Having been a film junkie and an avid fan of science fiction movies for most of my life, I'm always on the lookout for new toys to add to my Adobe After Effects. Yes, I'm new to AE, but I get really excited when I'm able to find a plug-in that lets me create the looks found in big budget films. Knoll Light Factory Pro (KLF) by Red Giant Software was created by Star Wars effects pioneer John Knoll. It provides stunning lens flares and supernova explosions with a few mouse clicks.  INCREDIBLE!

The interface is fairly simple and adjusting the desired effects are even easier.  Believe me, if I can do it, anybody can do it.

Here I imported our DMAG logo, created a "black solid" layer and applied Light Factory EZ. This is the default lens flare effect right out of the box. Because this is a demo version of KLF, there are little multicolored artifacts applied to the screen. Red Giant assures me these are removed when you input a user license key. Even with the artifacts, it's easy to see what an amazing effect this creates.

In this frame, I've applied a different flare effect and use the logo as an "obscuration layer."  See the option circled in the effects control panel to the left. This allows the flare to appear to be behind the logo. This also causes the flare to automatically shrink as it passes behind the logo just as it would if you were actually filming a light source passing behind an object.

Here is the same flare pulled out from behind the logo. You can see how much bigger and brighter it appears. I made no adjustments other than pull it out from the logo.

This panel shows the list of about 70 different lens effects to choose from. This one is called "Nifty Pink Lens."  (I guess the person who comes up with clever effect names was out that day.) In spite of the goofy name, it's still a beautiful effect.

If you're an AE newbie like me, the video tutorials on RedGiantSoftware.com will show you everything you need  to know to  set up some truly stunning effects quickly and easily. I contacted Red Giant via email to ask about the artifacts appearing on the effect and got a timely response. There is also an 800 number to call if you need an immediate answer. This tells me that Red Giant stands behind their products.  Always a good sign.

To say I'm thrilled with Knoll Light Factory Pro is an understatement. I love this product and look forward to wasting endless hours creating exploding stars and dazzling lens flares.