light wrap?

[Darby Edelen]

[Pat Jaeger] “Is this an after effects effect and if not what does this refer to?”

It is an effect in the sense that it is something that you do to footage to change/enhance it, but it is not a single stand alone effect (although there may be some out there).

Basically it’s the process of blurring a background and adding it in around the edges of the foreground, feathering it in from the edge.

This isn’t the way I do it, but it is one way and it may help you understand the concept:

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/dewar_john/light_spill.php

I generally pre-compose the background and foreground separately. Then put the background and two copies of the foreground into a new ‘light wrap’ comp. Place the two foreground copies above the background, change the top foreground layer to the ‘Stencil Alpha’ blend mode and the lower one to the ‘Sillhouette Alpha’ blend mode, then add a Box Blur on the lower layer with 3+ iterations and a radius of your choosing (this is what feathers the edge in). Now apply a blur to the background layer as well to make the light wrap more ambient.

Place this ‘light wrap’ comp above the foreground in the final composite and change its blend mode to ‘Add’ or ‘Screen.’

Darby Edelen
Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA