Highlight

Use the Highlight effect to turn a drawing's area lighter to simulate a light source. To produce the highlight effect, you must draw a shape to control where the highlight will appear on the original drawing.

The Highlight effect uses a matte to determine the shape and position of the highlight on another element and can blur the edges to create a softer effect. Use the Highlight editor to control the type and amount of blur, as well as the colour of the highlight effect.

Highlight Effect Properties

Parameter Description
Truck Factor Activated by default, this option readjusts the blur when the elements undergo a change of depth or scale. When this option is deselected, the effect's values remain unchanged regardless of any depth or scale changes. This option should be deselected when multiple drawings are composited and attached to this effect.
Blur Type

Directional: Blurs the matte in the direction you select. For example, if a character is walking east, the blur may fall to the west.

Radial: Blurs the edges of the matte evenly around points that make up its edge.

Radius Enter a value for the size of the blur. The larger the value, the greater the blur effect. The blur radius is affected by the drawing scale and camera position.
Directional Angle

If you select a Blur Directional type, you can select the direction of the blur by entering a value from 0 to 360 in this field.

0: Blurs the image to the west.
90: Blurs the image to the south.
180: Blurs the image to the east.
270: Blurs the image to the north.
Directional Fall-off Rate

The distance where the blur fades from the edge of the image. Select a value between 0 and 1.

A fall-off rate of zero causes the blur to fade out slowly, distributing the blur evenly from the edge of the character to the farthest edge of the blur.
A fall-off rate of 1 causes the blur to fade out quickly so that the blur is heaviest closer to the edge of the image.
Invert Matte Inverts the matte used to create the glow. The matte will become a black silhouette while the glow fills the background space.
Use Matte Colour

Uses the colours in the matte for the highlight effect. If you deselect this option, select a colour and alpha values in the Colour section.

Multiplicative Creates a more diffused glow.
Colour Lets you choose the colour and alpha values for the glow effect.