FLARED - Real-time Lens Flare Add-on for Blender

Flared is a real-time lens flare generator add-on that works directly in the viewport of Blender, using both Eevee and Cycles engine. Really easy to use.
It's available in 2 versions: Flared (Standard) and Flared XT (Extended), which has just been developed and contains 10 cool new templates. Please, watch this video for further information.

You can have a direct preview of the final result without the need to use the compositor. It's not screen space-based, so it works also when light sources move out of the screen. It takes advantage of procedural materials and it's resolution-independent. It's easy to use and customize and can help you to add cinematic looks to your 3D scenes or give more drama to your real video footage. Flared it's not a physical simulation of the light path through the lens, it's a powerful artistic instrument. Please, remember that in Eevee it is easier to have a real-time preview and a super fast render, while Cycles could be slower (because of its nature), depending on your system.

Please, check our official website for other information. Or take a look at this youtube playlist to see Flared in action.

Flared is a simple add-on for Blender 2.9x (or higher).
It is completely real-time, as it adds to your scene the 3D elements that compose the flare.
It’s based on 3D elements and procedural textures, so it’s resolution-independent.

It’s very easy to use: select a camera, select a light source (or more sources), add a flare, play with its sliders and save your presets (to recall them in other projects).
It’s not screen space-based, so it works also when the source is out of the screen space.

Flared ST has 9 base templates with different characteristics. Flared XT has 10 more extra templates, with new features.
For each template, you have different sliders. You can adjust the dimension and the emission values of the different elements that compose the flare, and the number of elements too.

Each flare needs to have at least a camera and a light source (the light source could be an object or a light).
You can create as many flares as you want, there’s no limit (it depends only on your hardware).

You can use keyframes on each slider, to animate your light.
Flared lets you add lens dirt effect to your camera

With Flared 1.9.4 we have implemented a function to auto-detect objects between the camera and the light source, fading in and fading out the flares when needed. Check this video.

There is a parameter to control the distances: in this way, the more the flares are near to the camera, the more they get brighter.
There are known strange behaviors when combining Flared with DOF (this could cause the flares to get blurred) and with motion blur (the moving flares get blurred too). Instead, using Flared with volumetrics has no known issues.
As the flares are generated by objects put in the space in front of the camera, in some scenes with low scale or with subjects near to the camera, you can have glitches and other interpenetrating issues. There is no way to fix this. There is some workaround to try, but sometimes they work, sometimes not.
We’ll listen to our customers' requests, seek for bugs, and try to improve the add-on, updating it every time we will do a fix.
We provide assistance only on the stable version of Blender. Please, don't use Flared for important works on alpha, beta, nightly, or other branches than the official one.

ADDING A FLARE FOR THE FIRST TIME

You can install the .zip file in Blender from Preference/Add-ons/Install... Select the .zip file, install and activate it. Then follow this video, that shows the use of the Octagonal Template.

HOW TO USE FLARED ON VIDEO FOOTAGE

Flared can add lens flares VFX on your real video (not only on 3D scenes and animations). Here is a video tutorial that shows how to do it.

OTHER TUTORIALS...

...about the use of the Presets, light Flickering effect, making the Flare disappear behind objects, hiding the Flares from the viewport, the characteristics of every single Template, advanced Flare editing to achieve different results, could be found in this Youtube Playlist.

CHANGELOG

24.02.2024 - Flared 1.9.54 (ST and XT) has been released
Fix:
- As of now, Flared is not able to work on multiple scenes. When you try to duplicate the scene or move the flares between different scenes, the flares break and can no longer be deleted or edited correctly. This small fix is just to help clean up the scene, making it possible to delete the broken flares.

12.10.2023 - Flared 1.9.53 (ST and XT) has been released
Fix:
- After the previous update, the "Bake Occlusion" function was turning off lights even when placed between the camera and objects, incorrectly. Now the issue has been resolved. In this version of Flared, the "Bake Occlusion" function works better than any previous versions.

09.10.2023 - Flared 1.9.52 (ST and XT) has been released
Fix:
- A bug related to the "Bake Occlusion" function has been resolved, which could lead to errors or unrealistic results. The function has been rewritten and is now more robust in calculating the camera's position relative to the lights and objects in the scene.

20.04.2023 - Flared 1.9.51 (ST and XT) has been released
Fix:
- In the latest versions of Flared, a bug occurred which we were only able to identify and fix now, thanks to the report of a very kind user. When the camera followed a path and had IPO curves (perhaps to simulate shaking), the viewport showed a correct preview, but when rendered with Eevee, the result had a broken flare, different from the viewport. This issue only affected Eevee and not Cycles, and has now been fixed. For this reason, we recommend upgrading to the new version of Flared as soon as possible.

26.03.2023 - Flared 1.9.5 (ST and XT) has been released
Fix:
- Corrected some minor bugs related to the "Force Eevee on a New Layer" function
- Modified some mouseover wordings
- Made minimal changes to the graphical interface to better integrate new functions
New features:
- Prepared for integration with Glared
- Added Import and Export for Presets. Allows creating a .zip file to save presets and import them elsewhere
- Added the version number next to the Flared panel
- Added "Warning" messages in some circumstances
- Added contextual online help

02.01.2023 - added Flared 1.9.4 beta (ST and XT)
New feature:
– Now you can auto-detect the objects between the Camera and the flares, and choose how many frames will it takes to fade in and fade out each flare when it is hidden by an object. This function work in about the 90% of the cases. Sometimes it requires a manual retouch. For now, it has problems when used with multicam (in some cases it does not work properly). Please, watch this video to see how to use it.

18.11.2022 - added Flared 1.9.3 ST (standard) and Flared 1.9.3 XT (extended)Bug fix:
– Users have detected an issue when trying to keyframe sunbeams and ghosts number: it was impossible to animate these values. The problem is now fixed.

16.09.2022 - added Flared 1.9.2 ST (standard) and Flared 1.9.2 XT (extended)Minor bug fix:
– The GUI could have some issues leading the user through the first steps: selecting a camera, selecting a light surce, etc. Now it is fixed.
New version of Flared (Flared XT):
– This is a new version of Flared that could be intended as an extension of the standard addon. It has new stunning templates. Please, watch this video.

05.08.2022 - added Flared 1.9.1
Minor bugs fix/New Feature:
– Sometimes it can happen that you work at the same project on different systems and OS. In this cases Flared could loose the path of the textures used for the lens dirt, giving a purpleish result. Now you can fix it with a function that you can find at the end of the "Extra Menu". The function is "Relink Textures".

02.06.2022 - added Flared 1.9 - VIDEONew features:
– All the shaders have been edited to be fully compatible with Blender 3.2 and the next versions. We’ve made this effort because in Blender 3.2 Eevee has been re-written, and old versions of Flared would have been not compatible with the new Eevee. This upgrade seems to be a good step to the Eevee Next direction, which will replace Eevee in the future (maybe Blender 3.3 or higher versions).
– Important note: all the flares created with the previous versions of Flared will not work in Eevee in Blender 3.2 and higher. If you need to port an old scene in Blender 3.2 you’ll have to store the presets of your flare, delete the old flare, generate a new flare with Flared 1.9 and assign the stored preset to it. This should work.
– We have signed this version as Beta because Blender 3.2 has not been released yet. So maybe we will encounter unexpected behaviors in the next weeks. Please, give us feedback if you find bugs. :-)

17.05.2022 - added Flared 1.8.56Minor bugs fix:
– Fixed an issue that could happen when Flared was installed on a different path (like Dropbox).
– Fixed an issue in Octagonal Flare that could give erorrs when using Blneder 2.83.x.

02.05.2022 - added Flared 1.8.55Minor bug fix:
– Fixed an issue that could happen on macOS in Mavericks when installing the add-on. It happened that the installation failed because of python errors. Now it is ok.

24.04.2022 - added Flared 1.8.54 - VIDEONew Features:
– We’ve added the “Advanced Render Options” tab that can help in managing situations in which the Cycles render generates artifacts. Watch this video to undesrtand how to use it.
Deleted features:
– The Cycles Legacy Mode has been disabled because it was a deprecated system

26.03.2022 - added Flared 1.8.2
Compatibility note:
– Please, note that flares made in previous versions will not be compatible with this version. They should be deleted and added again in Flared 1.8.2. In this way, their shaders will be updated with the new Cycles branch.
Bug Fix:
– The shaders adapted for Cycles had got drivers that gave cyclical dependencies errors in the console. Now they have been fixed.
– The "Rounded" template could give some overlapping issues in Cycles render. Now it's fixed.
– In the"Rounded" template there was a ghost that didn't react to the global color slider. Fixed.
– In the "Simple" template the dirt was purple instead of grey. Fixed.
– We have fixed the intensity of the emission of the glow in the "Horizons" template when rendered in Cycles (it was too high).
– In the"Horizons" template there was a ghost that didn't react to the global color slider. Fixed.
– In the"Hooper" template the dirt was purple (only when rendered in Cycles). Fixed.

12.03.2022 - added Flared 1.8 beta with direct Cycles render (VIDEO)Compatibility note:
– We have defined it as Beta, because we are testing it. We're not sure, for now, if this version is completely compatible with flares created with the previous versions of Flared and Blender. You can try, but it is advisable to use it in new scenes using Blender 3.1 or higher.
New Features:
– Now you can view in the viewport and render flares in Cycles too, as for Eevee. There are no workarounds, because now the shaders are fully compatible with Cycles.
– The old function "Move flares on a new Eevee scene" has been removed. If you want to activate it again you should go in the Preferences/Add-on and thick "Cycles Legacy Mode". But it will be probably removed in the future versions of Flared.
– Added a new slider to control the Seed of the ghosts generator (to avoid ovelapping planes).
Known issues:
– Sometimes you can have fireflies, generated by interpenetrating planes. Generally they can be removed with the denoise options of Cycles. But we're working on this, trying to reduce the possibility of overlapping planes.

24.12.2021
Flared 1.7.41 is now stable. You can use it with Blender 3.0 too

16.12.2021 - added Flared 1.7.41 beta for all Blender versions
Compatibility note:
– We have defined it as Beta, because we are testing it. NOTE: to avoid compatibility issues with flares generated with previous versions, it's advisable to delete and generate old flares again.
Bug Fix:
– Fixed an issue related to GPU rendering and OptiX in Cycles: the flares were visible as white planes, now they are ok.
– Fixed another issue with Blender 3.0: each time the user created a flare, a new camera was created too: not it is ok. Please, let us know about your experience with this new version.

11.12.2021 - added Flared 1.7.4 beta for all Blender versionsCompatibility note:
– We have unified the 2 branches into 1, that is a better solution. This should work with both 2.8x - 2.9x and 3.x versions of Blender. We are testing it yet. But we have decided to publish it in the store because people asked for it. So, use it at your own risk.

27.11.2021 - added Flared 1.7.31 beta for Blender 3x
Compatibility note:
– We have now 2 different branches (because there are differences of code between Blender 2.9.x and Blender 3.x). For this reason, you will find Flared 1.7.2x that should be used with Blender 2.9.x and Flared 1.7.3x that should be used with Blender 3.x). The branch 1.7.3x is in beta because Blender 3.x isn't been released yet.

01.11.2021 - Flared 1.7.21
Bug Fix:
– Fixed a compatibility issue: Flared 1.7 was not able to delete flares made with older versions. Now it can. Please, remebber that the new Distance Control is available only on flares generated from Flared 1.7

27.10.2021 - Flared 1.7.1
Flared 1.7.1 is now stable. Please, note that there are some incompatibilities with flares made in previous versions of Flared (for example the Distance Control can't be used with old flares)

10.10.2021 - Flared 1.7.1
Bug Fix:
- Fixed a bug related to flares made with old versions. When deleting them, it gave an error. Now it is fixed: you can delete flares made with old versions of Flared

09.10.2021 - Flared 1.7
New Feature:
- added a brand new "distance control" to set up how the far flares will be smaller than nearer ones

27.09.2021 - Flared 1.6.83
New Feature:
- now you can activate and deactivate each flare directly in the panel of Flared, using the "eye" icons. It works for render too. Thanks to our user "Nopi" for this suggestion
Bug Fix:
- into the Octagonal flare there was a single ghost that didn't react to the Ghost Scale slider. Now it's fixed
- when moving the flares on a new scenes in Eevee (while working in Cycles), Flared didn't copy the dimensions of the original scene to the new one in Eevee. Now it does
- with the 1.6.81 we introduced a new bug for mistake: when working in Cycles and moving the flare to the new scene in Eevee, the Cycles render failed because there were all the elements of the flare in the scene with a white shader. Now it's fixed and everything should work fine, like in the previous versions

28.08.2021 – Flared 1.6.81
Minor Bugs Fix:
– Solved some compatibility issue detected with Blender 2.93.x
– Solved other minor stability bugs that could cause crashes

12.02.2021 – Flared 1.6.79
Minor Bugs Fix:
– Solved a problem related to the deletion of corrupted flares (it could fail)
– Solved a minor bug that happened when the user changed manually the path of the pictures included in the addon

30.10.2020 – Flared 1.6.7 is now the official release

14.10.2020 – Flared 1.6.7 beta
Cycles support:
– now you can set up your flares quickly into your Cycles scene, using a new function that will automatically create a linked scene that will be rendered and composited at the same time, while rendering the Cycles scene
– the Cycles support works with multicam too
General features:
– now you can select the flare directly in the viewport (clicking its source object) and the correct flare will automatically be selected in the Flared panel so that will be easy to modify the desired flare

03.07.2020 - Flared 1.6.1
Minor Bugs Fix:
- Octagonal Flared had an issue when used with active DOF on camera. And the ghosts didn't work with the Obstacle Occlusion slider.
- We also changed the code because Flared ran into trouble if the script were sourced from an alternate location.

17.08.2020 - Flared 1.6.5
- added multicam support. You can easily choose which flare will follow the active cam and which won’t
- added an option to move a flare on a New View Layer
- added a little thumbnail near the flare to help to recognize it
- now you can edit the flare initials
- changed the icon to select a flare (instead of the checkbox)
- changed the tooltips on mouseover to make all the functions more understandable
- the active flare is now automatically selected into the outliner and the viewport

FAQ

Does it work with a render farm?
No, today there's only one way to render through a render farm: the render farm should have Fared installed on their systems (and we don't have experience in this).

Which kind of support will I have if I buy Flared1.x ST or XT?
You can direct message us to ask how to use the add-on. You can ask for some tweaks. You can track bugs. You can obtain some custom modifications if needed. We will try to solve each kind of problem that you can have. You'll have direct access to all the upgrade that we will release for your version of Flared. All for free.

If I have already bought Flared Standard, can I have Flared XT by paying only the difference instead of the full price?
The answer should be "yes". But, if you are in trouble because the store does not subtract the price of Flared Standard, please, write and we will help you with a personal coupon.

Which are the differences between Flared (Standard) and Flared XT (Extended)?
They are identical except for the kind of templates that comes by default. Flared Standard has 9 templates. Flared XT has the same 9 templates + 10 more brand-new advanced templates. All the functionalities are the same and both the versions will be updated following the same roadmap.

Does it work in Cycles?
Yes, from version 1.8 (released in March 2022) you can view in the viewport and render in Cycles, natively, because we have done the shaders from scratch, to be fully compatible with Cycles too. Here is a video about Cycles and Flared. It is fully functional in Eevee too. Please, remember that in Eevee it is easier to have a real-time preview and a super fast render, while Cycles could be slower (because of its nature), depending on your system.

Which are the system requirements?
We have tested Flared on Mac, Win and Linux. If you can work in Blender 2.9x and higher on your system, you'll have no problem using Flared. For Cycles you'll need more power to have a good real-time preview and acceptable render times.

How to install it?
You can install the .zip file in Blender from Preference/Add-ons/Install... Select the .zip file, install and activate it. It will appear on the right sidebar in the viewport (if you don't have it, press the N key), as a tab named Flared.

Can I use Flared on alpha, beta, or other branches of Blender?
Yes, you can try, but at your own risk, because we can give you assistance only if you use the official stable version of Blender.

Can I create my own templates?
No, Flared comes now with 9 templates that you can highly modify using the sliders of the editing panel. You can save your presets and recall them in other projects. Here is a video about the use of presets.

Does it simulate the physics of the camera lens?
There is no physical base in Flared: it doesn’t simulate real light or lenses, even if it's able to add lens dirt. It is an artistic instrument to add drama and cinematic effects to your renders and animations.

Are there particular situations in which Flared fails?
As the flares are generated by objects put in the space in front of the camera, in some scenes with low scale or with subjects near to the camera, you can have glitches and other interpenetrating issues. There is no way to fix this. There is some workaround to try, but sometimes they work, sometimes not. When using Cycles, is advisable to choose Blender 3.3 which is far better that the previous versions.