auraGlow by @MaxsonRichards

Installation

Download the auraGlow plugin
Unzip the downloaded zip file
Drag the auraGlow.zip file onto the Cavalry interface
Find auraGlow in the Add Layers window

Quick start

Apply AuraGlow to a layer.
Leave Cavalry's native filter Blend Mode set to Replace.
Adjust Threshold, Radius, Intensity, and Mix.
Increase Grow Bounds if the glow is clipped at the layer edges.

auraGlow composites the source and glow internally. The native Cavalry filter Blend Mode should normally remain on Replace.

Recommended workflow

Start with the default settings, then adjust the controls in this order:

Set Threshold Mode.
Adjust Threshold and Threshold Softness to choose what emits glow.
Set the overall size with Radius.
Set the strength with Intensity.
Use Highlight Rolloff if the center becomes too bright.
Choose a Composite Mode.
Adjust Color Mode, Glow Style, Chroma Spread, or Grain Amount as needed.
Increase Grow Bounds if the glow reaches the layer boundary.

For faster previews, work in Draft or Balanced quality and switch to High or Ultra for the final render.

Practical tips

Preventing clipped glows

If the glow stops abruptly at the edge of a layer, increase Grow Bounds. Do this before pushing Radius much higher.

Getting saturated colors to glow

If a saturated color looks bright but does not produce enough glow:

Try RGB Max for Threshold Mode.
Increase Highlight Bias.
Increase Source Boost slightly.
Lower Threshold.

Creating a neon look

A useful starting point:

Threshold Mode: RGB Max
Lower Threshold
Moderate Threshold Softness
Smaller Radius
Higher Intensity
Set Composite Mode to Screen, Add, or Color Dodge
Optional Chroma Spread

Creating soft atmospheric bloom

A useful starting point:

Threshold Mode: Luminance
Medium or high Threshold Softness
Large Radius
Moderate Intensity
Higher Highlight Rolloff
Set Composite Mode to Screen or Soft Add

Working with directional styles

Horizontal, Vertical, and Cross are easiest to see when Glow Diffusion is near 0.0.

Increase Glow Diffusion when you want to keep the directional character but soften the streaks.

Isolating and processing the glow

Duplicate the source layer, enable Glow Only on the upper copy, and apply additional effects or blending to that copy. This gives more control than processing the source and glow together.

Performance

The main factors affecting render time are:

Radius
Quality
Layer size
Grow Bounds
Number of auraGlow instances

Use Draft or Balanced while building the scene. Switch to High or Ultra when checking the final result.

Avoid increasing Grow Bounds more than necessary, especially on large compositions.

Rendering and gradient quality

Large, soft glows contain very gradual color transitions. Some video export formats may show visible banding even when the glow is smooth inside Cavalry.

For the cleanest master:

Render a 16-bit PNG sequence.
Encode the video from that image sequence in external software, such as DaVinci Resolve.

This preserves smooth gradients and avoids banding more reliably than rendering directly to an 8-bit or compressed video format.

Controls

Extraction

Threshold Mode

Default: Luminance

Determines which source signal is used to generate the glow.

Luminance — Uses perceived brightness. This is the most natural general-purpose mode.
RGB Max — Uses the brightest individual color channel. Useful for saturated colors that are bright in one channel but not high in luminance.
Alpha — Uses the source alpha. Useful for graphic shapes, mattes, and artwork where the visible silhouette should emit glow evenly.

Threshold

Default: 0.16
Range: 0.0–1.0

Sets the cutoff for what emits glow. Lower values allow more of the image to glow. Higher values restrict the glow to brighter areas.

Threshold Softness

Default: 0.22
Range: 0.001–1.0

Controls the soft transition around the threshold. Lower values create a harder cutoff. Higher values produce a smoother transition into the glow.

Source Boost

Default: 1.0
Range: 0.0–2.0

Applies gain before threshold extraction.

1.0 is neutral.
Values below 1.0 reduce the source intensity before extraction.
Values above 1.0 boost the source intensity before extraction.

Highlight Bias

Default: 0.0
Range: 0.0–1.0

Blends luminance extraction toward RGB Max. Increase this when saturated colors are not contributing enough glow.

Glow

Radius

Default: 100 px
Range: 0–500 px

Controls the overall size of the glow.

Large values may require increasing Grow Bounds. Radius is also the main control affecting render cost, especially at higher Quality settings.

Intensity

Default: 8.0
Range: 0.0–40.0

Controls the strength of the generated glow before Highlight Rolloff is applied.

Highlight Rolloff

Default: 0.5
Range: 0.0–3.0

Compresses very bright glow values. Increase it to soften an overly bright core or keep intense glows from becoming harsh.

Mix

Default: 1.0
Range: 0.0–1.0

Blends between the original source and the internally composited auraGlow result.

0.0 — Original source
1.0 — Full auraGlow result

When Glow Only is enabled, Mix acts as the output level of the isolated glow.

Composite Mode

Default: Screen

Controls how the glow is blended with the source internally.

Screen — Smooth and practical for most bloom effects.
Add — Brighter and more energetic.
Soft Add — Similar to Add, but with a more controlled response.
Color Dodge — Strong contrast and intense highlights.
Overlay — Adds contrast as well as glow.
Linear Light — Aggressive and high-impact.

Keep Cavalry's native filter Blend Mode set to Replace when using these modes.

Grow Bounds

Default: 1536 × 1536

Expands the filter bounds so large glows are not clipped.

Increase this when the glow is clipped at the layer edge. Very large values use more memory, so don't raise it more than necessary.

Glow Only

Default: Off

Outputs only the generated glow.

This is useful for:

Duplicated-layer workflows
Custom blending
Applying separate effects to the glow
Using the glow as a matte
Building more complex composites

Glow Style

Default: Normal

Normal — Natural soft glow.
Horizontal — Stretches the glow horizontally.
Vertical — Stretches the glow vertically.
Cross — Combines horizontal and vertical streaks.

Directional styles are most pronounced when Glow Diffusion is low.

Glow Diffusion

Default: 0.0
Range: 0.0–1.0

Blends Horizontal, Vertical, and Cross styles back toward a normal soft glow.

0.0 — Fully directional
1.0 — Natural glow

This control is ignored in Normal mode.

Color

Color Mode

Default: Preserve Source

Preserve Source — Keeps the original source colors in the glow.
Tint — Applies a chosen glow color.

Source Saturation

Default: 1.0
Range: 0.0–2.0

Adjusts saturation in Preserve Source mode.

0.0 — Grayscale glow
1.0 — Original saturation
Values above 1.0 — Increased saturation

Glow Color

Sets the glow color in Tint mode.

Tint Amount

Default: 1.0
Range: 0.0–1.0

Controls how strongly Glow Color replaces the source color in Tint mode.

Chroma Spread

Default: 0 px
Range: 0–60 px

Offsets the red and blue channels around the glow to create spectral separation.

Low values add a small amount of color fringing. Higher values create a more stylized effect.

Grain

Grain Amount

Default: 0.0
Range: 0.0–1.0

Adds grain to the glow only. The response is weighted toward subtle values so fine adjustments are easier near the bottom of the range.

Grain Size

Default: 0.55 px
Range: 0.03–10.0 px

Controls the approximate grain scale.

Lower values produce fine noise. Higher values produce a coarser texture.

Animated Grain

Default: Off

Changes grain from static to animated.

Grain Speed

Default: 8.0
Range: 2.0–10.0

Controls grain animation speed.

Quality

Draft

Lowest blur sample count. Best for quick previews.

Balanced

A middle ground between speed and smoothness.

High

Default quality. Recommended for most final work.

Ultra

Highest blur sample count. Useful for very large, smooth glows when render time is less important.

Note: Higher Quality settings may increase the apparent glow radius.