2011

Table Of Contents
Reaction Compositing and Effects
The Reaction super tool provides a complete multilayer compositing and 3D
effects environment. You can use Reaction to quickly composite and output
numerous images that are already processed using other tools, as well as cross
over into a 3D environment where you can apply lighting, spatial,
visualization, and rendering effects to your scene. You can then use your
Reaction output to render your final composition, or use it as an input to
other tools in your dependency graph, including another Reaction.
What is a Reaction Super Tool?
A Reaction tool is considered a super tool because it contains a set of tools
that you can use to create 3D compositing effects on your composition. All
individual tools contained in Reaction can be accessed by opening the Group
Schematic. Reaction is used like any other tool, but can also be used in tandem
with the Layer Editor to build and edit compositions interactively. You can
use as little or as much of the available functionality as needed to get your
job done. You may want to simply create a few layers where one layer is
repositioned to place a character in a scene, or create a 3D scene with lighting
and texture effects. Regardless, the Reaction tool behaves like any other tool
in Composite; you can delete and connect a Reaction tool to other output
nodes in the same manner. As always, the universal Tool Options panel is
located at the right of the Tool UIsee
The Tool UI on page 23.
Reaction Concepts
The following terms and concepts are used when working in Reaction.
Object
An object is any element in a 3D scene. Lights, cameras, and surfaces are
typically referred to as objects when working in Reaction.
Source
A source is an input node to the Reaction tool. You can assign a source
composition or image generator to a layer in your composition, or use the
source as an input to a texture channel in a material node or image channel
in a light node. When you add a Reaction tool to your dependency graph, its
initial input is designated as the background for your composition. You can
then add as many source nodes and layers to the Reaction tool as needed.
240 | Chapter 12 Multilayer Compositing and 3D Effects