Folks, I could use a little help.

I'm often struggling with getting things to 'glow'.  Usually its something like a sign, or some sort of ray.

 

With this render... I struggled to create the laser beam.  I created a cylinder which I then converted to a light mesh.  For some reason, it looks like two little beams.  The flire glows are Jepes flames, converted to light, and they work like a charm.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2420524

The holo interface on the hand just wouldn't do anything useful.  If I turn keyboards into light, they don't glow... they seem to just shine and I can't adjust the color.  In the end I just turned it back into a transparent mesh.  I had to put black planes in the signs to prevent light from shining through the glowing signs.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/g-i-cybernetic-holointerface/97036/

 

This this render;

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2414494&user_id=707942

I had a similar problem with the newspaper the bar tender was reading, and the holo interface on the girl with the orange sweater.

 

I had some success with signs by converting them into light. The parts that glow are good, but the parts that don't, are see through.  I've had to put a solid black planes behind the glowing signs to make them look right. I can't do that with the holo interface.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/g-i-cybernetic-holointerface/97036/

In this render, you can see in the computer screen that I kind of fell short of getting the back plane I put in.  (Bottom and left hand side you can see the wall behind.)

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2411925&user_id=707942

 

Has anyone had any experience making good glows?  I could really use some help.  Particularly with the Holo Interface.