Blending & Compositing
Combining images with blend modes, masks, multi-layer compositing.
Combine two or more images. Foundation of layered work.
Blend#
Takes two images (A, B), combines via blend mode, mixes back into A by opacity.
The Blend node, Multi-Blend, and the Image-node layer panel all share the same 22-mode set:
| Mode | Effect |
|---|---|
| Normal | B replaces A. |
| Multiply | Darkens. Texture overlays, shadows. |
| Screen | Lightens. Highlights, glows. |
| Overlay | Darkens darks, lightens lights. Contrast boost. |
| Soft Light | Gentler Overlay. |
| Hard Light | Stronger Overlay. |
| Vivid Light | Burn or dodge per pixel based on B. |
| Linear Light | Burn or dodge linearly. |
| Pin Light | Replaces pixels based on B brightness. |
| Color Dodge | Brightens A based on B. Strong contrast lift. |
| Color Burn | Darkens A based on B. Inky, saturated. |
| Linear Burn | Like burn but linear. |
| Darken | Picks darker pixel. |
| Lighten | Picks brighter pixel. |
| Difference | Absolute difference. Finds what changed. |
| Exclusion | Softer Difference. |
| Add | Adds values, clips to white. |
| Subtract | Subtracts values, clips to black. |
| Hue | A's luminance + saturation, B's hue. |
| Saturation | A's luminance + hue, B's saturation. |
| Color | A's luminance, B's hue + saturation. |
| Luminosity | A's hue + saturation, B's luminance. |
The brush is a separate, smaller 13-mode set: this list minus the four HSL modes, exclusion, and the three "light" variants, plus brush-only erase and smudge. See Brush Engine.
Mask#
Grayscale image controls visibility. White visible, black transparent. Any image's luminance works. Invert swaps the sense.
Standard selective-effect pattern: blur, original, mask between with painted mask.
Composite#
Up to 4 layers, straight alpha (Porter-Duff "over"). Later layers on top, no blend modes. Clean alpha layering.
Multi-Blend#
Up to 8 layers, each with own blend mode and opacity. Mini layer panel inside one node. Stacking many upstream sources without chaining Blends.
Image node's layer panel for painting into layers. Multi-Blend when layers come from upstream nodes.
Next#
- Renderer2D: write GLSL or JavaScript Canvas2D code for live procedural rendering