Object shadow: glow inward

What the effect does

"Inner glow" applies a soft light halo to the inside edge of the object, without offset and without light direction. Depending on the setting, the object appears curved, illuminated from within, or like a glowing tube.

Technically, Stylo applies the glow to the surface of the object: over the fill, the gradient, or the background image, but beneath the border. The glow is calculated in the chosen mode with this surface. Therefore, the effect mainly depends on the object color, not on the side behind it.

You can find the effect in the Object Shadow/Effects dialog: select Inner glow at the top right, check Active, set values, and apply with Assign. Once you change a value, Active is automatically set. The eye symbol at the bottom left shows a preview, and the arrow next to it resets the values.

The glow can be combined with other effects. Inside, Stylo draws in this order: inner shadow, inner glow, beveled edge, shine.

Parameters at a glance

Six values determine the glow. Mode and color decide whether it is even visible on the object color; source, size, and underfill determine its shape.

Parameter	Effect	Typical range
Mode	Fill method against the object surface. Normal covers with the glow color, Multiply darkens (invisible on black), Negative multiply lightens (invisible on white).	Negative multiply on colored and dark surfaces
Source	Edge: The glow is applied inside the edge and fades towards the center. Center: The glow fills the interior and fades towards the edge, which remains in object color.	mostly edge
Opacity	How strong the glow is. It is multiplied by the fill opacity of the object.	50–100 %
Size	How far the glow extends inward from the edge. For source Center: how wide the transition at the edge is.	Edge 1–4 mm, Center 5–10 mm
Underfill	Proportion of the size that remains solid; the rest is blurred. 0 % = only gradient, 100 % = hard edge.	0–40 %
Color	Color of the glow; without its own transparency, which regulates the opacity.	White, light variant of the object color, black for a vignette

Example series

In each series, only one value changes. All others are set to: Mode Negative multiply, Source Edge, Opacity 75 %, Size 2.5 mm, Underfill 0 %, Color White, Object Blue 30 × 17 mm on white side.

Mode

Here with yellow glow, left on light surface, right on blue surface. Normal covers both surfaces with yellow; on blue, the transition becomes olive green. Multiply leaves a yellow edge on light, on blue it becomes a dark edge, thus a shadow without light direction. Negative multiply only lightens: On the light surface, the glow is hardly visible, on blue a clear light edge appears.

Edge

Edge applies the glow to the edge, the center retains the object color. Center lightens the interior, only the edge retains the object color. At small sizes, Center thus appears like a paler object color with a dark edge; only large values create a light spot that fades towards the edge.

Size

With 1 mm, a fine light edge is created, with 2.5 to 4 mm, the object appears curved like a cushion. From about 6 mm, the glow reaches the center for small objects, and the object color is only saturated in the center.

Underfill

Shown with size 4 mm, so the difference becomes visible. The underfill makes the edge solid and shortens the gradient; from about 50 %, it becomes a light frame with a soft inner edge, at 80 % almost a contour.

Opacity

The opacity only regulates the strength, not the shape. Because the glow without underfill at the edge only reaches half strength, it is hardly visible below 50 %.

Color and application

From left: Red button with rounded corners, white glow with 2 mm and 80 %: It appears curved and clickable. Neon: dark surface with border 0.5 mm in cyan, plus a glow in cyan with 1.5 mm, 100 % and underfill 30 %; the border seems to radiate inward. Vignette: photo in picture frame, black in Multiply mode with 8 mm and 60 %; the edge darkens softly and directs the gaze to the center of the image. Illuminated from within: source Center, white with 8 mm and 60 %.

Recipes and tips

These combinations are a good starting point; fine-tuning is usually done only through size and opacity. The column object surface is crucial.

Effect	Obj. surface	Mode	Source	Opacity	Size	Underfill	Color
Curved, e.g. button or stopper	colored	NM	Edge	80 %	2 mm	0 %	White
Light edge, e.g. price field	dark	NM	Edge	100 %	1 mm	20 %	White
Neon tube, with border in the same color	dark	NM	Edge	100 %	1.5 mm	30 %	Fluorescent color, e.g. cyan
Vignette, e.g. mood image	photo	M	Edge	60 %	8 mm	0 %	Black
Soft inner edge without light direction, e.g. info box	light	M	Edge	40 %	3 mm	0 %	Black or dark object color
Colored edge, e.g. brand color on white box	white	N	Edge	70 %	3 mm	10 %	Brand color
Illuminated from within, e.g. large background area	colored	NM	Center	60 %	about one third of the shorter side	0 %	White

Abbreviations:
NM - Negative multiply
M - Multiply
N- Normal

Tips:

The glow needs a surface: fill, gradient, or background image. An object without fill does not get an inner glow, not even along its contour. If only lines are selected, the dialog hides the tab.
In text frames, the glow is applied to the frame surface, never on the text.
The object's border lies above the glow. A wide border covers a narrow glow.
The fill opacity of the object also affects it: An object with 50 % fill only gets half the glow.
On white and very light surfaces, a light glow is invisible. There, choose Multiply with dark color, or Normal with a strong color.
For a strong edge directly at the edge, set the underfill to 20–30 %.
Size does not scale with the object: Small objects need smaller values. Source Center tends to wash out small objects and is mainly suitable for large areas.
Effects do not work on groups. Select the object in the group or ungroup it.

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