HOW TO: Blur Backgrounds ✧

WELCOME!

Hey everyone! I’ve seen many people asking how to “blur” backgrounds when it comes to an intro/outro, I made this tutorial for you to learn the process of doing so!

STEP 1: CHOOSING THE BACKGROUND

You want to choose a background to use for your blur. It can be your own personal background or from the Art Catalog. I will be using Episode’s EXT. MANOR GARDENS - NIGHT as my example. Once you have your background, save it to your desktop.

STEP 2: THE BLURRING PROCESS

–> Go to https://pixlr.com/e/

Once you go to Pixlr E, open up your background:

Where it says Filter at the top bar, click it then select the one that says Details, choose one of the following: Blur… or Gaussian blur…


WHATS THE DIFFERENCE?

Blur: The effect is a lot more drastic.
Gaussian Blur: The effect is less drastic.

See below for a comparison: (Both pictures are set at max 100)

Blur

Gaussian Blur

Once you select one of the options, you’ll see a pop up that will allow you to adjust the blurriness of your background. Adjust this to your preference.

Once you’re done, save it in PNG format!

STEP 3: UPLOADING AS AN OVERLAY

Go back to the portal and upload your background as an overlay. I named mine MANOR GARDENS BLUR so I remembered that this is a blurred overlay when it comes to coding.

NOTE: Depending on your background, it might end up being over 1MB. To fix this, go to https://tinypng.com/ to compress your image and then upload it.

STEP 4: SCRIPTING

Now, you’re going to start the coding for your background.

5

Create your overlay and add the coordinates to your script either by adding it to your background OR creating it manually AND MAKE SURE your overlay is at OPACITY 0!

OR

STEP 5: CREATING THE BLUR

To start the blur, set your command to @overlay OVERLAY opacity 1 in T
T = Time <-- How fast you want the blur to happen.

Play around with the time until you’re happy with the result and you’re done!

FINAL RESULT!

HOPE YOU FIND THIS HELPFUL!

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Bookmarking :heartpulse:

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SUPER HELPFUL! :heart_eyes::v::sunglasses::blush:

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@Jenaco does it also work with characters?

Like, I already have characters in the background and i want a blurred background to be in front of them. Is the format the same way?

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Yes! If you’re talking about having a “blurred background” in front of the characters, the steps are the same way but make sure you set the correct layers!

Example: Characters at layer 0 - 1 while the overlay is set to opacity 0 and is at layer 2

Characters will not be seen once you set the opacity on your background to 1, hope this answers your question~

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awesome!

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Bump, ty for this, Jen :chef:

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Bump! :yay:

Bump. :blob_sun:

Bump. (:

Bump!

bump :blob_hearts:

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Bump!

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Thank you for this useful tips however, when I try to do it, the opacity is not working as I would like it to work.
If I write :
EXT. JUNGLE BUNKER - NIGHT with EBLOUISSEMENT1 to 1.000 -320 0 in zone 1

&overlay 5951174076006400_EBLOUISSEMENT1 shifts to 0 0 in zone 1
&overlay 5951174076006400_EBLOUISSEMENT1 scales to 1.000 1.000
&overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 moves to layer 3
&JADE moves to layer 2
&JADE spot 0.524 217 390 in zone 1 AND JADE faces left AND JADE is idle_exhausted
&cut to zone 1
&overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 opacity 0 in 0
@transition fade in black in 1
(many lines later:)
@overlay EBLOUISSEMENT opacity 0.5 in 10

Here, I wrote opacity 0 but the opacity is working as 0.5 from the start and not from the moment I tell it …

Moreover, when EXT. JUNGLE BUNKER - NIGHT with (…) , the effet is not the same at all as when I write :

EXT. JUNGLE BUNKER - NIGHT

&overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 create
&overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 opacity 0 in 0
&overlay 5951174076006400_EBLOUISSEMENT1 shifts to 0 0 in zone 1
&overlay 5951174076006400_EBLOUISSEMENT1 scales to 1.000 1.000
&overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 moves to layer 3

(many lines later)
@overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 opacity 0.5 in 10

And if I change the opacity to 1 :

So, I clearly have not the same effect whether I write the overlays in the background or if I add the overlays after.
Can someone help me and tell me why the result is not the same ?
And can someone tell me in the first case (because I like the effect more than in the 2nd case), how I can manage to write to change the opacity (since the @overlay X opacity 0 is not working at all)?

Try this?

EXT. JUNGLE BUNKER - NIGHT

&overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 create AND overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 shifts to 0 0 in zone 1 AND overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 scales to 1.000 1.000 AND overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 opacity 0 in 0 AND overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 moves to layer 3
&JADE spot 0.524 217 390 in zone 1 AND JADE faces left AND JADE is idle_exhausted AND JADE moves to layer 2
&cut to zone 1
@transition fade in black in 1
(many lines later:)
@overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 opacity 0.5 in 10

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The effect just works as in the second case. The light effect is completely different from the first picture I sent when the overlay was with the background.
I guess maybe it is not possible to change the opacity of the overlay when it is written with the background ?

EXT. JUNGLE BUNKER - NIGHT with EBLOUISSEMENT1 to 1.000 0 0 in zone 1 at layer 3

&overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 opacity 0 in 0
&JADE spot 0.524 217 390 in zone 1 AND JADE faces left AND JADE is idle_exhausted AND JADE moves to layer 2
&cut to zone 1
@transition fade in black in 1
(many lines later:)
@overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 opacity 0.5 in 10

How about this?

No, it won’t work :confused: The opacity is 0.5 from the start.
If I write : @overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 opacity 0.5 in 10 : it doesn’t change anything
If I write : @overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 opacity 0 in 10 : it doesn’t change anything
If I write : @overlay EBLOUISSEMENT1 opacity 1 in 10 : the character disappear and the super lights as well. It’s just like the last picture I sent.
Strange :confused:

Could you DM me your background & overlay please?

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Finally someone uses pixlr i use it all the time :sweat_smile: I don’t know why not many people use it :thinking:

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