Maya Rendering Guides

Lens Flare

Lens flare and light glow, as illustrated in Figure 10.40, mimic the real-world effect created when light strikes a lens or when the light source is visible in the frame. The flare is created when the light hits the lens at a particular angle and causes a reflection of itself in the optics of the lens.

To enable a light glow, under the Light Effects section in the light's Attribute Editor, click the checkered Map button next to the Light Glow attribute to create an OpticalFX node that will appear in the Hypershade and the Multilister. The Attribute Editor will shift focus to that new node,

Figure 10.40 Light glow and lens flare turned on for the back light which will control the behavior of the light glow and lens flare. The OpticalFX node will contain the following attributes and settings:

Glow Type Setting this attribute specifies the kind of glow: Linear, Exponential, Ball, Lens Flare, and Rim Halo. These define the size and shape of the glow from the light.

Halo Type Specifying a halo will create a foggy halo around the light in addition to the glow. Controls for the halo can be found under the Halo section in the Attribute Editor.

Star Points Setting this attribute specifies the number of star points the glow generates.

Rotation Setting this attribute rotates the orientation of the star points.

Radial Frequency Used in conjunction with the Glow Radial Noise attribute (see the next item) in the Glow section, this attribute defines the smoothness of any added glow noise.

Glow Radial Noise Setting this attribute adds noise to the glow effect, creating light and dark patches within the glow for a more random look.

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Glow Radial Noise = 0 Glow Radial Noise = 0.5

Glow Color Setting this attribute specifies the color of the glow.

Glow Intensity and Spread Setting these attributes specifies the brightness and thickness of the glow and how well it fades away.

To turn on a lens flare along with the light glow, simply click the Lens Flare check box at the top right in the Attribute Editor for OpticalFX. The attributes under the Lens Flare section will control the look of the flare.

Light glows and flares can be highly effective in scenes, adding credibility to the lighting, but they are often misused or, worse, overused in CG. Used sparingly and with subtlety, lens flares can go a long way toward adding a nice touch to your scene.

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