Beginner's Guide to Adobe Flash/Filters and Blend Modes/Blend Modes

Why use Blend Modes?

Blends use different formulas on a pixel by pixel basis to mix a blend image with any images underneath. This can produce interesting, but sometimes unpredictable results, so the best way to go about figuring out which blend mode to use is to simply experiment. Each type of blend mode will produce a different result, so just play around with them until you see what you can do with each of them. It will be important to remember the concepts behind each of the blend modes for future projects.

This is a list of Blend modes available in Flash 8:

Normal: This is the default blend mode. Pixel values remain unchanged.

Layer: This also creates no visual change, but it is a requirement for Alpha and Erase blend modes.

Darken: Pixels in the base image that are lighter than the ones in the blend image, are replaced with the ones in the blend image. Pixels that are darker in the blend image will remain the same.

Multiply: This blend mode multiplies the RGB values of the base image pixels with the blend image pixels. Multiplying a color with black leaves it black, while multiplying it with white leaves the pixel unchanged.

Lighten: This compares the brightness of the base image pixels with the blend image pixels. Bas image pixels that are darker than the blend image are replaced with blend image pixels. Pixels in the base image lighter than the blend image are left unchanged, and the blend images disappears over white.

Screen: Screen multiples the inverse of the blend and base colors. The results are a lighter combination of the base image and the blend image. Screening the image with black leaves the base image unchanged. Screening with white makes white. This one also disappears over white.

Overlay: If the base color is lighter than middle gray, the image is lightened. If it is darker than middle gray, it is darkened.

Hard Light: If the blend color is lighter than middle gray, the image is lightened. If the blend color is darker than middle gray, the image is darkened. If you overlay the image with white or black, it will appear either solid white or solid black.

Add: This adds the color values of the blend image to those in the base image. Results are the bleached out combination of the two.

Subtract: This subtracts the blend color value from the base color value. Results for this one are a darkened combination of the two images.

Invert: The result of this blend mode is a reversal of color values.

Alpha:This blend mode is used to apply the contents of a nested Movie Clip as a mask for a parent Movie Clip.

Erase: This can be used to apply a nested Movie Clip as an eraser to cut out an area of an image in a parent Movie Clip.