Liberation User Manual
  • ✅Important! Read this first
  • ✅Installation / licensing
    • ✅Install for Mac
    • ✅Install for Windows
    • ✅Install for Windows (older versions without an installer)
    • ✅How licensing works
    • ✅Authorising and de-authorising
    • ✅Upgrade / downgrade your license
    • ✅Cancel your subscription
  • ✅FAQ
  • ✅Quick start guide
  • ✅Hardware
    • ✅Compatible lasers and controllers (DACs)
    • ✅Emergency stop / interlocks
    • ✅LaserCube
  • ✅Setting up
    • ✅Laser set up process overview
    • ✅Setting up your project
    • ✅Adding / removing lasers
    • ✅Controller assignment
    • ✅3D Visualiser
    • ✅Laser output settings panel
    • ✅Copy settings between lasers
    • ✅Latency setting
  • 🟦Output view / Zones
    • ✅Overview
    • 🟦Zones
    • 🟦Copy zones between lasers
    • 🟦Re-ordering beam zones
    • 🟦Masks
    • 🟦Test patterns
    • 🟦Alt zone system
  • 🟦Clips & Clip deck
    • 🟦Overview
    • ✅Starting / stopping clips
    • ✅Assigning clips to laser zones
    • ✅What are the small icons on the clip buttons?
    • ✅Clip settings
    • 🟦Zone delay / chase
    • 🟦Clip groups
    • ◼️Global transformations
    • 🟦Organising your clip deck
  • 🟦Effects
  • 🟧The Clip Editor
    • 🟦Introduction to the Clip Editor
    • 🟦Fundamentals
      • 🟦Co-ordinate system
      • 🟦Colour settings and HSB
      • 🟦Render profile
      • 🟦Resolution
      • 🟦Fills, masks and depth sorting
    • 🟦Creator nodes
    • 🟧Operator nodes
      • 🟦Transformations
      • 🟦Duplicators
      • 🟦Colour change
      • 🟧Changers by position
      • ◼️Distorters
      • ◼️MIDI notes
    • 🟧Oscillator nodes
      • ✅Wave oscillators
      • ✅Sound input oscillator
      • ✅Parameter Control
  • 🟧Tempo / synchronisation
  • ◼️Timeline
    • ◼️Overview
    • ◼️Adding an audio file
    • ◼️Recording a show
    • ◼️Adding clips manually
    • ◼️Fine tuning clips
  • ✅Timecode
  • ◼️DMX / Artnet
    • 🟧Introduction
    • ◼️DMX zones
    • ◼️Connecting to an Artnet node
    • ◼️Creating DMX zones
      • ◼️Examples
  • 🟦Graphics and the Canvas system
    • 🟦Introduction
    • 🟦Canvas overview
    • 🟦Canvas view
    • 🟦Canvas settings
    • 🟦Canvas zones
    • 🟦Canvas target areas
  • 🟦MIDI control
    • 🟦MIDI control overview
    • 🟦Live control with the APC40
    • 🟦MIDI Send/Receive
  • 🟦Loading and saving
  • ◼️Tips for loading SVG files
  • ◼️Advanced
    • ◼️How Liberation generates laser content
    • ◼️Scanner presets & render profiles
    • ◼️Advanced laser settings
    • ◼️Render profiles
    • ◼️Colour calibration
  • ◼️Network advice
  • 🟧Troubleshooting
    • 🟦Intermittent / flashing output
    • ✅Live control
    • ✅Missing resources error on startup
  • ✅Reference
    • ✅Keyboard shortcuts
    • ✅APC40 reference
    • ✅MIDI send/receive default mapping
    • ◼️Glossary / jargon
    • ✅The Preset system
  • ✅Credits
Powered by GitBook
On this page
  • Strokes, fills and masks
  • Depth sorting

Was this helpful?

Edit on GitHub
  1. The Clip Editor
  2. Fundamentals

Fills, masks and depth sorting

Strokes, fills and masks

You'll notice that some Creator nodes have a Fill state option; you can draw them with a stroke (an outline) or as a mask (covering over stuff underneath) or both.

When you render a shape as a mask, it's as though it's filled in with black and anything underneath it will be covered up.

Drawing a line (or stroke) with a laser is easy enough; you scan the laser from the beginning of the line to the end of the line. There's your line!

Filled shapes are harder though; If you want a shape filled with colour you could manually cross hatch by drawing lines and filling in, but Liberation can't do that automatically (yet). And even if we did do that, you'd still see other lines underneath it showing through.

But what we can do is fill in shapes with black. Under the hood, Liberation is making all the calculations to remove content that are underneath the black-filled shape. And trust me, it's fiddly!

But it works really well and gives the illusion of a black filled shape.

Depth sorting

As some shapes can cover over other shapes, Liberation has to sort them by their depth. And by default, elements are depth sorted by their z position. If they are at the same z position they are sorted by their layer position which can be changed using the MOVE TO FRONT and MOVE TO BACK buttons inside each creator.

PreviousResolutionNextCreator nodes

Last updated 3 months ago

Was this helpful?

🟧
🟦
🟦