Background Foreground

[MrLights]

I have been using LOR since 2007. I am sure there are several features that I don’t use or understand the use of them. If some could please take the time to explain the pros and cons of using background and foreground effects or if I even need to use them for any thing. What makes them useful and any extras using them can help in designing a sequence.

Thank you in advance.

[Don]

Let's define these two modes, first, for those who don't know what they are.

From the help file:

Background Effects
Enabling this item on the Tools menu will turn on background effects mode, which causes the current effect tool to apply only to those portions of the selection which are currently off.

Foreground Effects
Enabling this item on the Tools menu will turn on foreground effects mode, which causes the current effect tool to apply only to those portions of the selection which are not currently off.

So, what does this mean for the average user? Let's look at some examples.

1) You finish your sequence and say to yourself, "This would look better if the mini-tree's in my display were on at 20% anytime they are not in use." What would be the easiest way to do this? After setting your intensity to 20%, you would highlight the entire section of mini-trees from the start to the end of your sequence. Using the background tool, you would apply the intensity. Now, any cell that was "OFF" will now have 20% in there.

2) You have a chase across these same 16 mini-trees, and as the chase goes left to right (or top to bottom on your screen) you want them to fade down. Thus, the first tree would be 100%, the last one 0%. After creating your chase you would highlight the entire chase. Then, using the foreground tool, you could apply a fade down. You now have a chase that will fade out as it reaches the end.

These are just two examples, of course, but they should give you an idea of what these tools can be used for.

[MrLights]

Out standing, thank you for putting it in simple terms, that is an awesome feature. Just tried it and did and experiment with it on a new sequence I am working for 201. I also didn’t really know how the chase tool worked, but I do now, very nice.
Thank you very much :)

[Guest guest]

Yea, thanks...that was the simplest explanation I've read thus far on background/foreground..definitely a few times I could have made things easier for myself had I understood it.

[rmturner54]

DonFL wrote:

Yea, thanks...that was the simplest explanation I've read thus far on background/foreground..definitely a few times I could have made things easier for myself had I understood it.

Me to thanks.

[lleibeck]

Thanks Don, you may have found a calling in writing users guides.
Hey how about sequencing for dummies?

[Don]

lleibeck wrote:

Thanks Don, you may have found a calling in writing users guides.
Hey how about sequencing for dummies?

That would imply that I could write that well on a regular basis!

[George Simmons]

Don wrote:

lleibeck wrote:

Thanks Don, you may have found a calling in writing users guides.
Hey how about sequencing for dummies?

That would imply that I could write that well on a regular basis!

You might not need to. If the readers are truly dummies they'll never know the difference...

But seriously, I'll bet there's enough nuggets in these forum pages for someone to be able to put together an pretty exhaustive primer by just using cut and paste.