What It Does
LightsOn is an After Effects extension that adds cinematic lens flares and light effects to your compositions. The entire system is built on shape layers, standard effects, and expressions, meaning no third-party renderer or plugin is required to open or use the resulting project files. Anyone you share the project with can open it without owning LightsOn.
Key Features
Preset-based application. Select a composition, pick a preset from the panel menu, and the light is dropped in as a nested composition. The process takes a few seconds.
Global Settings UI. A custom panel lets you adjust blending and overall light properties to match your scene before committing to keyframes.
Essential Properties. Each light is added as a composition with exposed Essential Properties, so you can animate position, intensity, and other values directly from the parent timeline without digging into nested layers.
Fully open and editable. Nothing is locked. Go inside the light comp to hide layers, add elements from other presets, or modify expressions directly. You can mix components from different presets to build custom looks.
No plugin dependency on delivery. Because everything runs on standard After Effects elements, the project file works for collaborators and clients who do not have LightsOn installed.
Who It’s For
Motion designers who want cinematic lens flares without relying on a dedicated plugin like Optical Flares. Also useful for editors adding light effects to title sequences or scene transitions who need to hand off projects to other artists without compatibility issues.
Pricing
LightsOn is a one-time purchase at $35.00, currently discounted to $26.25. A free trial is available on the aescripts product page. Compatible with After Effects 2024, 2025, and 2026.