God rays (volumetric light)
Visible shafts of light cutting through haze, fog, or dust where objects partly block the source.
See it
What it is
God rays are visible shafts of light formed when haze, dust, fog, or clouds scatter light toward the viewer while objects block parts of the beam. The alternating light and shadow makes the air itself look lit.
Use volumetric scattering or ray marching when the camera and scene move in 3D. For a cheaper screen-space version, mask the light with the scene depth, stretch that mask outward from the light position with a radial blur, then add it back over the frame.
Gotcha: shafts need both suspended particles and occlusion. Uniform bright streaks with no object breaking them read as a lens overlay, and strong screen-space rays can leak across foreground edges.
Ask AI for it
Add god rays with volumetric ray marching through a low-density fog volume: scatter light only along paths visible to the main light, use the depth buffer for occlusion, add slight noise to the density, and keep the shafts soft, sparse, and anchored to the light source.