How to Add a Glow Effect to Objects

Shadows need not be grey and boring all the time.

Here are some ideas on how you can use the shadow feature to add some very cool effects to your objects.

Example 1: Green shadow for alien glow

Import an image of an alien. 

Note: This trick works best for png images (with transparent background)

Select the image >  Settings > Shadow

For alien glow, we are using a bright green color

Adjust the other Shadow Properties (angle, distance, blur) according to how you like it.

And that's it! You now have a very cool, glowing alien!

See the difference it makes!

Example 2: Lamp glow

This trick can be used if you only want to add a glow effect to one part of an object, such as the bulb of a lamp.

Import your object (either from the library or from your own source)

 

Add a shape. This is the shape to which the "glow" will be applied.

In this example, we're using a circle to match the shape of the lightbulb.

Set the shape's color to a bright yellow with 100% opacity.

Go to Shadow > Adjust the Shadow Properties

A Distance of 30 and a Blur of 80 works great for this example, but feel free to change these values and see what works for you.

Finally, make sure that the glowing shape is placed under the object (lamp) in the timeline

And that's it! You just added a very nice 3D-like glow to a 2D object.

Here are a few more examples: