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Glow

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Filter

Adds a bloom/glow effect by brightening areas above a luminance threshold.

The Glow node applied to a source image: original (left) and result (right).
Side-by-side comparison: the original image on the left and the same image after the Glow node on the right.

Glow extracts bright areas of the image (above the threshold), blurs them, and blends them back. This creates a soft bloom around highlights, the same effect used in film and game rendering.

The tint color lets you shift the glow toward a specific hue. Multiple quality levels control how many blur passes are used, trading speed for smoothness.

Parameters

Section titled “Parameters”

Pins

ImageImage
InputRequired
MaskMask
InputOptional
ImageImage
Output

Filter

ThresholdNumber
Default: 0.40 Range: 0.00–1.00

Only pixels brighter than this contribute to the glow. 0 = all pixels glow, 1 = nothing glows.

RadiusNumber · px/%
Default: 10.0 Range: 1.0–300.0 px / 0–100%

Glow spread radius. Larger values produce a wider, softer glow

IntensityNumber
Default: 1.00 Range: 0.00–5.00

Glow brightness multiplier. 0 = no glow, higher = brighter.

Color

TintColor (RGB)
Default: rgb(255, 255, 255)

Glow tint (red component)

Blend

Blend ModeChoice
Default: Add

How glow is composited onto the original

  • AddAdds the glow directly, which can clip to white in very bright areas.
  • ScreenScreen blend that brightens without clipping. Most natural-looking glow.
  • Soft LightSubtle, gentle glow that enhances brightness without a strong bloom effect.
QualityChoice
Default: Medium (3 passes)

Number of blur passes for smoother glow. More passes = smoother but slower

  • Fast (1 pass)One blur pass. Fastest, but may show slight banding in the glow.
  • Medium (3 passes)Three blur passes, giving a smooth glow with good performance.
  • High (6 passes)Six blur passes, giving the smoothest possible glow, best for final output.

Mask

Mask FromChoice
Default: Luminance
Color image connected to the mask input

How the connected color image is read as a mask

  • LuminanceRead the image's brightness as the mask. The default.
  • AlphaRead the image's transparency as the mask.
  • RedUse the red channel as the mask.
  • GreenUse the green channel as the mask.
  • BlueUse the blue channel as the mask.
Mask FitChoice
Default: None (native size)
Mask connected

How the mask is sized when it doesn't match the image

  • None (native size)Center the mask at its native size, with no resizing. Unmasked regions are unaffected.
  • StretchStretch the mask to exactly match the image dimensions. May distort the mask shape.
  • Fit (letterbox)Scale the mask to fit inside the image, preserving aspect ratio. Letterboxes where needed.
  • Fill (crop)Scale the mask to fill the image, preserving aspect ratio. Crops edges if aspect ratios differ.

Usage Tips

Section titled “Usage Tips”
  • Lower the threshold to make more of the image glow; raise it to restrict glow to only the brightest highlights.
  • Use a colored tint for stylized effects: warm for golden hour, cool for sci-fi.
  • Switch to Screen blend mode to prevent clipping in bright areas; the default (Add) can blow out highlights.
  • Connect a mask input to restrict which pixels are glow source candidates. The bloom still spreads naturally beyond the masked area.
Section titled “Related Nodes”