Knoll Light Factory создан Джоном Ноллом (John Knoll),
автором программного обеспечения и ответственным за создание визуальных
эффектов в компании Industrial Light + Magic, человеком, который
принимал участие в разработке Adobe Photoshop и спецэффектов в фильме
Star Wars. Технологии, которые легли в основу плагина Light Factory,
были разработаны во время создания спецэффектов для фильма Star Trek.
В
версии Knoll Light Factory 3.1 полностью переработан интерфейс
программы, появилась возможность предварительного просмотра шаблонов для
имитации бликов в реальном времени. Число таких заготовок значительно
увеличилось и достигло двухсот. Кроме этого, добавлена поддержка
16-битного цвета, появилась кнопка Randomize для случайного выбора
настроек эффектов, улучшена функция отмены действий, добавлена поддержка
Photoshop CS4, Windows Vista и 7, 64-битных версий Windows. Теперь Вы
можете создавать и собственные эффекты, легко создать естественное
освещение, объединив 19 элементов, которые встречаются в реальной жизни
при фотографировании огней и ярких объектов. Стала возможна работа с
выборочными слоями Knoll Light Factory is designed to create lens flares and other
lighting effects, including lasers, explosions and suns. The most common
use in photography is to enhance lights such as lamps, streetlights,
sky elements, or candle flames. However, many designers also use Light
Factory to create sparkling or glowing lights from scratch. Light
Factory was originally written by John Knoll, the co-creator of
Photoshop, to create the Photon Torpedoes in Star Trek First Contact. "Customers
are always looking for new creative opportunities,” said Jim Tierney,
president of Digital Anarchy. "Knoll Light Factory offers a great way of
painting with light, when you need to add some flare and sparkle to an
image. Improving and speeding up the workflow was a major emphasis for
this release, as photographers don’t want to spend lots of time at the
computer.”
Inside Light Factory, a user can choose from 19
different flare elements, then layer those elements to create the
desired light effect. Almost any real life camera lens can be matched,
or the Photoshop filter can generate completely original settings, and
save out a preset for later use. Powerful functions include the ability
to obscure the light with a grayscale mask; a real-time interactive
preview; and 16-bit support for smoother glows and gradients.
Knoll Light Factory Version 3.1 introduces a complete redesign of
the user interface, with a simplified layout, new functions, a quick
Preview Window, and preview thumbnails for light presets. The Light
Editor has been integrated into a single interface that can be moved and
resized to the user’s workspace. An additional 50 light presets give
users additional pre-made effects that range from naturalistic to
dramatic.
Some of the exciting features in Knoll Spark
Pack 3.1 include: New User Interface: The UI has been
redesigned for ease of use, including previews of light presets and
access to editing functions in one window. Real-Time Preview:
The main Preview Window now supports real-time manipulation, as well as
the ability to resize and zoom in/out.
100+ Light Presets: There are now well over 100 great places
to start when looking for that special flare. 16-bit Color
Support: Light effects now render out to higher bit depths, which
reduces banding and outputs better looking glows and gradients. Mac
Intel and 64-bit Windows compatible: Full support of all of the new
operating systems and religious preferences. Obscuration Layer:
Use a grayscale mask to partially obscure the lights, and make more
realistic effects when lights are being partially blocked by an object. Tint
Layer: Use a separate layer to change the flare color for easier
compositing on complex images. Randomize Feature: A Randomize
button and slider let users organically discover fun new effects. Undo
Functionality: Multi-level undo allows for an improved workflow
when designing lights.