Magenta FX / Water
Cut out magenta-keyed water, light and energy FX — edges are cooled instead of neutralized to black.
Summary
Magenta FX / Water cuts out water, light, fog and energy effects on a magenta-keyed background. It uses the same edge-connected magenta detection as the Sprite profile, but deliberately skips the black outline neutralization — which would be wrong for FX. Instead, contaminated edge pixels are cooled/desaturated toward cyan/white.
When to use it
- Your asset is a translucent or colored effect (water, light, fog, energy) on a magenta key.
- A dark outline correction (like the Sprite profile's) would falsify the effect edges — they shouldn't go to black, but toward cyan/white.
When not this profile:
- Normal sprite with a hard dark outline → Magenta Sprite / Outline.
- Pink fringes left over after this cleanup → Magenta FX / Water Plus.
- Soft, fractional alpha needed for glow/sparks → FX / Glow (Soft Matte).
How it works
Background detection is identical to the Sprite profile: magenta-like, edge-connected key areas are removed, enclosed subject magenta stays.
In the Edge cleanup there's no black outline neutralization. Magenta-contaminated edge pixels are
treated only when they show clear pink spill (conservative: R>G+12, B>G+12, R>120, B>120). Then
the red share is reduced, green lifted slightly and blue kept or slightly boosted — alpha
stays 255. Goal: push water/light edges toward cyan/white instead of black.
Settings
| Slider | Effect |
|---|---|
| Key color | The magenta key color. Quick button #FF00FF; pick it with the eyedropper (real keys vary). |
| Edge cleanup | On (default) cools pink edge contamination toward cyan/white; Off removes only the background. |
| Spill radius | Width of the treated edge band (1–4, default 2). |
| Spill strength | Soft / Normal / Strong / Maximum — aggressiveness of the cooling. |
Recommended settings by use case:
| Asset type | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Magenta water/light/energy | Default (conservative cooling) |
| A pink fringe stays visible | → Magenta FX / Water Plus |
| Only background out, edge untouched | Edge cleanup Off |
CLI / Automation
Headless, the same FX keying — invocation and shared flags in the CLI overview. You pick this
profile with --profile magenta_fx.
Relevant flags: --key-color (magenta key, default #FF00FF), --edge-cleanup {on,off} (cools pink
edge contamination toward cyan/white) plus --spill-radius / --spill-strength.
Example:
clean_sprite_chromakey.py water.png water_out.png --profile magenta_fx
FAQ
How is it different from the Sprite profile?
Background detection is the same, the Edge cleanup isn't: the Sprite profile neutralizes dark
outline pixels to black (#12091f); FX / Water cools edge pixels toward cyan/white and keeps
alpha 255. For FX, a black edge would be wrong.
A bright pink fringe is left over. The FX cleanup is deliberately conservative. For stubborn pink/lavender fringes, use Magenta FX / Water Plus — it pulls edge pixels cleaner with the help of matching neighbor colors.
Do I need this profile for soft glow? For translucent glow with fractional alpha, FX / Glow (Soft Matte) is better — it produces soft alpha instead of a hard edge.
Limits
- Conservative by design — when in doubt it leaves a remnant rather than overreach (that's what the Plus profile is for).
- Hard alpha — for soft wisps/sparks, FX / Glow is in charge.
- No scaling / no resampling.
Examples
A soft matte instead of 0/1 alpha — translucency/glow are preserved.
Related features
- Magenta Sprite / Outline — for normal sprites with a hard dark outline.
- Magenta FX / Water Plus — stronger, neighbor-color-assisted cleanup for stubborn pink fringes.