Strange blurred sections in 3D text from Element 3D in After Effects CC 2018.

It could be the DOF blur. I get something similar when I am really zoomed in really tight and using the default pixel blur. To check, switch your DOF blur to 'multipass'. That will let you know if this is the problem. To fix it, you either have to work at a larger scale (scale your whole scene up) or you have to try the multipass blur.  Also, I've gotten similar problems rendering geometry that is transparent (or material set to screen/add) where the pixel blur DOF reads that depth and sets the DOF for the scene at that depth.

as usual start by updating your graphics driver. Anything beyond that will require much more information on what settings you actually use, system info and so on. And since clearly there is some form of glow being generated even if on another layer using other effects that would be essential, too.

Mylenium