Apple Shake 4 - Manual (Page 485)

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Compositing With the MultiPlane
Node
The MultiPlane node provides a simple 3D compositing
environment within Shake. This environment can be used
as a way to arrange and animate images within a 3D
space, or as a way to integrate generated or tracked 3D
camera paths into your scripts.
An Overview of the MultiPlane Node
The MultiPlane node provides a compositing environment for positioning 2D layers
within a 3D space. A virtual camera controls the scope of the output image, similar to
that found within 3D animation packages. This camera can be animated via keyframed
parameters, or by importing 3D camera and tracking data from other 3D animation or
3D tracking applications. As with the MultiLayer node, the MultiPlane node accepts
unlimited input images.
The MultiPlane node has two primary uses:
• You can composite background or foreground elements against a moving
background plate using 3D camera tracking data, imported from a variety of third-
party applications.
• You can arrange multiple layers within a 3D coordinate space for easy simulation of
perspective, parallax, and other depth effects.
Note: There is one important limitation to positioning layers within the 3D space of the
MultiPlane node—there is currently no support for intersecting planes. Planes that
intersect appear either in front or behind, depending on the position of each layer’s
center point.
Additionally, the MultiPlane node provides transform controls for each layer connected
to it. Layers can be moved, rotated, and scaled within the MultiPlane environment.
See Tutorial 3, “Depth Compositing,” in the Shake 4 Tutorials for a lesson on using the
MultiPlane node.