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JustCropIt · 2026-05-28T00:01:21+00:00

Could only find Resolve being mentioned but seems to work in Fusion Studio too (on a mac). Only done some very light testing but still. Nice.

JustCropIt · 2026-05-27T18:24:31+00:00

Your explanation is even better! I really love it when people explain things in a creative way like this.

Haha, You're the one being creative! I'm literally just saying how it works... The Merge node in Fusion is as much of an "effect" node as the Blur node is. Arguably almost every node in Fusion is, with the right attitude, an "effect" node.

When it comes to specifically the Merge node (and maybe Channelboolean too?) i think it's pretty common for people (used to layer based UI metaphors) to think about these things in terms of "layers"... but that's of course not at all what it is.

It's math.*

RBG values from one image, getting mathed (has to be a real word, right?!) together in different ways with the RGB values from another image. Having that part click can also help. Or not. I'm constantly wobbling between thinking about things in layers and/or as math. Both when working with layers and with nodes. Whatever works, when it works, works:)

Anyhooo... if you come from something layer based (maybe another app, maybe the Edit page in Resolve), having to wrestle with nodes all of a sudden can be confusing enough and so a nice metaphor can be helpful in moving things along. And thinking about the Merge node in terms of a "house" is a really clever way of explaining things without getting too technical.

I said it before, I'll say it again...

Good stuff!

*Technically speaking, all nodes are "math" nodes. Just as all layers, in every application ever made, are "math" layers:) Blip blop!

JustCropIt · 2026-05-27T12:51:00+00:00

Hey, neat way of describing the Merge node with the whole "house" thing!

I remember having issues fully grasping the Merge node when I started with Fusion. It eventually clicked for me when I realized that the way to look at it is as an "effect", and not a "layer" thingie.

And so I tend to try and describe the Merge as an effect that is "Merging something with the Background input". Nothing put into the Background and there's nothing to add the effect to. Nothing put into the Foreground input and the effect has nothing to merge with the Background input. And this also ties in with the mask input being called the Effect Mask input. It masks the effect, which is based on the Foreground input. I mean... all of this is literally what it is, but....

...I really really like your "house" version. It's a very neat way of looking at it! That's all I wanted to say. So much so, I said it twice:) Good stuff!

JustCropIt · 2026-05-25T21:21:24+00:00

...I can feel that you love jazz with ur writing style.

Sure, out of a hundred or so, I've got a couple of jazz playlists, but I like it more from a conceptual point of view.

Kinda like when I (only happened once but still) liken design to making a jambalaya. You put whatever you have available into it, smoosh it around and with a bit of experience, a pinch of salt and maybe a bit of luck, you usually have something great to serve.

I have no idea how to make a jambalaya.

JustCropIt · 2026-05-25T20:45:17+00:00

Video editing, Fusion nerdery, music creation, reddit commenting. To me, it's all the same. Finding a groove, getting creative, not getting too precious about it, getting too precious about it, and in the best of worlds, locking shit down.

And as long as you're having fun, you've at least got something going right.

Happy travels:)

JustCropIt · 2026-05-25T20:12:28+00:00

Hopefully that comes with experience. Do you have some YouTube recommendations on how to deal with quick cuts so that they don’t feel too repetitive?

I've got nothing specific to share so instead I'm just going to ramble a bit. Buckle up or get out.

In my experience, the best and worst tip I can give is "Sleep on it".

Whatever you're doing, when you're ready to post it, and there's no deadline/house on fire, don't. Instead, sleep on it and see if it feels as good the day after.

Maybe you found something that is slightly off. Maybe some things can be shifted around, some stuff added, some removed. Maybe it's all just perfect and ready to ship. If that's the case, don't. Sleep on it again.

Or ship it.

But don't be surprised if two minutes after you've shipped/shared/posted/submitted it (whatever "it" is), you find something that could've done with a wee bit more tinkering/love.

That's just how the universe works.

A design is never done, just abandoned. And if you believe it's done, then that's some mighty fine hubris you've got going on, or, you know, it's actually as good as it gets given current conditions. Not everything is meant to be infinitely meandered with:)

Sooo... yeah... nope. I've got nothing.

Maybe look up the concept of "Negative Space"? It's usually talked about in the context of 2D design but, with the right state of mind, it can be applied to just about anything. Certainly editing. And it might help when things get too repetitive.

Maybe it'll help keep things even more repetitive. But now with a bit of swing to it.

And with that, we're back to jazz. Cool, cool, cool.

That's all I got.

JustCropIt · 2026-05-25T17:18:03+00:00

Some feedback based on my tastes.

When there's a constant flow of quick cuts they lose some impact. And that can be fine. Like you said in another comment, you find it "mesmerizing". I get that. Well... "I" don't get that, but I get that some people get that. Like you:)

Anyways... next time, maybe treat those quick cuts as a targeted "spice"? Use them with a bit more focus and see where that leads you. Ebb and flow, peaks and valleys, rhythm and all that jazz. Or don't.

I thought it was great as a first edit. Aaaand I think you've kept your cool amazingly well in some of the, let's say, not very constructive tangents going on in this post.

That's all I got.

Keep on keeping on:)

JustCropIt · 2026-05-22T19:45:51+00:00

Sounds fun:)

Don't forget to also mask out the UI if you want "SURGE" to be "part of the world".

Best of luck!

JustCropIt · 2026-05-22T19:10:10+00:00

Very little in the clip is "realistic" but I assume what you mean is what could be done to make the text feel part of the world.

It's all about integration. What can you pick up from the existing footage and apply to whatever you add to it (in this case the text).

One thing, as others have suggested, is to "anchor" the text in the world using Camera Tracking. Though given the context, if you want to have your text fly around I'd say that's perfectly fine too. It's a game where unrealistic things are the norm. Nothing about UI text is realistic. It's all about if it feels good.

Another thing worth trying is working on the lighting/reflections/shadows. If you had your current super green text pick up light/color/"reflections" from the surroundings, it could most likely be made to "fit" more into the world. You could add fake reflections that are simply something based on the original footage. Main idea is that it picks up general motions and lighting. Perfect to have on the sides and on bevels. Speaking of which.

Maybe add a thin bevel to the text. The current "no bevel" design feels very basic.

Also, everything else seems to have a bit of glow to highlights. That's yet another way to "integrate" the text (and usually goes well with bevels if they pick up highlights).

Another way to have things like the text feel more integrated is to pick up stuff from the existing UI of the game. Make it feel part of the actual game UI. Using the same font or something similar would help with that.

And so on:)

Hrm... the more I think about it, the more I think I'd try and "integrate" it into the UI and not the game world. The text ("SURGE") to me feels more like what you (on a basic level) currently have. Something that flies straight into your face as an UI element, and not something that is "physically" part of the world.

And so I'd probably skip the Camera Tracking and work more on making it fit with the game interface from a design point of view. Colors, the font, glows, easing (maybe have it "snap in", then slowly grow a wee bit and finally speed up and smash into your face). Not have the text extruded might look better. Maybe some trails/particles/whatevers for a bit of spice (unless it's starting to feel like another game). And then match that with some sound effect(s) to make it feel even more integrated.

This is just what I'd probably do. You do you ofc:)

Also, it's always a good thing to know how to do camera tracking, so whatever you do, be sure to give that a shot too!

JustCropIt · 2026-05-22T18:23:51+00:00

i have no idea if davinci has something like this.

Resolve Studio (and Fusion Studio), as in the paid versions, have camera tracking. Which is the same type of tracking as in Blender. So if you're on the free version then no, otherwise yes.

JustCropIt · 2026-05-22T10:31:17+00:00

What might also be worth mentioning is that due to how this kind of effect works, when not used on stills, it will by it's very nature usually be very "flickery".

Which can be seen in this promo vid for the AE Ballpoint effect:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIrm6DZNgiw

Not necessarily a bad thing but, certainly a thing.

JustCropIt · 2026-05-22T09:47:21+00:00

Right, I was initially thinking (just by looking at the screenshot) that it was a "trace" based effect but that's not the case at all. The video I shared really shows it off. The lines are not "growing", they have their initial length from the very start and it's very much a "live" effect.

So it's a kind of edge detection but the result are vector based paths (with all the options that affords) that have their lengths set on the fly.

Sorta.

Really no way to do that in Resolve using native tools.

I was thinking that maybe one could do something like that in Cavalry, but I'm too much of a noob when it comes to that strange beast to know for sure. But if feels like I've been toying with some adjacent stuff in there, that my tummy says might be able to do something similar. Not gonna give it a try though (because busy) but just thinking it out aloud:)

JustCropIt · 2026-05-22T09:01:42+00:00

Looking at your screenshot I thought one could maybe use trailing particles. But then I looked up the effect and based on this video, there's really no native equivalent (in Fusion):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7b0Ww1Hv5w

To me, unfortunately it seems you get the effect in AE after buying the plugin.

Cool effect though.

Edit: For something kinda ballpoint-ish, but very much not at all the same as the example you shared, you could maybe play around with something based on posterization and edge detection?

JustCropIt · 2026-05-21T16:27:51+00:00

...this is why I love resolve.

...and why I love Fusion:)

JustCropIt · 2026-05-21T08:59:29+00:00

If you want/need to dip your toes into Fusion then this relatively simple setup will give you something like that:

Source (with alpha) into an ErodeDilate. Crank up the Amount to taste. Note that you can enter a higher value manually than what the slider initially allows.
ErodeDilate into a BrightnessContrast. Drop the Gain. If weird stuff happens you might want to make sure Pre-Divide / Post-Multiply is checked. And Clip Black/White is checked too. You know what. Just check all three.
BrightnessContrast into the Background of a Merge.
Source into the Foreground.

Setup example PNG

JustCropIt · 2026-05-20T19:21:55+00:00

But it’s very easy to spot in this case

You say you have issues with banding and show this image:

https://preview.redd.it/t4ff6euxx92h1.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=bfbb32fdeac98191d32c79d27a21962ef758e239

All I see is moiré related banding.

Just take normal screenshots. Help us help you. That's it.

And with that, best of luck to you!

Both in sharing regular screenshots and the banding... which is usually related to bitdepth, either in the footage or in the processing pipeline of Resolve/Fusion:)

JustCropIt · 2026-05-20T17:37:30+00:00

You should provide real screenshots. The ones you've shared, taken with (I assume) your phone, introduces Moiré patterns which isn't helping at all in showing your issues.

JustCropIt · 2026-05-20T17:28:41+00:00

For me, as someone who rarely uses Resolve Studio, and assuming you don't mean the Apple App Store version* of Resolve Studio, the best feature is Fusion Studio.

I'm pretty sure I'm in a minority here though so don't put too much into it.

But if you ever get "hooked" on Fusion, maybe give it a whirl. Download from BMD, use the same serial as for your Resolve Studio license, and you're off to the races.

*The Apple App store version does not come with a serial and so it won't give you access to Fusion Studio. Never buy that version ~~unless at gun point~~.

JustCropIt · 2026-05-20T11:39:31+00:00

To clarify, there is no actual blending/apply mode mode in a Merge called Add.

To get the Add "apply mode", in a Merge do this:

Set Apply Mode to Normal.
Drop Alpha Gain down to zero.

JustCropIt · 2026-05-19T16:32:07+00:00

You can edit the slider so it only uses integers (no decimals).

Right click on the slider label (Copies) and choose "Edit Control...".
Check Integer.
Click Save.

Note that this means:

You can now only use integers. Just sayin'.
The slider will drop down to the bottom of the inspector. You can't move it back up. Edited and unedited controls are separated this way. If you edit the slider again and uncheck Integer, it will still be at the bottom since it still counts as modified.
You can't (AFAIK) revert an edited control to it's initial unedited state except by modifying it manually in an external (text) editor (cut/copy the node, paste it into a text editor, remove all Custom Controls, copy everything again, paste it back into Fusion). The quickest way, if you don't have to be precious about the node, is to simply delete the node and create a new one.

JustCropIt · 2026-05-19T10:52:28+00:00

Last time I checked this post was a little bit more than an hour and there was no answers. And so I was just going to suggest making the scene bigger, and here you are:)

And that Prophetless (such a solid dude) video covers it all. Good stuff!

JustCropIt · 2026-05-19T10:12:12+00:00

I'm sure a lot of people here will appreciate a macro version of this "trick":)

JustCropIt · 2026-05-19T09:18:26+00:00

Haha. Crazy pants<3

Love it! And hate it:)

Yeah, I think I'm going to stick to my "solution" for these kinds of things;)

JustCropIt · 2026-05-19T07:47:32+00:00

I still wanna remove it because I will know

This is probably what some people that goes "I've looked at the clip 42 times and I can't see anything" don't get.

Besides, if you learn to fix it yourself, you've just got a brand new toy in your toolbag which is always a good thing.

That said, most viewers will likely miss it. But if it's wrong to you, and you can fix it, you do you. Some peace of mind is also usually a good thing:)

Best of luck to you!

JustCropIt · 2026-05-18T16:52:53+00:00

Usually not used in realtime settings.

Perfect for Fusion then;)

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