Camera Effects

A camera effects list contains features specific to the usual SLR camera. To tweak, use Rendering panel -> Camera Effects.

Camera Effects Applied to Viewport

Camera Effects

Threshold

Brightness threshold used to determine areas to be illuminated:

By the minimum value of 0, the bright areas can become overexposed.
The higher the value, the fewer objects are bright enough to be illuminated.

Threshold = 0.6

Threshold = 1.2

Dirt Scale

Intensity of the dirt texture.

Dirt

A texture that creates an effect of dirty camera lens. For example, it can be used to create an effect of light reflections or unclean optics when the camera looks at the sun.

Example of dirt texture

No dirt texture

Custom dirt texture

Notice

If you can't see the dirt texture, try tweaking the Threshold parameter.

Temporal Filtering

Reduces flickering of the bloom effect on the small bright objects (such flickering may appear when the camera moves). For example, it can be used in scenes with industrial pipes.

Exposure settings in a physically-based camera mode

Camera Mode

Camera mode, determines the way the exposure is set:

Classic — classic camera model. The amount of luminance is determined by the Exposure parameter, when Exposure Mode is set to Static.
Physically Based — physically based camera model. The amount of luminance is determined by the following set of parameters: ISO, Shutter Speed, F-Stop.
Notice
Exposure Mode for a physically based camera should always be set to Static.

Notice

Can be controlled via the render_camera_mode console command.

Exposure Mode

Exposure mode:

Static — a static exposure. The amount of luminance is determined depending on the Camera Mode parameter.
Logarithmic adaptive — adaptive logarithmic mapping technique.
Quadratic adaptive — adaptive quadratic mapping technique.

Notice

Can be controlled via the render_exposure_mode console command.

Exposure

Camera exposure. It determines the resulting amount of luminance:

By the minimum value of 0, the image is rendered black.
The higher the value, the more the luminance is and the brighter the scene is lit.

Notice

This parameter is available only when the Camera Mode is set to Classic.

Exposure = 0.2

Exposure = 1

Notice

Can be controlled via the render_exposure console command.

ISO

ISO number represents the sensitivity of the camera sensor. The higher the ISO number, the more light is collected and the brighter the image is.

Notice

This parameter is available only when the Camera Mode is set to Physically Based.
Can be controlled via the render_iso console command.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed indicates how long the sensor of the camera is actively collecting light. Higher values make the shutter speed faster and the image — darker.

Notice

This parameter is available only when the Camera Mode is set to Physically Based.
Can be controlled via the render_shutter_speed console command.

F-Stop

Ratio of the focal length (f) and the diameter of the lens opening (D): f / D. It is the reciprocal of the relative aperture. The higher the value, the darker the image is.

Notice

This parameter is available only when the Camera Mode is set to Physically Based.
Can be controlled via the render_f_stop console command.

Adaptation

Time in seconds for the camera to adjust exposure (0 for instant adaptation).

Min Luminance

The minimum luminance offset relative to the default luminance of the scene used for rendering of the adaptive exposure effect. The higher the value, the darker the adapted image is.
The parameter can take on negative values.

NoticeIf the specified value is greater than the current maximum luminance, the maximum luminance value will be changed to the specified minimum luminance so that they are equal.

Min Luminance = -1

Min Luminance = 2

Max Luminance

The maximum luminance offset relative to the default luminance of the scene used for rendering of adaptive exposure effect. The lower the value, the brighter the adapted image is.
The parameter can take on negative values.

NoticeIf the specified value is less than the current minimum luminance, the minimum luminance value is changed to the specified maximum luminance so that they are equal.

White balance correction eliminates the discoloration in the final image due to certain colors in the scene having more intensity and/or a higher or lower color temperature. Adaptive automatic white balance correction ensures realistic coloration of your scenes in real-time mode.

Notice

To ensure the most natural look of your scene, adjust colors of light sources by setting color temperatures. In case of heavy high-contrast discoloration (e.g., too warm and too cold lights in a dark room), the final image may look unnatural.

White balance settings

Enabled	Toggles automatic white balance correction on and off.
Intensity	Intensity of white balance correction. Notice Do not set too high values for night-time and dimly lit scenes, as it may lead to heavy color distortion making the scene look totally unnatural.
Adaptation Time	Time period in seconds, during which white balance correction is performed (0 for instant correction). Notice It is recommended to use lower values, when possible, to make correction process unnoticeable, otherwise it'll be slow and noticeable. However, setting too low values may result in abrupt switching of colors as the camera moves. So, adjust this parameter carefully to make transition smooth. You can set it equal to the Exposure Adaptation value.

Enabled

Toggles automatic white balance correction on and off.

Intensity

Intensity of white balance correction.

NoticeDo not set too high values for night-time and dimly lit scenes, as it may lead to heavy color distortion making the scene look totally unnatural.

Adaptation Time

Time period in seconds, during which white balance correction is performed (0 for instant correction).

Notice

It is recommended to use lower values, when possible, to make correction process unnoticeable, otherwise it'll be slow and noticeable. However, setting too low values may result in abrupt switching of colors as the camera moves. So, adjust this parameter carefully to make transition smooth. You can set it equal to the Exposure Adaptation value.

The tone mapping provides better image quality by remapping high dynamic range (HDR) colors into a range suitable for mediums with low dynamic range (LDR), like LCD or CRT screens. Its most common purpose is to make an image with a low dynamic range appear to have a higher range of colors providing a more dynamic and realistic effect. It lightens the darkest image regions and makes the lightest regions darker.

When using an HDR camera, always apply tonemapping, otherwise color intensity values exceeding 1 will be clamped at 1, altering the luminance balance of the scene.

Parameters described below represent John Hable's artist-friendly tonemapping curve, which is constructed by using the following formula:

A — Shoulder Scale
B — Linear Scale
C — Linear Angle
D — Toe Scale
E — Toe Numerator
F — Toe Denominator

Tone Mapping Curve

For more details about tone mapping curve construction see the article on Filmic Tonemapping with Piecewise Power Curves.

Tonemapper settings

Filmic

Toggles filmic tone mapping on and off.

Shoulder Scale

The Shoulder Strength filmic tone mapping parameter value that is used to change bright values.

Shoulder Scale = 0.2 (by default)

Shoulder Scale = 1

Linear Scale

The Linear Strength filmic tone mapping parameter value that is used to change grey values. Linear Scale controls the length of the tone mapping curve linear part.

Linear Scale = 0.3 (by default)

Linear Scale = 1

Linear Angle

The Linear Angle filmic tone mapping parameter value. Controls the slope of the linear part of the tone mapping curve.

Linear Angle = 0.10 (by default)

Linear Angle = 1

Toe Scale

The Toe Strength filmic tone mapping parameter value that is used to change dark values. Controls the slope of the tone mapping curve toe (the area of underexposure).

Toe Scale = 0.20 (by default)

Toe Scale = 1

Toe Numerator

The Toe Numerator filmic tone mapping parameter value.

Toe Numerator = 0.01 (by default)

Toe Numerator = 0.08

Toe Denominator

The Toe Denominator filmic tone mapping parameter value.

Toe Denominator = 0.3 (by default)

Toe Denominator = 1

White Level

The Linear White Point filmic tone mapping parameter value, which is mapped as pure white in the resulting image.

White Level = 1.0 (by default)

White Level = 0.5

Saturation Recovery

Color saturation recovery value in the [0.0f, 1.0f] range. Filmic tonemapper desaturates image colors in bright areas making them look grayish. This parameter enables you to recover initial color saturation in such areas.

by the value of 0.0f - standard filmic tonemapping with no saturation recovery is applied.
by the value of 1.0f - color saturation is recovered to the full extent.

NoticeWhen the 1.0f value is set specular highlights appear too saturated, so the recommended value is 0.75f (default).

Bloom settings

Enabled	Toggles the bloom effect rendering on and off.
Resolution	Resolution of the bloom effect: Quarter — quarter resolution Half — half resolution (by default) Full — full resolution
Scale	Scale of the bloom effect.
Power	Power of the bloom effect. At the minimum value of 0.0, the bloom effect is blurred. At the maximum value of 1.0, the bloom effect is more contrast.
Passes	Number of passes for the bloom effect. During each pass, a bloom texture is generated. Up to 8 bloom textures can be generated: every next texture has a lower resolution (original size, original size /2, original size /4, and so forth) with bloom effect. After that, all these bloom textures with different resolutions form the final bloom texture.

Cross Settings

Enabled

Toggles cross flares rendering on and off.

Color

The color of cross flares.

Scale

Scale of cross flares. Higher values produce more pronounced flares.

Scale = 0.4 (by default)

Scale = 0.7

Shafts

The number of shafts in a cross flare.

The maximum number of shafts is 32 (high number of flares can cause a FPS drop on low-performance hardware).

Shafts = 2 (minimum)

Shafts = 6 (by default)

Shafts = 32 (maximum)

Length

The length of cross flare shafts. Increasing this value also leads to fading of shafts.

Length = 0.2 (by default)

Length = 0.4

Angle

Cross flares orientation angle. The default is 45 degrees.

Angle = 45 (by default)

Angle = 90

Threshold

Brightness threshold for areas to produce flare. The higher the threshold value, the brighter the area is to produce flare.

Lens settings

Enabled

Toggles lens flares rendering on and off.

Color

Color of lens flares.

Scale

Multiplier for a color of lens flares.

Scale = 0.25

Scale = 0.5

Length

Length indicating if the whole radial lens flare is rendered on the screen or only a part of it. This option controls how lens flares pattern is distributed.

Radius

Radius of the spherical lens flares on the screen.