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v1.3.x Video Copilot Optical Flares for After Effects

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Video Copilot Optical Flares for After Effects
  
Video Copilot Optical Flares for After Effects

Create intricate lens flares in After Effects

Video Copilot Optical Flares is the perfect way to add cinematic flair and realism to your footage! Enjoy creating intricate lens flares in After Effects with an elegant, user-friendly interface. Plus, Open GL acceleration makes it super simple and fast. So, you can make stunning visuals without taking up too much of your precious time. Bring some extra sparkle into life with Video Copilot Optical Flares!

Every flare is completely customizable so the options are limitless. Plus, over 90 minutes of After Effects training with Andrew Kramer is included so new users can get comfortable quickly. Optical Flares is an affordable way to add sophistication and magic to your motion graphics and visual effects!

Video Copilot Optical Flares Features:

  • 3D Lens Flares with AE Lights
  • Intuitive Design Interface
  • Live Visual Preset Library
  • Real Texture Support
  • Dynamic Triggering Animations
  • Chromatic Aberration
  • Up to 32 bpc color support

Video Copilot Optical Flares Interface Features

  • 12 unique Lens Objects
  • 50 custom Lens Objects
  • Large Pop-Out Preview window
  • Rename, & Rearrange Objects
  • Show BG in Preview Window
  • Integrated Copy & Paste
  • Duplicate Objects & Undo/Redo

Video Copilot Optical Flares Preset Browser

  • 60 Built-in Presets (included)
  • Real Lens Inspired Presets
  • Share & Swap Presets
  • Save All Settings in One Place
  • Save & Reuse Individual Objects
  • Expand and Build New Presets
  • On-Lens Simulations Simulate dust & scratches on your lens that become visible by the light source. Includes 12 HD lens textures or use your own.
  • 3D Occlusion Obscure layers by alpha or luminance to simulate the light source going behind objects in the foreground. Works with 2D & 3D layers!
  • Luminance Tracking Generate a lens flare from bright spots in your video such as a particle system or matte layer. Control resolution and threshold.
  • Mask Positioning Animate lens flares along the contour of complex shapes with ease. Great for detailed shapes that would require extra keyframing.
  • Auto-Shimmering Add smooth flowing shimmer to elements with self-propelling animation. Simply set the amount and speed of the animation. -No Keyframes!
  • Chromatic Aberration Simulate realistic color bleeding around the outside of the lens. This effect also helps make the lens flares look more organic & natural.
  • Light Flickering Make lights appear more energetic with random light flickering featuring a unique seed for each light source. Choose from smooth or Twitchy.
  • 32 Bit & GPU Ready Optical Flares renders up to 32 bpc offering high color fidelity as well as the enhanced speed with Graphics card acceleration.
  • Flexible Core Objects Build stunning lens flares with the use of 12 powerful core objects. These elements offer unmatched flexibility with detailed control settings.
  • Precise Translating Control the position of each object with distance, offset, and custom translation. These features are essentials to building anamorphic elements.

Great For:

  • 3D Animation
  • Motion Graphics
  • Commercials
  • Music Videos
  • Graphic Transitions
  • Compositing
  • Special Effects
  • Combine with Particle Effects

Optical Flares Uses:

  • Add final touches to Motion Graphics
  • Simulate Concert or Stadium Lighting
  • Fake Volumetric Lighting
  • Help Blend 3D Animations
  • Build a virtual Light Array for Music Videos
  • Add Realism to your Virtual Sets
  • Add Flares to Live Action Footage
  • Simulate Visible Atmosphere with Lighting
  • Simulate Bright Lights in your scene
  • Draw focus to a product or graphic
  • Accentuate Highlights or contours
video copilot optical flares

Includes Advanced Tutorials

Light up the Night!

  • Optical Flares includes over 90 minutes of After Effects training by Andrew Kramer.
  • Learn to use Optical Flares with several real-world examples and in-depth information on building complex lens flare presets from scratch.
  • The tutorial includes building a wall of lights, constructing a bright concert scene, and tutorials that teach you how to combine Optical Flares with live-action footage.
  • Tutorials include footage and images required to complete the lessons with After Effects.
  • Mac (Intel only*) & PC Compatible
  • After Effects CS5-2023  (including MFR support)

Now that Adobe After Effects is running natively on Apple’s M1 Macs, we’re excited to announce that we’ve updated our plug-ins too! You can run your favorite Video Copilot Plug-ins with Native M1 compatibility, making our tools even faster on the Mac.

Plug-ins with M1 compatibility can run in the new M1-native version of After Effects, which is already up to 3x faster than previous versions on the Mac. And now, with M1-compatibility, Video Copilot plug-ins are ready to go!

*Mac OSX 10.6+ required for OF Version 1.3.3 minimum of CS3

Video Card GPU Support (optional): Optical Flares does not require a special graphics card to render but you can increase render performance with recommended cards.

Recommended Cards (optional):

  • Nvidia GeForce 7000 Series (Except 7300 on MAC)
  • Nvidia GeForce 8000 Series
  • Nvidia GeForce 9000 Series
  • Nvidia GeForce 200 Series
  • Nvidia Quadro FX Series
  • ATI X1300 and above on Windows
  • ATI HD Series on Mac

NOTE: Other graphics cards may be supported but speed improvements may not be as great. GPU Compatibility may vary on Mac converted Nvidia Cards, since updated drivers are not available from Nvidia.

The Render version of the plugin requires the same license process as the plugin itself but they can use the attached key file if they do not have access to the GUI (typical of AE Render or true nodes with no monitors).

5.00
5 reviews
100% of reviewers recommend this product
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Customer Reviews

Easy to Download

The plugin is FANTASTIC, and ToolFarm made it effortless to download the plugin after purchase. The Plugin itself is Amazing, and everything they say it is. It has made my life so much easier, and my videos have come to life. I definitely recommend this product to people who are looking for that extra umph for their video editing.

Would you recommend this product to a colleague? Yes

By: Maria Philbrook
Date: July 12, 2014

Better than, and great alternative to, Knoll Light Factory

It has a beautiful interface - makes using it great fun. As another reviewer said, it would be nice if there was a demo, but if you're looking for a flares plug-in just know that this is the one to get.

Would you recommend this product to a colleague? Yes

By: James Scott
Date: April 14, 2012

Who needs Knoll Light Factory any longer?

This is the new industry standard for Lens Flares! Optical Flares is by far the best plugin for creating lens flares. Not only are the possibilities endless but you can also create lens flares that look very realistic. The plugin comes with a variety (about 50-60) of presets wich are very helpful if you don't want to design your own lens flare. Plus it makes it very easy to combine different lens flares, position them with or without the help of AE Lights and much more. And it's fast. Even with a cheap graphics card you can preview the slowest lens flares in realtime. My last thought is just: Who needs Knoll Light Factory any longer?

Would you recommend this product to a colleague? Yes

By: Moritz Lüdtke
Date: April 09, 2012

One of VCP's greatest offerings

As a compositor and motion graphics designer, light and lens effects can really mean the difference between a polished-looking or half-baked shot. Video CoPilot's Optical Flares is one-stop shopping for that final pass on your comp. Adding lens flares in post fell severely out of favor as After Effects' stock flare effect became more and more tired and outdated. But the highly customizable flare settings in Optical Flares helps breathe new life into that kind of design element, and more importantly, does a fantastic job simulating REAL flares-- hugely helpful in my work for matching shots acquired from different cameras. The do-it-yourself flare building options are actually quite daunting at first, so I depended heavily upon the really excellent presets that come bundled with the license until I learned the ropes. It's a great product and VCP's support are great as well when you have questions.

Would you recommend this product to a colleague? Yes

By: Jared Flynn
Date: April 09, 2012

Earns the Microfilmmaker Magazine's Award of Superiority

I was initially super excited for the release of Optical Flares and Video Copilot blew me away by exceeding all of my expectations. There is no doubt that Optical Flares will become an industry-standard suite in no time. It's unfortunate that a demo is not available for download, because I'm convinced that once most users get their hands dirty with Optical Flares they will immediately be hooked.

Read the full review of Optical Flares 1.0 by Nikc Miller at Microfilmmaker Magazine, June 1, 2010.

Would you recommend this product to a colleague? Yes

By: Jeremy Hanke
Date: April 05, 2012

What’s new in Version 1.37

Now that Adobe After Effects is running natively on Apple’s M1 Macs, we’re excited to announce that we’ve updated our plug-ins too! You can run your favorite Video Copilot Plug-ins with Native M1 compatibility, making our tools even faster on the Mac.

Plug-ins with M1 compatibility can run in the new M1-native version of After Effects, which is already up to 3x faster than previous versions on the Mac. And now, with M1-compatibility, Video Copilot plug-ins are ready to go!

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