Rays

Rays uses a modified radial blur and is especially useful for contrasting graphics with alpha: titles, logos and light patches. It does not automatically solve volume, occlusion or the position of a real light in a 3D scene.

Center determines the shared radial construction point. For a plausible appearance it should match the intended source; motion graphics can deliberately offset it. Shape is easier to tune before strong Exposure.

Threshold selects contributing bright pixels. If the source contains many unwanted highlights, a threshold may not isolate the intended object. Prepare a separate source branch first; an Effect Mask does not perform the same operation.

BMD21 describes Decay as ray length, Weight as falloff and Exposure as intensity. Compare these jobs separately on the same input. Raising all controls together can hide the cause of dirt or excessive brightness.

Controls Blend describes the amount of original image mixed with the rays. This avoids confusion with the general Settings Blend that limits node application. Adjust ray intensity with Exposure or separate compositing after Rays when needed.

Merge Over is visible in the supplied Inspector. Enable it for a combined source/result in one node; disable it to work with a separate ray pass. Inspect RGB and alpha on black and contrasting backgrounds before the final Merge.

The blue Effect Mask is applied after Rays processing. It limits where the effect contributes, but does not prevent pixels outside the mask from contributing to ray generation. To change the sources themselves, modify the image before the orange Input.

Check more than a still frame: a moving highlight or animated Center can change ray structure. At 4K, assess the profile and smoothing at working scale. Lessons use the existing Text+ interactions; native pixels and alpha still require validation in Resolve.