V-Ray Lens Effects Filter Generator

[Art48]

Hi,

For the next image I'm creating I'd like to make use of the lens effects in VRay, glare and bloom.
It's gonna be an automotive rendering, so I'm looking to achieve that "bling-bling"-Look that you get when you light the car with hard spotlights in real life.

Now bloom is no problem as it works like intended in the VRay Lens Effects. Glare is where it gets tricky for me.

I've played around with the VRay Filter Generator to get a glare image - and quite frankly it looks like sh**. The rays are not very nice, they're hard etc - just ugly.

Now my question basically is:
Are there online resources/other tools to create that nice glare images I'm after or is there an improved Filter Generator tool for VRay somewhere?
Also I've heard rumors of these effects being somehow improved/changed generally in a not-too-distant-future SP/Patch? Is that true?

PS: I'm aware I could do it in post. But I'd like to get some realistic out-of-the-box workflow going where I don't have to manually fiddle in glares in post at the right spots. So it would be much appreciated if you hold back on the post workaround suggestions.

[Art48]

No other stuff? I tried the "Highlight"-Node in Fusion and while it has few controls it does spit out an HDR glare image I am able to use. A node/Tool like that with more control would be awesome.

[werticus]

For the vray tool to work correctly you need to use real world values for your lighting and materials. Otherwise you get hard edges to the star effect on overbright spots.

basically the camera is the only thing you can change, artistically, for the most part.

You can fiddle with the lens effects settings while rendering a small high light to test the settings and they are not that intuitive imo. Eventually you will figure out what works for you.

[Art48]

I am not talking about how to get the effect. The effect itself works fine, I just like to have more control over the look of the sparkle itself, the falloff of its streaks, secondary halos etc. That stuff that the vray tool tries to give me access to but the stuff it spits out looks crappy.

[piotrus3333]

image you get from the tool will not be smooth but pretty jagged. all the blending/falloff happens in VFB.

[Vizioen]

Might be better of posting some examples. Plain text is hard to work with.

[Art48]

Basically I need some kind of plugin/way to create HDR images of these:


Ideally with control over all that streaks, halos, asymmetry, glow etc.

If all else fails I'd be okay with a LDR version. I could assembly the HDR through different settings and through blending in Photoshop then.

To be perfectly candid I may even be okay with properly antialiased stuff the vray tool provides .