Animate Layer Blending Mode and/or Invert

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bupaje
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Animate Layer Blending Mode and/or Invert

Post by bupaje »

Another one of those "might be cool" suggestions which I don't really need right now but ... let me see if I can even explain my experiments .... :)

If you place a white cube on another shape and use multiply then it disappears, if you use black then the result is going to be black; use overlay with the same white cube, or add and it is going to lighten the shape beneath. I was thinking it might be possible to create some cool effects if you could either (or both) animate from one layer blending mode to another or have some sort of 'invert' or 'negative' effect for the blending mode so you could fade it from +100 to -100 if that makes sense.

Not sure how clear this is, I play a lot with different layer effects in 2D programs and was thinking some of this might be useful and in some cases better than creating and showing/hiding several duplicate layers with one using one blending mode and the next duplicate another. Sorry if I muddled the explanation, just keeping you on your toes.
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kdiddy13
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Post by kdiddy13 »

I imagine animating between blending modes would probably be impossible (or worse, unsatisfying!) but LM can chime in on this. I don't know of any programs that let you do that, the math involved in blending the pixels is just so different between modes, I'm guessing that they're incompatible, or just too complex to be worth it.

I'm not sure if this would work but one thing you could try to accomplish this effect would be to duplicate your object. Apply the mode to one layer and another to the other layer. And then using the alpha mode on the color, crossfade between the 2 layers. It would be pretty complex if they were complicated objects. Or you could try the crossfade trick in a compositing program like After Effects that supports these modes.
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Last edited by kdiddy13 on Mon Mar 07, 2011 5:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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bupaje
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Post by bupaje »

I thought it might be a little to tough to do but I did note that some image programs allow use of an 'invert' adjustment layer so thought maybe I'd float the idea. I'll say it again -I don't really 'need' this, just an idea, but I did try the duplicate objects thing -and it works of course. Just thought it might be interesting if possible to be able to 'morph' a single object through 4 or 5 permutations rather than use 4 or 5 duplicate objects -and try to time the fading between each of them to achieve the same results.

As for After Effects I'm going to go take a look, though I'm guessing the price will put it on my wish list for a while. :)
Last edited by bupaje on Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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kdiddy13
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Post by kdiddy13 »

After Effects is an absolutely wonderful program. Compositing at an artist's level with professional options. The cost does make it a bit prohibitive for the casual user however.
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Last edited by kdiddy13 on Mon Mar 07, 2011 5:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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bupaje
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Post by bupaje »

Holy Macaroni, you aren't kidding! Just checked it out at Adobe. I may have to take a course just so I can get the students pricing.
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