VID · Video tools

Sketch Video Effect

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Settings are written to the URL as you change them. Nothing differs from the defaults yet.

Redraw a clip as pencil on paper. Each frame is rebuilt from its brightness and edges: dark areas become graphite shading, outlines become pencil lines, and the whole frame sits on a toned sheet with visible grain.

Shading and contours

Shading sets how much tone is laid down in the dark parts of the picture. At low values the frame becomes a line drawing; at high values it looks like a fully rendered study. Contours sets the weight of the traced outlines, which carry most of the recognisable detail in motion.

Paper and texture

Paper Color tints the sheet. Warm off-white reads as a sketchbook, gray as newsprint, pale blue as a drafting sheet. Paper Texture scales the grain and stroke noise that break up flat areas.

A drawing on every frame

The stroke and grain pattern changes on every frame, 30 times per second of source time. Hand-drawn animation has the same quality, called boil, because each frame is traced separately and no two tracings line up exactly. Lower Paper Texture for a calmer result where mostly the lines move.

Camera shake and noisy low-light footage add movement of their own to the contours. A stable, well-lit source gives the steadiest lines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Shading darkens the paper where the source is dark, like graphite laid on in tone. Contours traces edges as pencil lines. Paper Texture adds grain and stroke noise so flat areas do not look digital.

The pencil and paper noise comes from a seed that advances 30 times per second of source time. Each frame gets fresh strokes, which gives the slight shimmer of hand-drawn animation, where every frame is a separate drawing. The same frame always gets the same strokes, so preview and export match.

Shots with clear shapes and lighting from one side. The contours come from edges and the shading from brightness, so flat, evenly lit footage gives faint lines and little tone.

It is copied into the export unchanged when the container can hold its codec, and re-encoded when it cannot. A note under the export button says which happened.

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