I have a movie clip I am using as a mask to create a spotlight effect - it is basically two circles moving around. A friend who is an animator said to make it look more realistic, I need to do a blur around the edges of the circles - maybe 5 pixels or so... I can't figure out how to do this - any suggestions? Basically I want the image that is showing through the mask to be slightly blurred around the edges..

Thanks!
Jason

dont use a mask - because masks cant be feathered.....
here's a quick sampe i made:
http://www.mudbubble.com/lab/spotlight_blurred.html

here's how i did it:

make a very large rectangle and cut a hole in it (paste a circle in its middle and delete it).
use lasso tool to select area around circle and go to Modify > Shape > Soften Fill Edges.
this will give inner edge of circle a softer feel - make sure you also correct the outer portion of selected area that has also been softened by painting black over it again.
convert this to a symbol and motion tween.

i know my description may be a little sparse - let me know if you need more clarification/detail....


chris georgenes
mudbubble.com
Team Macromedia Volunteer for Flash

Jason:

If you use Photoshop, you can set the inside of the spotlight to
transparent and then use an airbrush (with a 10-20 pixel size) to
airbrush around the inside of the circle -- that's what I would try.

HTH.

tedd

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