OPTIC LAB

Quick-start documentation for Optic Lab Version 1.

Blender 5.2+ · Cycles & Eevee

01 / INSTALLATION

Getting started

02 / BASIC WORKFLOW

Select → Create → Adjust → Render

Optic Lab is designed around a simple workflow. Select the object you want to work with, assign it to Optic Lab, choose an effect, and refine the generated result.

Some Blur Direction and camera-aware Data Points effects require an active camera. Use Add Camera or Select Camera when needed.

03 / BLUR

Directional & area blur

Blur creates localized stylized blur effects on selected meshes or inside movable blur regions.

Selected Mesh

Applies the blur system directly to the assigned object.

Area Blur

Creates a movable controller. Meshes inside the region are affected by the blur. Multiple independent blur regions can be used in one scene.

Main controls

• Blur Amount
• Blur Length
• Direction
• Edge Softness
• Preview Blur
• Animation Blur
• Live Update
• Add Another Blur
• Update All Blur

Use Reset to Defaults to restore the Blur controls without removing the effect setup.

04 / DATA POINTS

Technical & FUI overlays

Data Points generates technical graphics, labels, callouts and futuristic interface-style overlays around your selected objects.

Enable individual layers to build your own combination:

The default setup starts with Surface Data and Labels enabled.

You can adjust properties such as glow, opacity, scale and line thickness. Use Reset to Defaults to restore the section's original settings.

05 / PATTERNED GLASS

Procedural optical glass

Patterned Glass creates stylized glass panels with procedural patterns, material controls and animated distortion.

Included presets

Luxury Reeded · Fine Fluted · Soft Frost · Liquid Glass · Bubble Lens · Ripple Glass · Hammered · Lenticular

Materials

• Glass
• Glass Dispersion
• Custom Material

Animation

Enable Animate Glass and choose:

• Ripples — concentric travelling rings
• Waves — directional travelling wave motion

Use Reset to Defaults to restore the Patterned Glass controls.

06 / SURFACE RIPPLE

Procedural surface deformation

Surface Ripple creates smooth procedural ripple deformation across one or multiple selected mesh objects.

Subdivision

Surface Ripple uses non-destructive subdivision support. The original mesh is not permanently subdivided.

• Preview defaults to subdivision level 1
• Final defaults to subdivision level 2
• Dense meshes may be automatically capped for stability

Use Reset to Defaults to restore the Surface Ripple controls.

07 / SCENE ACTIONS

Global controls

Update All Effects

Refreshes generated Optic Lab effects after larger scene changes.

Clear Generated FX

Removes generated Optic Lab effects from the scene without deleting your original source meshes.

08 / PERFORMANCE

Working with heavier scenes

• Use Preview quality while building your scene.
• Switch to Final quality only when preparing your render.
• Reduce the number of active Data Point layers if viewport performance drops.
• Disable Live Update while making several changes in heavier scenes.
• Use sensible subdivision levels on high-density meshes.

09 / TROUBLESHOOTING

Quick fixes

My effect is not appearing

Re-select the mesh, click Use Selected Meshes, and generate or update the effect again. Check that a camera is active if the selected effect requires one.

Blur is not refreshing

Use Update All Blur to rebuild the currently active blur regions.

Glass animation is not moving

Make sure Animate Glass is enabled and the Blender timeline is advancing.

Surface Ripple is too heavy

Switch back to Preview quality. Optic Lab may automatically reduce subdivision on very dense meshes for stability.

I want to remove all generated effects

Open Scene Actions and choose Clear Generated FX.

10 / COMPATIBILITY

Optic Lab

Creative optical effects for Blender.