hmmm ok so it seems like destination in would be ideal.. i have a mask graphic that is the right shape and i would only want the item i mark as destination in (like the example)
it seems like there would need to be some way to link the two objects. the examples in C2 are nice, but deal with a single graphic on a solid color background.. my mask is a solid color graphic (my window to the animation if you will) on top of a colorful environment.
I'm just not sure.. how to approach this. every combination of the blend modes either of the masked item or the masking item results in unacceptable results. maybe if i put them on another layer it would help? but i don't see how.
i have to set the masking graphic to destination over so it's invisible to all other graphics, otherwise what good is a mask if you can see the mask right?
the closest thing on the masked item that works in combination with thing item needed maked is set to Destination out, which you can see a clear difference between what's inside and what's outside the area to be exposed.. however the issue is that i can still see the masked object, albeit in another weird color.
Maybe I need to use one of the more advanced effects? Overlay and Exclusion were interesting because they did crop the image but only to the side of the stage which isn't enough.
To me the ideal solution would be to have a graphic that is 100% transparent to the viewer, but then have my other graphic be 100% hidden except when in empty (really transparent space) and not cause color distutions when the masked object passes over other colored background objects.
dropbox.com/s/tpwsekb5kv5prpu/Screen%20Shot%202014-01-16%20at%2011.48.34%20AM.png
this is one shot of what i'm seeing. This is just about perfect except that its' solid green blocking all of the other stuff. When i get it to be basically transparent, but not really masking the masked object it looks like this plus color distortion
dropbox.com/s/4fh8mzvzw5qt3xt/Screen%20Shot%202014-01-16%20at%2011.46.03%20AM.png
again close.. almost perfect if i didn't get the color distortion and the fact that you can see the effect through the mask.
Thanks!
Calebhttps://www.dropbox.com/s/tpwsekb5kv5prpu/Screen%20Shot%202014-01-16%20at%2011.48.34%20AM.png https://www.dropbox.com/s/4fh8mzvzw5qt3xt/Screen%20Shot%202014-01-16%20at%2011.46.03%20AM.png