LensMode Documentation

What is LensMode?

LensMode is a Blender addon that adds professional lens distortion effects to your renders. It automatically creates compositor nodes for authentic lens characteristics including barrel/pincushion distortion, chromatic aberration, vignetting, and anamorphic squeeze. Instead of manually building complex node setups for each camera, LensMode gives you one-click presets and full UI control - saving hours of repetitive work.

Installation

1. Download lensmode.zip
2. Open Blender 4.0 or higher
3. Go to Edit → Preferences → Add-ons
4. Click "Install" button
5. Select lensmode.zip
6. Enable the "LensMode" checkbox

Quick Start

1. Select your camera
2. Press N in 3D viewport to open sidebar
3. Click "LensMode" tab
4. Enable the checkbox at the top
5. Click "Load Preset" and choose a lens
6. Press F12 to render and see effects

Interface

LensMode appears in the 3D Viewport sidebar with these sections:

Main Panel

• Enable/disable toggle
• Lens type selector (Rectilinear, Anamorphic, Fisheye)
• Preset loader
• Reset button

Distortion - Controls barrel/pincushion warping Chromatic Aberration - Controls color fringing Vignette - Controls edge darkening Anamorphic - Controls cinematic squeeze (anamorphic lenses only) Quick Presets - Fast access to all 15 lens profiles

Using Presets

Click "Load Preset" and select from 15 professional lenses:

• Canon (24mm, 50mm, 85mm, Fisheye)
• Zeiss (Otus 55mm, Distagon 15mm)
• Cooke Anamorphic (25mm, 40mm, 50mm)
• Panavision C-Series 40mm
• Sigma Fisheye
• Helios 44-2 Vintage

The preset name shows in the panel after loading. Click the reset icon to return to defaults.

Manual Controls

Distortion

K1, K2, K3 (Radial Distortion)

• Controls barrel (negative) or pincushion (positive) warping
• K1 has the most impact, K2 and K3 fine-tune
• Range: -10 to +10

P1, P2 (Tangential Distortion)

• Controls asymmetric warping
• Range: -5 to +5

Options

• Projector Mode: Radial or Horizontal
• Jitter: Adds randomization
• Fit: Automatically fits distorted image to frame

Chromatic Aberration

Overall Strength - Base intensity of color separation (0-5)

Per-Channel Controls (Red, Green, Blue)

• Offset X/Y: Position shift (-2 to +2)
• Rotation: Channel rotation (-360° to +360°)

Vignette

Strength - Darkness intensity (0-1) Width/Height - Coverage area (0.01-10) X/Y Position - Center point (0-1) Rotation - Angle (0-360°) Blur X/Y - Edge softness (0-2000)

Anamorphic

Horizontal Squeeze - Compression factor (0.1-10x) Vertical Scale - Height adjustment (0.1-10x)

Workflow Tips

VFX/Matchmoving

• Load preset matching your real camera lens
• Fine-tune distortion coefficients as needed
• Keep chromatic aberration subtle
• Use light vignette (0.1-0.3)

Cinematic/Stylized

• Use anamorphic presets
• Increase chromatic aberration for vintage look
• Add strong vignette for dramatic focus
• Experiment with extreme distortion

Product/Archviz

• Use rectilinear lens type
• Minimal distortion (K1: -0.01 to -0.03)
• Subtle vignette only
• No chromatic aberration

Rendering

Effects apply to final renders (F12) automatically. Works with both Cycles and Eevee. Compositor nodes are created and updated automatically - you don't need to touch the compositor.

Troubleshooting

Panel doesn't appear

• Ensure a camera exists in your scene
• Press N to open sidebar
• Verify addon is enabled in Preferences

No effects in render

• Check LensMode is enabled (checkbox on)
• Ensure values aren't all at zero

Vignette too small

• Increase Width/Height (try 1.5-3.0)
• Increase Blur for softer edges

Chromatic aberration invisible

• Increase Overall Strength (0.02-0.05)
• Effect shows most at image edges

Support

Questions or issues? Contact: [email protected]

Version 1.0.0 - Initial Release.