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How to make glowing text in After Effects

Glowing text is perfect for sci-fi titles, neon looks, or anything that needs extra punch and visual impact.

Steps to make glowing text

Create your text, then go to Effect → Stylize → Glow.

After Effects with the Glow effect selected

Increase Glow Radius to soften the halo and adjust Glow Intensity to control brightness.

Text layer in After Effects composition viewer glowing with the Glow effect applied

Duplicate the glow effect and use different Threshold and Radius values to layer a soft outer glow with a tighter inner glow. Two glows always look better than one.

Effect Controls panel in After Effects showing Glow effect settings for text

One more thing

Switch your project to 32 bits per channel (float) for smoother, more realistic glows. In the Project panel, click the 8bpc/16bpc toggle at the bottom and set it to 32 bpc. The extra color data lets the glow effect blend more naturally without harsh banding.

Related how-tos

How to add stroke around text in After Effects
How to add a shadow in After Effects
How to create a blur effect in After Effects

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