ProFlares - Ultimate Lens Flares for Unity3D [RELEASED]

The skies of the island demo scene are great also! Can I use it also?

 

I mean can I use everything else in the demo scene other than the flares? Like the island, trees, skies...

 

Yep, everything that is included in the package is covered by the standard unity asset store licence. So your free to do what you like with all of the extras in the package.

Hope this helps.
David.

 

Still eagerly awaiting Rift support, can't wait to see ProFlares in VR!

 

Progress is going well, I should be able to show what I've been up to shortly

 

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Little sneak peak.

 

Woohoo!!!

 

Quick update,

I've finished the Oculus Rift Support!

It took a little longer than expected, but I think it's been worth it! I've managed to make the integration really simple.

Buying a head set really is a must if you want to test your assets for true VR support as there are a few issues that might catch you out, like the SDK moves the cameras after the standard LateUpdate to reduce latency. I have taken this into account so ProFlares can use the SDK's Low latency mode with out causing any lag.

To celebrate here is another pretty picture.

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I will be submitting to the store shortly, and then while it's in review I will right up a post on how to use the new features and best practices.

David.

 

Finally, someone does it right.

 

I have a RIFT, will you be releasing an .exe build for test and play with, would love to take a look?

 

Thanks

Yep, going to do a quick bit of polish to the Island Demo and do a windows and mac build. This will also be included as a demo scene in the package.

 

Hi Guys,

Here is the VR version of my Island Demo. You now get to walk around it

Windows and Mac Version - Both 22mb ish

http://www.proflares.com/htdocs/Demos/ProFlares_VRDemSX.zip

http://www.proflares.com/htdocs/Demos/ProFlares_VRDemo_WIN.zip
( PS. I dont have windows, so can someone confirm its working. Thanks)



Running the Demo -

Alway run your Oculus Config Until first for the best VR experience.

This demo shows the new VR mode found in ProFlares for Unity3D.

Use the WASD controls to walk around.

Use Keys '1' and '2' to change between a night and day.

Use 'M' Key to increase the Flares Depth.

Use 'N' Key to reduce the Flares Depth.


The update is in review so it won't be long until its out on the Asset Store. I'm going to try and write up a Blog post on the new features and some best practices at the weekend.

Thanks,
David.

 

Hi,

It seems that your tool used texture files. Those are compatible with your product?.

 

It's working. It defaults to windowed and 1024 x 768 or something, so you have to uncheck Windowed and set it to 1280 x 800 or 1920 x 1080. Looks good!

 

Is there any idea when this will hit the asset store? I have a demo for GDC that could really use this update.

 

I'm not sure what this product offers. ProFlares includes it's own high res library of lens flare elements. These are combined to make a complete lens flare.

The update was submitted a few days ago, it normal takes 3 working days to get approved. So I think it will be Monday

 

Hello there! Any chance I can move ProFlares default layer to something else? The project I am on has a need for having the UI on the same layer as Proflares. Please let me know when you can.


Regards,

Gary

 

If your want to change an existing setup, change the ProFlareBatch game object to your desired layer. Then select the ProFlareCamera that renders it and change its layer mask to render the correct layer.

To change the layer a default ProFlare setup uses you can alter the helper script. I don't have the code to hand but it should be quite simple.

Let me know if you have any issues.

David.

 

Hey. First off, ProFlares is awesome.

I had a feature request:

Would it be possible to have an oscillating / animating function for either the scale or brightness that can be applied to an element? I'm using some flares to help sell the heat of some camp fires and wanted to try get the flare to vary in brightness / scale as the fire flickered.


Thanks,
Pete

 

Thanks Pete, Much appreciated

I have more automatic animation options on the road map.

But you could always split up you flare elements into multiple flares. Then use the flare flicker script I posted here -http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/208695-ProFlares-Ultimate-Lens-Flares-for-Unity3D-RELEASED/page5?p=1462740&viewfull=1#post1462740

Should do the trick.

David

 

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The asset store review team have just approved the latest update, so I can now happily announce official Oculus Rift!

As always setup is very simple, just update, import. Then unzip the OculusRift.zip to add support. A new option will be available in the Window->ProFlares menu. Select your OVR controller and select it to add the ProFlare VR setup. Done.

Have fun.
David.

 

Trying out the oculus setup. Followed the tutorial step by step, but nothing is rendering. I have checked the layers, the atlas, and the Flare Setup sees the ProFlareBatch_VR(s).

Any pointers?

 

Hi, Sorry to hear your having issues.

Is the VR demo working ok for you? Are you seeing any flares in the scene and not in the game view?

First thing I would check that the flares and the flare batches all use the same Flare atlas. If this is the case you should see both of flare batches listed under "Rendered By" on any flares in the scene.

I've just been running though the setup process again to see if I could spot anything I have missed. One thing I've noticed is that if your OVR controller isn't at zero rotations it will add some rotation to the flare batches. This is a bug on my part. To fix simply set the rotation values of the FlareBatches to 0,0,0.

Even though it might sound counter intuitive both flare batches should have there flare and game camera set to LeftCamera.

David.

 

Hi,

I've done some more digging, and I have a small patch that I think that might help you.

Due to the need to update the Flares at a different time to allow the OVR low latency mode to work, I over looked the need to update the flares when not in play mode.

If you update your ProFlareOnPreRenderUpdater script to this version your flare should show up even if your not in play mode.

Code (csharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2. using System.Collections;
3.  
4. [ExecuteInEditMode]
5. public class ProFlareOnPreRenderUpdater : MonoBehaviour {
6.    
7.     public ProFlareBatch batch;
8.    
9.     void Start(){
10.         if(!batch)
11.             this.enabled = false;
12.     }
13.    
14.     void OnPreRender () {
15.         if(batch)
16.             batch.UpdateFlares();
17.     }
18.  
19.     void LateUpdate(){
20.         if(!Application.isPlaying)
21.             if(batch)
22.                 batch.UpdateFlares();
23.     }
24. }

If your still having issues please don't hesitate to get in touch.

David.

 

I'll check this out soon, i wish id been useful enough for this to claim a free copy as spoils aha, but im glad you got it working out, OR and in future the collaboration between OR and Valve could mean NOT supporting OR being a very bad idea indeed, their recent talks have been both very inspiring and make a lot of sense

 

Does proflare looks good with 2d orthographic camera?

 

Yeah they look totally fine.

I've also got an update almost ready that adds support for occlusion using the Physics2D system.

 

can you make a webplayer using 2d orthographic mode showing proflare in action ?
i need to be convinced that $80 will be well spent

 

Yeah sure thing, I can make a demo for you tomorrow. What sort of angle are you interested in?

 

Something like Thomas was alone

 

Hi

Bought your Asset some time ago and finally found time in the last two weeks to play around with it.

Now, I am building a prototype of a nighttime scene at the moment, with plenty of lights in it. While I really like the additional pop the flares give to the lights in the scene, there are two problems I struggle with at the moment:

1) Flares for Skybox elements (Sun, Moon, far away lights): How do I place a flare in the scene and have it placed relativ to the skybox so that it will stay at the position? Is there any possibility to do that with pro flares besides pushing the flare object into the far distance?

2) Performance Problems with lots of flares: It seems, as soon as a lot of flares are in the scene, and the flares use raycasting to check for occlusion, FPS take a big hit.
Now, sadly, most of my flares come from "in scene objects", that get occluded by different other objects often, so without the raycasting it will look off.
Then again, I do wonder if the hit from 40+ lights x 2 (splitscreen) raycasting up to their max distance really can be that big.

Questions:
- Any general advice how I reduce the overhead with the flares (less flare elements, leave away raycasts, some other trick I don't know about yet)?
- Do the raycast only cast when in flare distance to cam? If they cast all the time, why?
- I noticed that "manually" managing the flares in a script of my own (turning them off if the distance is higher than the flare distance) did give a better FPS at times, but lead to the flare atlas being rebuilt all the time (according to the Debug statements) and some errors after a while. I guess managing the flares on my own is not a good idea?


Thanks for any help. I would love to use your flares in my project, sadly at the moment it looks like I will have to throw them out again because of this problems.
And yes, maybe I am expecting to much of this Asset


Regards

Gian-Reto

 

Hi Gian-Reto,

Thanks for getting in touch.

Yes at the moment for something like a sun, placing the flare far away is the easiest method. You could have a script that constrains the flares position to the camera but not affect the rotation would make it appear likes it is at a infinite distance.

Having lots of flares can get expensive, as I originally designed the system to work with zero run time allocations and I didn't imagine the use case of having a scene with a lots of flares. Reducing a flares complexity is one of the best ways to speed things up, especially if you use it a lot. Also the Multi element basically creates lots of elements for you so toning these down can easily reduce overhead. What is your target platform?

I've had a couple of users really stressing the system so I've moved performance and overall optimisations up to the top of the list for the next update.

As soon as I have a beta version I can let you know?

Regards,
David.

 

Hi David

Thanks for the quick response. Good idea about the script, but I there is the additional problem that I might have 2 cameras in the scene. So I would need 2 times the flares for the background lights.

My target platform at the moment is just Windows, maybe Linux.

So, i already deleted all the multi elements from my flares, and they have around 3-4 flare layers left per flare. How much performance might I gain from bringing that down to 1-2? Is it worth trying?

And let me know as soon as you have a beta version, if I find time to test it I will.


Thanks and Regards

Gian-reto

 

Hi David,

Would it be possible to put LOD support in the Flare editor?

I'm thinking along the lines of being able to set each Element's LOD in the inspector, either represented by state buttons or a simple int field (perhaps most flexible), and a setter on the FlareManager ( i.e. ProFlareBatch.LOD = 1 would draw levels 0 and 1 ) to say what LODs should be drawn. This way we can quickly adjust flare complexity between platforms without having to create duplicate prefabs for each, which is hard and complex to manage if you start making changes late in the day.

Cheers

 

Yeah, Great idea.

I will put it on the road map. I don't think it will be too hard to add either.

I'm thinking a LOD value for each Element layer and then just set a setting on the ProFlareBatch. Then it will affect all connected flares.

I've been working on a lot of optimisations, and a new culling system that greatly improves performance when using a lot of flares. More details soon.

David.

 

Brilliant, I look forward to it all

Cheers

 

Hi David

While coding on other topics in my prototype, I noticed something weird: the Flare Cameras sometimes get shown on the wrong camera!

Let me quickly explain my setup:
- I have two cameras active in the scene (splitscreen twoplayer)
- both cameras were converted to proflare cameras with your assets functions
- both cameras now have their own ProFlareBatch Gameobject, whose Game Camera and Flare Camera Fields point to the right camera (I double checked)
- Camera are named the same, but are distinct objects contained in different gameobjects.

Everything works fine, with one exception: when a camera is moved (it can be rotated around the players vehicle), the pro flares shown in the other players camera are "animated". This is the same for both cameras. Seems like each ProFlareBatch Component picks up the wrong Game Camera, even though the right one was assigned.

Any idea what went wrong here?


Thanks

Gian-Reto

 

Hi Gian-Reto,

I'm not exactly sure what could be causing the issue, Sounds like you may have encountered something I haven't tested. The best way for me to figure it out is if I can get in there.

If you could PM me, a link to a basic stripped down version of the project. I would be happy to help fix the problem.

David.

 

Hi David

I will try to reproduce the problem in a new project next week. If I can reproduce it, I will send you a unitypackage.


Regards

Gian-Reto

 

Hi David,

How does Proflares work with a multi-camera setup? I currently have 3 cameras (6 in the case of my Oculus Rift implementation), each drawing separate sets of geometry - interior / exterior / skybox. In a situation where a flare is emitted from an object on the exterior layer (a spaceship thruster for example), but is occluded from an object on the interior layer (such as a window frame), can the proflares camera account for this?

Apologies if the question has been answered already, I did read through the thread but didn't see anyone else mention it.

Regards,
Brad

 

Hi Brad,

Sounds like you may have an interesting setup.

Even though you use multiple cameras. If your game world is all scaled correctly everything should work fine.

Eg, if a RayCast from the flare would hit a collider of window frame the flare would be occluded correctly.

If your doing any kind of strange world scaling things get more complicated.

David.

 

Some questions

Can i have multiple flares in a 3D setup ? Like wisps having a flare and flying around ? I think from the demos/videos is possible, but just double checking. How many are reasonable to have performance wise ?

Also will these work ok with Skyshop skies ?

thanks

 

To celebrate ProFlares being out 6 months its now on sale 50% for 24 hours!

Thank your for supporting ProFlares, lots of updates coming soon.

Yeah you can have lots of flares, performance is very much platform dependant. I've also got an update in beta which approximately doubles performance of the core loop. And a new culling system which drastically improves performance with scenes that have lots of flares that are off screen.

Its totally compatible with skyshop, ProFlares is even more awesome when combined with a good skybox!

More details soon.

David.

 

Hi guys i buy Lens Flare Pro but why dont work in UFPSAdvancedPlayer? i see the flare in my scene but when i try to play here is no flare

 

Thanks , i like the lots of flares part , will make my game even more magical

 

Thanks David, sounds like it should work fine. Just bought the asset!

 

Hi,
If you can see the flare in the scene before you enter play mode, you probably have everything setup correctly. If it disappears when you enter play mode it maybe getting occluded by something in the scene. You can see some debug information on the flare if you select it in play mode.

David.

 

Maybe i understand what is the problem , the player UFPS has two camera for one normal and the other dedicated for weapons, disabling one dedicated to weapons work correctly but I can not keep the camera with the weapons off because I need it in the game, how can I fix this? below 2 screenshot to explain better the problem:

 

hi proflare, is the 2d support done yet ?


I just bought this asset while on discount =D

 

Wow, your game looking awesome. It's difficult to tell exactly what could be causing the issue. Check your cameras depth values just in case something simple like that, also check if any of your image filters are making a difference?

If not I would be happy to take a look in depth, if you can PM me an example demo of the problem.