Wrapping video onto 3D shapes and models in Video by Zaweba

Every so often a flat picture isn't enough. A product shot that turns like a card, a holiday montage on a spinning cube, a planet made from a clip of clouds. Video by Zaweba can wrap a clip onto a 3D shape, and even onto a 3D model of your own, then animate it in the frame.

The shapes

There are six built-in shapes: a card, a cube, a sphere, a cylinder, a cone and a torus. The card is the most useful day to day. It's a flat sheet in 3D space, so a clip on a card can tilt back, swing round and come towards the viewer like a photograph picked up from a table. The others are for more playful effects: a sphere for a globe, a cylinder for a label wrapped round a can, a torus for something abstract.

Your own models

You can also wrap the clip onto a model. Video by Zaweba accepts a 3D by Zaweba project (.z3d), an OBJ or an STL. That means you can make a custom shape in 3D by Zaweba, which is a 3D modeller, sculptor, animator and renderer, and use it as the surface for your footage.

There is one catch to know about. Modifiers inside a .z3d file are not applied. If your model relies on modifiers to get its final shape, export it from 3D by Zaweba as an OBJ, which bakes them in, and use that file instead.

Tilt, turn, spin and light

Tilt, turn, roll and distance can all be animated, so you can keyframe the shape moving through space. There's also spin for a steady rotation, lighting to give the surfaces shading, a lens setting for how strong the perspective looks, repeats, and a both-sides option so the back of a card or the inside of a shape isn't left blank.

A simple, effective move is to start a card flat and full frame, then tilt and push it back as the next scene begins. Another is a gentle spin on a sphere or a torus sitting behind a title, with the lighting set low so the text stays the star.

Openers, recaps and globes

Openers and title sequences are the natural home. A logo or a still on a turning card makes a confident start. Montages and recaps work well on cards stacked in depth. Educational videos can use a sphere for a globe or a cylinder for a rotating label.

Restraint makes these look better. One 3D move in a sequence is striking; ten in a row is tiring. Use lighting to give the shape depth, but don't let it plunge half the picture into darkness.

Practical tips

Check what's behind the shape. When a card tilts away, the area around it shows whatever is on the tracks below, so put a background there, such as a colour matte or a blurred copy of the footage.

Mind the resolution. A clip spread over a big sphere is stretched, so start from good quality footage when the shape will fill the frame.

And watch the edges of the frame as the shape moves. A cube that swings partly out of the picture can look like a mistake rather than a choice. Play the move through in Video by Zaweba at full speed before you commit to it.