1 The idea
A clone brush copies pixels from a source spot (the brush position plus an offset) to where the brush is. Removing the pole from the plate means covering it with sand from beside it: sand at the same distance and in the same light.
Set the source offset X and Y, the brush size, hardness and opacity, then drag along the pole from the ground to the frame top and over its shadow. Watch “Pole and shadow left” and “Seam”, and switch the viewer to “Contrast ×4” to see the joins.
clone: out(p) = plate(p + offset)2 Hands-on
Paint out the pole and its shadow: under 20% left and a seam under 3, with no hard join
The offset starts at 0, 0, which copies each spot onto itself. Compare the sand beside the pole with the sand above and below it, and check the edges in “Contrast ×4”. You can change the offset between strokes, but a new stroke only replaces paint where it is stronger than the earlier paint; to redo an area, use “Clear the paint”.
3 Deep dive
The offset is a choice of source
Clone makes nothing new; it moves pixels from the source spot to the brush. With an offset of 0, 0 the brush copies each spot onto itself and nothing changes. With an offset shorter than the pole is wide (about 11 px), part of the source is still on the pole, and you paint pole over pole.
On ground that recedes toward the horizon, each row of the image sits at a different distance. The pole stands about 5.9 m from camera; sand on the same row is at a similar distance, while sand higher or lower in frame is farther or nearer. At the pole base the sand’s brightness changes by about 4% for every 20 px of vertical offset.
| Offset | Result |
|---|---|
| 0, 0 | Nothing changes |
| Horizontal, shorter than the pole width | The pole is cloned onto itself |
| Horizontal, clear of the pole | Same distance and light, blends well |
| Vertical | Wrong brightness and grain size |
Soft edge vs hard edge
However well you pick the source, the copied sand is still slightly brighter or darker than its surroundings. A hard brush (hardness 1) turns that difference into a thin line along the stroke edge. A soft brush blends from the source into the original, spreading the difference until the eye can’t find it.
For small edge fixes, a very soft brush (hardness about 0–0.1) at low opacity (0.1–0.2) blends in without a visible edge. With build-up off, overlapping dabs in one stroke don’t stack past the stroke opacity (0.5 stays 0.5); with build-up on they stack toward 1.
A hard-brush line you can barely see on a still often jumps out once the shot plays.
Don’t forget the shadow, and check harder than the final look
If the pole is gone but its shadow still lies on the sand, the eye knows at once that something is wrong. The shadow is part of the object and has to go too, cloned from sunlit sand at the same distance.
While painting, use a viewer with more contrast than the final look so seams show as you work, then finish by flipping A-B against the original plate.
- 1Offset beside the pole
- 2Soft brush
- 3Stroke ground to top
- 4Paint the shadow
- 5Check in contrast ×4
- 6A-B with the original
Good paint habits
Clone from several directions instead of one spot again and again, or the sand texture repeats and the eye catches it. If you paint over something you meant to keep, use Reveal, which copies from a second input such as the original plate, to bring it back.
Keep paint in RotoPaint and shapes in Roto, and use a separate paint node per task; one heavy RotoPaint is slow and hard to fix.
Two identical pebbles in one frame mean you cloned from the same spot twice.
4 In real work
In Nuke
- Viewer: push gain and gamma, or put a contrast Grade in the Input Process while you paint.
- RotoPaint → Clone: set the offset to the side of the pole, on the same row, clear of its width.
- Use a soft brush with build-up off: one stroke along the pole, another over the shadow.
- Reveal from the original plate to restore anything you over-painted.
- Keep shapes in Roto, use a separate RotoPaint per task, and Merge back into the comp.
- Viewer: wipe A/B against the original plate.
Common mistakes → the fix
- ✗ Taking the source from above or below the pole✓ Take it from the side, on the same row, where the sand is at the same distance and brightness.
- ✗ A hard brush leaves a thin line along the stroke edge✓ Lower the hardness for a soft edge, and check it in playback too.
- ✗ The pole is gone but its shadow is still on the sand✓ Paint the shadow out too, with sunlit sand at the same distance.
- ✗ An offset shorter than the pole clones the pole onto itself✓ Move the offset until the whole source circle is clear of the pole.
- ✗ Reusing the same source spot until pebbles repeat✓ Clone from several directions and spots.
Before you send the shot
- No pole or shadow left with the viewer contrast pushed.
- No line along the stroke edges, on a still or in playback.
- The painted sand matches its surroundings in brightness and grain size.
- No repeated pebbles or sand patterns.
- A-B with the original: only the pole and shadow changed.
5 Check yourself
To paint out an upright pole on the sand, where should the source come from?
🔒 Answer the question above and this card opens
1. You painted over a rock you meant to keep. What is the cleanest fix?
2. Stroke opacity is 0.5 with build-up off. What happens where dabs overlap within one stroke?
Where the numbers come from: The plate and the clean truth are our own Blender renders of the default desert set with and without the pole and wires (same settings). The grain is ours, added in the browser. The brush is a teaching version, not Nuke: it clones from the original plate (not from earlier strokes), dabs combine without build-up, within a stroke and across strokes (a new stroke only replaces paint where it is stronger), and the scores are low-passed differences against the clean render, which real jobs don’t have. The goal limits are our own.