Microsoft KB Archive/153218

= Microsoft Knowledge Base =

How To Make Use of Matte Display in Softimage Eddie Tools
Last reviewed: July 2, 1996

Article ID: Q153218

The information in this article applies to:


 * Softimage Eddie for IRIX, versions 3.2a, 3.2b

SUMMARY
This article describes how to make use of Matte Display in Softimage Eddie.

The Insert Matte option appears in the following tools in Softimage Eddie: Crop, Move3D, Rotate, Steady, and Tile.

When the Insert Matte option is selected, the program replaces the existing matte in the alpha channel of the foreground image with a white matte based on the size of the ProcBox. This option overrides any existing matte or alpha channel information in the image. The Insert Matte option is useful when you do not want to use the source matte for blending.

The following tools in Softimage Eddie can also assist in providing a matte:


 * The Crop, Move_3D, Rotate, Steady, and Tile tools insert a matte that corresponds to the selected transformation by default.

NOTE: These tools insert a matte on the whole picture. Simply deactivate the Insert Matte option to recover the image's original matte.


 * The Colmap tool derives a matte from RGB, HLS, or luminance values.
 * The ColourChannels tool exchanges mattes or creates a new matte based on any RGB or HLS component channel of any image.
 * The Key_chroma tool creates a matte based on HLS values.
 * The Key_luma tool creates a matte based on luminance values.

NOTE: When using the Key_chroma and Key_luma tools, you can use an external matte image instead of the foreground alpha channel by connecting the external matte image to the ExternalKey target.


 * The Paint tool paints a matte directly onto your image.