VFX Smoke Elements: Compositing Fog, Steam & Atmosphere

Luma Mattes vs Screen Blending for Smoke

While Screen mode works for white smoke on pure black backgrounds, using Luma Inverted Mattes gives you control over smoke shadow density, allowing you to composite thick, opaque smoke that physically obscures background geometry.

Layering Smoke in 3D Depth

Never place all smoke on a single flat top layer. Sandwich smoke elements: place one low-opacity smoke pass behind your subject, and a secondary wispy smoke layer in front of the camera lens to create authentic depth-of-field separation.

Color Tinting & Lighting Integration

Smoke reflects ambient light. Tint your smoke overlays from our Raw Clips Library to match room lighting: cool blue for moonlight, warm amber for street lamps, or poisonous green for sci-fi scenes.