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Layer
When performing multilayer compositing using Reaction, you typically set a
background, although you are not required to, then assign source inputs to
layers. A layer is composed of three separate components: a surface (3D
geometry) object and local axis, a multi-channel material object, and a layer
element. When viewing the Reaction node in the Group Schematic, you can
see each component—see
Working with Layers on page 251.
Material
A material defines how a layer interacts with lights to define how a scene is
rendered. Each layer must have a material associated with it, but many layers
can share a single material—see
Working with Materials on page 257.
Surface
A surface is a geometric object onto which a source is mapped to create a layer
for your composition. Available geometric types are bicubic, bilinear, frustum,
box, geometry, plane, and sphere. Each surface has a local axis that you can
use to transform the layer—see
Working with Geometric Surfaces on page 254.
Camera
Each Reaction node includes a camera for viewing and rendering the scene.
By default, the camera is set to perspective, and positioned, so that you can
view your layers in 2D and immediately perform standard multilayer
compositing, although you may want to set the camera to orthographic. You
can add several cameras to a scene, but you can only choose one to render,
called the render camera—see
Working with Cameras on page 274.
Axis
Each layer has its own axis, or center, that you can use to perform
transformations locally. You can also add axes to your scene to apply
transformations to several objects at once, or to create more complex
transformation effects. When you add an axis object to a Reaction tool, you
can then parent it to one or more objects or layers—see
Using Parenting Axes
on page 256.
Light
Lights are used to illuminate your scene and apply lighting effects to surfaces.
You can choose omni, directional, or spotlights and set lighting color, intensity,
and decay, as well as create shadows and apply transformations to the light
itself. Lights also have a Projector Image channel that you can connect to a
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