Answer: There are a ton of glows out there. I'm attaching a small excerpt from my book Plug-in to After Effects, which gives an example of some of the glows. I'm adding extra info to the details.

1. Original Image
    
2. After Effects Glow (Free with AE). It works either on the Color Channels, which can be used for creating a glow for full-frame footage, or Alpha Channels, for creating light ray effects around layers with alphas such as text and logos. There are a decent amount of options but the look just isn’t as nice as with the third party glow options. It has no presets.
    
3. Noise Industries FxFactory (MSRP $399, TF Price: $379) The FxFactory Glow (Box-shaped) is a nice looking glow, but there are no presets. Even at a Strength value of just 0.01, the effect is still viewable. This is a great plug-in for bright bloom transitions. There is an option to Use Image Colors or to choose a Color with the eyedropper, an option not included in a lot of glow plug-ins. There is a built in Mask Tool, which has custom Mask Shapes or the option to choose a path on the layer. FxFactory is Mac only  and works in AE, FCP, Motion and Final Cut Express.
    
4. Boris Continuum Complete (MSRP $999, TF Price: $945) BCC Glow is a robust plug-in comes with multiple presets and allows for the glow to be based on RGB Channels, Luminance, Lightness, Red, Green, Blue or Alpha. There are the usual glow adjustments such as the radius, threshold and compositing mode. BCC Glow has the added options of a built in Motion Tracker, a Pixel Chooser to isolate areas of the shot and Beat Reactor, to animate with audio input.  There are quite a few glow plug-ins included and it's one of my favorites because of the variety of options and speed. We sell Continuum Complete for $945 (list price is $999) and it's well worth the price because there are so many great filters with it.

   Update: Peter McAuley of Boris FX contacted me to let me know that the filter used in the sample is now obsolete with the release of BCC 8 (looks like I need a major revision to the book!).  It was replaced with BCC Film Glow, which is "capable of generating an exact match to the Sapphire Glow filter, and in fact it even matches Sapphire Glow at it's default settings. One of the added advantages of the BCC Film Glow is that, again by default, it renders a glow all the way to the edge of the source clip… the Sapphire Glow filter stops short of the source edge, regardless of the setting used." 
    

5. GenArts Sapphire ($1699) Sapphire's S_Glow is interesting because it works with a Background and Matte layer, so it is made specifically for compositing. Width X and Width Y allow the glow to be stretched and this is not something seen in other glow plug-ins. Not only that, individual Red Green and Blue widths can be adjusted. It also has options to Glow From Alpha and Glow Under Source, so the glow can come from behind the text or keyed footage, not just on top of the image. There are no presets with S_Glow, but it’s a solid choice.
    
6. Digieffects Delirium (MSRP $299, TF Price: $284.05) Delirium's DE Glower, which does not have a lot of options but it does include the basics and the option to set a Dark Color and Bright Color, or use the Original Colors. There are a few presets as well. Delirium is fairly inexpensive and has a lot of fun filters with it. Note, the image above, from the book, is out of date. Glower is from the older version of Delirium. Delirium DE Glow is included in the new version and looks like this:

Here's another quick sample (Thanks, Brandon!)

7. Tiffen Dfx Digital Filter Suite (MSRP $599.95, TF Price: $569.95). DFX Glow is a plug-in that doesn’t seem too special on the surface but once the Color Correct settings are pulled down, there are options not seen in other glow filters. There are Hue, Saturation, Brightness, Contrast, Gamma and Red, Green and Blue controls for the color of the glow for precise control of the color. I love this package. It's mostly not glows but gels and lens effects that recreate the look of their gels and lenses in the real world.

Another option, not pictured is Red Giant Warp (MSRP $199.00, TF Price $179.10). It includes a glow plug-in.

All the plugins here are available as free trials or demos here. I'd highly recommend downloading a few and checking them out to see which gives you the look that you want. I'd definitely suggest trying the Boris Continuum Complete package and if you're on Mac, Noise Industries FxFactory.

We have chosen the prize winners at random and will be contacting them via email shortly. If you entered your contact information to win the G-Technology 4TB G-RAID drive or Michele Yamazaki’s “Plug-in to After Effects” book, keep an eye on your inbox!

Top Ten Plug-ins of 2011, in order:

Adobe After Effects Plug-ins:

• 1st: Trapcode Particular
• 2nd: Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks
• 3rd: Boris Continuum Complete
• 4th: Video Copilot Optical Flares
• 5th: GenArts Sapphire
• 6th: Red Giant Magic Bullet Colorista II
• 7th: The Foundry Keylight (Included in AE)
• 8th: Trapcode Shine
• 9th: Imagineer Systems mocha
• 10th: Noise Industries FxFactory Pro

Final Cut Pro Plug-ins:

• 1st: Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks
• 2nd: Boris Continuum Complete
• 3rd: Noise Industries FxFactory Pro
• 4th: GenArts Sapphire
• 5th: Automatic Duck Pro Import/Export FCP (Note: Now Available for Free)
• 6th: Singular Software PluralEyes
• 7th: CoreMelt Complete
• 8th: CHV Plug-ins
• 9th: SmartSound Sonicfire Pro
• 10th: Zaxwerks ProAnimator

Dec. 10th: Logo Reveal Tutorial by Rob Birnholtz

Author: Rob Birnholtz, Absolute Motion Graphics
Hosts: After Effects (project files use AE CS4)
Plug-ins Used: Knoll Light Factory, GenArts Sapphire (Get free trials of Knoll Light Factory and Sapphire here.)
Project Files: Download Project files (right click/option click to save. Format: .zip)

Other: Dust footage courtesy of Pond5.com. The clip can be purchased and downloaded here. A low-res comp is included with the project files.

Create an Animated Logo Reveal with a Stroke Wipe in After Effects from Toolfarm on Vimeo.

Rob Birnholz shows you how to create an animated logo reveal with Adobe After Effects. He uses a couple of great plug-ins, Knoll Light Factory from Red Giant and Sapphire from GenArts (both free demos available here).

Rob gives you several interesting techniques in this one tutorial.

This tutorial video is part of Day 3 of Toolfarm’s Secret Santa Holiday Giveaways. Enjoy and thanks to Rob Birnholz for his fantastic contribution!

Join GenArts and Toolfarm in celebrating the 12th consecutive year that Sapphire has been used in films recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for outstanding visual effects. Enjoy blockbuster savings on the GenArts Sapphire Entire Package, on sale for one day only, February 24, 2009! Save $700 and get all of the Sapphire plug-ins for After Effects and Final Cut Pro, exclusively at Toolfarm. This once-in-a-lifetime sale ends at Midnight EST on February 24.

Try a free demo here.

Afraid the sale will slip your mind after a late night of Oscar watching? Sign up for Toolfarm’s Sales Alert. It’s free and we’ll send a text message reminder to your mobile phone or email on the morning of the sale.

Not sure if you also read Toolfarm.com, but many don’t, so I often post the same info to both blogs.

This Thursday is the next SF Mograph meeting. It’s free to attend but you must RSVP so that they can print a badge for you. RSVP here.

Featured Guests

Current TV
“Since its inception in 2005, Emmy award-winning Current TV has been the world’s leading peer-to-peer news and information network. Current is the only 24/7 cable and satellite television network and Internet site produced and programmed in collaboration with its audience. Current connects young adults with what is going on in their world, from their perspective, in their own voices. Check out their reel

Dav Rauch

Dav Rauchdav rauch: director, visual effects supervisor, and designer, has worked on films such as Ironman, Grindhouse, and Sin City. Iron Man Trailer

Plug-in of the month

Sapphire Plug-ins from GenArts

Toolfarm is also sponsoring the event and we’re donating the pizza. Bon appetit!

From Dennis’ Blog, The Genesis Project:

Additionally, rather than have the event be static where you sit and we talk, it is a twofold event. In one area, you’ll have a large room where many of the vendors will present their products and workflows throughout the day in rapid fire 20 minute presentations. I hope that one of the highlights to these 20 minute demos will be a 20 minute technology preview demo of some stuff we’re working on that I think you will find VERY helpful.

The event will have onsite representation from Adobe, AJA, Blackmagic Design, B&H, CalDigit, DigiEffects, GenArts, GridIron, Matrox, Maxon, MOTU, Wacom and Zoomin Online (aka Magnet Media).

They’re giving away LOADS of prizes from these sponsors too. If you’re in NYC at the end of May, this is a free event. Don’t miss it. Register now!