You can use the Cutter node to hide parts of a drawing, a group or an effect. The Cutter node must be connected to a drawing that will serve as a matte. Parts of the drawing, group or effect that intersect with the matte drawing will be hidden.
Optionally, you can also invert the Cutter node's matte, which will make parts of the drawing, group or effect that intersect with the matte drawing visible, and everything else will be hidden.
- Select a drawing layer and do one of the following:
- From the Node Library view, select the Cutter effect and drag it to the Node view.
- In the Node view, right-click and select Insert > Combine > Cutter.
While holding the Alt key, move the Cutter node over the cable connecting the drawing to your scene's main composite. The Cutter node will become connected as an intermediary between the drawing and its composite.
- In the toolbar above the layer list in Timeline view, click on Add Drawing Layer .
In the Add Drawing Layer dialog, give your new drawing layer a relevant name for a matte layer, such as "Matte-Drawing", then click on Add and Close.
In the new matte drawing layer, draw a matte for your effect. Your matte can be a simple shape, but should be filled with a colour, as only parts of the matte that are opaque will be taken in account.NOTE Mattes can also have semi-transparent areas. Areas of the drawing that are covered by semi-transparent areas of the matte are partially affected by the effect.
In the Node view, connect the output port of the matte drawing node to the Cutter node's left input (matte) port.
At this point, areas of the drawing layer that intersect with the artwork in the matte drawing node are hidden.
If you want to invert the Cutter's effect, so that the artwork that intersects with the artwork in the matte layer is visible and that everything else is hidden, double-click on the Cutter node's Matte icon to toggle its Inverted parameter. When an effect's matte is inverted, its matte port also appears inverted .