A Guide to Creating Light Glows in Architectural Renders with Blender Glare Node

What will you learn in this guide?

Blender’s Compositor Glare Node uses bright areas in a render to create different light glow effects. In architectural visualization, these effects can help emphasize strong light coming through a window, bright reflections, or light fixtures in an image. The method described here focuses on processing an existing image in the compositing stage; it does not replace rebuilding the scene’s light sources or materials.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to create a new compositing node tree, connect an image to the Glare Node, and choose an effect type and its basic controls. We’ll then look at how to inspect the different outputs and save the final image. The workflow is limited to the node and settings described in Blender’s official manual.

Requirements

You’ll need a render image to work with in Blender and the Compositor. The source documents do not specify a particular Blender version, account type, cost, or hardware requirements, so no version number or special system requirements are given here.

After creating a new node tree in the Compositor, check the setting that makes the render engine use it. According to the Blender manual, “Compositing Pipeline” must be enabled under Post Processing in the Output section. If this option is off, the compositing node tree is not included in the render process.

How to use Glare Node step by step

1. Open a new node tree in the Compositor

Open the Compositor and click the “New” button at the top to create a new compositing node tree. Blender’s Compositor processes both still images and movie frames on a per-frame basis. This means the basic approach can be applied to anything from a single render image to an animation frame.

Then confirm that “Compositing Pipeline” is enabled under Post Processing in the Output settings. This allows the render engine to use the node tree you created.

2. Route the image through Glare Node

Connect the render image to the Image input on Glare Node. The node’s Image output gives you the image with the effect applied. The Glare output shows only the generated glow, while the Highlights output shows the bright areas used to create the effect.

Inspecting these outputs together makes it easier to understand where the result comes from. For example, the Highlights image lets you check which parts of the scene have been selected as sources of glare. The Glare output can be used to review the effect layer on its own, while the Image output helps you assess the appearance of the full image.

3. Choose an effect type that suits the image

The options in the Glare Type menu determine how bright areas are interpreted in the image. First decide which light effect you want to emphasize in the render, then try the appropriate type.

• Bloom: Creates a soft glow around bright areas.

• Fog Glow: Aims for a softer, more realistic look than Bloom. The Blender manual notes that this option may require more processing time.

• Ghosts: Produces overlapping, lens-reflection-like artifacts.

• Streaks: Creates light streaks extending from bright points.

• Simple Star: Produces a simple, star-shaped glow.

• Sun Beams: Simulates rays of light radiating from a bright source.

• Kernel: Lets you define a custom filter using numerical values or an image input.

Not every type will suit every render. Start with one option and assess the result in the context of the overall image.

4. Adjust the selection of bright areas

Think of Threshold as a selection control that determines which areas generate the effect. A lower threshold includes a wider range of brightness values in the effect. Raising the threshold directs the effect toward a more limited set of brighter areas. Don’t assume that one particular value will work for every scene; adjust it based on the brightness distribution in your render.

The Smoothness control adjusts how selected pixels transition into the effect area. As you change this value, viewing the Highlights output alongside the final image can help you see how the selection edges behave.

5. Adjust the effect’s strength, color, and spread

Strength changes the overall impact of the effect. Values greater than one intensify the glow, while values below one blend the effect more with the original image. Before increasing the intensity, check that material and lighting details remain visible in the image.

Saturation adjusts the effect’s color saturation, while Tint controls the glow’s color. For Bloom, Fog Glow, and Sun Beams, the Size control determines how far the effect spreads across the image. The Streaks type has additional controls, including the number of streaks and the angle of the first streak relative to the horizontal axis. Available settings may vary depending on the selected Glare Type.

Clamp and Maximum controls can be used to limit the level of bright highlights. The Blender manual notes that these controls can help produce a more consistent bloom when images have a wide range of luminance values. When assessing the effect, consider not only the glow but also the brightness relationships in the rest of the image.

6. Preview and assess the final image quality

The Quality option changes the resolution at which the Glare effect is calculated. The manual describes High as processing at full resolution; Medium and Low use lower resolutions to reduce the processing load. Low is the fastest of these options, but it also reduces detail.

For this reason, working with lower quality settings while testing can help you review the result more quickly. Recheck the quality setting to see the effect’s details in the final image. Fog Glow’s potentially longer processing time is another factor to consider.

When Sun Beams is selected, Sun Position determines the source point of the rays on the image. The manual recommends isolating the area representing the light source before generating the beams—for example, by adjusting the input to retain only the brightest areas or by using a mask. The generated rays can then be combined with the original image. Increasing Jitter can speed up processing, but may result in a grainy or noisy appearance.

7. Save the composite

After creating a still image with Render, you can save it using Save Image. For an image sequence or animation, use the Animation button and its related settings. If you need to overlay images later, the Blender manual gives PNG, which supports an alpha channel, as an example. For saving depth information, it gives EXR, which supports the Z-depth channel, as an example.

Common mistakes

The glow spreads over too large an area: Lowering Threshold causes a wider area to contribute to the effect. Check the selected areas in the Highlights output and adjust the threshold if necessary.

The light effect overpowers the image: Review Strength or the spread of the effect. The node’s strength and size controls affect the result; as you adjust them, compare the visibility of other details in the render as well.

The effect doesn’t appear in the render: Confirm that “Compositing Pipeline” is enabled under Post Processing in the Output section. Also check that the image reaches Glare Node and that the result is taken from the Image output.

The Sun Beams image looks grainy: Jitter introduces variation into the Sun Beams calculation. The Blender manual notes that increasing the value can speed up processing, but may also introduce noise in the image. Check the result and choose an appropriate setting.

Using Glare Node in an architectural visualization workflow

Glare Node can be added at the compositing stage, particularly for interior and exterior images where bright light sources need to stand out in the presentation. Visualization artists can use the Glare and Highlights outputs to inspect the effect itself and the areas that generate it separately. This means you don’t have to rely solely on the final image while adjusting the settings.

For offices and students, a useful approach is to make small changes first and assess the result in the context of the full render. Lowering the quality setting for previews can reduce the processing load; the quality should be checked again during the final review. Since the sources do not explain licensing costs, hardware requirements, or Blender version compatibility, no additional claims can be made on these topics. Treat the Glare effect as a tool that complements image compositing, not as a substitute for scene lighting.

Next steps

Compare different Glare Type options on the same render. For each test, check which areas are selected in the Highlights output, then see how the effect combines with the overall image in the Image output. For animation work, reviewing the result from a single frame across other frames in the image sequence can help you assess how the effect behaves over time.

Sources and license

This guide has been adapted into Turkish based on the “Glare Node” and “Compositing” introductory pages in the official Blender manual. Both sources are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.