How To Create Easy Light Wrap FX + Free Preset | After Effects Quick Tips Tutorial
Create a subtle light wrap effect in After Effects to blend VFX shots better—plus grab a free preset to save time.
When compositing VFX in After Effects, blending your foreground and background can make or break the shot. One technique that can help sell the realism is the light wrap effect—and in today's tutorial, we’re showing you how to build one from scratch in under 5 minutes. Plus, get a free light wrap preset to save you time.
What is a Light Wrap?
Light wrap is a compositing trick that simulates light from the background wrapping around the edges of your foreground subject. It softens the separation between the two and helps your VFX feel more integrated—especially in shots with intense lighting or glowing effects.
In this example, we used a glowing energy ball from our Energy Balls collection behind a cut-out shot of a woman. The goal? Make the light from the ball subtly spill into her outline so she feels part of the same environment.
Watch the full tutorial:
How To Build a Light Wrap in After Effects
Here’s the step-by-step process outlined in the tutorial:
1. Create a New Solid: This will serve as your light wrap layer. Name it something like “Light Wrap.”
2. Use ‘Set Channels’ to Copy the Background: Apply the Set Channels effect and assign all channels (Red, Green, Blue, Alpha) from your background layer. Now your solid is a copy of the background.
3. Enable ‘Effects & Masks’: Make sure you enable the dropdown to “Effects & Masks” so any effects on the background also apply here.
4. Cut It Out with Set Matte: Add a Set Matte effect and set the source to your foreground (in this case, the woman). Then invert it to exclude the area within the subject’s alpha.
5. Blur It: Apply a Fast Blur (or Gaussian Blur) to soften the edges and simulate light spilling over. Check “Repeat Edge Pixels” so the blur doesn’t cut off weirdly.
6. Cut It Again: Add another Set Matte using the same foreground source. This re-masks the result, leaving only the subtle light spill from the blur.
7. Set the Blending Mode: Change the blending mode of your light wrap layer to Add for a better composite.
8. Make It Subtle: Lower the blur and opacity to keep it from being too obvious. The best light wraps are the ones viewers don’t even notice.
Bonus Tip: Save it as a Preset (Or Download FREE Light Wrap Preset)
Don’t want to rebuild this every time? Save it as an After Effects Animation Preset!
You can skip the setup entirely by downloading our free light wrap preset.
Free Practice Materials
If you'd like to practice this or other compositing skills, be sure to check out our free Practice Footage Library! The library contains over 500 professionally-shot clips for compositors to practice or showcase their skills.
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