ANR Matte Relief

Overview

Matte Relief smooths a matte into rounded forms and lights it like a raised surface: the edges roll off into shade on one side and catch a highlight on the other. Inside the shape you see the colours of Source; outside it the result is transparent.

Round Radius sets how much the matte is smoothed. Corners round off, thin details melt away, and nearby shapes such as letters flow together like drops of liquid. Threshold then decides where the new edge sits, so the shape can grow or shrink.

Use it for gel, jelly and plastic looks on titles and logos, and animate the smoothing for gooey, melting reveals.

Inputs

1. Sourcerequired

   The colours shown inside the shape. With no Matte connected, its alpha is also the shape: connect a premultiplied text, logo or cutout.

2. Matteoptional

   The shape, read from its alpha (a Roto, a Text node, a key). Use it when Source is a full-frame colour, gradient or texture that should fill the shape.

3. Maskoptional

   Limits the effect: where its alpha is black, Source passes through unchanged.

Output. The Source colours inside the new rounded shape, shaded and with a highlight, premultiplied and covering the project format. Outside the shape it is transparent, ready to merge over a background.

Quick start

1. Add ANR Matte Relief after a premultiplied text, logo or cutout. To fill the shape with another image, connect that image to Source and the shape to Matte.
2. Raise Round Radius until the corners are as soft as you want. Large values merge nearby shapes into one.
3. Adjust Threshold: lower values grow the shape, higher values shrink it. Boundary Softness softens the new edge.
4. Set Relief for how strongly the rounded edges are shaded, and Highlight for the shine.
5. Turn Light Azimuth to place the light: 0 lights from the right, 90 from above.
6. Merge the result over your background.

The panel

The node's panel as Nuke shows it, with the values of a new node. Click any control to see what it does; tabs and sections work as in Nuke.

All controls

Tips

• Key Round Radius or Threshold for a melting or gooey title: the letters flow together and apart again.
• If the areas where letters merge come out dark, the shape has grown past the colours of Source. Connect a full-frame colour, gradient or texture to Source and the text to Matte.
• An animated matte, such as a growing Roto shape or a moving key, gives a liquid shape that moves.
• The shading darkens the flat middle of the shape a little. Grade after the node if it must match the original brightness.
• Follow it with ANR Highlight Band for a light sweep across the glossy shape.

Good to know

• The node needs a shape in the alpha of Matte or Source. A fully opaque Source with no Matte has no edges to round, and only darkens slightly.
• Matte and Mask are used at their own size and position, not fitted to Source: give them the project format.

Works with

ANR Liquid BlobsShoots out glossy liquid blobs that fly, fall and merge into one shaded surface, for gooey motion graphics, paint splashes and liquid backgrounds.ANR Relief SurfaceLights the image as a bumpy surface, from its own brightness or a Height input, with highlights and optional glass-like distortion.ANR Highlight BandSweeps a soft band of light across a logo, title or image, with extra light on its edges, for logo shines, glints and product reveals.ANR Edge WeatheringWears away the edges of text, logos and cutouts with irregular, noisy erosion, for distressed, grunge and printed-on looks.