Introducing Knoll Light Factory 3D (Beta)
A Free Set of Tools for Knoll Light Factory Pro
Introducing Knoll 3D Flare (Beta), a new free set of tools that allows you to easily create Knoll Lens Flares in After Effects 3D space. This add-on for
Knoll Light Factory Pro 2.5 in After Effects includes fantastic features like Edge flare-ups, color linking, Z-depth intensity, and full 3D obscuration.
Features
- 3D Camera Aware: Link a lens flares to a 3D Light’s XYZ position.
- Z-Depth: Distance of flare from camera effects flare’s intensity.
- Color Linking: Light color effects flare color.
- Intensity Linking: Light intensity effects flare’s intensity.
- Multiple Lights: Apply to every light in your comp.
- World Scale: Control the amount of flare scaling relative to a light’s distance from the camera
- Edge Flareup: As flares near the edge of the comp they automatically brighten and flareup replicating natural lens phenomena.
- Full 3D Obscuration: All 3D layers in your composition can be used to obscure the flare. As the 3D light travels behind a layer, the flare dims and goes out.
- Full RGB Obscuration: As the flare passes behind one or many semi-transparent layers, it mixes the layer colors into the flare.
System Requirements: Adobe After Effects (CS3, CS4) + Knoll Light Factory Pro 2.5
Quick Links
- Watch a tutorial on Knoll 3D Flare. (pops)
- Download Knoll 3D Flare.
- Download a trial version of Knoll Light Factory Pro
- Buy Knoll Light Factory Pro 2.5 (New $399, $99 Upgrade)
Reasons to Buy Knoll Light Factory
- Used in movies such as Avatar, Transformers 1 & 2, The Day After Tomorrow, the Star Trek series, and Dreamgirls.
- Designed by Academy Award-winner John Knoll, visual FX supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic.
- GPU acceleration delivers blistering render speeds.
Secret Santa Freebie: Logo Reveal Tutorial by Rob Birnholtz

Dec. 10th: Logo Reveal Tutorial by Rob Birnholtz
Author: Rob Birnholtz, Absolute Motion Graphics
Hosts: After Effects (project files use AE CS4)
Plug-ins Used: Knoll Light Factory, GenArts Sapphire (Get free trials of Knoll Light Factory and Sapphire here.)
Project Files: Download Project files (right click/option click to save. Format: .zip)
Other: Dust footage courtesy of Pond5.com. The clip can be purchased and downloaded here. A low-res comp is included with the project files.
Create an Animated Logo Reveal with a Stroke Wipe in After Effects from Toolfarm on Vimeo.
Rob Birnholz shows you how to create an animated logo reveal with Adobe After Effects. He uses a couple of great plug-ins, Knoll Light Factory from Red Giant and Sapphire from GenArts (both free demos available here).
Rob gives you several interesting techniques in this one tutorial.
This tutorial video is part of Day 3 of Toolfarm’s Secret Santa Holiday Giveaways. Enjoy and thanks to Rob Birnholz for his fantastic contribution!
Rob Birnholz
Rob Birnholz is owner of Absolute Motion Graphics, Inc., near Orlando, FL. With more than three decades of production and post experience, he’s not only older but hopefully wiser.
Rob graduated from The University of Florida with a degree in Broadcast Production, then began his career freelancing in the South Florida film industry, working on major features and commercial shoots. In the early 1980’s he formed his own video production company shooting, directing and editing high-end corporate projects for clients including PepsiCo and the Knight-Ridder Newspaper chain.
After relocating to Central Florida in the late 1980’s, Rob continued as a freelance Lighting-Cameraman and Editor working on projects ranging from Disney’s “Mickey Mouse Club” to cutting Super Bowl highlight packages for ESPN.
With the advent of desktop editing Rob discovered After Effects (version 1!) and his life changed forever. Shooting and directing faded into the background as Rob focused on new digital postproduction solutions, and his company, Absolute Motion Graphics, was formed.
Working largely in the non-broadcast arena, Rob loves recreating high-end looks and effects without having the same big-time budgets. He is a frequent guest speaker at user groups around the country, and many of his After Effects tutorials were distributed on the Digital Production Buzz newsletter.
Recent projects have been completed for T•Mobile, Walt Disney World, Kodak, General Motors, Long John Silvers, KFC, Subway, Cricket Communications and The Palm Springs International Film Festival. Rob’s website is at absolutemotiongraphics.com
