Aescripts Deep Glow for After Effects

About this release

Deep Glow exists because the glow built into After Effects has always looked like what it is: a blurred duplicate composited back over the source. This one works in linear light with proper falloff, so bright areas bloom the way a lens actually blooms, and the result holds up under a camera push instead of turning into a milky haze.

The controls are deliberately short. Radius, exposure and threshold do most of the work, and a handful of secondary parameters handle chromatic aberration, glow tinting and how much of the original image survives the composite. Anyone can get a usable result in under a minute, which is the whole point on a motion graphics job where the glow is the last thing added to forty comps.

It behaves correctly with high dynamic range values, which is where cheaper glows fall apart. Values above one in the source drive the bloom rather than being clipped first, so a rendered element with real emissive surfaces glows in proportion to how bright it actually is. That makes it sit naturally over three dimensional renders and over footage graded in a log or scene referred space.

Practical extras cover the day to day. There is a compositing mode for adding the glow to a layer without a separate adjustment layer, a preset system for carrying a look between projects, and a quality setting that lets you preview cheaply and render properly. It renders on the graphics card where one is available and falls back cleanly where it is not.

What it does

Linear light falloff

Bloom is calculated the way an actual lens spreads light, not as a blurred copy laid over the frame.

High dynamic range aware

Values above one drive the glow, so emissive renders and log footage bloom in proportion.

Short control set

Radius, exposure and threshold cover most looks, with secondary controls for tint and aberration.

Presets

Save a look once and carry it across comps and projects without rebuilding the parameters.

Graphics card rendering

Accelerated where a supported card is present, with a clean processor fallback where it is not.

Preview and render quality split

Work at a cheap quality setting and render at full without changing any other parameter.

Changed in this version

• Rewritten render path that is substantially faster at large radii.
• Improved edge handling at the frame boundary, removing the old dark fringe.
• Chromatic aberration control added to the secondary parameters.
• Preset browser reworked with folders and search.
• Fixed a colour shift when working in certain wide gamut project settings.

System requirements

Install order

1. Close After Effects before installing.
2. Unpack the archive and run the installer, which locates the host plug in folder automatically.
3. If the host is installed outside the default path, point the installer at it manually.
4. Reopen After Effects and find the effect under the stylise group.

Worth knowing before you start

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