SpotLight TL
Author: Tony Lyons - https://compositingmentor.com
An expansion of Nuke's Radial node, designed with look dev and animation in mind. SpotLight combines two radials — an outer mask and an inner mask — where the inner is subtracted from the outer to produce a ring shape. Simple in concept, versatile in practice.
Size Controls
- Overall size — scales the entire ring, animation-friendly
- Outer size / Inner size — independent control over each radial for shaping the ring width
- Softness and blur — per radial, for adjusting the look or animating the edge quality
Other Controls
- Replace mode by default — drop it into a Format node to inherit format size, ideal for templates
- Invert — flips the mask
- Mask input — for compositing into a specific area
- Overscan settings — handled thoughtfully, because you never know
- Overall mix — acts as a global fade or opacity control
Use Cases
SpotLight shines as a base element for effects work:
- Shockwave animations — combine with distortion tools for turbulent, expanding rings
- Tracking data — parent it to a track and let it follow a path like a moving spotlight
- Touch interactions — animate growth and fade, offset the timing, and use Card3D or projection techniques to simulate futuristic UI interactions like someone typing on a holographic pad
Think of it as a procedural ring or circle element ready to be pushed into whatever compositing situation needs it.
Inputs: img (for format) · mask