Quick links

• What's new in version 2.5?
• Tools included in Knoll Light Factory
• Tutorials, Examples & Flare Preset Guide
• Go beyond the lens flares inside your host application

Version v2.5 provides two separate editions to better deliver the combination of price and features for your specific needs. Compare the Pro and Editors editions.

• 25 NEW preset flares effects, including Flash Bulb, digital camera sun, and more...
• GPU Engine up to real-time rendering and playback
• Added control for Light Factory Spectacular including brightness and scale
• Integrated alpha generation with Knoll Unmult
• New host support includes Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Motion and Avid

25 New preset flares effects

We've added 25 new preset effects, for a total of 70 flares. Here is an example of some of the new flares!

GPU Engine for up to real-time rendering

We have reengineered the Knoll Light Factory render engine to take advantage of your computer's graphics card or GPU. The result is the same high quality output at up to 10 times faster playback and rendering. Please review the tables below to find a supported graphics card.

Here are the cards that we recommend along with expected acceleration for the flares. Each application will provide different levels of performance and other factors such as flare elements, media size and hard disk or RAID speed will determine your actual playback and render speed. The best OpenGL acceleration can be seen in applications like Apple Motion which features native GPU support.

Macintosh systems

The following table shows the expected playback speed in Motion 2 with an NTSC DV timeline using different supported graphics cards. Different flare effects will give different playback speeds–your playback speed will vary. For Final Cut Pro user we recommend that you use Unlimited RT or Dynamic RT to optimize the playback on the timeline.

Windows systems

The following table shows the expected playback speed in Premiere Pro v2 with an NTSC DV timeline using different supported graphics cards. Different flare effects
will give different playback speeds–your playback speed will vary.

Video card compatibility

Most video cards are supported but not all models have been tested and certified. The current drive release as of the release of the software is NVIDIA 90 series drivers and ATI Catalyst 6.6. PLEASE USE THE LATEST DRIVER UPDATE ON WINDOWS TO ASSURE COMPATIBILITY AND PERFORMANCE.

NOTE: On Windows XP, only NVIDIA-based graphics card can deliver 16-bit/channel output in After Effects using the GPU. ATI drivers and graphics chips do not support the rendering mode required to output 16-bit/channel rendering. Rendering in 16-bit/channel on the CPU is supported on all graphics cards when the GPU switch is off.

Added control for Light Factory Spectacular

We added more control over how Spectacular renders the elements for each point. You can now control the flare rendering to change based on brightness and scale or brightness and scale in combination.

Light Factory is comprised of four main tools that you can use depending upon the desired effect and the time you want to put into lens flare design. Please see the Pro vs Editors comparison for a list of what tools are included in each edition.

• Light Factory (Pro version only)
• Light Factory EZ (Pro & Editors version)
• Light Factory Spectacular (Pro version only)
• Light Factory Elements (Pro version only)

Light Factory

(Knoll Light Factory Pro version only)

Light Factory is the base plug-in. It contains all of the controls and a custom flare editor for building or applying the included flares, allowing you to create and edit your own custom unique effects then save them for later use.

Controls include

• Brightness
• Scale
• Light Source Location
• Color
• Angle
• Tracking
• Obscuration Layer (Making it appear to pass behind objects in another layer)

Below example shows a flare in the Preview window with the Controls below

Light Factory EZ [See list of flare presets]

Light Factory EZ has the same animatable controls as Light Factory, but lacks advanced custom flare editor. Instead, you can choose from one of the 70 Preset flares that are included in the program. This is the quickest way to add a lens flare. See the Preset Flare Guide a complete list of presets and examples.

Light Factory Spectacular

(Knoll Light Factory Pro version only)

Light Factory Spectacular is similar to Light Factory but instead of tracking only a single point in a clip for location, it can be used to track an unlimited number of points. This is a great way to add shimmering particle effects to your work. See examples below.

Light Factory Elements

(Knoll Light Factory Pro version only)

Create light effects beyond flares! Light Factory also includes 19 individual light effect elements as separate plug-ins. By using these separate plug-ins you have keyframable control over the elements, allowing you unlimited motion graphic effects. This feature really sets Knoll apart from any other lens flare light effect program, allowing the user to have full control to create unique animated effects.

Includes the following effects

Many of you know that your host application includes basic lens flare effects, so why buy an additional lens flare generator?

It comes down to three main factors

• How much control you have over the flare to adjust, color, size, intensity, animation, obscuration, and detail?
  Your host application lens flares tool has very basic controls, where as, Knoll gives you the ability to change every macro and micro aspect of the flare.

• Natural apprearance (how the lens flare effect actually appears in nature)
  In the world of computer generated graphics there is nothing worse than unnatural or fake/cheap looking effects. If you've ever read anything about John Knoll (co-creator of Photoshop® and Star Wars/Pirates of the Caribbean Special Effects Supervisor, Read Interview), you know that he is a fanatic about creating natural looking effects. John's Knoll Light Factory™ is no exception, the level of detail and digital simulation of natural light responding to a camera lens is astounding.

• How many presets are available?
  Most lens flare effect tools in host applications offer only a limited number of flare types, sometimes only two or three. Where as, Knoll gives you 70 preset flares. Whether you're trying to create a sun that you wish was there during a shoot, or want to choose just the right light effects for your show opener, Knoll Light Factory has the preset to get your started and complete the project quickly. (See Flare Preset Guide)

Here is a great demonstration of the difference between a standard host application flare and Knoll Light Factory.

Lens flare from Adobe After Effects	Same flare type created using Knoll Light Factory

Knoll Light Factory inside of the various host apps

Screenshot inside of After Effects

Screenshot inside of Final Cut Pro

Screenshot inside of Adobe Photoshop