Using a mask to make character appear from the shadows

[NealF2]

Hi.

I'm trying to make my character look like he's been hidden in the shadows. Then he walks forward into the light and his body catches the light from bottom to top as he moves into it.

My thinking is to mask the entire body, then make a vector layer of a black object to covers the whole body. As he moves I could just move the vector layer up or down to reveal the character.
I thought it would be easy, but I must be missing some understanding of masking. I tried many different options in the main masking layer and masked layers but nothing is doing it.

My character has a bone layer and layers and folders inside it. One folder is just all the head parts. The other layers are arms and legs, etc.

Any help is appreciated.

[hayasidist]

this from moho 12.5



and this for your consideration:




three layers
> lighting: two shapes - light and dark (light is a "hole" in an otherwise dark rectangle) both soft edge - blend mode multiply -- adjust the fill colours and fiddle with the opacity at the layer and shape fill level to get the exact effect desired
> the person: no masking - blend mode normal
> the background: (as person)

[NealF2]

That looks like it would work.

Thanks.

Just curious for general info. Is there a way to mask a whole character? Or does it get complex with masking every layer and making the right settings, etc?

[slowtiger]

You can put any number of layers inside a group layer and apply a mask on them, or even a layer containing lots of other layers inside a group layer, so it's just that one layer you'll be masking.

[NealF2]

You can put any number of layers inside a group layer and apply a mask on them, or even a layer containing lots of other layers inside a group layer, so it's just that one layer you'll be masking.

Thanks. That'll make life easier.