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Configuring StreamUP LucidGlass ​

by Andi ​
Version: 1.3.0

A squircle-shaped lens that refracts whatever's behind it. Frosted glass, edge distortion, magnification, chromatic aberration, inner and outer glow, drop shadow. All slider-driven. Apple's liquid glass replicated in OBS.

Drop it on a source, set the shape, point it at where you want it, done.

Requires the obs-shaderfilter plugin (v2.6.0 or newer).

Based on the Apple liquid glass replicate shader by 4eckme.

Installation ​

  1. Download streamup-lucid-glass.shader
  2. Drop it into your obs-shaderfilter shaders folder (or anywhere you like, you point at it manually)
  3. In OBS, right-click the source you want the lens on, Filters, add a Shader Filter under Effect Filters
  4. Hit Browse next to "Shader Text File" and pick the .shader file
  5. Done. The properties panel fills with all the controls below

Works on any source. Cameras, browsers, scenes, image sources. Anything underneath gets refracted through the lens.

How It's Built ​

The lens is a squircle, drawn as a signed distance field. That gives you a single shape with smooth corners, controlled by Corner Radius (how rounded) and Squircleness (circle through to square). The interior gets a blurred, distorted, optionally tinted sample of whatever's underneath. The edge band runs the distortion and chromatic aberration. The outside runs the glow and shadow.

Everything composites in order: drop shadow, outer glow, glass interior, inner glow. Transparent background mode is supported so you can stack the lens on top of other shaders or video.

Information ​

Two info widgets at the top. Usage and version. Nothing to set.

Global Settings ​

Where the lens sits and how it composites.

  • Position X / Y centre of the lens in pixels. Defaults to 960, 540 (centre of a 1080p canvas)
  • Transparent Background Outside Shape turns the area outside the lens transparent so you can layer this over anything. Off by default

Shape Definition ​

The squircle itself.

  • Shape Width (px) width of the lens
  • Shape Height (px) height of the lens
  • Corner Radius (px) how rounded the corners are
  • Squircleness (n) 2 is a perfect circle / ellipse corner, higher values move toward a square. 3 is the Apple-style squircle. 100+ is almost a hard rectangle
  • Edge Feathering (px) softness on the outer edge. 0 is a hard edge, higher fades the shape into the background

Glass Effects ​

The interior look.

  • Blur Level quality preset. 0 = Low (fast), 1 = Medium, 2 = High. The cost scales with the kernel size, so leave it on Medium unless you need either extreme
  • Blur Intensity fine-tune the blur radius on top of the level. 0.1 to 5.0
  • Frost Strength noise on the sample positions. 0 is a clean blur. Crank it for proper frosted glass
  • Tint Colour colour to push the glass toward
  • Tint Strength how much of the tint to apply. 0 = none, 1 = full

Lens Distortion ​

The edge refraction.

  • Distortion Edge Thickness (px) width of the band along the inside of the lens where distortion happens. Outside this band the interior is just a blurred sample, inside it the sample positions get pulled
  • Max Distortion Amount strength and direction. Above 0 pinches inwards (concave lens), below 0 bulges outwards (convex lens)
  • Distortion Falloff Power how sharply the distortion fades from edge to centre. >1 sharper, <1 softer
  • Magnification Amount zoom of the interior content. 1.0 = no zoom, >1.0 magnifies (good for magnifying-glass effect), <1.0 zooms out

Chromatic Aberration ​

Splits the red, green, and blue channels along the edge for that prismatic rainbow refraction. Off by default.

  • Enable Chromatic Aberration toggle
  • CA Strength how far the channels split. 0 = none, 30 = heavy
  • CA Thickness (px) how far in from the edge the aberration reaches
  • CA Falloff Power sharpness of the fade. >1 sharper, <1 softer

CA shows up most on high-contrast content. Pointed at a dark area it does nothing visible.

Outer Glow Effects ​

Soft glow on the outside of the lens.

  • Enable Outer Glow toggle
  • Glow Colour colour of the glow
  • Outer Glow Spread (px) how far the glow extends out from the edge
  • Outer Glow Falloff Power sharpness of the fade

Directional Glow ​

Restricts the glow to specific sides of the lens. Bi-directional, so you get two opposing arcs (top + bottom, or left + right). Useful for the highlights along a camera frame.

  • Enable Directional Glow (Bi-Dir) toggle
  • Glow Direction (degrees) which way the glow points. 0 = right (and left), 90 = up (and down), 45 = diagonal
  • Directional Spread (degrees) how wide each arc is. 180 = full sides, 90 = quarter, 45 = narrow beam
  • Directional Softness how soft the arc edges are. 0 = hard cutoff, 1 = very soft

Inner Glow Effects ​

Soft glow on the inside edge of the lens. Adds depth, makes the rim feel like an actual physical edge.

  • Enable Inner Glow toggle
  • Inner Glow Colour colour
  • Inner Glow Spread (px) how far the glow reaches inward
  • Inner Glow Falloff Power sharpness of the fade

Directional Inner Glow ​

Same idea as the outer directional glow, restricted to specific sides.

  • Enable Directional Inner Glow (Bi-Dir) toggle
  • Inner Glow Direction (degrees) which way the inner glow points
  • Inner Directional Spread (degrees) width of each arc
  • Inner Directional Softness softness of the arc edges

Drop Shadow Effects ​

Soft shadow cast behind the lens.

  • Enable Drop Shadow toggle
  • Shadow Colour colour
  • Shadow Offset X / Y (px) where the shadow sits relative to the lens. Positive Y is down
  • Shadow Blur (px) softness
  • Shadow Opacity overall strength

For the shadow to render past the edges of the source, use the canvas-expansion inputs above the shader (Expand Left / Right / Top / Bottom). Otherwise the shadow gets clipped.

Recipes ​

A few starting points to copy.

Camera Frame Glass ​

  • Shape: match your camera size
  • Corner Radius: 80, Squircleness: 3
  • Blur Level: Medium, Blur Intensity: 1.0
  • Frost Strength: 0.5
  • Magnification: 1.0
  • Distortion Edge Thickness: 60, Max Distortion: 0.8
  • Inner Glow: on, white, spread 8
  • Drop Shadow: on, offset (0, 8), blur 20, opacity 0.4

Apple-style glass plate over your camera. Subtle edge bend, soft white inner highlight.

Magnifying Glass ​

  • Shape: 400x400 circle (Squircleness 2)
  • Corner Radius: 200 (full radius)
  • Magnification: 2.5
  • Distortion Edge Thickness: 50, Max Distortion: 0.6
  • Chromatic Aberration: on, Strength 8, Thickness 40

Drag it around the scene as a magnifier. CA adds the optical-edge fringe.

Frosted Callout ​

  • Shape: 600x200, Corner Radius 100, Squircleness 4
  • Blur Level: High, Blur Intensity: 2.0
  • Frost Strength: 1.5
  • Tint Colour: brand colour at 30% alpha, Tint Strength: 0.5
  • Inner Glow: subtle white
  • Drop Shadow: on

Lower-third plate. Reads cleanly over any background.

Prismatic Lens ​

  • Magnification: 1.2
  • Chromatic Aberration: on, Strength 20, Thickness 80, Falloff 1.5
  • Inner Glow: white, spread 20

Heavy rainbow refraction along the edge. Looks like an actual physical lens.

Performance Notes ​

  • Blur Level is the main cost. Low uses a 3x3 kernel, Medium 5x5, High 7x7. With Chromatic Aberration on, that triples (one sample per channel). Don't run High + CA on multiple lenses if you're already close to the GPU budget
  • Frost Strength doesn't add cost, just noise on the same sample positions
  • Inner glow, outer glow, drop shadow, and CA all early-exit if their toggle is off, so leaving them disabled costs nothing

Good to Know ​

  • The shader runs per pixel, so the cost scales with the canvas size, not the lens size. A tiny lens on a 4K canvas is the same speed as a big one
  • UVs mirror at the edges to prevent streaking when the distortion samples past the canvas. Means the lens doesn't smear if you place it near a corner
  • Transparent Background mode is the right pick when you're stacking the lens over a video, a browser source, or another shader. It composites the lens with its own alpha and leaves everything outside transparent
  • File watching is on by default in obs-shaderfilter. Edit the .shader file and OBS updates live

Changelog ​

v1.3.0 ​

  • Replaced the old Blur Level float slider with a Low / Medium / High dropdown plus a Blur Intensity fine-tune slider
  • Added the Chromatic Aberration section. Splits RGB along the edge for prismatic refraction
  • EPSILON define for numeric stability, plus a round of tooltip polish

v1.2.0 ​

  • Added anti-aliasing on the shape edge
  • Folded the inner-glow path into the outer-glow handling so the directional masks share one code path

v1.1 ​

  • Fixed the inner glow asymmetry so it draws two opposing highlights instead of one off-centre blob

v1.0 ​

  • First release. Squircle shape, blur, frost, tint, lens distortion, magnification, outer and inner glow, drop shadow