Ice Halo

Ice Halo turns an object into a light source seen through a sky full of ice crystals. Around it appear a ring of light with a reddish inner edge, two bright sun dogs to its left and right, a faint white circle running level through it and a pillar of light above and below: the optics you can see around the sun on a cold, hazy day.

How it works

Halos come from refraction, not glow. Tiny six-sided ice prisms bend the light passing through them by at least 22 degrees, and because countless crystals tumble in every direction, light piles up at that angle into a ring with a sharp inner edge and a soft outer fringe. Ice bends red light slightly less than blue, so the inside of the ring is red and the outside washes toward white-blue. Flat crystals floating level make the sun dogs, and reflections off their faces make the level circle and the pillar.

Settings

• Halo Scale: the size of the ring. 1 is the true 22 degrees, which fills a normal lens.
• Sun Dogs, Parhelic Circle and Pillar: the strength of each feature.
• Outer Halo: the wider, fainter 46-degree ring.
• Glare: the soft glow right around the source.
• Color: the tint of the light; the halo keeps its own refracted colours.

Use it for

Cold skies, winter suns, street lamps, magic light. Combine it with the sun and moon or a Light Bulb.