UE5 Lens Flares: Get That Hollywood Look with Marco Marzico’s Tutorial

Discover how to effortlessly add stunning anamorphic lens flares to your Unreal Engine cinematics. This quick guide, based on Marco Marzico’s tutorial, unlocks Hollywood-level realism without complex composting, enhancing your visual storytelling.

Ever wondered how top-tier cinematics achieve that distinctive, captivating look with those beautiful horizontal streaks of light? That’s the magic of anamorphic lens flares! In this fantastic tutorial, Marco Marzico, a talented VFX artist and the creator behind the VFXceptional brand, shows us how to integrate these stunning, real-time effects directly within Unreal Engine 5. Forget complicated post-production; Marco makes achieving a cinematic feel incredibly simple and fast.

The tutorial, concise yet incredibly effective, walks you through the few steps needed to transform your scenes. He emphasizes that this method adds an extra layer of realism, making your shots appear as if they were filmed with a high-end cinematic camera.

Achieving the Anamorphic Look in UE5

Here’s a quick rundown of the steps the creator outlines:

1. Prepare Your Scene: Start by selecting your directional light and increasing its Source Angle. This creates a larger light source, crucial for prominent flares. The video also shows removing volumetric clouds for a clearer demonstration.
2. Add Post-Process Volume: Bring a Post Process Volume into your scene. Crucially, enable Infinite Extent (Unbound) so it affects your entire scene.
3. Configure Bloom: Within the post-process volume settings, search for ‘Bloom’.
   • Enable Method and select Convolution.
   • Enable Intensity, Convolution Scatter, and Convolution Kernel.
4. Apply Lens Flare Texture: This is where the magic happens! In the Convolution Kernel slot, drag and drop your desired lens flare texture. If you don’t have one, Marco generously provides a free anamorphic lens flare texture download on his Gumroad page.
5. Refine the Effect: Adjust the Intensity and Convolution Scatter values to achieve your desired look. The artist also recommends tweaking the main Lens Flare settings for secondary flares, specifically reducing Intensity (he suggests around 0.15) and increasing Bokeh Size. You can further customize the flare’s shape by changing the texture used in the Lens Flare section, opting for an oval shape for a classic anamorphic feel.

Why Anamorphic Flares?

Anamorphic lens flares are a hallmark of cinematic productions, often associated with a premium, widescreen aesthetic. They occur when light sources hit an anamorphic lens, creating those distinct horizontal streaks and oval-shaped bokeh. This technique is widely used in films to add depth, realism, and a touch of glamour to nighttime scenes or shots with strong light sources. By integrating them directly into Unreal Engine, Marco empowers creators to achieve this high-end visual fidelity in real-time, streamlining the production workflow significantly.

Marco Marzico’s expertise in VFX shines through in his ability to distill complex visual effects into easily digestible tutorials. His channel, VFXceptional, is a treasure trove for anyone looking to elevate their 3D rendering and cinematic skills within Unreal Engine and beyond. He consistently delivers practical, high-impact tips that can instantly improve your projects.

Elevate Your Cinematics Today!

This simple yet powerful technique, demonstrated by Marco, can dramatically enhance the visual quality of your Unreal Engine projects. Whether you’re working on a short film, a game cinematic, or a personal project, adding real-time anamorphic lens flares is an effective way to inject that professional, cinematic sparkle. Don’t forget to check out more of his work on his Instagram and LinkedIn.

Source:
Marco Marzico – Unreal Engine: How to Create Anamorphic Lens Flares