5.5

1316Motion User Guide
Rasterization
Intro to rasterization in Motion
Some operations, as well as the application of specific filters or a mask, cause a group to
be rasterized. When a group is rasterized, it’s converted into a bitmap image. This affects
how the rasterized group interacts with other objects in the project.
Rasterization affects 2D and 3D groups in different ways:
• When a 2D group is rasterized, the blend modes on objects in the group no longer
interact with objects outside the group.
• When a 3D group is rasterized, the group as a whole can no longer intersect with
objects outside the group. The rasterized 3D group is treated as a single object and
uses layer order (in the Layers list), rather than depth order when composited in
the project. (For more information on layer order versus depth order, see Create 3D
intersection in Motion.)
When a group is rasterized, cameras and lights in the project still interact with objects in
the rasterized group.
Important: Lighting in a flattened 3D group does not pass beyond the boundaries of that
group, whether rasterized or not.
The following operations on a 2D group trigger the rasterization of that group:
• Making Blending changes (to the Opacity, Blend Mode, or Preserve Opacity parameters)
• Turning on the Drop Shadow parameter
• Turning on the Four Corner parameter
• Turning on the Crop parameter
• Applying any filter
• Adding a mask
• Adding a light (if the 2D group the light is added to is nested in a 3D group)
The following operations on a 3D group trigger the rasterization of that group:
• Making blending changes
• Applying specific filters
See How rasterization affects filters in Motion.
• Adding a light to a 3D project with the Flatten parameter enabled (in the Group Inspector)
When an operation triggers a rasterization on a group, the following occurs:
• A rasterization indicator (a small box containing an “R”) appears next to the parameter
in the Properties Inspector.