Blend Modes in Advanced Output

[Wasko]

Imagine if each slice in the Advanced output had a blend mode that could be assigned, effecting the way in interacts with the slices beneath it that you could selectively place as part of your mapping. This would be a blend mode workflow akin to After Effects.

Currently I find that the blend modes of layers + clips lend themselves more to 'fullscreen' content or more traditional VJing, but I find myself not using them as much in scenarios where I don't want that much overlapping texture; desiring to use blend modes more decoratively in specific parts of the installation.

This would be a major task to implement, no doubt. Maybe there is a workaround for this that I haven't realized.

[lightbx]

Could you explain this in more detail, with a visual example of the effect you're looking for? It seems like an interesting idea in theory, but one that probably has workarounds.

v6 allows you to select specific blend modes for individual clips. In theory you could duplicate a clip, switch the blend modes, make it blend as many different ways as you like. You also have up to 3 blend modes per layer.

If you want, say, your image divided into quadrants, where each quadrant blends differently with those below it, I would multiply the clip 4x, use the Crop effect to select what regions I wanted to show, position them accurately, and then specify blend modes for each instance of the clip.

Yes, this requires 4 layers for a total composite image (with 4 different blend modes), but if you had blend modes in Advanced Output it would require 4 slices. So it makes very little difference, unless you want a less "cluttered" Composition, but with the new Layer Grouping feature in v6, you could group these layers together.

[Joris]

Personally, I would look at the new Slice Transform effect, and position your content as many times as you have slices, all in a single layer.

You also have up to 3 blend modes per layer.

Not sure why you think there's a limit. You can assign as many blend modes per layer as you please.

[lightbx]

Personally, I would look at the new Slice Transform effect, and position your content as many times as you have slices, all in a single layer.

You also have up to 3 blend modes per layer.

Not sure why you think there's a limit. You can assign as many blend modes per layer as you please.

I suppose I meant to say that you can toggle between 3 blend modes while running your Comp, but yes, you can also change a layer's blend mode to any of the available options via dropdown menu,

[Joris]

On Resolume 6, you're no longer limited to 3. You can assign shortcuts for as many blend modes as you want.

How many blends you have available is the boring part though. The Slice Transforms are the game changer.

[Wasko]

A more specific example of what I mean would be:

I have two layers in Resolume. One is set to 'difference' and opacity is turned down to 50%. On the main screen in my composition preview I see that it's showing the negative colour when overlapping with the layer beneath it - great.

When I take those same two layers and assign them to slices to map in the advanced output, the overlapping 'difference' layer is now just showing at 50% brightness when overlapping with the layer beneath it with no blending.

In this sense, the blend modes are only useful when mapping your entire composition or a routed layer.

My thought is that it would be fantastic to be able to blend slices in the advanced output.

[Joris]

Layer to Slice routing is a dead end.

Take a look at the Slice Transform. They're specifically meant to let you position your content in the composition and maintain access to all the existing blend modes, effects, midi mapping and everything else you miss out on when you start routing layers to slices.