Slider	-4000 to 4000; any value by typing	0	Pixels at composition size
Mask	Masks	This layer’s masks	First mask	-
Threshold	Slider	0 to 1; higher	1	-
Softness	Slider	0 to 1; higher	0.25	-
Brightness	Slider	0 to 4; higher	1	-
Size	Slider	0 to 400; higher	100	Per cent
Rotation	Dial	Any angle; snaps every 15° while a modifier is held	0°	Degrees
Colour	Colour	Each channel 0 to 4, scene-linear	1, 1, 1, 1	-
Evolution	Dial	Any angle; snaps every 15° while a modifier is held	0°	Degrees
Centre X	Slider	0 to 3840; any value by typing	960	Pixels at composition size
Centre Y	Slider	0 to 2160; any value by typing	540	Pixels at composition size
Amount	Slider	0 to 1	0	-
Speed	Slider	0 to 30; higher	8	-
Seed	Slider, whole numbers	0 to 999; higher	1	-
Use light colour	Checkbox	On or off	On	-
Use light intensity	Checkbox	On or off	On	-
Size with distance	Checkbox	On or off	Off	-
Hide behind	Layer	Any layer in the composition	None	-
Hiding › Channel	Dropdown	Alpha · Luma	Alpha	-
Light size	Slider	0 to 400; higher	20	Pixels at composition size
Depth	Layer	Any layer in the composition	None	-
Light distance (m)	Slider	1 to 1000; down to 0.01 and higher	1000	-
Edge fade	Slider	0 to 1000; higher	200	Pixels at composition size
Texture layer	Layer	Any layer in the composition	None	-
Mix	Slider	0 to 100	100	Per cent
Blend	Dropdown	Normal · Darken · Multiply · Colour burn · Linear burn · Darker colour · Add · Lighten · Screen · Colour dodge · Lighter colour · Overlay · Soft light · Hard light · Linear light · Vivid light · Pin light · Hard mix · Difference · Exclusion · Subtract · Divide · Hue · Saturation · Colour · Luminosity	Normal	-
Matte	Layer	Any layer in the composition	None	-
Invert	Checkbox	On or off	Off	-
Channel	Dropdown	Luminance · Alpha · Red · Green · Blue	Luminance	-

In the Effect Controls panel:

Centre groups Centre X, Centre Y, and starts closed.
Flicker groups Amount, Speed, Seed, and starts closed.
Lights groups Use light colour, Use light intensity, Size with distance, and appears while Light from is 3D point or Lights or Bright spots or Points.
Hiding groups Hide behind, Channel, Light size, Depth, Light distance (m), Edge fade, and starts closed.
Textures groups Texture layer, and starts closed.
Light x is editable while Light from is anything but Lights.
Light x is editable while Light from is anything but Bright spots.
Light y is editable while Light from is anything but Lights.
Light y is editable while Light from is anything but Bright spots.
Light x is editable while Light from is anything but Mask points.
Light x is editable while Light from is anything but Points.
Light y is editable while Light from is anything but Points.
Light y is editable while Light from is anything but Mask points.
Use light colour is editable while Light from is anything but 3D point.
Use light intensity is editable while Light from is set to Lights.
Size with distance is editable while Light from is anything but Bright spots.
Channel is editable while Hide behind names a layer.
Light distance (m) is editable while Depth names a layer.
Matte is an input to an effect, scaling the strength. Invert inverts the mattes for calculating strength.

What each control does

Edit flare… opens the Flare window. See The Flare window.
Light: where the light is.
Light from: Point is the Light row. 3D point places the light at Light x, Light y and Light z in the composition’s 3D space, seen through its camera. A light behind the camera draws nothing. Lights draws a flare for each Light layer in the composition, up to 16, and skips ambient lights. Bright spots draws a flare for each bright spot in the layer’s own picture, up to 16. Mask points draws a flare on each vertex of the mask picked in Mask, up to 16, and follows the mask as it moves. The mask also cuts the layer unless its mode is None. Points draws a flare on each point of a points stream wired into the effect, up to 16, in the point’s colour and at its opacity.
Threshold: how bright a spot must be to flare, in Bright spots.
Softness: how far above Threshold a spot flares fully.
Mask: the mask whose vertices flare, in Mask points. Unset is the layer’s first mask.
Brightness: the gain on everything the flare draws.
Size: the size of the whole flare, in per cent.
Rotation: turns the whole flare.
Colour: multiplies the light’s colour.
Evolution: moves the shimmer of rays and the drift of orbs.
Mix: how much of the result replaces the original.
Matte and Invert drive the strength of the effect from another layer’s brightness; see Effects.

The Centre group:

Centre X and Centre Y: the point the axis runs through. A new Sprite flare puts it in the middle of the composition.

The Flicker group:

Amount: how far the brightness dips at random. 0 is no flicker.
Speed: dips a second.
Seed: picks a different flicker.

The Lights group:

Use light colour: each flare takes its light’s colour.
Use light intensity: each flare takes its light’s intensity.
Size with distance: a flare shrinks as its light moves away from the camera.

The Hiding group:

Hide behind: a layer the light can go behind.
Channel: reads that layer’s Alpha or Luma.
Light size: the size of the light, in pixels. A light half covered flares at about half.
Depth: a layer read as distance. The light hides where it is nearer than Light distance (m).
Light distance (m): how far the light is from the camera, in metres.
Edge fade: how far past the frame’s edge the light fades out. 0 never fades.

The Textures group:

Texture layer: a layer whose picture elements can use as their texture.

When the layer and the composition have motion blur on, the flare blurs along the light’s path. Bright spots does not.

The Flare window

Edit flare… opens the Flare window. On the left are the flare’s elements, drawn from the top of the list down. In the middle is a preview with the light, which can be dragged, and a mark at the centre. Under it are the flares to start from, Built in and, once any are saved, Yours. On the right are the controls of the selected element.

Add adds an element.
Drag an element to move it in the list. The eye shows or hides it. Alt-click the eye to show only that element in the preview.
Double-click an element’s name to rename it. Right-click for Duplicate and Delete.
Black shows the flare on black. Frame shows it over the composition at the playhead.
Moving light moves the light round the preview. Still stops it.
Fit shows the flare at the preview’s size. 100% shows it at composition size.
Click a flare under the preview to replace the elements with it.
Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z undo and redo inside the window.

While the window is open the Viewer shows the flare as it is being edited.

Element	What it is
Glow	A soft light round the source.
Rays	Many fine rays of varied length.
Star	A few bold points.
Streak	Anamorphic lines through the light. End width narrows them towards their ends.
Ring	A circle round the light.
Halo	An arc round the light that faces the centre and grows as the light moves out.
Ghost	One iris shape on the axis. Notches cuts a dent at each corner.
Ghosts	A train of iris shapes on the axis.
Orbs	Soft discs across the frame, lit by how near the light is.
Dirt	A texture across the frame, lit near the light.
Picture	One texture at a place on the axis.

Every element has:

Size, Brightness and Rotation.
Colour: Light takes the light’s colour. Solid is one colour. Mixed picks one of several for each copy. Gradient runs from the first colour in the middle to the second at the edge. Rainbow is a spectrum across the element.
Place, on axis elements: 0 is the light, 1 is the centre, 2 is the light mirrored through the centre.
Response: Brighter near makes the element brighter as the light nears The centre or The edges. Amount is how much, Range how far the change spans.
Ignore: the element keeps its own size, brightness or rotation when the effect’s rows change them, or doesn’t fade at the frame’s edge.

Textures are Dust, Smudge, Caustic, Rings, Specks, Hex bokeh, Scratches, Rainbow, Water drops, Grain and Layer, the picture of the Texture layer. The preview draws nothing for Layer.

Import… opens a .flare file. A file that is not one is refused: “Not a flare file”.
Share… offers Export to a file…, which writes a .flare file, and Copy as text.
Cancel closes the window and changes nothing.
Save to your flares saves it to your own flares, offered in every project.
Use flare puts the flare on the effect. It is kept in the effect and saved with the project.

Sprite flare

What it does

Parameters

What each control does

The Flare window

Related