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Contents
1
Preface7Welcome to Shake 4
7
The Tutorial Lessons
8
Installing the Tutorial Media
8
Mac OS X Notes
Chapter111Shake Basics
11
Tutorial Summary
12
A Tour of the Basics
16
Loading Images
19
Viewing Images, Parameters, and Channels
24
Working With Windows
24
Launching a Flipbook
26
Compositing Elements
31
Setting Resolution
33
Filtering and Masking
34
Tuning Parameters
37
Working With Layer Nodes
40
Transforming an Image
41
Fading an Element
43
Rendering a Sequence
Chapter247Intermediate Skills
47
Tutorial Summary
48
Inserting Nodes Into a Tree
50
Grouping Nodes and Using SetDOD
55
Using the Time View
66
Creating Motion Blur
71
Importing Photoshop Files
75
Keyframe Animation and the Curve Editor
80
Color Correction
Chapter391Depth Compositing
91
Tutorial Summary
92
Simulated Depth and 3D Compositing
3
4
93
98
Working With Z Channels
Creating Composites With ZCompose
10 2Color Correcting Premultiplied Images
10 7Fading With Distance
1113D Compositing With the MultiPlane Node
121Animating a MultiPlane Camera
12 5Importing Camera and Animation Data
Chapter413 3Working With Expressions
13 3Tutorial Summary
13 3Creating the Fan Composite
13 6Creating a Light Source With RGrad
13 8Looping Frames in the Time View
13 9Using Local Variables and Expressions
14 4Simulating Volumetrics With RBlur
15 3Concatenating Color Adjustments
15 6Adding Motion Blur to Pre-Animated Elements
Chapter5163Using Keylight
163
Tutorial Summary
164
Using Keylight to Pull a Key
165
Testing the Mask With a Viewer Script
167
Adjusting the Mask With Parameters
169
Masking
17 2
Color Correcting the Foreground Image
17 5
Advanced Keylight Techniques
17 8
Using fgBias to Remove Blue Spill
17 9
Using a Holdout Matte
Chapter6183Using Primatte
183
Tutorial Summary
183
The Basics of Pulling a Key in Primatte
18 6
Inner Mechanics of Primatte
191
Masking Primatte
19 4
Spill Suppression in Primatte
200
Compositing Outside of Primatte
Chapter7201Tracking and Stabilization
201
Tutorial Summary
201
Tracking and Stabilizing Nodes
202
Stabilizing an Image Sequence
206
Converting Stabilization Data to MatchMove Data
208
Using the MatchMove Node
Contents
215Position the Foreground Element
218Color Correct the Foreground Element
Chapter8225Working With Macros
225Tutorial Summary
225What Is a Macro?
226Creating a Handmade Macro
232Saving and Testing the Macro
234Adding a Button to the Interface
237How to Set Slider Ranges
238Creating Macros With MacroMaker
241Creating Sliders in MacroMaker
Chapter9243Creating Clean Plates
243
Tutorial Summary
243
Stitching Images
247
Stabilizing and Stitching Background Plates
252
Creating a Clean Plate With QuickPaint
Contents
5
6
Contents
Welcome to Shake 4
This guide includes hands-on tutorials, demonstrations,
and explanations of Shake features and workflow.
In addition to the fundamental topics, this guide also explains specialized topics, such
as 3D compositing, expressions, keying, and tracking. Check the lesson summaries
below for a quick overview of each tutorial.
Preface
For further study, you’ll want to explore the
book (also available in PDF format from the onscreen Help menu and in the
directory) that contains detailed information about color correction, keying and spill
suppression, masking, transforms, premultiplication, bit depth, logarithmic color space,
caching and optimization, and other Shake features. The
includes a helpful “Cookbook” chapter with additional tips and macros to improve your
workflow and productivity.
Shake 4 User Manual
Shake 4 User Manual
. This is a two-volume
Shake/doc
also
The Tutorial Lessons
•
Tutorial 1: “Shake Basics”
tasks, including loading and compositing images, tuning parameters, transforming
images, adding masks, and rendering.
•
Tutorial 2: “Intermediate Skills”
with the
You will also learn how to add motion blur, how to color-match the elements in a
composite, and how to import Photoshop files as layers in a composite.
•
Tutorial 3: “Depth Compositing”
creating “real” and simulated depth in your composites. You’ll start with Z channels
and filtering options. Then you’ll work with Shake’s
Tutorial 4: “Working With Expressions”
•
animation with expressions, rather than keyframes.
Tutorial 5: “Using Keylight”
•
Keylight
performing spill suppression.
SetDOD
node: pulling keys, applying masking, creating holdout mattes, and
—This tutorial introduces Shake through a series of common
—This tutorial shows how to optimize your workflow
node, and how to use the Shake Time View, and the Curve Editor.
—This tutorial demonstrates different methods for
MultiPlane
—This tutorial shows how to generate
—This two-part lesson covers the basics of using the
node.
7
•
Tutorial 6: “Using Primatte”
Photron Primatte keying plug-in, as well as masking and spill suppression.
•
Tutorial 7: “Tracking and Stabilization”
for Shake’s tracking technology, including removing unwanted motion from an
image sequence and “matchmoving” an element to the motion of another element
in the composite.
Tutorial 8: “Working With Macros”
•
groups of commands, called macros. In this example, you’ll set up a basic macro for a
motion blur effect that is adjustable to any angle.
•
Tutorial 9: “Creating Clean Plates”
with the
You will also use the
AutoAlign
node, and how to use the
—This lesson describes the basic use and mechanics of the
—This tutorial demonstrates the primary uses
—This tutorial demonstrates how to create reusable
—This tutorial demonstrates how to stitch images
QuickPaint
SmoothCam
node to create a clean background plate.
node to stabilize footage.
Installing the Tutorial Media
Before you continue with the tutorials, you need to install the tutorial media. The
sample files for the lessons are located on the Shake Installation disk, in the
Documentation/Tutorial_Media
from the Shake Installation website.
•
Installation CD:
your
$HOME/nreal
•
Online (Linux/IRIX Users):
password to access the download site for the Shake tutorial media.
Copy the
directory.
directory. Licensed users can also download these files
Tutorial_Media
Contact your system administrator for the URL and
folder from the
Documentation
directory to
Note:
Tutorial_Media
Mac OS X Notes
The following information applies to Shake on the Mac OS X platform:
Using the Three-Button Mouse
You must use a three-button mouse with Shake as many functions are not possible
with a single- or two-button mouse. The middle scroll wheel commonly serves as the
middle mouse button. Many commands in Shake require you to “middle-click.”
The Delete Key
The Macintosh Delete key located below the F12 key is the equivalent of the Linux
Backspace key; the Macintosh Delete key grouped with the Help, Home, and End keys
is the equivalent of the Linux Delete key.
8Preface
You can install the tutorial media files anywhere you like, but the
directory is used in this guide to simplify the process of instruction.
Welcome to Shake 4
$HOME/nreal/
Important: Macintosh users should bear in mind that the Delete key used in Shake is
not the key located below the F12 key but, rather, the one grouped with the Help,
Home, and End keys. If you are using a smaller Macintosh keyboard without the second
Delete, use Option-Delete (again, the key below F12).
Keyboard Command Differences Between Platforms
Some keyboard commands are different between the Mac OS X platform and the Linux
or IRIX platform. In most cases in this documentation, the Macintosh keyboard
command is cited first, followed by the Linux/IRIX command.
Control vs. Command
On the Mac OS X platform, you can use the Control or Command key interchangeably.
For example, use Control-C or Command-C to copy an object.
Launching Shake in the Terminal
Mac OS X wraps up binaries and their contents into one icon in the Finder. Click the
Shake icon in Mac OS X to launch Shake, or right-click the Shake icon to obtain menu
options. For example, right-click the Shake icon and choose Show Package Contents
from the shortcut menu to open the subdirectories. Alternatively, you can use the
Terminal to navigate to shake.app/Contents/MacOS/ to find the actual binary files.
Preface Welcome to Shake 49
10Preface Welcome to Shake 4
1Shake Basics
This tutorial introduces Shake through a series of
common tasks, including loading and compositing
images, tuning parameters, transforming images, adding
masks, and rendering.
1
Tutorial Summary
• A tour of the basics
• Loading images
• Viewing images, parameters, and channels
• Working with windows
• Launching a Flipbook
• Compositing elements
11
• Setting resolution
• Creating a new element
• Tuning parameters
• Working with layer nodes
• Transforming an image
• Applying a mask
• Rendering a sequence
A Tour of the Basics
In this tutorial you’ll create a composite with images created at Big Sister's Watching,
NY by Brandon Robinson and Melissa Graff.
You’ll start by layering the images for the composite. Then you’ll incorporate additional
elements for soft shadows and lighting. Before you begin, let’s review some basic
Shake operations.
Launching Shake
You can launch the Shake application from your desktop or from the command line,
assuming the Shake binary files are located in the directory created for Shake during
installation.
To launch Shake:
m
On the Mac OS X platform, browse to the application directory and double-click the
Shake icon, or simply click the Shake icon in the Dock.
m
On the Linux or IRIX platform, enter the following in any shell:
shake
For you Mac users, the Shake icon may appear on the Dock. If it’s not there, then you
can drag it to the dock from the application directory. You can also launch from the
Mac OS X Terminal, but you must type the complete path to Shake (that is,
Applications/Shake/shake.app/Contents/MacOS/shake), or set the appropriate
environment variables.
Note: For more information, see “Environment Variables for Shake” in Chapter 14 of the
Shake 4 User Manual.
12Chapter 1 Shake Basics
Using the Shake Panels
When you start Shake, you’ll notice that the interface is divided into four panels: Viewer,
Node View, Tools, and Parameters.
Each image process in Shake is accomplished by connecting items, called nodes, as a
tree structure in the Node View. The result is an overview of the images, layers, and
processes in your project. Shake projects are called scripts because the results are
stored as a list of sequential commands in a script file.
So, where do the nodes come from? The Tools panel lists the objects and functions—
the nodes—that you can add to your script. The Viewer shows the output of a selected
node in the script. The Viewer is also the place where you use interactive controls to
transform images and create shapes.
In the Parameters panel, you edit a selected node or change project settings on the
Globals tab. And, speaking of tabs, three of the four panels are divided into a number
of tabs that allow access to commands, additional parameters, and other functional
windows, like the Curve Editor and Audio Panel.
You don’t need to know all the screen controls at this point, but you’ll probably have
some questions while you’re working through this tutorial. Being the advanced
compositing artist that you are, you never crack open the user documentation—except
for this tutorial guide, of course—so how can you figure out what all the screen items
do? Contextual help, that’s how!
Chapter 1 Shake Basics13
Contextual Help
Move the mouse pointer over a control or parameter to display brief help messages in
the Info field at the bottom of the screen. These messages explain what each item does
and also show any relevant hot keys.
The Info field displays
context-sensitive help.
For example, suppose you want to know what would happen if you clicked on the
ColorWheel command on the Image tab. Move your pointer over the command and
the message Create node: “ColorWheel()” appears in the Info field. Go ahead, click it if
you want. You’ll add a ColorWheel node to the Node View.
Your first color wheel!
Shortcut Menus and Lists
In addition to the contextual help, you can right-click many controls to display shortcut
menus with additional commands and functions. Try this: Right-click the View Channel
button. A shortcut menu appears with the hot keys for each channel display option.
14Chapter 1 Shake Basics
For many onscreen controls, there are also click-and-hold behaviors:
• Click a button to toggle between its two default states. For example, click the View
Channel button to toggle between RGB and alpha channel views.
• Press and hold a button to select an option from a pop-up list. When you press and
hold the View Channel button, for example, you can select from a list of available
channel options.
Click to toggle between RGB and
alpha views.
Press and hold to choose from a pop-up menu.
Overriding the Default Button Choices
To override the default choices, Control-click and hold to choose your next option.
For example, the default button behavior for the View Channel button is to toggle
between RGB view and alpha view. To modify the behavior to toggle from RGB view
to red channel view to alpha channel view and then back to RGB view, perform the
following steps:
1Make sure the View Channel button is set to RGB (Color) View.
2Control-click and hold the button, then choose the Red Channel button from
the pop-up menu.
3Control-click and hold the button, then choose the Alpha Channel button.
Because the alpha view already toggles to RGB view, you do not have to Control-click
and hold again to toggle back to RGB view.
To save this behavior, choose File > Save Interface Settings.
Chapter 1 Shake Basics15
Loading Images
To load images into your project, you use the FileIn node from the Image Tool tab. In
these tutorials, the notation for creating nodes is identified with this format: Tab NameNode Name, as in “insert an Image-FileIn node”.
Note: Do not confuse the FileIn node with the Load and Save buttons at the upper-
right corner of the screen. The Load and Save buttons are for retrieving and saving
Shake scripts.
If you still have that ColorWheel node in the Node View, you need to remove it. Click
once on the node to select it, then press the Delete (Mac OS X) or Backspace (IRIX/
Linux) key.
To load the images:
1 In the Image tab, click FileIn to launch the File Browser.
2 Browse to the $HOME/nreal/Tutorial_Media/Tutorial_01/images directory.
Note: See “Browsing Tips” below for information on saving this directory to a list of
favorites.
16Chapter 1 Shake Basics
3 Double-click the background directory to open it, select the background.30-59@.jpg
image sequence, then click Next at the bottom of the browser (or press the Space bar).
You click Next instead of OK to select additional files. When you’re done, you’ll load all
the images at once.
4 Click the Up Directory button, and browse to the orchid directory where you’ll find the
orchid.30-59#.exr image sequence.
The “30-59” tells you this is a sequence of 30 frames. The # symbol indicates frame
numbers padded with zeros, so that all frames have four-digit numbers. Don’t believe it?
5 Just for fun, click to deselect the “Sequence listing” checkbox.
You’ll see the individual files in the image sequence. This is a good thing to know if you
ever need to load just one frame from a sequence.
6 Click to select the Sequence listing box again to switch back to the original view.
7 Select the orchid.30-59#.sgi image sequence, then click Next.
8 Click the Up Directory button and navigate to the table directory, where you’ll find the
table.30-59@.exr image sequence.
This sequence name includes the @ symbol instead of the # symbol. The @ symbol
indicates these frame numbers are not padded with leading zeros. Toggle the
“Sequence listing” option and you’ll see.
9 To load the sequence, activate “Sequence listing,” then select table.30-59@.exr. This time,
do not click Next!
10 Click OK to include the last file and close the browser.
Chapter 1 Shake Basics17
.
Browsing Tips
There are several ways to navigate within the File Browser:
• To move up one level, click the Up Directory button or press Delete (Mac OS X), or
press Backspace (IRIX or Linux).
• To move back to the previously viewed directory, click the Previous Directory
button.
• To move down one level, double-click a directory.
• To scroll by file, click in the file list, then press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key to
scroll up or down.
• To scroll using the mouse, middle-click and drag or Option-click and drag (Mac OS
X), or Alt-click and drag (you do not have to use the scroll bar on the right). You can
also use the mouse scroll wheel.
• To jump to a file name, type a letter to move to the first file that starts with that
letter.
• To review browsing history, use the Directories pop-up menu, which lists the files in
your $HOME directory, as well as recently visited directories and favorite project
directories.
• To save a favorite location, click the Bookmark button near the top of the File
Browser. The current location is saved to a list of favorites.
• To import multiple files, click Next, or press the Space bar. On the last file, click OK
to import all selected files and close the File Browser.
After you click OK, the selected images appear as FileIn nodes in the Node View. They
might overlap each other, but this is easy to fix.
18Chapter 1 Shake Basics
11 Drag a selection box around all the nodes, then press L on your keyboard to line them
up. You can also right-click in the Node View and choose Node Layout > Layout
Selected from the shortcut menu.
Viewing Images, Parameters, and Channels
Each node represents a function or operation that can be viewed or modified. In this
case, these are FileIn nodes that reference images from your disk directories. As shown
in the previous illustration, image thumbnails appear above the nodes. If there is an
accompanying alpha channel, a thumbnail includes transparency, as well. To test this,
drag the mid node over the background node in the node tree and you’ll create a mini-
composite. Does this help you composite at all? No, but it gives you a quick preview of
what the composite might look like.
To create an actual composite, you must connect the nodes. This happens in a
moment, so stop fidgeting.
Working With Thumbnails
When working with thumbnails, bear in mind the following:
• The thumbnails represent the frame at the time of file loading.
• To refresh for the current frame, select the node and press R with the pointer in the
Node View.
Chapter 1 Shake Basics19
• To view the alpha channel, place the pointer over the thumbnail and press A. To
return to the RGB view, place the pointer over the thumbnail and press C for “color.”
• Any node can have a thumbnail—select the node and press T.
Note: The thumbnails do not dynamically update (see below).
• To hide thumbnails, select the nodes and press T. Press T again to show the
thumbnails.
• Additional controls for the thumbnails are located in the Globals tab.
Shake does not dynamically update thumbnails because it can be inefficient and
inaccurate. For example, if you’re working on 6K plates, do you really want to spend all
of your time resizing 6K plates down to tiny icons? (Please say “no.”)
Suppose your script has 900 nodes, which I think we can all agree is not unlikely.
Continually updating all thumbnails would require... well, that’s a lot of coffee breaks.
The most efficient and accurate way to check a node is to load it into the Viewer.
This leads us to the next topic, loading and viewing nodes.
Viewing a Node or Loading Its Parameters
There are several ways to activate the controls on a node:
• To load a node into the Viewer, click the left side of the node.
20Chapter 1 Shake Basics
• To load the parameters into the Parameters tab, click the right side of the node.
• To load a node into the Viewer and the Parameters tab simultaneously, double-click
the node.
Sometimes, you need to edit the parameters of one node while viewing the output
from another. For example, you’ll often want to adjust a color correction while looking
at the result in the final composite.
Loaded into Viewer 1,
buffer A.
Loaded into the
Parameters tab.
In the illustration above, the orchid node is loaded into the Viewer—the highlight on
the left side of the node is the Viewer indicator. The 1A label also appears below the
node to indicate it is loaded into Viewer 1, buffer A (stay tuned for information on
Viewer buffers).
Chapter 1 Shake Basics21
The gray square on the right side of the background node—it’s supposed to be a tiny
text field—indicates that this node is selected for editing in the Parameters tab. So why
is this useful? In a real composite—you’ll have one soon—you’ll often want to adjust a
node while viewing the end result at the final output node in your script.
We mentioned contextual help for screen controls, and this also works to get
information about nodes. As you pass the pointer over a node (no need to click), the
resolution, bit depth, node name and type, and channels are displayed in the Info field
of the Shake window. For example, move the pointer over the FileIn node named
background, and you’ll see that it stores an 8-bit image, with RGB channels, and a
resolution of 720 x 486 pixels.
Displaying Different Channels in the Viewer
Use the View Channel button to toggle the display of different channels in the Viewer.
This is important when you want to check the quality of matte edges or transparencies
in the alpha channel. You’ll also need to view independent R, G, or B channels for many
color-correction operations. For example, click the View Channel button to toggle to
the alpha channel view.
There you see the alpha channel. However, nobody actually uses the View Channel
button. Remember when you right-clicked this button to see the hot keys?
Use the hot keys when the pointer is in the Viewer to quickly view a channel (C, R, G,
B, or A).
22Chapter 1 Shake Basics
Panning, Zooming, and Framing
While working in Shake, you’ll need to pan, zoom, and frame the contents of the Node
View, the Viewer, and other windows in Shake.
• To pan: Drag the pointer over a window while pressing the middle mouse button. Or,
drag the pointer while pressing Option (Mac OS X) or Alt (Linux/IRIX)
• To zoom: Drag the pointer over the window while pressing Control-Option (Mac OS X)
or Control-Alt (Linux/IRIX). You can also press plus (+) or minus (–) to zoom in or out.
• To frame: Move the mouse pointer over the window and press F.
• To expand or shrink the window: Move the pointer over a panel and press the Space
bar This toggles the window between full-screen and standard view.
Setting the Frame Range
There are two places to set the frame range in Shake. The first and most important is in
the Globals tab. The Globals tab lists all script settings—the frame range, proxy
settings, default resolutions, GUI settings, and quality settings. The first Parameters tab
contains a listing of parameters for a selected node.
There are two ways to show the Globals tab:
m
Click the Globals tab.
m
Double-click an empty area in the Node View.
The first parameter in the Globals tab is the timeRange parameter. This frame range
determines which frames are rendered. Although it is saved in the script, you can
override it in the command line. Click the Auto button to examine the FileIn nodes and
determine the frame range automatically.
To enter the time range:
m
Click Auto in the timeRange parameter.
The timeRange parameter is extremely flexible because you can customize the range:
EntryCalculates
1-56Frames 1 to 56
20-3011 images from frames 20 to 30
1-56x3Frames 1, 4, 7, and so on
1,10,20-30x2Frames 1, 10, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and 30
Chapter 1 Shake Basics23
Working With Windows
Now that you have a few images loaded, this is a good time to practice methods of
working with the Shake windows.
FunctionKeyboard Notes
Expand a window full screenSpace barPress the Space bar again to
zoom back to normal view.
Pan a windowMiddle-click and drag, or Option-
click and drag (Mac OS X); Alt-click
and drag (Linux/IRIX)
Zoom a windowCommand–middle-click and drag,
Control–middle-click and drag, or
Control–Option-click and drag
(Mac OS X); Control–Alt-click and
drag (Linux/IRIX)
Zoom in on a Viewer+ / – (under the Mac OS X function
keys); Backspace key (Linux/IRIX)
Reset a ViewHomeWorks in the Node View, the
Resize a paneGrab the border between two
Works in all windows, including
the File Browser.
Works in the Node View, the
Viewer, the Time Bar, and the
Curve Editor.
Gives you an integer-based
zoom so you have fewer roundoff artifacts on your display. The
zoom follows the pointer.
Viewer, the Time Bar, and the
Time View.
panes and drag to resize the
window.
Launching a Flipbook
In the Viewer shelf, click the Flipbook button to render a Flipbook for the node
displayed in the current Viewer.
If a FileOut node is selected, the actual FileOut is not executed. To render to disk, use the
Render command (right-click in the Node View, or use the Render menu). Otherwise,
the sequence is rendered into memory and you can play it back.
24Chapter 1 Shake Basics
Flipbook Controls
The following table contains several Flipbook controls.
ControlAction
. (Period; think of it as the > key.)Play forward.
, (Comma; think of it as the < key.)Play backward.
R, G, B, A, CShow the red, green, blue, alpha, and color channels.
Shift-dragScrub through the animation.
Escape (Esc)Close the window.
You can have as many Flipbooks as memory allows, but once closed, all links to the
Flipbook are lost—you cannot save or use the images again. You can stow the
Flipbooks and retrieve them later, but they take up memory.
You can also use the Time Bar to indicate a frame range and obtain playback. The Time
Bar displays the range that you want to concentrate on, and does not get saved into
the script.
To set the playback range for the Time Bar:
m
Place the pointer over the Time Bar and press Home on the keyboard (or click the
Home button in the Time Bar) to load the script’s timeRange into the Time Bar.
To play the sequence in the Viewer:
m
Click the Play forward button in the Time Bar to play through the sequence. Playback
does not occur in not real time, but does place the images into the memory cache,
optimizing future calculations in the interface.
Home
m
Shift-click the Play Forward button to playback from the images cached to disk from
Play
backward
Play
forward
the Time Bar.
For more information on the Flipbook, see “The Flipbook, Monitor Previews, and Color
Calibration” in Chapter 11 of the Shake 4 User Manual.
Chapter 1 Shake Basics25
Compositing Elements
Now that you know how to navigate through the Shake interface, you’re ready to
composite the elements. Finally! Arrange the FileIn nodes like this, in the order that you
want to composite them:
To begin the composite:
1 Click the orchid node to select it.
2 In the Tool tabs, click the Layer tab, then click Over.
Over1 is automatically attached to the orchid, because that node was selected when
you added the new node.
The Over1 node has two inputs on the top of the node, although you won’t see them
until you place the pointer over the node. The orchid node is attached to the first input.
3 Move the Over1 node down a little. Then, drag the second input from the top of the
Over1 node to the bottom of the table node to connect the two nodes.
26Chapter 1 Shake Basics
You can also drag from the bottom of table to the second input on Over1.
Information flows downward in the Node View like a stream—the image data is passed
from the orchid and table nodes, and fed into the Over1 node to create the composite.
orchid node
table node
Over1 node
What happened? The top half of the image is gone. We’ll fix this in a minute—and
explain what it means.
Chapter 1 Shake Basics27
Look in the Parameters tab, where the Over1 parameters now appear. The first
parameter is the same for all nodes: the name of the node. By default, Shake assigns a
generic name and appends a number to it, which allows each node to have a unique
name. You can type a different name in the text field and make it more descriptive.
4 Click in the first parameter field for Over1, and type “orchid_Over_table.”
The new name reflects the compositing logic for the node: “Input 1 is Over Input 2.” If
you switch the inputs, then the compositing order is reversed.
Note: When you move the pointer over the line—called a noodle—that connects two
nodes, the end changes color (magenta = lower end, yellow=upper end) to show that
you can drag or delete the connection.
5 Drag the lower end of the table noodle to the first input on orchid_Over_table.
28Chapter 1 Shake Basics
The node logic is switched, which completely changes the result of the composite. The
orchid now appears behind the table when it should be on top.
6 Switch the inputs again (or press Command-Z or Control-Z to undo your previous
operation). The orchid image appears over the table image again.
As you work with the different layer nodes, you’ll find they have distinct methods for
creating the layered output. The Over node, for example, follows the logic of “Input 1 is
Over Input 2”—or more specifically, “The pixel values of Input 1 are placed Over the
pixel values of Input 2.” As you’ll soon see, other layer nodes use different logic to
create their output, such as “The pixel values of Input 1 are Added to the pixel values of
Input 2” or “The pixel values of Input 1 are Multiplied by the pixel values of Input 2.”
Breaking Connections Between Nodes
Use one of the following methods when you need to break a connection between
nodes:
• Move the pointer over one end of a noodle and press Delete (Mac OS X) or
Backspace (IRIX and Linux). You can also Control-click the noodle.
• Select a node and press E on your keyboard to extract the node—and
appropriately break all its connections. If necessary, you can always drag any node
back over a noodle to insert it again.
• Take advantage of Shake’s namesake and quickly drag and shake a node to break
its connection.
Chapter 1 Shake Basics29
7 In the Node View, select the orchid_Over_table node and add one more Over node. Use
the following illustration as a guide to connect the background element.
The result appears in the Viewer. We can thank the folks at Big Sister's Watching, NY for
their impressive work. But it didn’t always look like this, did it?
30Chapter 1 Shake Basics
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