Using the Matte Port of a Drawing Layer

Each drawing in a Harmony scene has their own Matte port. Connecting a drawing or group to a drawing's matte port will make the parts of the drawing that intersect with the matte image invisible.

Optionally, you can invert a drawing layer's matte. This will make parts of the drawing that intersect with the matte image visible, and everything else hidden.

  1. In the toolbar above the layer list in Timeline view, click on the Add Layer button and select Drawing.

  1. Give your new drawing layer a relevant name for a matte layer, such as "Matte-Drawing", then click on Add and Close.

  1. In the new matte drawing layer, draw a matte for your effect. Your matte can be a simple shape, but should be filled with a colour, as only parts of the matte that are opaque will be taken in account.

    NOTE Mattes can also have semi-transparent areas. Areas of the drawing that are covered by a semi-transparent area of the matte will appear semi-transparent. For example, if a matte is filled with a colour that has an alpha value of 64 (25% opaque), instead of making the parts of the drawing it covers completely invisible, it will subtract the matte's opacity from the opacity of those parts of the drawing, making them 75% opaque.

  1. In the Timeline view, click on the Expand button right of the drawing layer.

    The drawing layer's parameters appear below it. The first parameter is the Matte parameter, which allows you to use another layer in your scene as the drawing layer's matte.

  1. Drag and drop your matte layer next to your drawing layer's Matte field, under the Parameters column.

    The matte drawing layer becomes the drawing layer's matte. At this point, areas of the drawing that intersect with the artwork in the matte drawing layer are hidden.

  1. If you want to invert the matte effect for the drawing layer, so that the artwork that intersects with the artwork in the matte layer is visible and that everything else is hidden, do the following:
    1. Double-click on the drawing layer (but not on its name) to open its Layer Properties dialog
    2. In the Layer Properties dialog, select the Drawing tab.
    3. Check the Invert Matte check box.