Layer Masking

I’m trying to apply a circle mask to a list of images inside Build List. I have an image layer + Make Oval Layer. Closest thing I can find is Change Layer Blending, can’t see a way to make it work. Closest I get uses multiply blend mode.

EDIT: solved this for my needs for now – I was already using a list of images earlier in the chain, then converting to layers to make a grid. So I sent the images to a separate Build List to apply image masks, then sent them to be converted to layers.

This:

Produces this (black area around oval layer overlaps/covers adjacent images):

Is there an accepted way to apply a mask from layer to layer, like the Apply Mask node for images? Looks like I have to convert to an image, then apply a mask, then convert back to layer to stay within my current workflow?

Perhaps this is a FR: Apply Layer Mask.

Maybe another FR – if the Change Layer Blending could have some alpha blend modes, or make another node, Alpha Blend, then this could work for masking. (For that matter, Blend Images could use the same features).

Perhaps this is a FR: Apply Layer Mask.

Created — Apply Mask node for layers

Maybe another FR – if the Change Layer Blending could have some alpha blend modes, or make another node, Alpha Blend, then this could work for masking.

Could you explain? I guess you mean something other than “Normal — Alpha” blend mode?

For example, this is Final Cut Pro’s list of blend modes, similar to After Effects. I’m mostly referring to stencil/silhouette alpha – I use them a lot. Alpha add is good, too.

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Ps. By the way, I think stencil/silhouette luma is equivalent to the Mask Image by Brightness node. I should perhaps explore a bit more, maybe I can make it work here, too. Depends how it handles alpha, I guess.

Still, it would good to have these in the list of blend modes, it makes sense to those working across apps.

One more – is there a way for image shaders → scenes to have the same alpha as rendered layers? For example, if I use a Make Oval Layer as a mask with sharpness <1, render to image and use Apply Mask, then send to a built list of unlit image shaders → Make 3D Square objects, the 3D render has a black halo, whereas using layers work as I would hope.

Using 3D scene objects:

Using layers – yes!

 

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LayerMasking.png

By the time the image goes through Apply Mask, it has the transparency you want — opaque in the middle, transparent around the edges.

3D objects are finicky about transparency. (Open feature request: Improve rendering of transparent objects.) Not only do they need to have transparency in their shaders, they also have to be rendered in order from back to front. In this composition, I’ve put one 3D object slightly behind the other and put it first in the Render Scene to Window Objects list. This causes the cat on the right to be blended on top of the cat on the left.

LayerMasking-out.jpg

LayerMasking.zip (678 KB)

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Thanks a lot, Jaymie!