User:The E - Revision history

The E at 11:51, 26 July 2026

2026-07-26T11:51:04Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:51, 26 July 2026
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	Unlike the sprite-based '''$Flare:''' effect defined in [[Stars.tbl]], a lens system is described the way a real lens is: as a stack of glass surfaces. The engine traces that stack at table load and derives everything the flare needs from it, so the ghosts, their colours and the starburst all follow from the optics rather than from hand-placed sprites.		Unlike the sprite-based '''$Flare:''' effect defined in [[Stars.tbl]], a lens system is described the way a real lens is: as a stack of glass surfaces. The engine traces that stack at table load and derives everything the flare needs from it, so the ghosts, their colours and the starburst all follow from the optics rather than from hand-placed sprites.

	A mission mounts exactly '''one''' of these as its camera lens, because there is one camera: every sun in the background flares through the same glass, so the flares of two suns can never disagree about the lens they came from. The lens is chosen with '''$Camera Lens:''' in the mission info section (see [[#Using a lens]]), falling back to the '''$Default Lens:''' this table declares. A mission with no lens mounted is completely unaffected, which is what the shipped table defaults to, so retail and existing content keeps the retail look until a mod opts in.		A mission mounts exactly '''one''' of these as its camera lens, because there is one camera: every sun in the background flares through the same glass, so the flares of two suns can never disagree about the lens they came from. The lens is chosen with '''$Camera Lens:''' in the mission info section (see [[#Using a lens]]), falling back to the '''$Default Lens:''' this table declares; a mission can also opt out explicitly with '''<nowiki><none></nowiki>'''. A mission with no lens mounted is completely unaffected, which is what the shipped table defaults to, so retail and existing content keeps the retail look until a mod opts in.

	While a lens is mounted, the legacy sprite '''$Flare:''' of [[Stars.tbl]] is not drawn at all, since the lens models the same artifact properly.		While a lens is mounted, the legacy sprite '''$Flare:''' of [[Stars.tbl]] is not drawn at all, since the lens models the same artifact properly.
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	===Starburst and brightness===		===Starburst and brightness===
	*'''$Starburst:'''		*'''$Starburst:'''
	**Whether this lens draws the diffraction starburst around the suns themselves. For each sun that gets one, the sun's own bitmap and glow are skipped so the two do not stack		**Whether this lens draws the diffraction starburst around the suns themselves. For each sun that gets one, the sun's own bitmap and glow are skipped so the two do not stack. A sun the flare pass does not reach keeps its ordinary bitmap and glow — one that is occluded, one outside the flare's reach, and every sun in an environment map, since those are rendered without the post-processing pass that draws the starburst
	**Syntax: '''Boolean''', default is '''YES'''		**Syntax: '''Boolean''', default is '''YES'''
	*'''+Starburst Scale:'''		*'''+Starburst Scale:'''
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	==Using a lens==		==Using a lens==
	*Mount a lens on a mission with '''$Camera Lens:''' in its info section (as in <code>$Camera Lens: tessar_50mm</code>), naming a lens system from this table. It sits alongside '''$Lighting Profile:''' and is the same kind of setting: one global render choice belonging to one mission		*Mount a lens on a mission with '''$Camera Lens:''' in its info section (as in <code>$Camera Lens: tessar_50mm</code>), naming a lens system from this table. It sits alongside '''$Lighting Profile:''' and is the same kind of setting: one global render choice belonging to one mission
	**~~Both FRED~~ and ~~qtFRED expose it as a~~ ''~~Camera lens~~'' ~~drop-down in~~ the ~~background editor, where entry~~ '''~~None~~''' ~~means no flares~~		**The option takes a lens name, or one of two tokens in place of one: '''<nowiki><none></nowiki>''' for no flares at all, and '''<nowiki><default></nowiki>''' for the table's '''$Default Lens:'''. These are the same values '''set-camera-lens''' accepts
	**A mission that omits the option ~~(or leaves it empty)~~ gets the table's '''$Default Lens:'''. An unknown name warns and falls back to that default as well		**A mission that omits the option entirely gets the table's '''$Default Lens:''', which is what keeps existing content unaffected. An unknown name warns and falls back to that default as well — only '''<nowiki><none></nowiki>''' turns the flares off, so that a typo can never silently read as "this mod wanted none"
	*Every visible sun in the background flares through the mounted lens — there is no per-sun setting. What differs between suns is only where each one sits in the frame and how bright it is		**Both FRED and qtFRED expose it as a ''Camera lens'' drop-down in the background editor. '''Default''' leaves the mission silent so it follows the table, '''None''' writes '''<nowiki><none></nowiki>''' — these are different answers whenever a '''$Default Lens:''' is declared, and the drop-down keeps them apart so a saved mission never loses an explicit "no flares"
			*Every visible sun in the background flares through the mounted lens — there is no per-sun setting on the lens. What differs between suns is only where each one sits in the frame and how bright it is
			*'''A sun only flares if its [[Stars.tbl]] entry says so.''' The sun entry decides ''whether'' a sun flares and the mounted lens only decides ''how'' it is drawn, so mounting a lens never invents flares on suns that were deliberately tabled without one. A sun that does not ask keeps its ordinary bitmap and glow and gets nothing from the lens
			**'''<nowiki>+Camera Lens Flare:</nowiki>''' (boolean) is the direct way to say it. It goes in the '''<nowiki>$Sun:</nowiki>''' entry, after any '''<nowiki>$Flare:</nowiki>''' block and before '''<nowiki>$NoGlare:</nowiki>'''
			**With the option absent, a legacy sprite '''<nowiki>$Flare:</nowiki>''' block stands in for it, since that was the only way to declare a flare before the option existed — so tables written earlier keep working untouched. Where both are present the option wins, which is the only way to keep a sun's sprite flare while leaving it out of the physically-based one
			**This matters because '''<nowiki>$Flare:</nowiki>''' is expensive to write: it requires a full set of sprite fields ('''<nowiki>+FlareCount:</nowiki>''', '''<nowiki>$FlareTexture1:</nowiki>''', '''<nowiki>$FlareGlow1:</nowiki>''' and so on) that are never drawn while a lens is mounted. '''<nowiki>+Camera Lens Flare: YES</nowiki>''' opts a sun in on its own, with none of them
			**Retail's stars.tbl declares no '''<nowiki>$Flare:</nowiki>''' at all. The MediaVPs add one to the six standard suns (''SunWhite'', ''SunRed'', ''SunGreen'', ''SunBlue'', ''SunGold'', ''SunViolet'') and to many of the named stars, but not all of them — so if a background's sun shows no flare with a lens mounted, check its sun entry first, and add '''<nowiki>+Camera Lens Flare: YES</nowiki>''' in a '''<nowiki>-str.tbm</nowiki>''' to opt it in
	*Missions can swap the lens and edit the iris at runtime with the lens [[#SEXPs\|SEXPs]]		*Missions can swap the lens and edit the iris at runtime with the lens [[#SEXPs\|SEXPs]]
	*The F3 lab (''Render options'' -> ''Lens flare options'') can override the mission's lens and adjust every aperture setting live, which is the practical way to dial in '''$Intensity:''', the anamorphic settings and the imperfection layers. It also exposes the global ghost and starburst brightness calibration and the HDR headroom, reports the mounted lens's ghost count, computed focal length and f-number, and lists what the last flare pass actually drew for each sun (visibility, off-axis angle, instance count). Lab edits are undone the same way mission edits are		*The F3 lab (''Render options'' -> ''Lens flare options'') can override the mission's lens and adjust every aperture setting live, which is the practical way to dial in '''$Intensity:''', the anamorphic settings and the imperfection layers. It also exposes the global ghost and starburst brightness calibration and the HDR headroom, reports the mounted lens's ghost count, computed focal length and f-number, and lists what the last flare pass actually drew for each sun (visibility, off-axis angle, instance count). Lab edits are undone the same way mission edits are

The E at 09:03, 26 July 2026

2026-07-26T09:03:58Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:03, 26 July 2026
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	**Together with the focal length the engine derives from the surfaces, this sets how far the ghosts travel as the sun moves off-axis		**Together with the focal length the engine derives from the surfaces, this sets how far the ghosts travel as the sun moves off-axis
	**Syntax: '''Float''', default is '''36.0'''		**Syntax: '''Float''', default is '''36.0'''
			*'''$Anamorphic Squeeze:'''
			**Stretches every ghost and the starburst horizontally, giving the oval ghosts of the anamorphic look. '''1.0''' is an ordinary spherical lens; '''2.0''' matches a classic 2x anamorphic. Values below 1.0 compress instead of stretching, which is not what the option is for and can thin a tightly focused ghost below a pixel
			**A front anamorphic attachment is an afocal cylindrical telescope, so to first order all it does is magnify one meridian. That is why a whole anamorphic lens is one number here rather than a second set of surfaces, and why the iris behind it is unaffected — the aperture, its mask and the starburst shape are all still the ones described below
			**Only the '''footprints''' stretch: ghosts stay on the sun exactly where they were, which is what a desqueezed anamorphic frame shows. FSO composes the frame directly and has no desqueeze stage, so treat this as a look control rather than a simulated 2x capture pipeline
			**Costs nothing: it is applied as the flare is drawn, so unlike the aperture settings it forces no texture rebuild
			**Syntax: '''Float''', default is '''1.0'''
			*'''$Anamorphic Streak:'''
			**The long horizontal flare a cylindrical element throws across the frame, and the other half of the anamorphic look. On its own '''$Anamorphic Squeeze:''' only ever widens things; the streak is what actually reads as anamorphic, because a real one runs 20-50 times longer than it is thick
			**It is a separate effect from the starburst, not a stretched one: the starburst is the iris seen end-on and swings around as the sun moves, while the streak lies along the cylindrical element and so stays '''horizontal wherever the sun is'''
			**Like the aperture imperfections it is off by default, and it needs no texture rebuild
			**Syntax: '''Float''', strength; default is '''0.0''' (off)
			**'''+Length:'''
			***Half-length as a fraction of the sensor width. '''1.0''' spans the frame
			***Syntax: '''Float''', default is '''1.0'''
			**'''+Thickness:'''
			***As a fraction of the length, so '''0.02''' gives a 50:1 bar
			***Syntax: '''Float''', default is '''0.02'''
			**'''+Tint:'''
			***Multiplied onto the sun's own colour rather than replacing it, so a red sun keeps a reddish streak
			***The default leans blue, which is where the classic look comes from — real streaks take their colour from the coating on the cylindrical element
			***Syntax: '''( Float, Float, Float )''', default is '''( 0.35, 0.55, 1.0 )'''
	*'''$Coating Wavelength:'''		*'''$Coating Wavelength:'''
	**Wavelength in nanometres that the anti-reflection coating is tuned to, as a quarter-wave layer		**Wavelength in nanometres that the anti-reflection coating is tuned to, as a quarter-wave layer
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	*Every visible sun in the background flares through the mounted lens — there is no per-sun setting. What differs between suns is only where each one sits in the frame and how bright it is		*Every visible sun in the background flares through the mounted lens — there is no per-sun setting. What differs between suns is only where each one sits in the frame and how bright it is
	*Missions can swap the lens and edit the iris at runtime with the lens [[#SEXPs\|SEXPs]]		*Missions can swap the lens and edit the iris at runtime with the lens [[#SEXPs\|SEXPs]]
	*The F3 lab (''Render options'' -> ''Lens flare options'') can override the mission's lens and adjust every aperture setting live, which is the practical way to dial in '''$Intensity:''' and the imperfection layers. It also exposes the global ghost and starburst brightness calibration and the HDR headroom, reports the mounted lens's ghost count, computed focal length and f-number, and lists what the last flare pass actually drew for each sun (visibility, off-axis angle, instance count). Lab edits are undone the same way mission edits are		*The F3 lab (''Render options'' -> ''Lens flare options'') can override the mission's lens and adjust every aperture setting live, which is the practical way to dial in '''$Intensity:''', the anamorphic settings and the imperfection layers. It also exposes the global ghost and starburst brightness calibration and the HDR headroom, reports the mounted lens's ghost count, computed focal length and f-number, and lists what the last flare pass actually drew for each sun (visibility, off-axis angle, instance count). Lab edits are undone the same way mission edits are
	*The flare is suppressed in full-nebula missions, in subspace, in VR, when post-processing is disabled, and when the Planets/Backgrounds detail setting is off		*The flare is suppressed in full-nebula missions, in subspace, in VR, when post-processing is disabled, and when the Planets/Backgrounds detail setting is off

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	==Default lens systems==		==Default lens systems==
	The built-in table ships eight lens systems, transcribed from published patents. All of them leave the imperfection layers off.		The built-in table ships eight lens systems, transcribed from published patents. All of them are spherical designs that leave the imperfection layers and both anamorphic options off — for an anamorphic look, set '''$Anamorphic Squeeze:''' and '''$Anamorphic Streak:''' on one of these in a xxx-lens.tbm.

	*'''angenieux_100mm''' — double-Gauss cine prime, f/2.2. The reference prescription from the research this renderer is based on, and the lens the others are calibrated against		*'''angenieux_100mm''' — double-Gauss cine prime, f/2.2. The reference prescription from the research this renderer is based on, and the lens the others are calibrated against

The E at 07:26, 26 July 2026

2026-07-26T07:26:07Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:26, 26 July 2026
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	The '''lens_flares.tbl''' defines physically-based lens systems used to render camera lens flares for suns. Added in '''FS2 Open, 26.1'''.		The '''lens_flares.tbl''' defines physically-based lens systems used to render camera lens flares for suns. Added in '''FS2 Open, 26.1'''.

	Unlike the sprite-based '''$Flare:''' effect defined in [[Stars.tbl]], a lens system is described the way a real lens is: as a stack of glass surfaces. The engine traces that stack at table load and derives everything the flare needs from it, so the ghosts, their colours and the starburst all follow from the optics rather than from hand-placed sprites. A sun ~~opts~~ in with '''$Lens:''' in [[~~Stars.tbl~~]]~~; suns without it are~~ unaffected, and a ~~sun that has one no longer draws its~~ sprite '''$Flare:'''.		Unlike the sprite-based '''$Flare:''' effect defined in [[Stars.tbl]], a lens system is described the way a real lens is: as a stack of glass surfaces. The engine traces that stack at table load and derives everything the flare needs from it, so the ghosts, their colours and the starburst all follow from the optics rather than from hand-placed sprites.

			A mission mounts exactly '''one''' of these as its camera lens, because there is one camera: every sun in the background flares through the same glass, so the flares of two suns can never disagree about the lens they came from. The lens is chosen with '''$Camera Lens:''' in the mission info section (see [[#Using a lens]]), falling back to the '''$Default Lens:''' this table declares. A mission with no lens mounted is completely unaffected, which is what the shipped table defaults to, so retail and existing content keeps the retail look until a mod opts in.

			While a lens is mounted, the legacy sprite '''$Flare:''' of [[Stars.tbl]] is not drawn at all, since the lens models the same artifact properly.

	FreeSpace Open ships a default lens_flares.tbl built into the engine, so the lens systems listed under [[#Default lens systems]] are always available even when no table file is present.		FreeSpace Open ships a default lens_flares.tbl built into the engine, so the lens systems listed under [[#Default lens systems]] are always available even when no table file is present.
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	*The table consists of a single section		*The table consists of a single section
	*Begins with <nowiki>#</nowiki>'''Lens Systems'''		*Begins with <nowiki>#</nowiki>'''Lens Systems'''
	*~~Contains~~ any number of lens systems, each beginning with '''$Name:'''		*May be followed by '''$Default Lens:''', then by any number of lens systems, each beginning with '''$Name:'''
	*Must be closed with <nowiki>#</nowiki>'''End'''		*Must be closed with <nowiki>#</nowiki>'''End'''
	*A lens system in a .tbm that reuses the '''$Name:''' of an existing one replaces it completely, rather than adding a second lens of the same name		*A lens system in a .tbm that reuses the '''$Name:''' of an existing one replaces it completely, rather than adding a second lens of the same name
	*'''Entries must appear in the order listed on this page.''' Options are read in sequence, so an option placed out of order is skipped, and one placed after the surface list will abort the parsing of the whole table		*'''Entries must appear in the order listed on this page.''' Options are read in sequence, so an option placed out of order is skipped, and one placed after the surface list will abort the parsing of the whole table
	*~~Every~~ option except '''$Name:''' is optional and falls back to the default given below		*Within a lens system, every option except '''$Name:''' is optional and falls back to the default given below

			==Table options==
			*'''$Default Lens:'''
			**The lens mounted by missions that do not name one themselves with '''$Camera Lens:''', and what the '''<nowiki><default></nowiki>''' argument of '''set-camera-lens''' restores
			**Appears once, directly after <nowiki>#</nowiki>'''Lens Systems''' and before the first '''$Name:'''
			**The shipped table leaves this unset, so no mission gets a flare until either the mission or a .tbm asks for one. Setting it in a xxx-lens.tbm is how a mod puts its whole campaign on the same glass with a single line
			**The name is resolved after every table has been read, so it may name a lens declared later in the same table, or in a different table altogether. A later .tbm that sets it again replaces the earlier value
			**Syntax: '''String''', default is ''' ''(empty — no lens)'' '''

	==Lens system options==		==Lens system options==
	*'''$Name:'''		*'''$Name:'''
	**The name used to refer to this lens system from '''$Lens:''' in ~~[[Stars.tbl]]~~ and from the lens [[#SEXPs\|SEXPs]]		**The name used to refer to this lens system from '''$Camera Lens:''' in a mission, from '''$Default Lens:''' above, and from the lens [[#SEXPs\|SEXPs]]
	**Begins a new lens system		**Begins a new lens system
	**Syntax: '''String'''		**Syntax: '''String'''
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	===Starburst and brightness===		===Starburst and brightness===
	*'''$Starburst:'''		*'''$Starburst:'''
	**Whether this lens draws the diffraction starburst around the sun ~~itself. When it does~~, the sun's bitmap glow is skipped so the two do not stack		**Whether this lens draws the diffraction starburst around the suns themselves. For each sun that gets one, the sun's own bitmap and glow are skipped so the two do not stack
	**Syntax: '''Boolean''', default is '''YES'''		**Syntax: '''Boolean''', default is '''YES'''
	*'''+Starburst Scale:'''		*'''+Starburst Scale:'''
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	==Using a lens==		==Using a lens==
	*~~Assign~~ a lens to a ~~sun~~ with '''$Lens:''' in ~~[[Stars.tbl]]~~, naming a lens system from this table		*Mount a lens on a mission with '''$Camera Lens:''' in its info section (as in <code>$Camera Lens: tessar_50mm</code>), naming a lens system from this table. It sits alongside '''$Lighting Profile:''' and is the same kind of setting: one global render choice belonging to one mission
	*Missions can ~~override it~~ and edit the iris at runtime with the lens [[#SEXPs\|SEXPs]]		**Both FRED and qtFRED expose it as a ''Camera lens'' drop-down in the background editor, where entry '''None''' means no flares
	*The F3 lab (''Render options'' -> ''Lens flare options'') can ~~swap~~ the lens ~~on each sun~~ and adjust every aperture setting live, which is the practical way to dial in '''$Intensity:''' and the imperfection layers		**A mission that omits the option (or leaves it empty) gets the table's '''$Default Lens:'''. An unknown name warns and falls back to that default as well
	*Only the ~~first visible~~ lens-~~equipped~~ sun ~~in a~~ mission ~~renders a flare~~		*Every visible sun in the background flares through the mounted lens — there is no per-sun setting. What differs between suns is only where each one sits in the frame and how bright it is
			*Missions can swap the lens and edit the iris at runtime with the lens [[#SEXPs\|SEXPs]]
			*The F3 lab (''Render options'' -> ''Lens flare options'') can override the mission's lens and adjust every aperture setting live, which is the practical way to dial in '''$Intensity:''' and the imperfection layers. It also exposes the global ghost and starburst brightness calibration and the HDR headroom, reports the mounted lens's ghost count, computed focal length and f-number, and lists what the last flare pass actually drew for each sun (visibility, off-axis angle, instance count). Lab edits are undone the same way mission edits are
	*The flare is suppressed in full-nebula missions, in subspace, in VR, when post-processing is disabled, and when the Planets/Backgrounds detail setting is off		*The flare is suppressed in full-nebula missions, in subspace, in VR, when post-processing is disabled, and when the Planets/Backgrounds detail setting is off

	===SEXPs===		===SEXPs===
	*'''set-~~sun~~-lens''' — ~~override which~~ lens system ~~a sun uses, or turn its flare off~~		*'''set-camera-lens''' — mount a different lens system. Also accepts '''<nowiki><none></nowiki>''' for no flares at all and '''<nowiki><default></nowiki>''' for the table's '''$Default Lens:'''
	*'''set-lens-aperture''' — blade count, rotation, curvature and edge softness		*'''set-lens-aperture''' — blade count, rotation, curvature and edge softness
	*'''set-lens-grating''', '''set-lens-scratches''', '''set-lens-dust''' — the imperfection layers		*'''set-lens-grating''', '''set-lens-scratches''', '''set-lens-dust''' — the imperfection layers

	The aperture operators ~~edit~~ the lens ~~system itself~~, so they ~~affect every sun using~~ that lens; the edits are undone when the mission ends. These operators are not sent over the network, so in multiplayer they only affect the host.		The four aperture operators take no lens argument: they restyle the iris of whatever lens is mounted, so a mission cannot edit a lens it is not looking through. With no lens mounted they do nothing and warn — use '''set-camera-lens''' first.

			Note that these operators take '''percentages''' (0 to 100) and whole '''degrees''' where the table takes fractions (0.0 to 1.0) and floats; '''+Blade Curvature: 0.3''' in the table is an argument of '''30''' to '''set-lens-aperture'''.

			Both the mounted lens and any iris edits are undone when the mission ends, so nothing carries into the next mission. These operators are not sent over the network, so in multiplayer they only affect the host.

			The lens name given to '''set-camera-lens''' is validated when the mission loads, and a name that does not resolve aborts the load. This is safe because lens_flares.tbl is an engine default — the built-in lenses always resolve — but a mission naming a lens from a xxx-lens.tbm must ship with that .tbm.

	==Default lens systems==		==Default lens systems==
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	</pre>		</pre>

	To use it, name it from a ~~sun~~ in ~~[[Stars~~.~~tbl]]~~:		To use it, name it from the info section of a mission (or pick it in the background editor, which writes the same line):

			<pre>
			$Camera Lens: tessar_50mm
			</pre>

			To put a whole campaign on it instead, without touching a single mission, declare it as the default in a xxx-lens.tbm:

	<pre>		<pre>
	#~~Stars~~		#Lens Systems

	$~~Sun: SunWhite~~		$Default Lens: tessar_50mm
	~~$Sunglow: Sunglow01~~
	~~$SunRGBI: 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0~~
	$Lens: tessar_50mm

	#~~end~~		#End
	</pre>		</pre>

	[[Category:Tables]]		[[Category:Tables]]

The E at 07:15, 26 July 2026

2026-07-26T07:15:45Z

Show changes

The E: New page: Hi there. This is The E, the most common letter in the english alphabet. What makes me special among all the E's out there is my unique capacity to troubleshoot FS2Open installs. No other ...

2009-08-18T16:15:27Z

New page: Hi there. This is The E, the most common letter in the english alphabet. What makes me special among all the E's out there is my unique capacity to troubleshoot FS2Open installs. No other ...

New page

Hi there. This is The E, the most common letter in the english alphabet. What makes me special among all the E's out there is my unique capacity to troubleshoot FS2Open installs. No other letter of the english alphabet has ever done this. It is my sincere hope that other letters and numbers will follow my example and contribute to the community.