Optical Flares is a must have plug in for the AE user.

Sometimes people do things at the exact right time. Like Magic Johnson taking a last second shot to win the title over the Celtics. Other times a person may have such a vibe for their marketplace they create a product that feeds a growing demand. Like Steve Jobs and the iPhone.

In this case its a combination of the two. Not only was it the right time but after seeing commercials, movies, and other media having amazing light flare effects, many clients and producers wanted that for their own media.

For years After Effects users have had a great tool, Knoll Light Factory, to use. It provided great flares and did the job we wanted. But... as great as it was there was much room to improve it. The bad news was it never improved in my opinion.
This provided a “perfect timing” scenario for someone to jump in with a flare type of plug in that have a great user interface, many options to customize, and professional pre sets for those who needed to add these effects on the fly.

Enter After Effects guru Andrew Kramer. Some may say guru? Yes thats right. When I went to a recent DMALA meet up that he was at, there was a frenzy to see whatever he planned on demoing. It was a standing room only crowd and some people flew in from as far as India to meet him!

Andrew created Optical Flares, Creative Lens Flare Studio. When I saw this demoed I knew I absolutely had to add this to my arsenal. Let me tell you why.

What is Optical Flares?

Only the most professional plug in I have seen for creating spectacular lens flares. You can design and animate these flares to your hearts content. The unique UI contains 50 customs lens objects, 12 unique lens objects (thats right only here can you get them!), a preview window, and over 60 presets.

You can create your own looks, save them as presets, add textures, control the matte box, and even chromatic aberration.

Why would you want this?

If you have seen movies like Star Trek or other big budget, epic films you most likely have seen sudden lens flares. Sometimes you can get them in camera, meaning the camera was at the right place at the right time, or you need to create them in post. Optical Flares will give you virtually unlimited lens flares, the limit being your imagination. I promise you, just try this once on a project for a client and they will be blown away.

Ok whats the cost?

Get ready for this. Optical Flares is a mere $125. for an extra $25 you can get 50 professional presets too (I recommend getting the presets). They are currently upgrading it for CS5 too.  Think the price is steep? Imagine the time it will take to try to create these flares on your own with a cornucopia of other tools. Time is money and this will save you time and make you money.

Filmmaking Central rates Optical Flares a solid 5/5 stars for performance, ease of use, and incredible customization ability. Pick up a copy today at ToolFarm.com.