Filters and film
The filters treat the finished frame, everything in it at once. Grade it with bloom, contrast, saturation and grain, or lay a film look over it: a light leak, scratches, dust, a burn, or a whole roll of old film.
Where to find it: the Filters section, with Scene selected at the top of the Layers panel.
Grade the frame
- Click Scene at the top of the Layers panel.
- Set the dials in the Filters section.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Bloom | Bright parts bleed a soft glow. 0 is off. |
| Contrast | 1 is unchanged. Higher deepens the darks and brightens the lights. |
| Saturation | 1 is unchanged, 0 is black and white |
| Grain | Film grain over the frame. 0 is off. |
Each has a ◆, so the grade can change over time: drain the color at the end, or bloom the frame on a beat. See Animation basics.
Raise Grain and its settings come alive:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Motion | Animated changes the grain every frame, like film or static. Still holds one pattern, like a texture. |
| Size | How coarse the grain is, from 1 to 4 pixels |
| Color | 0% is gray grain. Higher gives each color its own grain. |
| Response | Film puts the grain in the midtones and spares the deep blacks and bright whites. Uniform spreads it evenly. |
The grain is the same every time a frame is drawn, so an export matches what you saw.
Film overlays
Pick one in Film overlay and set how strong it is with Overlay intensity:
| Film overlay | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Light leak | A wide, soft, warm glow from one edge, always moving |
| Film scratches | Vertical scratches, hairs and strands |
| Dust | Specks of every size, coming and going |
| Film burn | A blotchy burn creeping in from a corner, with a few specks |
| Expired 8 mm | Everything an old roll does: burn, scratches, dust and flicker |
| Dusty archive | Dust and a little flicker over a clean print |
| Scratched print | A print that's been through the projector too many times |
| Washed 16 mm | A faded, tinted frame with a rainbow band, dust and soft scratches |
The overlays move on their own as the piece plays.
Tip
Keyframe Overlay intensity to flash a light leak through a cut between scenes.
The last choice, Gradient, washes the frame with soft color instead of film. It opens its own Overlay editor:
- Drag the color points on its square, and set a point's Node color. Add or remove points, and set how far each spreads with Falloff.
- Under Motion · gradient, the points drift on their own. Pick a Preset, or set Speed, Amplitude, Frequency and Seed.
- With Loop checked, the drift comes back to where it started at the end of the piece.
Dial in a film
Each film is made of four parts, listed under the overlay. Check or uncheck a part to turn it on or off, and click it to open its dials:
| Part | Its dials |
|---|---|
| Burn | Coverage, Softness, Speed, Travel, Size and Fringe; its Edge color and Heat color; and where it comes From: an edge or a corner |
| Scratches | Density, how many Verticals, Hairs and Strands, and their Brightness |
| Dust | Density, Size, Clustering and Softness |
| Wash | Amount, a Rainbow band and a Tint |
Frame & cadence sets the whole film: Edge fade, Fringe, how it Blends with the frame (Screen, Add or Overlay), how often it changes (Hold: every frame, or 8 to 24 fps, like a projector), Flicker, Weave (the frame's wobble) and Seed (a different random version).
Your changes belong to the film you set them on. Reset puts that film's own settings back.
Things to know
- The filters treat the whole frame. To grade one layer, use its Layer Filters. See Layer effects. To grade everything below a point in the Layers list, use an adjustment layer. See Adjustment layers.
- Under the film settings, Lens passes has Effects…, which adds frame effects such as VHS, glitch and color grades from a LUT. See Effect library.