Post-processing Effects

Post-processing works on the finished picture rather than on any one object. After the scene is drawn, each effect treats the whole frame like a photograph and adds glow, blur, grain or a colour grade on top. It is the step that turns a clean render into a look, the same way a photographer's lens and grade shape a shot.

The effects

• Bloom: the brightest parts of the frame glow and spill light into their surroundings, so neon, sparks and emissive materials read as light.
• Depth of Field: everything in front of or behind the focus blurs into soft bokeh, like a camera lens.
• Chromatic Aberration: the colour channels slip apart into thin fringes at the edges, the error of an old or cheap lens.
• Vignette: darkens the corners and edges to hold the eye in the centre.
• Noise: a fine film grain over the frame.
• Glitch: short bursts of digital break-up at random intervals.
• Sepia: the warm brown tone of an old photograph.
• Color Correction: brightness, contrast, hue and saturation for the whole frame.
• SSAO: soft shadows in creases, corners and the gaps under objects, so they sit in the scene.

Presets

The post-processing panel has one Enable switch for the whole stack, and five presets that each switch on a tuned combination:

• Cinematic: depth of field, soft bloom, a vignette and light grain.
• Stylized: stronger contrast and saturation with a vignette.
• Retro: sepia, a heavy vignette and grain, for an old-photo look.
• Cyberpunk: strong bloom, chromatic aberration, glitch and shifted, saturated colour.
• Realistic: ambient occlusion and a subtle bloom on the highlights.

A preset is a starting point; every effect's settings stay editable.

Order matters

Effects run one after another, each working on the result of the one before. Manage Effect Order lets you drag them into a new order, so moving an effect earlier or later changes the result: a colour grade at the end of the stack grades the glow and grain added before it.

How to choose

• Product shots: Bloom with a high threshold so only highlights glow, a light Vignette, and a touch of Color Correction.
• Cinematic heroes: Depth of Field, Vignette and Noise.
• Tech and gaming launches: Bloom, Chromatic Aberration and Glitch, used sparingly.
• Heritage and nostalgia: Sepia with Vignette and Noise.
• Architecture and interiors: SSAO for grounded contact shadows, with Color Correction to set the time of day.

Use fewer effects at lower values than feels natural at first. Post-processing is strongest when nobody notices it is there.