Spark: Knoll Lens Flare Pro.

Knoll Lens Flare Pro is much more than a lens flare. In fact, ILM Special Effects Supervisor John Knoll originally wrote it specifically to create the Photon Torpedos in Star Trek First Contact. This spark is a complete lighting effects kit where you can create and save custom lighting effects ranging from lens flares to lasers.

Lens Flare Pro lets you create and save custom lighting effects. Check out this Trekkie outer space scene. [play]

The Lens Editor.

At the heart of the Lens Flare Pro spark is the 'Lens Editor'. The Lens Editor 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.

This lens flare is a closeup of sunlight bouncing against and pouring through a stained glass window. [play]

Using flare primitives.

Inside the Lens Editor, you choose a 'Lens Primitive' from a popup menu, then combine those Primitives in any order or quantity.

Each primitive has separate parameter controls to precisely tweak specific elements to achieve highly customized effects. Voila! Your lighting effect.

Lens Primitives range from familiar glows and spikes to Panavision Stripes, Chroma Hoops, and Aperture Reflections. These are artifacts commonly seen in real lens photography.

This lens flare is an animated knoll parameter. [play]

Other powerful features.

Auto-Obscuration can turn on/off a light based on the luminance values of another clip. The Auto-Track feature allows a light source to follow another layer's center of luminance. Multi-Track adds the ability to track multiple points, like particle effects, based on luminance. Read more about them on this page.