Adding a lens glow flare in Vectornation by Zaweba
How the Lens glow tool in Vectornation by Zaweba draws a flare with a halo, rays and rings, and how to edit a placed flare later on.
A touch of light can lift an illustration. A gleam on a car's chrome, the sun breaking over a hill, a sparkle on a bottle in a product shot or a glow behind a title on a poster all draw the eye. The Lens glow tool in Vectornation by Zaweba creates flares like these as vector artwork, built from a centre, a halo, rays and rings.
Drawing a flare by dragging
Drag from the centre of the flare outward to size the halo. That first drag sets where the light is and how large its glow is. Then click or drag to end the rings, setting where the trail of rings stretches to. The direction from the centre to that end point is the direction the flare travels across the picture, just as a real lens flare runs in a line through the image.
Two motions, and you have a flare in place. Placing the centre on a bright spot in your artwork, such as a sun or a light, makes the effect believable.
Setting options precisely
If you would rather set the flare up by numbers, click on the canvas without dragging, or double-click the tool. That opens the options for centre, halo, rays and rings, so you can decide the look before placing it.
Rays are the spikes of light around the centre. Rings are the circles that trail away from it. The halo is the soft glow. Balancing these is the art of a good flare: a strong halo with few rays reads as a soft glow, while many rays and bright rings read as a sharper, more dramatic burst.
Editing a placed flare
Since version 0.9.0, placed flares can be edited. You are not stuck with your first attempt. Select a flare you placed earlier and change it, rather than deleting it and starting again. That matters when you place a flare early in a design and later change the composition, because the light may need to move or soften to suit.
Where flares work well
Flares suit illustration that aims for a photographic or cinematic feel: automotive artwork, sports posters, sci-fi scenes, product illustrations with a glossy finish and night scenes with street lights. They can also add sparkle to logos for a launch or event, as long as the plain logo is kept separately for everyday use.
Using them with restraint
A flare is strong seasoning. One well placed flare draws the eye to where you want it. Several flares compete and look busy. Keep the size in proportion to the scene; a huge halo can wash out everything near it.
Think about the background, too. A flare reads best against a darker area. On a pale background it may barely show, and you might do better with a different approach to light, such as a gradient.
How it fits into a design
Because the flare is vector artwork, it scales with the rest of your design and sits in the stacking order like any other object. Put it above the elements it should shine over and below things that should sit in front of it, such as type. Place it on its own layer so you can hide it while working on the rest of the illustration, and show it again to judge the final effect.
If the design is going to print, preview it in the colour setup for the job, since glowing effects are made of soft transitions that can look different on paper than on screen.
Used sparingly, the Lens glow tool in Vectornation by Zaweba adds a convincing moment of light that you can still adjust long after it is placed.
