Tutorials
Glow through a node graph
Composite a title through a node graph: a Glow and a hue shift wired between its layers and the output, each step shown as a picture.
This page is also a lesson inside Phoenix: choose and start Glow through a node graph, and Phoenix points at each control as you go. It takes about 8 minutes.
To follow along here instead, download the starting document, node-graph.fla, and open it with .
A node graph composites a timeline's layers through nodes rather than stacking them: pictures flow from node to node, through effects and merges, into the Output, which is what the timeline shows.
The Title layer holds a white title with a blue line under it.
1. Open the Node Graph
Choose Window > Node Graph. The panel opens beside the Timeline.
2. Make a graph
Click Create Node Graph. Two nodes appear: Other Layers, which brings in the layers stacked as usual, linked to the Output. The stage looks the same, since nothing is in between yet.
Each node shows a picture of what it gives.
3. Add a Glow
Click an empty part of the graph, press Tab, type glow and press Enter. A Glow node appears where the pointer is, not linked to anything yet.
4. Put it in the link
Drag the Glow node by its title onto the link between Other Layers and the Output. The link lights up; let go, and the Glow goes in between. The title glows on the stage.
Dragging from a node's output dot to another's input links them by hand.
5. Make it brighter
With the Glow selected, its settings show beside the graph. Drag Radius to about 24, or click it and type 24.
The diamond beside a setting keys it on the current frame, so it can change over time.
6. Add a color shift
Press Tab again, type hue and press Enter to add a Hue/Saturation node. Drag it onto the link between the Glow and the Output, as before.
7. Turn the hue
Set Hue to 90. The light blue line and its glow turn purple.
8. Look at one node
Click the eye at the right of the Glow node's title. The stage now shows what the Glow gives, before the color shift. Click the eye again to see the Output.
Select a node and press V to do the same from the keyboard.
9. Bypass it
Click the Hue/Saturation node, then press D. It is bypassed: drawn faded with a line through it, it passes the glowing title through unchanged. Press D again to turn it back on.
What you did
You composited a title through a node graph: a Glow and a color shift between its layers and the output, each one seen as a picture.
Try a Layer node to take one layer out of the stack, and a Merge to put it back over the rest by a blend mode such as Screen.
For everything this tutorial touches on, see Node graphs.