Apple Motion 5.1.1 - Manual (Page 233)

Chapter 7 Basic compositing 233
Normal
When a group is set to Normal, the layers nested in that group can only be blended with one
another. Layers nested in that group do not blend with layers in other groups beneath it in
the Layers list. In the following example, the Fishes and Swirls layers in the topmost group are
blended only with themselves when the topmost group is set to Normal.
The Gradient layer in the bottom group is left unaffected, although the transparency in the
top group caused by the combination of the Add and Stencil Luma blend modes reveals the
gradient in the background.
Other blend modes
When you set a group to an available blend mode, each layer nested in that group is blended
according to its blend mode. The resulting image is then blended with the groups underneath,
according to the selected blend mode for that group. In this example, the topmost group is set
to Multiply. As a result, the combination of the Added Fishes and the Stenciled Swirls layers is
multiplied with the Gradient layer in the bottommost group.
67% resize factor