Glow effect using ID mask in cycles

Tutorials, Tips and Tricks
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1

Hello everyone, I hope you’re doing well.

A few months ago I was looking for a way to make an object glow. I have seen tutorials in which it was possible to make that effect but the glow color was white since the mask was white! you can adjust the glow color afterwards but that is not practical. It could get really complex and hard to adjust!

So I kept trying and trying until I found a way to have control over an object while keeping it’s original color. Here is how to do it:

1-Create a colored mask (not the white one!):

Object colored mask
Object colored mask952×549 44.1 KB

2-Add the effect you want (glowing effect in this case):

Effect Addition
Effect Addition1012×545 84.2 KB

3-Put everything together:

Final Map
Final Map1110×596 228 KB

You can do this to multiple objects:

Two Objects_Nodes
Two Objects_Nodes952×480 67.1 KB

Two Objects
Two Objects960×540 293 KB

If there is an easier way or a better way to do this, please let me know.

Have a nice day.

2

Yeah just make your object have an emission with a high enough strength and add a single glare node and set it to fog glow.

I suppose you wouldnt have specific control over whats glowing and what isnt. But you said realistic glow effect at the top of your post, and since glowing is a camera effect, its not realistic to have one thing bright glowing, and another not.

1 Like
3

Oh sorry then I didn’t explain myself well enough. You’re totally right, your way is the realistic way while my way gives you control over an individual object, and that was exactly what I wanted to show.
Thanks a lot. I’ll edit the post.