Mattes are special shapes, sometimes coupled with effects (eg. gradients or light flares), which allow you to place an images within them.
Mattes can be defined in three ways:
| • | As "EMF" files (Enhanced Meta Files - vector drawings) saved by Adobe Illustrator |
| • | As "JPG" from the aforementioned applications.
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To create a matte in a design tool such as Illustrator or Photoshop,
| • | Start with a blank canvas - the higher the resolution of the canvas you create, the more accurate the matte will be in FotoFusion. The canvas can be transparent or 100% white. |
| • | Draw a matte using a 100% black pen, brush or shape - the black represents the portion of the image that will be visible. |
| • | Save or export that matte in the PNG or EMF format to the Mattes folder in the FotoFusion installation. |
Any EMF, JPG or PNG files found in that folder when FotoFusion is started will appear in the list of available mattes.
In Illustrator, any stroke which is 100% black will be rendered as transparent in FotoFusion; anything else will be rendered at the native color.
Due to Illustrator's thin support for the EMF format, transparency is NOT supported (as of this writing, you cannot export a 50% opaque stroke from Illustrator in the EMF format).
Installing New Mattes in FotoFusion
Once your matte is completed, you will need to tag it so that FotoFusion will recognize it as a matte.
| • | Launch FotoFusion, and open the Organizer. |
| • | Checkmark the directory where your matte resides. |
| • | Drag and drop the matte (individually, or as a group, into the following Category: |
Now FotoFusion knows that this image is a matte, and you never need to do tell it again.
You will be able to find and use your matte, either by
| • | Clicking on the Search button and looking for mattes (set the source as My Database) |
OR
| • | opening the Images button |
| • | navigate to the folder where you have stored your matte |
Drag the matte onto an existing frame to apply it.
