Render Model Concepts

To master Oraphim's compositor, you must understand the underlying mathematics of how the engine processes image data. Unlike consumer software that operates in 8-bit color space with destructive rendering, Oraphim utilizes a professional, resolution-independent, 32-bit floating-point pipeline.

32-Bit Floating Point Processing

Traditional image processing uses 8 bits per channel, meaning Red, Green, and Blue can each hold a value between 0 (pure black) and 255 (pure white). If you apply a Brightness effect that pushes the pixel values past 255, the data is permanently clipped (destroyed). If you later apply a Darken effect, the highlights will appear flat gray because the underlying detail was lost.

Oraphim processes every single node mathematically in 32-bit float space.

• Pixel values are not integers (0-255); they are decimals where 0.0 is black and 1.0 is white.
• Because it is floating-point math, a pixel can have a value of 5.4 (exponentially brighter than white) or -2.1 (exponentially darker than black).

Why this matters: You can never accidentally destroy image data in the middle of a node graph. If Node A boosts the exposure so much that the image turns entirely blinding white, Node B can perfectly recover the original image by simply lowering the exposure by the exact same mathematical amount.

Resolution Independence

In Oraphim, the Compositor is entirely resolution-independent. There is no concept of a "Sequence Resolution" limiting your canvas.

• If you connect a 4K image to the background of a Merge node, the output of the Merge node is mathematically calculated at 4K.
• If you subsequently connect a 1080p image to the background of the next Merge node, the canvas dynamically resizes to 1080p for that specific operation.

Nodes inherit their resolution from the Background (Yellow) input of a Merge.

The Alpha Channel

Every image processed in Oraphim's compositor contains four channels: Red, Green, Blue, and Alpha (RGBA). The Alpha channel dictates transparency.

• An Alpha value of 1.0 means the pixel is completely solid (opaque).
• An Alpha value of 0.0 means the pixel is completely transparent (invisible).
• An Alpha value of 0.5 means the pixel is 50% translucent (like glass).

Understanding how nodes manipulate the Alpha channel is the key to mastering green screen keying, masking, and motion graphics. When you "key" a green screen, you are essentially instructing the software to change the Alpha value of all green pixels to 0.0.