The FilterLayer class A filter layer will, when compositing, take the composited image up to the point of the location of the filter layer in the stack, create a copy and apply a filter.

This means you can use blending modes on the filter layers, which will be used to blend the filtered image with the original.

Similarly, you can activate things like alpha inheritance, or you can set grayscale pixeldata on the filter layer to act as a mask.

Filter layers can be animated.