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DriveWorks Pro 21
Bloom

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Bloom

Bloom is a camera effect that can be enabled on the Default Camera or any Camera Entity added to a 3D Document.

Bloom is an optical effect where light from a bright source, such as a glint, appears to spread into surrounding objects. The bloom effect adds bloom to bright areas on a model. Given proper settings it is also possible to enhance photorealism using this effect.

No BloomBloom

The above example was generated in DriveWorks using both the Bloom effect and Ambient Occlusion. Bloom brightens the lighter areas of the model and spreads the light around these areas.

In the right image you will notice the front of car is brighter and shinier. You will also notice a slight spread of light from the front bumper.

In the above example, we have entered high or strong values to illustrate the effect. In normal circumstances, you would use lower settings to apply a subtle effect.

Information Panel

With the Camera Entity selected, the following will be displayed in the Information Panel.

Bloom Enabled

Enable and disable Bloom on the Default Camera. Disabling bloom means it won't be shown on the Default Camera. TRUE enables the effect, FALSE disables it.

Radius

This is the distance between blur samples on the actual image. This can be considered as the amount of light spread created by the bloom effect.

Intensity

Intensity is a flat multiplier on the Bloom effect. Increasing this value makes the bloom effect brighter.

Threshold

Areas of the model brighter than this threshold will receive blooming and blurring. Threshold is the brightness at which to start the Bloom effect.

Downsampling

Bloom creates a texture and applies it to the final rendered image. Downsampling controls the size of this texture.

Downsampling is the number of times to divide the texture size that Bloom is performed at. For example:

  • 1 = Image full size (Preview Control size)
  • 2 = Image half the size
  • 3 = Image third of the size
  • etc...

Lower values are less performant because it creates a higher resolution image but produces higher quality renders. Higher values are more performant but reduce the final render quality.

Blur Passes

Bloom performs blur passes to smooth the Bloom effect. Low values create a noisy effect, higher values smooth that out. Lower values have better performance, higher values have less.

Enabling Bloom

By default, the Camera Entity will use the 3D Document's Default Camera settings. If Bloom is enabled on the default camera then it will be enabled on the Camera Entity. Likewise, if Bloom is disabled on the default camera, it will be disabled on the Camera Entity.

To enable Bloom on a Camera Entity only, follow the steps below:

  1. Select the Node with the Camera Entity applied.
  2. In the property panel or rules panel, set Override Default Camera Effects to be TRUE.
  3. With this property set to TRUE, you can now enable Bloom.
  4. Set the property Bloom Enabled to be TRUE.

Viewing Bloom in a 3D Document

Bloom will not be visible in a 3D Document while in edit mode. To preview the Bloom Camera Effect, you must enter Preview Mode.

Preview Mode can be found on the Command Bar in a 3D Document.

Preview Mode will hide the 3D Document triads, hide wireframe selections, show Camera entities and enable any Camera effects.