Separating the Outer and Inner Contours of an Animated Matte Generator

1. In the Node or Timeline view, select the Animated Matte Generator node.

2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform tool.

3. Display the controls of the Animated Matte Generator node by doing one of the following:
• In the Camera view toolbar, click on Show Control .
• From the top menu, select View > Show > Control.
• Press Shift + F11.

The control points for the Animated Matte Generator display in the Camera view.

TIP: In the Tool Properties view, you can enable Control Selection Mode to enable selecting several control points in the Camera view by drawing a lasso or marquee around them with the Transform tool. This can make animating the control points of the Animated Matte Generator easier.

4. In the Animated Matte Generator view, do one of the following:
• If you want the Outer Contour to be based on the shape and dimensions of your matte drawing and the Inner Contour to be smaller, disable the Outer Contour option and enable the Inner Contour option.
• If you want the Inner Contour to be based on the shape and dimensions of your matte drawing and the Outer Contour to be bigger, enable the Outer Contour option and disable the Inner Contour option.

The matte points will appear orange instead of blue. This means they represent a single contour instead of both contours together.

5. In the Camera view, move the control points that you want to separate to their intended position:
• If you are editing the inner contour, move each point you want to separate from the outer contour towards the centre of the shape so that they are inside the outer contour.



• If you are editing the outer contour, move each point you want to separate from the inner contour away from the centre of the matte so that they wrap around the inner contour.



NOTE: You can keep some control points locked together. For example, if you want to create a feathered effect that gradates from one side to the other instead of from the centre out, you can keep the control points on one of the sides of the matte locked together.

6. When you are done separating outer and inner contour points, enable both the Outer Contour and Inner Contour options of the Animated Matte Generator view again so you can animate them together.

The points that were separated will appear orange, and will be linked to their corresponding point in the other contour by a blue line. If some points are still locked together, they will appear blue.