Exporting Bloom and Transparent Video In Blender

Michael Bridges dives into creating stunning bloom effects in Blender and export them as transparent assets for use in other programs like OBS.

I take you through my full thought process, exploring how bloom works and why transparency is essential when layering visuals over different backgrounds. This isn’t just about getting a glow—it’s about controlling how that glow interacts with other elements in your scene.

I look at how to structure your setup inside Blender to separate the bloom from the base object, ensuring that when you export it, you have both the glow and a proper silhouette to occlude what’s behind. Then, I show how to bring this setup into OBS, demonstrating how blending modes like Add and Screen affect the final look and discussing common pitfalls like dark borders and layering issues.

Later, I shift focus to animation. I set up a simple loop and explain how to export the animation with full transparency—not just as image sequences but as actual video files. I also walk through which formats and codecs support alpha channels, showing how to get high-quality transparent video output directly from Blender.

The video wraps up by showing how everything comes together in OBS using media sources and grouping, giving a clean, glowing animated effect that looks professional and polished.

Curious how to avoid those weird glowing artifacts or wondering what video formats truly support transparency? I cover that too.