Wild Construct

Lumen Glow: from install to first render

This guide takes you from the free trial to a rendered frame in After Effects, then shows how to use Lumen Glow in Photoshop. Lumen Glow also runs in Premiere Pro, which this guide does not cover.

What you need

Get the trial

  1. Open the Lumen Glow trial page.
  2. Create an account, or sign in if you have one.
  3. Press Start my 7-day trial. The 7 days start when you press it, not when you signed up. You get a trial key.
  4. Your trial key is also kept in My account.

The trial has every feature. A trial key activates one computer, and trials are one per person.

Install on Windows

  1. Close After Effects, Premiere Pro, Photoshop and Adobe Media Encoder. The installer checks for them and asks you to close them before it continues.
  2. Run the Lumen Setup file you downloaded. It needs administrator rights.
  3. Follow the welcome and agreement pages, then let it install.
  4. Start After Effects. It loads plug-ins only when it starts.

The installer adds Lumen Glow, Lumen Glow for Photoshop and Lumen Transition. Lumen Transition is for Premiere Pro. It places them here:

A newer version installs directly over the current one. There is no uninstall step. To remove Lumen, uninstall Lumen from Windows installed apps.

Install on Mac

  1. Quit After Effects, Premiere Pro and Photoshop. They load plug-ins only when they start.
  2. Open the Lumen .pkg file you downloaded.
  3. Follow the welcome and license pages, then install.
  4. Start After Effects.

The installer adds Lumen Glow, Lumen Glow for Photoshop and Lumen Transition. Lumen Transition is for Premiere Pro. It places them here:

A newer version installs directly over the current one. There is no uninstall step. If this Mac has only Adobe apps older than 2025, the installer stops.

Updating

  1. Quit After Effects, Premiere Pro, Photoshop and Adobe Media Encoder.
  2. Run the new installer: the Lumen Setup file on Windows, or the Lumen .pkg file on Mac.
  3. Start After Effects again.

The new version installs directly over the current one, so you do not uninstall first. If you already own Lumen Glow, updating also adds Lumen Glow for Photoshop. See Use Lumen Glow in Photoshop.

Activate your license

Until a key is activated, every render carries a diagonal LUMEN GLOW - UNLICENSED watermark. A trial key removes it for 7 days. When the trial ends, the watermark returns until you buy a license. What you made during the trial is yours and unchanged.

On Windows and Mac, enter your key like this:

  1. Apply Lumen Glow to a layer (see Find the effect).
  2. In Effect Controls, click LICENSING at the top right of the Lumen Glow header.
  3. Paste your key into the license key box.
  4. Click License. Activation needs an internet connection. If the computer cannot reach api.keygen.sh, the window says so.
  5. When the window shows Trial or Active, click OK. The watermark is gone from new renders and previews.

A trial key activates one computer. A purchased license activates two. To free a computer, open the Licensing window on it and click Release this computer. If every seat is in use, the window says so and asks you to release one from your account page.

The license file is stored per user, in %APPDATA%\WildConstruct\Licenses on Windows and ~/Library/Application Support/WildConstruct/Licenses on Mac.

Find the effect in After Effects

Lumen Glow is in the Wild Construct effects category. Select a layer, then choose Effect > Wild Construct > Lumen Glow. You can also find it under Wild Construct in the Effects & Presets panel.

If it is not listed, quit After Effects and start it again. Check that the installer finished and that you are on After Effects 2025 or 2026.

Your first render

  1. Open a composition with footage that has bright areas, such as lights or highlights, and select the layer.
  2. Choose Effect > Wild Construct > Lumen Glow. The effect starts at Intensity 1, Glow Size 300 and Glow Spread 30.
  3. Adjust Intensity and Glow Size until the bloom looks right. Lower Glow Spread for a wide haze. Raise it for a tight glow that hugs the highlights.
  4. To start from a look instead, click Browse... next to Presets and pick one.
  5. Preview a few frames in the composition.
  6. Choose Composition > Add to Render Queue.
  7. In the Render Queue panel, click the file name next to Output To to choose a name and destination for the render.
  8. Click Render.

If the render shows the watermark, the key is not activated on this computer yet. See Activate your license.

Use Lumen Glow in Photoshop

The Lumen installer adds Lumen Glow for Photoshop. Restart Photoshop after installing, because it loads plug-ins only when it starts.

  1. Open an 8-bit RGB document with an sRGB color profile. Lumen Glow supports RGB layers, Backgrounds and Smart Objects, without layer masks or floating selections.
  2. Select the layer. To keep the settings editable afterwards, convert it to a Smart Object first.
  3. Choose Filter > Wild Construct > Lumen Glow....
  4. Adjust the controls in the Lumen Glow window. They are grouped as Glow, Grain, Grain Color, Aberration, Shimmer, Lens Scratches and Advanced. The window also has Presets..., Reset, Cancel and OK.
  5. Click OK to apply the filter. Cancel leaves the layer unchanged.

On a Smart Object, Lumen Glow is applied as a Smart Filter, so you can reopen it and change the settings later. On any other supported layer it is applied as a standard filter.

On Mac, Presets... opens the same preset browser as After Effects and reads the same folder, ~/Documents/Lumen/Presets, so a preset you save in one app shows up in the other. A preset saved in Photoshop leaves the controls that change over time in After Effects at rest.

Help and buying

Need a hand with the install or your key? Open Support or email support@wildconstruct.com. Learn more about the plug-in on the Lumen Glow page.