Adobe After Effects CS3 - Manual (Page 171)

AFTER EFFECTS CS3
User Guide
166
• The underlying color is the color of the composited layers below the source layer or paint stroke in the layer
stacking order in the Timeline panel.
• The result color is the output of the blending operation; the color of the composite.
The stencil and silhouette blending modes use either a layer’s alpha channel or its luma values to affect the alpha
channel of all layers beneath the layer. This differs from a track matte, which affects only one layer. Stencil modes cut
through all layers, so that you can, for example, show multiple layers through the stencil layer’s alpha channel.
Silhouette modes block out all layers below, so you can cut a hole through several layers at once. To keep the
silhouette and stencil blending modes from cutting through or blocking all layers underneath, precompose the layers
that you want to affect and nest them in your composition.
Stencil (left) shows all layers below through the frame of the stencil layer’s alpha channel; silhouette (right) cuts a hole through all layers below.
Normal The result color is the source color. This mode ignores the underlying color. This is the default mode.
Dissolve The result color for each pixel is either the source color or the underlying color. The probability that the
result color is the source color depends on the opacity of the source. If opacity of the source is 100%, then the result
color is the source color. If opacity of the source is 0%, then the result color is the underlying color. Dissolve and
Dancing Dissolve do not work on 3D layers.
Dancing Dissolve Same as Dissolve, except that the probability function is recalculated for each frame, so the result
varies over time.
Darken Each result color channel value is the lower (darker) of the source color channel value and the corresponding
underlying color channel value.
Multiply For each color channel, multiplies source color channel value with underlying color channel value and
divides by maximum value for 8-bpc, 16-bpc, or 32-bpc pixels, depending on the color depth of the project. The
result color is never brighter than the original. If either input color is black, the result color is black. If either input
color is white, the result color is the other input color. This blending mode simulates drawing with multiple marking
pens on paper or placing multiple gels in front of a light. When blending with a color other than black or white, each
layer or paint stroke with this blending mode results in a darker color.
Color Burn The result color is a darkening of the source color to reflect the underlying layer color by increasing the
contrast. Pure white in the original layer does not change the underlying color.
Classic Color Burn The Color Burn mode from After Effects 5.0 and earlier, renamed Classic Color Burn. Use it to
preserve compatibility with older projects; otherwise, use Color Burn.
Linear Burn The result color is a darkening of the source color to reflect the underlying color. Pure white produces
no change.
Darker Color Each result pixel is the color of darker of the source color value and the corresponding underlying color
value. This is similar to Darken, but Darker Color does not operate on individual color channels.
Add Each result color channel value is the sum of the corresponding color channel values of the source color and
underlying color. The result color is never darker than either input color.