Stylise effects in Video by Zaweba: glow to cartoon

Some effects fix footage and others turn it into something new. The stylise group in Video by Zaweba is firmly in the second camp. It covers glow, emboss, find edges, pencil sketch, cartoon, mosaic, solarise and halftone, plus edge glow, glints, light rays, echo glow, basic 3D, long shadow, brush strokes and colour emboss. These are the effects for music videos, title sequences, dream scenes and anything that wants a graphic, illustrated or heightened look.

Glows and light

Glow makes bright areas bloom outwards, softening highlights into a haze. A little glow makes a shot feel warmer and more filmic. A lot of glow makes it dreamy. Edge glow lights up the outlines in the picture, and echo glow repeats the glow outward in layers for a stronger, neon look.

Glints add star shaped sparkles to the brightest points, which suits jewellery, water and night lights. Light rays throws beams of light out from bright areas, as if light were streaming through dust or mist. Both are strongest on shots with a few distinct bright points rather than evenly lit scenes.

Illustrated looks

Cartoon simplifies the picture into flatter areas of colour with darker outlines. Pencil sketch turns it into something like a drawing. Brush strokes repaints it with visible strokes. Halftone breaks the picture into the dots of old printed comics and newspapers. Mosaic turns it into large blocks, which also doubles as a way to hide something.

These effects work best on clear, well lit footage with a strong subject. Busy, noisy footage tends to turn into a mess, because the effect tries to outline or simplify every bit of noise. Correct and perhaps smooth the clip first.

Edges, relief and shadow

Find edges keeps only the outlines of the picture. Emboss and colour emboss make it look pressed into metal or paper, with or without its colours. Solarise partly inverts the tones, a darkroom effect that gives an odd, otherworldly feel. Basic 3D tilts the picture in space. Long shadow casts a long flat shadow from shapes in the frame, which is popular with graphics and logos on plain backgrounds.

Making stylised effects look deliberate

Restraint matters. A stylised look reads as a choice when it is used for a reason: a flashback in pencil sketch, a chorus that bursts into glow, an opening title in halftone. Applied to an entire film, the same effects quickly feel like a filter someone forgot to turn off.

Keyframes help with that. Stylise effects can change over time like any other effect setting with a stopwatch, so a shot can slide from real to cartoon, or a glow can swell on the beat and fade again. Pairing an effect with an adjustment layer makes it easy to cover just the right section of the timeline across many clips.

Masks help too. With the Only inside mask option on an effect, a glow can stay on a neon sign and leave the faces below it alone. You can also save a combination of effects you like as a preset in an .ozfx file and bring it back on another project.

Performance and polish

Several of these effects are more demanding than a simple colour change. Check the badges in the Effects tab, and if playback struggles, finish the edit before adding heavy stylising, or use render previews from the Playback menu for the sections that carry it.

Watch skin tones under strong effects. Solarise, cartoon and edge glow can make faces look ill. If a face matters, consider masking it out of the effect or reducing the strength.

Lastly, pay attention to how a stylised shot cuts into normal ones. A transition, or a few frames where the effect fades in, often helps the eye make the jump.

The stylise effects in Video by Zaweba are great fun to explore. Used with a purpose, they can give a short film a look that sticks in the memory.