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I am well aware that the "Bloom" feature is not available in cycles, and can only be recreated in the compositor. This is something I am totally confused about why the developers didn't add.

However, it takes a lot of time. Changing the indexes, going into the compositor and adding the nodes, and the long list of actions.

Is it possible to add the same bloom effect in the render properties to cycles? (Probably using an add-on?)

If that's not possible, is it possible to save a compositor preset and simply enable it in the render properties?

If none of the possibilities mentioned above is possible, should this be a feature request? If so, where can I do that?

If the solution to this problem is found... It will be Revolutionary

I am a 1,000 trillion percent sure this is not possible.

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    $\begingroup$ As in real life, "glow" effects can only exist where there is some medium to reflect the light (fog for example). Since cycles strives to be physically accurate, the best way to create a realistic glow is to use a Volume surrounding the light (and possibly the scene). $\endgroup$
    – Christopher Bennett
    Commented Jul 8, 2022 at 0:29
  • $\begingroup$ @ChristopherBennett Would you consider answering what your workaround would be ;) $\endgroup$
    – Yousuf Chaudhry
    Commented Jul 8, 2022 at 9:14

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Well, I'm here to tell you that it is 1,000 trillion percent possible. Bloom in real time

Glare is a legitimate effect of every real lens. Smudges, grunge, and deformations all contribute to glare. Since Cycles attempts to be a (relatively) photorealistic render engine, we should be able to simulate lens glare just like most effects we find in photography.

In this demo, I made a cube around the camera. The visible side is a "camera lens" material that adds two glass shaders together. All camera rays pass through the lens before interacting with the rest of the environment. The rest of the box is black to prevent reflections from behind the camera.

External view

This method has a ton of artistic potential. The box could be replaced with a more accurate camera 3D model for a more realistic lens. Dirt or noise could be mixed into the shader.

The shader with noise

This might not always be a practical replacement to bloom for the following reasons:

  1. Bloom is only available when looking through the lens.
  2. It also takes a lot more samples to filter out noise, especially for dusty lenses.
  3. Every light ray passes through this shader, so complex lens shaders can be very taxing on render times.
  4. This method renders the depth and normal passes useless because they are now based on the lens.
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    $\begingroup$ Great answer! Plus 1,000,000,000,000! This is the answer I need, but for now, I will wait for more ideas from people before accepting this answer. Again, great! $\endgroup$
    – Yousuf Chaudhry
    Commented Jul 8, 2022 at 9:22
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You are correct. It is not possible. Feature requests should go to RightClick Select but Cycles attempts to be physically accurate and bloom is not a physically accurate effect. That's why the developers didn't add it.

The best you can do is wait for the new compositor, just announced, that will composite in real time. Still have to put together a node tree, but at least you'll be able to see the compositing without waiting for a render.

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    $\begingroup$ Thanks for the link to the feature request website! Though what would be your current workaround? $\endgroup$
    – Yousuf Chaudhry
    Commented Jul 8, 2022 at 9:53
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    $\begingroup$ I prefer compositing to be a separate post processing step so I have never wanted a work around other than using EEVEE. FWIW the technique in the other answer doesn’t produce what is meant by bloom in EEVEE settings and doesn’t provide physically accurate glare. But if the effect works for you aesthetically, you should use it. $\endgroup$
    – Marty Fouts
    Commented Jul 8, 2022 at 15:43

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