UI question

[i8bozo]

hello,

in the right column where all the settings are located for the various shapes i noticed there were two sets of blur settings. i was wondering what the difference was between the two because i got confused when i tried to turn blur on for some of my shapes. is one section solely for motion blur and the other for just plain old blur?

another co-worker had the same question so i thought i'd ask for clarification.

thanks!

.g.

[marcop]

The Blur parameter that is included with the Motion Blur is in what we call the Roto tab. This is a global adjustment and will blur all shapes. The other Blur located in the Shape parameters is for the currently selected shape/shapes.

[perryk]

The Blur parameter that is included with the Motion Blur is in what we call the Roto tab. This is a global adjustment and will blur all shapes. The other Blur located in the Shape parameters is for the currently selected shape/shapes.

Also keep in mind that the global blur happens just once - all shapes are blurred the same amount. Putting a 0.125 or 0.25 makes a very nice anti-aliaser.

The per-shape blur is done, well, per shape. This means it can be much slower than the global blur because it might be done over and over again if more than one shape has a per-shape blur.

[i8bozo]

not sure i'd ever want a "GLOBAL" shape blur. do you find that others require and use this feature?

the other blur located in the shape parameters is the one i'd expect to see and would use.

i think having two is redundant and somewhat confusing. just my findings. would love to hear from other users on this one.

.g.


The Blur parameter that is included with the Motion Blur is in what we call the Roto tab. This is a global adjustment and will blur all shapes. The other Blur located in the Shape parameters is for the currently selected shape/shapes.

[perryk]

not sure i'd ever want a "GLOBAL" shape blur. do you find that others require and use this feature?

I've found that a teensy weensy blur (about 1/8 to 1/4 of a pixel) makes a beautiful anti-aliasing boost.

[i8bozo]

well, i typically do apply some kind of blur to my shapes but i've never wanted to do it globally. it seems you've introduced another step with the global feature. not only do we have to add a global blur but we have to do a shape by shape blur as well. i dunno, speaking for one and one's habits, i'd just prefer to blur my shapes independently and as needed. some deserve different treatment.

i just thought you should know that a few of us found it confusing. it's great that there are two options. maybe all that needs to be done is to put it somewhere else so as to not confuse people. or...call it GLOBAL blur in the menu so it's totally apparent.

how's that.

I've found that a teensy weensy blur (about 1/8 to 1/4 of a pixel) makes a beautiful anti-aliasing boost.

[mikeparsons2]

With regard to global blurs as a form of antialiasing, perhaps a global samples setting to set antialising directly might be better.

There are times though when a quick and dirty post blur might be wanted so don't remove it.

best regards

Mike Parsons

[paulm]

The "global" stuff is all in the Roto options view. Unfortunately, this view isn't labeled when docked, so I can understand your confusion between that view (with parameters that are not animated - and it is always visible) with the Shape properties view that only works on selected shapes.

The global/roto blur is there for:
1. speed - if you need/want to blur all shapes by the same amount, use this
2. compatibility - we have users who are used to ER (for example), and want to make them feel at home.