custom lens flares and lighting f/x
Knoll Spark Pack 3.0 manual
Easily create lens flares and lighting effects
for AutoDeskʼs Advanced Systems.
[ from: Digital Anarchy ]
f/x tools for revolutionaries
knoll spark pack 3.0 : table of contents
Introduction
5
Support
5
System Requirements
Registration
5
Installation
6
SGI/IRIX
6
Linux
Purchased Installation
Get a License for hostid
Find Your hostid
Demo Installation
Knoll Lens Flare Pro spark
Four Input Clips
Lens Flare Pro Interface
Main Page
The Lens Editor
Edit Page
Animate1, Animate2
Important Notes
Main Page Interface
Result button
Setup button
Bg + Flare button
Reset All Keyframes
Auto-Track
Multi-Track
Show Center
2
7
7
7
7
8
8
9
9
9
9
10
10
11
11
11
Preview button
User Position
6
11
Process button
Anim button
5
11
11
12
12
12
12
13
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© 2006, digital anarchy : f/x tools for revolutionaries | custom lens flares and lighing effects.
knoll spark pack 3.0 : table of contents
Brightness
13
Angle
14
Scale
14
Global Color swatch
Tint button
Obscure button
14
15
Source Size
15
Browse button
Lens Editing Parameters
15
17
Edit button
17
Scale, Position, Color
18
Preview area
Elements List
Quality button
17
18
19
Redraw At End button
19
GlowBall
20
StarFilter
20
Lens Primitives
SpikeBall
21
Circle Spread
21
Elliptical Caustic
21
Star Caustic
21
Faded Ring
21
Stripe
21
RandomFan
21
PolySpikeBall
PhotonSpikeBall
22
Aperture Reflection
Chroma Hoop
Single Polygon
Disc
20
20
Polygon Spread
3
14
22
22
22
22
22
© 2006, digital anarchy : f/x tools for revolutionaries | custom lens flares and lighing effects.
knoll spark pack 3.0 : table of contents
Ellipse
23
Chroma Fan
23
Sparkle
23
Element Parameters
Position
24
Load/Save area
25
Anamorphic checkbox
Load button
24
25
Save button
25
Knoll UnMult spark
Front button
Front option
26
26
26
Matte option
26
Both option
26
Knoll Min/Max spark
Min Button
Median option
Max option
27
27
27
27
Square button
27
Get it Free!
28
Knoll Screen spark
4
24
28
© 2006, digital anarchy : f/x tools for revolutionaries | custom lens flares and lighing effects.
knoll spark pack 3.0 : introduction & installation
Introduction
Thank you for trying out Digital Anarchyʼs Knoll Spark Pack. You will find this
set of tools to be remarkably powerful, easy to use, and a great extension of the
capability of your AutoDesk Advanced System.
Knoll Spark Pack includes the following sparks: Knoll Lens Flare Pro, Knoll
UnMult, and Knoll Min/Max. Knoll Screen is available separately as a free
download from the Digital Anarchy website, www.digitalanarchy.com.
System Requirements
Knoll Spark Pack is compatible with any version or higher of the products listed
below: AutoDesk™ effect® 5.0, flint® 5.0, flame® 5.0, inferno® 2.0, smoke®
2.0, and fire® 2.0.
Knoll 3.0 is compatible with 64-bit IRIX systems, and now supports 32- and 64bit Linux systems.
Support
We hope that you find Koll Spark Pack gives you all the control you could want,
while still being simple enough that you can set everything up in a few minutes.
Itʼs our desire to make sure youʼre satisfied with your purchase. If you have any
questions, comments, or whatever, weʼd love to hear them. Send an email to
[email protected].
Registration
Registration occurs when you purchase the sparks. We register you in our
database using the contact information you supplied upon purchase, and the
serial number weʼve given you. If you need a serial number, installer, or any
other material support, just contact [email protected].
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : introduction & installation
Installation
To install Knoll Spark Pack, you will first need to download the appropriate installer.
This page gives you links to versions for 32-bit IRIX, 64-bit IRIX, 32-bit Linux, and
64-bit Linux. These installers are the same for the demo and purchase.
NOTE: On the following page, the remaining instructions are different for installing
the purchased version and the demo version.
SGI/IRIX
If you download the installer from your SGI running your AutoDesk system, the
installation process should happen automatically if you are logged in as root.
If you download the installer from a Mac or PC, copy the tardist files over to your
SGI. Make sure Binary is set in your FTP client, and do not change the name of the
tardist files. If your SGI machine is connected to the Internet, you can FTP these links:
For 32-bit: http://www.digitalanarchy.biz/knoll/Knoll_LFPro_3.01_32.tardist
For 64-bit: http://www.digitalanarchy.biz/knoll/Knoll_LFPro_3.01_64.tardist
On your SGI, log in as root and use the ʻtardistʼ command in a UNIX shell to run
the installer. Then type: tardist /<path to the Knoll tardist file>/
The directory “user/AutoDesk/sparks/DigitalAnarchy” will be created and all necessary
files will be copied into it. This directory can not be changed.
Linux
In Linux, become root and use the rpm shell command to run the proper installer
for your system.
Type this for 32-bit:
rpm -Uvh http://www.digitalanarchy.biz/knoll/Knoll_LFPro_Spark-3.01-1.i386.rpm
Type this for 64-bit:
rpm -Uvh http://www.digitalanarchy.biz/knoll/Knoll_LFPro_Spark-3.01-1.x86_64.rpm
Alternately, you can download the files from our website at these locations:
For 32-bit: http://www.digitalanarchy.biz/knoll/Knoll_LFPro_Spark-3.01-1.i386.rpm
For 64-bit: http://www.digitalanarchy.biz/knoll/Knoll_LFPro_Spark-3.01-1.x86_64.rpm
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : introduction & installation
Purchased Installation
Once the file finishes installing Knoll Spark Pack (see previous page for the
initial steps), a Notifier window comes up asking if you would like to install a
license.
If you are a registered owner, or are trying out a time expiring demo without the
red X, then select the ʻYesʼ button. The Install License window appears asking
for the specific license for your SGIʼs hostid number.
Get a License for hostid
To get a license, please contact Digital Anarchy at [email protected] or
call (415) 586-8434. We will ask for the eight digit hostid number shown in the
Install License window. We will authorize a permanent license or time expiring
demo license which must be entered into the Install License window. Write down
your hostid number and Knoll Spark Pack license number and keep it in a safe
place for future reference.
If you are installing from Software Manager, after the license is entered, the
Manager will ask if you want to save the distribution, and if you have any other
software to install. If you are done installing software, then hit ʻNoʼ twice. You
can then launch your AutoDesk system and access the Knoll Spark Pack.
Find Your hostid
If you need to find your hostid number in Unix, in a Unix shell type ʻsysinfo -sʼ.
You could also run the Install License utility again. The Install License utility can
be found at /usr/AutoDesk/sparks/DigitalAnarchy/INSTALL_LICENSE.
Your hostid in Linux can be found by typing ʻ/sbin/ifconfig/ʼ.
Demo Installation
Once the file finishes installing Knoll Spark Pack (see previous page for the
initial steps), a Notifier window asks if you would like to install a license.
If you are trying out a demo version, simply select the ʻNoʼ button. The three
sparks will function in demo mode, rendering a red X over the image.
After you decide to purchase a fully functional license, simply run the
Install License utility again. This can be found at /usr/AutoDesk/sparks/
DigitalAnarchy/INSTALL_LICENSE.
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© 2006, digital anarchy : f/x tools for revolutionaries | custom lens flares and lighing effects.
knoll spark pack 3.0 : lens flare pro spark
Knoll Lens Flare Pro spark
Knoll Lens Flare Pro is much more than a lens flare. In fact, John Knoll originally
wrote it specifically to create the Photon Torpedos in Star Trek First Contact.
This spark is a complete lighting effects kit from which you can create and save
custom lighting effects ranging from lens flares to lasers.
When Lens Flare Pro is first applied, a default Basic Lens Flare is rendered. From
there, you can generate hundreds of different lighting styles.
Four Input Clips
Lens Flare Pro is designed to work with four input clips. When the spark is
selected, four blue text fields become visible to the right of the Delete button,
explaining what each input is for.
The first input is the Background (Bg). This is the layer that the lighting effect
will be applied to.
The second input is the Tint control layer. This input is used to tint the color of
the light to the RGB values found in this clip.
The third input is the Obscure layer. This input is used to automatically control
whether a lighting effect is on or off, and is usually comprised of a black-andwhite mask composition.
The fourth input is the tracker layer. This layer is usually comprised of
individually rendered out ʻlightsourcesʼ from your footage that the spark can use
to automatically track and position the lens flares.
If you do not need to use any or all of these additional inputs, simply select the
Background input multiple times.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : lens flare pro spark
Lens Flare Pro Interface
The Lens Flare Pro interface has been set up to sprawl across four parameter
pages. These pages are named Main, Edit, Animate1, and Animate2.
The Knoll Spark controls have been updated in Version 3.0 with the ability to
load, edit, and save out custom lens flares. Animation controls have also been
added.
Main Page
The Main page contains all of the controls that were explained in the previous
section. From here, you can go to the Edit page, which contains controls that
can be tweaked for each individual flare element. You can also access the
Animate1 and Animate2 pages, which each animate one flare element.
The Lens Editor
The IRIX versions have a stand alone editor, called the Lens Editor, that can
be launched from the Main page. This application cannot run in the Linux
environment, however, so all of its functionality has been duplicated in the
spark interface in order to increase the sparkʼs versatility.
A detailed explanation is in the Lens Editing Paramters section.
Edit Page
The Edit page allows you to modify the lens flare file that is currently loaded into
the spark. The parameters in this area become activated when the Edit button
on the Main page is pressed.
NOTE: Before hitting the Edit button, it is strongly recommended that you use
the Save As option in the Main page to save out your own copy of the lens flare
file. Otherwise, you will be editing the original preset files.
To edit the flare elements, select the element from the pop-up on the right side
of the interface. This pop-up list is limited to 20 entries, so any files that have
more than this will have ---Back--- and ---Next--- items listed in it to reveal
the rest of the elements.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : lens flare pro spark
To create another element, choose the type from the Add Element popup. The
Delete, Move Up, and Move Down button operate on the currently selected
element. There are only 7 name entry controls for renaming elements. These will
adjust to center around the current selection (if you have more than 7 elements).
The other controls available will depend on the current selection.
Note that these controls canʼt be animated, and they wonʼt affect your setup file.
Any changes you make will be saved into the flare file.
Animate1, Animate2
The Animate1 and Animate2 pages contain 14 element Boolean controls to edit
the individual flare elements. These are usually used for editing, but the lens file
format doesnʼt store them. They are instead part of the flame setup file, so they
canʼt scroll like the name controls. Since you are not actually editing the flare
file itself, the Edit button on the Main page doesnʼt need to be active.
These pages also have controls to override the current flare. This is where you
can animate flare files. You can also use these pages to modify a flare without
creating a new file. Each of the two pages provides one override.
Change the Animate popup from None to Flare Element and select an element
on the right. (These override pop-ups, unfortunately, stop at 20 elements
because they are part of the flame setup files.) The other controls can animated
and will be part of the setup file.
The override controls can also be used to create new elements. Switch the
Animate popup from None to New Element and choose the element type on the
right. This element will be added at the end of the elements in the flare file.
Important Notes
NOTE 1: If both of these pages are set to New Element or None (not Flare
Element), youʼll start will an empty file. This allows you to create a 1 or 2
element flare with no file at all.
NOTE 2: As you switch to new elements, key frames will be set to match the
default values of the element you selected. This means that editing a lens might
overwrite your override values.
The individual parameters contained in these pages are explained in the Lens
Editor Interface section and in the Element Parameters section.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : lens flare pro interface
Main Page Interface
When Knoll Lens Flare Pro is first applied, a default Basic Lens Flare is rendered
on top of the Background. This opens up the Main page of the spark interface.
The four interface pages are listed in the Lens Flare Pro Interface section.
In the Main Page, the first column of buttons below the Exit button are used
to display the inputs selected from the desktop. The Track input is labeled as
ʻAuxʼ. You can view any of these inputs for precise alignment of light source
locations.
Result button
The Result button shows the composite of the Lens flare Pro lighting effect and
the Background. This Result is seen in the image to the right.
Setup button
The Setup button contains options to load and save spark setup files for Knoll
Lens Flare Pro.
Process button
The Process button is used to process the clip. The processed clip starts from
the current frame and renders to the out point.
Preview button
The Preview button is used to refresh the render. This is sometimes necessary
when a custom lighting effect is first loaded with the Browse button, or when
the Redraw preferences are set to never redraw.
Bg + Flare button
The Bg + Flare button can be switched to Flare Only. This disables the
Background input and allows you to preview or process the lighting effect
against a clean black background.
AutoKey is turned on by Default. If parameters change at different times,
keyframes are automatically set. Note that the Muti-Track and Auto-Track
features will override any location changes.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : lens flare pro interface
Anim button
The Anim button contains the keyframe/curve editor for animating the spark
properties. Only parameters in the AutoDesk interface can be animated. These
animatable parameters include Location, Brightness, Scale, Angle (only rotates
specific Lens Primitives), and Obscuration Size.
Attributes in the Lens Editor can not be animated. This is because the Lens
Editor was designed to mimic real world lens reflections, and these artifacts do
not traditionally change over time. If you do want to animate Lens Primitives,
you can create custom flares containing separate Lens Primitives. Then animate
each of these layers separately in Action or the DVE.
The X and Y coordinates are used to position the light source location. The
location can either be changed in these text fields by dragging or numerically
entering values, or interactively with the cursor on the image.
By default, Knoll Lens Flare Pro is set to Redraw At End, so you will not see
changes as you drag the pointer until you mouse up. As the light source location
changes, the Lens Primitives will behave like real world camera artifacts.
Reset All Keyframes
When you use Knoll Lens Flare Pro, the animation keyframes from the previous
session might still be set so use the Reset All Keyframes button to delete them.
User Position
By default the light source location is set to User Position. This is the location
set in the X and Y coordinates, or by choosing a position with the pointer.
This button can be changed to Auto-Track or Multi-Track, which will override
the X and Y coordinates.
Auto-Track
When User Position is set to Auto-Track, the light source location of a single
flare is controlled by the luminance of the Track input (Aux button). If a single
white dot against a black background is used as the Track input, the single flare
will jump to the center of the white dot.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : lens flare pro interface
If two white dots are against a black background, a single lens flare will jump
to the location in-between the two dots. To create lighting effects in a CG
environment, replace the light source with a small fully luminous sphere in
the 3D application, render the sphere out separately, then use this clip as your
Track input.
The light source location will then jump to the center of the sphere. Auto-Track
also can be used in conjunction with the same input clip set for Obscuration to
control the size of the flare depending on the size of the luminance area being
tracked.
Multi-Track
When User Position is set to Multi-Track, the light source location of multiple
flares is controlled by the luminance of the Track input (Aux button). If two
white dots are against a black background, two flares will be rendered, and each
one will jump to the center of each dot. This allows you to attach multiple lens
flares to particle systems, which can create some amazing light effects.
Note that the more particles, the more flares that need to be created. This can
dramatically slow down rendering time, and if there are too many flares it can
easily blow out the image.
Generally, lighting effects that use the Multi-Track feature should have
their global scale and brightness reduced. Multi-Track also can be used in
conjunction with the same input clip set for Obscuration to control the size of
the flare depending on the size of the luminance area being tracked.
Show Center
Show Center turns on a cross hair at the center of the flare. This is useful for
precisely aligning your lighting effect. The color of the cross-hair can be set
with the color swatch below the Show Center Button. This feature only works
when the location is set to User Position.
Brightness
Brightness is used to control the global brightness of the lighting effect.
Raising this value above 100% will intensify the flare until it blows out to white.
Lowering this value below 100% will dim the lighting effect without affecting the
size of the lighting effect.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : lens flare pro interface
A Brightness value of 0 is handled as a special case and will not render. You can
use this feature to completely turn the lighting effect off during an animation.
Scale
The Scale parameter is used to globally adjust the size of the lighting effect
and all of the Lens Primitives without adjusting their position in the frame. This
can be animated to simulate adjusting the focal length of a zoom lens. Raising
the value above 100% will scale the lighting effect up. Lowering the value below
100% will scale the lighting effect down. When using the Multi-Track feature, it
is probably necessary to lower the Scale parameter.
Angle
The Angle parameter is used to rotate specific Lens Primitives so they produce
a “crawling” effect. Lens Primitives that can have an animated angle include
Spikeball, Random Fan, Photon Spikeball, PolySpikeball, and Sparkle. A speed of
about one degree per frame gives these elements a nice “life” to them.
This Angle control is not related to the angle control found in the Lens Editor
interface.
Global Color swatch
The Global Color swatch below Angle is used to override the color of the original
.lfp file. To simulate an orange light, set this color swatch to orange. Only Hue
and Saturation are used from this color sample.
For example, light orange and dark orange will result in the same render. Since
only Hue and Saturation are used, gray, black or white will not make a flare
darker or lighter, but rather will produce the original colors set in the .lfp file.
Tint button
The Tint button by default it is turned off. When Tint is turned on, the color of
the lighting effect will tint to the RGB value found in the same position in the
Tint input clip.
As an example, if you wanted to apply a Lens Flare against a stained glass
window the Tint input can be the same input as the Background. This way, as
the lens flare moves position over the Background, it will tint to the color of the
stained glass. Other shots might require a separate Tint input.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : lens flare pro interface
To fully take advantage of the automatic tinting, make sure the Global Color
swatch is set to white.
Obscure button
The Obscure button by default is turned off. When turned on, the Obscure input
clip is used to determine whether a flare is on or off. The automatic obscuration
is based on the white or black values of the Obscure input clip.
When the light source location is in a position where the Obscure input is black,
the flare will be completely turned on and use the values set in the Brightness
and Scale parameters.
When the light source location is in a position where the Obscure input is white,
the flare will be completely turned off. Any intermediate shade of gray will
produce an intermediate intensity depending on how light or dark it is.
For instance, letʼs say that an airplaneʼs matte is used as the Obscure input.
When the light source location enters the white area of the matte, the sun shuts
off. The Obscure button has an Inverse Obscuration option as well, which invert
the behavior of the black and white areas. In the airplane example, if Inverse
Obscuration is set, then the flare will be off until it hits the white area.
Source Size
Below the Obscure button there is a Source Size parameter. This value
determines how long it takes for a flare to turn on or off as it hits an
obscuration.
The default value of 2 means that the flare will go two pixels inside the white
border before it completely turns itself off. Those two intermediate pixels will
produce a dimming of the lighting effect.
If the Source size is raised to 10 pixels, then it will have a 10 pixel transition
from on to off when it hits the matte. This is similar to blurring the matte.
Browse button
The Browse button is used to browse custom lighting effects created in the Lens
Editor. These files are saved in the .lfp format, and can be found in the following
directory: /usr/AutoDesk/sparks/DigitalAnarchy/flares. This directory should
automatically come up when the Browse button is pushed.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : lens flare pro interface
Knoll Spark Pack comes with over thirty .lfp files created by John Knoll for his
productions, and additional flares and lighting effects can easily be created
and saved in the Lens Editor. When saved out of the Lens Editor, two files are
created: xxx.lfp is the flare file, and xxx.lfp.p is the proxy image used in the
browser as seen above.
If the flares show up in this directory without the proxy images, then switch the
display functionality from Titles to Proxies in the upper left of the window.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : editing the lens flares
Lens Editing Parameters
There are two ways to access the Lens Editing parameters. One is through is a
small, separate application called the Lens Editor. The Lens Editor was present
in Version 2.0 and we have kept it around for folks who are comfortable with
that editing environment. The Lens Editor only exists on Unix systems. It doesnʼt
exist on Linux systems.
The parameters in the Lens Editor are also present in the primary sparks
interface. These same parameters are accessed through the Edit, Animate1
and Animate2 pages.
The Lens Editor - or the Lens Editing pages – is where you create, modify, load,
and save custom lenses and lighting effects. The interface is broken down into
four main parts: the Preview area, the Elements List, the Element Parameters
area, and the Load/Save area.
Edit button
The Edit button allows you to dynamically update elements in the loaded flare
file. If this is not activated, you wonʼt be able to change anything within the Edit
or Animate1 or Animate2 pages.
Flare Style option
The Flare menu includes an option called Flare Style, which brings up the Lens
Editor interface. The Info menu contains an about box and information about
the software.
When Flare Style is selected from the Flare menu, the Lens Editor interface is
opened. If FlareEdit is opened for the first time in a session, it will default to
the Basic lens flare seen at right. If the Lens Editor has been used earlier in a
session, it will default to the last lighting effect created and validated with the
OK button.
Preview area
The Preview area is for visual feedback only. It lets you test drive the lighting
effect interactively to see how it will behave once applied to your shot. The Fast
Drags check box renders the preview at half resolution to speed up redrawing
complex lighting effects. The Brightness,
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : editing the lens flares
Scale, Position, Color
Scale, Position, and Color parameters in the Preview area are for previewing
only, and mimic the animatable controls found in the spark interface.
When the flare is saved into a .lfp file, these parameters will reset to their default
values. When the .lfp file is loaded into the spark interface with the Browse
button, these attributes can then be set using the standard spark controls.
Elements List
By default, the Elements List contains a basic lens flare made up of three Lens
Primitives; a GlowBall, PolySpread, and a StarFilter. These three elements can be
modified or replaced to create your final custom lens flare or lighting effect.
Each layer in the Elements List has a visibility check box at left to disable the
rendering of the Lens Primitive. This is useful for fine tuning one Lens Primitives
without being distracted by others.
If a layer is selected it is highlighted in black, and the Lens Primitives can be
customized in the Element Parameters area of the interface.
Double clicking a layer allows you to change the name of the layer. Below the
Elements List are two icons. The icon on the right is a trash can which is used
to delete a layer. If a layer is highlighted, click on the trash can to delete the
selected layer, or drag and drop the layer to the trash can to delete it.
The icon on the left is the New Layer icon. Clicking on this icon brings up a popup menu containing all of the Lens Primitives (see next section).
These 19 Lens Primitives contain nearly all of the artifacts found in traditional
lens flares, as well as additional scratches and light effects. Combining multiple
layers of Lens Primitives enables you to create anything from a Panavision
camera lens to a photon torpedo.
Layers can be re-ordered by dragging them up or down the list. Layers can be
duplicated by dragging a layer to the New Layer icon.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : editing the lens flares
Quality button
The Quality button can be changed from full resolution to a lower resolution to
speed up the redrawing of complex lighting effects. Note that Knoll Lens Flare
Pro at Full Quality is limited to 8bit rendering. 12bit projects are not affected by
the 8bit flare, since it renders the 8bit lighting effect over the 12bit background
into a 12bit image.
Redraw At End button
The Redraw At End button can be switched to Always Redraw or Never Redraw.
Never Redraw can be rendered by using the Preview Button. Always Redraw
updates immediately without a mouse-up.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : editing the lens flares
Lens Primitives
This is a list of the Primitives you can choose. Primitives are the basic element
shapes that constitute the various visual elements of a lens flare.
GlowBall
The basic Primitive of most flares. The glow represents the overexposure,
halation and light scattering that a bright light source creates when focused
through a lens onto an image plane. The Lens Primitive Parameter Area lets
you control the color and scale of the glow, as well as whether or not the
characteristic red ring appears. The ring scale, brightness and softness can also
be controlled.
SpikeBall
Most lenses exhibit at least a little bit of radial streaking from the light source,
and the Spikeball Primitive simulates this. Spikes are randomly distributed, but
you have control over the scale, brightness, density, color, rotation, and the
random seed used to generate them.
StarFilter
Most lenses contain multiple bladed apertures to allow more or less light to
pass through the lens, to control exposure. In most lenses, when the aperture is
“wide open” the opening is perfectly circular, but as the lens is “stopped down”,
the opening becomes a smaller polygonal shape.
For example, a five bladed aperture will create a pentagonal opening as the lens
is stopped down. This is why you often see pentagonal or hexagonal shapes on
a lens flare.
The aperture also reflects light a little more right where the blades intersect,
creating a star filter effect. For example, a five bladed aperture closed partway
down will reflect five linear streaks, and result in a ten point star effect. The
StarFilter Primitive lets you simulate this effect. You can control the size,
brightness, color, number of points, width and rotation.
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© 2006, digital anarchy : f/x tools for revolutionaries | custom lens flares and lighing effects.
knoll spark pack 3.0 : editing the lens flares
Polygon Spread
As described above in StarFilter, the polygonal opening of a bladed aperture
can cause a great many polygonal reflections to be visible in a lens flare. The
Polygon Spread Primitive can be used to create a number of random brightness
and positioned polygonal reflections.
Since these are created randomly, there are sliders to control scale, brightness,
number of sides, quantity, position, color, as well as three different random
seeds used in their generation.
Circle Spread
Like the Polygon Spread, the Circle Spread Primitive lets you create a number of
randomly sized and positioned circles. Most of the controls are the same as for
the Polygon Spread. The Circle Spread is useful especially for making the tiny
dots and small circles that frequently appear in lens flares.
Elliptical Caustic
The Elliptical Caustic Primitive simulates a unique distorted reflection observed
primarily in Nikon still camera lenses.
Star Caustic
Another odd shaped reflection.
Faded Ring
Generates a “rainbow ring” that fades out toward the edges of frame.
Stripe
Renders a tapered line with adjustable color, width, angle, brightness and
position. Most anamorphic lenses exhibit a blue horizontal streak through the
center, and most video cameras exhibit a reddish vertical streak through the
center.
RandomFan
Generates an attractively asymmetrical radial streak. It responds to the “angle”
control with a subtle motion of the rays.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : editing the lens flares
PolySpikeBall
Creates an effect like Randomfan, but it renders much faster. Itʼs not as
attractive as the Randomfan, but if youʼre adding just a subtle asymmetrical
streaking to a flare, this might do the trick a lot faster.
PhotonSpikeBall
Just the thing to make Photon torpedoes.
Aperture Reflection
Most film cameras will exhibit a bit of aperture reflection. In film cameras, film
passes through the movement, where it is exposed to light. The movement has
a rectangular hole called the gate that the focused image from the lens shines
through onto the film.
In most cameras, this aperture is polished stainless steel, and is highly
reflective. When the focused image of a bright light gets close to or slightly
outside the edge of frame, it can reflect off of this shiny surface back into the
image causing an aperture reflection.
Chroma Hoop
Creates a circle of streaky rainbow lines that pass through the center of the light
source. This effect is frequently seen in films shot in Super35.
Single Polygon
The Single Polygon Primitive is just what it sounds like, it gives you complete
control over the generation of a single polygon. You can control its position,
brightness, color, size, number of sides, softness, rotation, and the degree to
which it varies in brightness as it moves from the center of frame to the edge.
Disc
Like the Single Polygon, the Disc Primitive gives you precise control over the
generation of a single circular ramped primitive. You have control over the
position, size, color, brightness, gamma, and four parameters that control the
shape of the disc.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : editing the lens flares
Ellipse
The Ellipse Primitive is like the Disc, except that the shape is elliptical, not
perfectly circular. In general, the glow at the light source is circular, and
reflected elements are elliptical.
Sparkle
The Sparkle Primitive generates a number of short linear streaks radially
distributed about the center. The dashes respond to the angle control by
moving in and out from the source.
The “Unidirectional” check box limits the motion to all inward or all outward
(depending on what direction the “angle” control is moving). This Primitive
simulates the sparkle you get when a laser aims into a camera lens.
Chroma Fan
The Chroma Fan Primitive generates rainbow diffraction patterns. These patterns
often appear when a net is used for diffusion over the lens, or when there is fog
or mist in the air.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : editing the lens flares
Element Parameters
The Element Parameters area becomes active when a layer is selected in the
Elements List. The various controls for each Lens Primitive are available here to
modify.
Different Lens Primitives have different parameters, so only some of the ten
sliders will be enabled for some of the Lens Primitives. Each slider behaves
uniquely for each primitive, and the names of the sliders will change to reflect
this.
The Preview Window will update in real time as the Lens Primitives are modified.
To precisely enter a numerical value for a slider, click on the number above the
slider.
Position
Most of the Primitives have a Position parameter. This position is always along a
line that passes through both the center of the image and the light source.
A Position of 1.0 places an element at the light source. A Position of 0.0 places
an element in the center of frame, and a Position of -1.0 places an element on
the opposite side of frame from the light source.
Anamorphic checkbox
Many of the Lens Primitives contain an Anamorphic checkbox. Anamorphic
flares (those with wide elliptical elements rather than circular elements) only
happen with anamorphic lenses, and anamorphic lenses are used to shoot wide
screen motion pictures. Super35 and 16mm motion pictures, as well as film shot
for television and video cameras use “flat” lenses.
Therefore, it is not technically correct to use an anamorphic flare in a Super35
film or a television show. Similarly, the blue horizontal stripe seen in many
anamorphic flares is an artifact of the way anamorphic lenses are built, so you
wonʼt see them in film shot with flat lenses either.
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knoll spark pack 3.0 : editing the lens flares
Load/Save area
The Load/Save area is used to open and save custom .lfp files. Cancel closes
the Lens Editor without changing the settings. OK closes the Lens Editor with
changes in tact, though the .lfp file is not changed.
Load button
The Load button is used to load in a .flp file. The .lpf files can be found in the
following directory; /usr/AutoDesk/sparks/DigitalAnarchy/flares. Once a .lfp
file is loaded into the Lens Editor, it can be modified then saved out into a
new .lfp file. Custom flares can be created on a Mac or PC in Pinnacle Systemʼs
Knoll Light Factory for Photoshop or After Effects (supports Combustion), then
transferred as binary files to your SGI for use in the Knoll Lens Flare Pro spark.
Save button
The Save button allows you to name and save a custom lighting effect into a .lfp
file. This .lfp file contains all of the Lens Primitives with the settings pre-defined
by the user. The .lfp files created can be transferred to a Mac or PC for use with
Pinnacle Systemʼs Knoll Light Factory.
If you transfer a .lfp file to a Mac, the File Type needs to be changed to “LFCF”,
and the creator should be changed to “JKMF”. Knoll Renamer or ResEdit can
change this very easily.
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© 2006, digital anarchy : f/x tools for revolutionaries | custom lens flares and lighing effects.
knoll spark pack 3.0 : knoll unmult spark
Knoll UnMult spark
Sometimes a matte is required for an element that never had one. Knoll UnMult
creates a matte based on the luminance of the RGB channels, allowing ʻlightʼ
events to be composited with an articulate matte. In addition, Knoll UnMult
changes the RGB channels to be ʻun-premultiplied,ʼ giving you access to the
RGB values of an element without any alpha-based attenuation.
Knoll UnMult is the perfect solution for extracting fire, smoke, flares, explosions
and type from black backgrounds without any black fringing.
Front button
The Knoll UnMult spark uses one input clip, and has three options which can be
set by changing the Front button.
Front option
The default option, Front, is used if you only want to un-multiply the color
channel.
Matte option
The second option, Matte, only renders the attenuated matte of the light event.
In this example, the third reel from the bottom is the result of applying Knoll
UnMult with the button set to Matte. If you now take the UnMulted color clip on
reel 2 and composite it against another image using the UnMulted Matte clip in
reel 3, the result would be a perfect composite.
Both option
The third option, Both, renders a clip twice as long as the source, where every
frame alternates the fill and the matte. It can then be split up with the Deal tool
in your AutoDesk system. The result can be seen in the top reel.
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© 2006, digital anarchy : f/x tools for revolutionaries | custom lens flares and lighing effects.
knoll spark pack 3.0 : knoll min/max spark
Knoll Min/Max spark
Typically used to adjust mattes, Knoll Min/Max adjusts each pixel to either the
minimum, median, or maximum value found among the pixels that fall within a
specified area around it. The spark requires only one input clip, then takes you
into the Knoll Min/Max spark interface.
In the left row are two buttons below the Exit button. The Front button allows
you to view the original input clip. The Result button allows you to view the
result of the Knoll Min/Max spark. The Setup button allows you to save and load
spark setup files.
Min Button
Min looks at all the pixels within the sampling area of the pixel being adjusted
and assigns that pixel the minimum (closest to black) of those pixels. If you
have a matte with some noise in the black areas, applying Min will blacken any
areas of white that are smaller than the radius you set. The Min button can be
switched to Median or Max.
Median option
Median looks at all the pixels within the sampling area of the pixel being
adjusted and assigns that pixel the median (closest to gray) of those pixels.
Again this is useful for cleaning up mattes, as well as eliminating unwanted
noise or grain. (see left clip below)
Max option
Max looks at all the pixels within the sampling area of the pixel being adjusted
and assigns that pixel the maximum (closest to white) of those pixels. If you
have a matte with some noise in the white areas, applying Min will whiten any
areas of black that are smaller than the radius you set. (see right clip below)
Square button
By default, the Square button is turned on. This produces a single width for both
the X and Y dimensions. When this button is disabled, the X and Y dimensions
can be set independently in the parameters below the button. In both cases, the
sampling area is defined in pixels.
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© 2006, digital anarchy : f/x tools for revolutionaries | custom lens flares and lighing effects.
knoll spark pack 3.0 : knoll screen spark
Knoll Screen spark
Simply put, Knoll Screen is the best digital compositing method for simulating
the age old practice of double exposing two pieces of positive film.
By multiplying the inverse of the source and target clipʼs color channels, light
values accumulate but donʼt clip, and black remains transparent. No alpha
channel is used. Screen very elegantly composites ʻlightʼ events, such as lens
flares, sparks, glows, reflections, and even fire and explosions.
There are still some advantages to using the Knoll Screen spark over the built
in Screen Logic-Op. Many AutoDesk users are still working on older versions
of Flame which do not have this new functionality. F rom a functionality standpoint, unlike the built in Screen Logic-Op, the Knoll Screen spark offers control
over the opacity of the foreground clip.
Get it Free!
Since a screen transfer mode has been added to the built-in Logic-Ops in
AutoDeskʼs Advanced Systems, Digital Anarchy makes the Knoll Screen spark
available free of charge.
The installer is located on the Digital Anarchy website, and must be installed
separately from the rest of the Knoll Spark Pack. You can find this spark at:
http://www.digitalanarchy.com/section/section_freebies.html
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© 2006, digital anarchy : f/x tools for revolutionaries | custom lens flares and lighing effects.