How to Edit Premium 3D Documentary Animations | DaVinci Resolve

Your editing is about to get a huge

upgrade. This video combines both 2D and

3D into one premium looking animation.

We're also going to be leveraging AI for

custom highquality assets. I've been

paid thousands of dollars for this kind

of editing. Now, last week I was

scrolling on Pinterest and I came across

this video likely edited in After

Effects. After playing around with it

for a couple of minutes, I was able to

achieve something like this in Da Vinci

Resolve.

Now, before we jump straight into the

Fusion page, we're going to be

collecting some assets. The rest of the

assets I used in this video are linked

below. Now, if you click the top link in

my description, it'll bring you to

Imagine Art. I'm going to select the

image tab, and I'm going to select the

model Nano Banana Pro. So, first I'm

going to ask it for an ID badge for a

surgeon at the hospital. I'm going to

write that he's tired, has a surgeon cap

on, and has red eyes. He also looks a

little bit depressed. And I'm going to

throw this image back into the software

and say, "Create me a shot of this man

from a 45 degree angle. Make it look

like a high-quality documentary, and

he's being interviewed." Now, look at

this quality we got from 10 seconds of

work. If you're not leveraging AI as an

editor, you will fall behind. I'm going

to select the video tab and select the

model I want and type in, "The man

looking off into the distance says, "I

believe this opioid will cure autism and

schizophrenia. They will come after my

family for this." Using this method, you

can invent any character you want and

implement them in your edits. This will

skyrocket your storytelling if done

right. The last thing we need to do is

generate a few textures. For example,

metal that has been scratched. This is

for our 3D gun. Again, if you want to

check it out, the link to Imagine Art is

below. It's always updated with the top

models. And if you want to see how I use

the workflows feature for more advanced

concepts, I made a video you can check

out here. So, we're going to be building

the entire animation in one clip. So,

we're going to come to effects and drag

on a Fusion composition clip. And

because it's one continuous motion, we

can just drag this out to however long

we want our clip to be. Then we can head

to the fusion tab. And because we're

starting in a 2D environment for our

first kind of page, I'm going to select

this box up here. So it's just one

window. I'm going to drag on a

background and connect it to the media

out. And then turn the alpha all the way

down. I'm going to drag in this

background right here and connect it to

the background here. This is kind of our

base background. Now to create the tape,

I'm just going to drag in another

background and connect it to this merge.

I'm going to select the background and

change the color to white. And I'm going

to select the rectangle mask and drag

down the height. Select the background,

hit shift space, add in a transform. And

we can just drag this up like that. Now

I'm going to select all this, copy it

and paste it. Holding down shift,

bringing it into my timeline. We can

select the transform and drag this one

down. Again, copy and paste this. Rotate

this to 90°. I'm going to select the

rectangle and drag down the width.

Select the transform. And then we can

position this where we want it. Last

time, we're going to copy and paste it.

Select the transform and drag it over

here. Now that we have our outline, we

can drag in our image I generated with

AI. We're going to connect this to the

merge. Hit shift space, add in a

transform. Size this down. And over

here, I'm going to hit shift space and

add in a drop shadow. Zoom in here. And

I'm going to increase the drop angle so

that the shadow is on this side. I'm

going to decrease the shadow strength

and decrease the blur. Now that we have

most of our page built out, we can

disconnect the media out and turn this

into a 3D environment really quick. So,

all we need for that is to drag in this

image plane and connect the merge to the

image plane and then a merge 3D and

connect the image plane to the merge 3D.

Now, this page is pretty much set up.

So, because we're doing multiple pages

to keep things organized after each

page, we're going to put a merge so that

we can just connect them at the end. So,

for now, I'm going to drag this media

out over here and build our base 3D

environment. So to do that, I'm dragging

in a merge 3D, a render 3D, and a camera

3D. The merge connects to the render,

render to the media out, and camera to

the merge. So now we're in a 3D

environment. So I'm going to select the

two split screen here, and I'm going to

throw this merge into the viewer here.

Now I'm going to drag in my first 3D

asset, which is a crushed pop can. So

I'm just going to drag that in right

here and connect it to the merge. With

it selected, I'm going to select

transform and scale it all the way down.

And then I can zoom in here and place it

where I want it. So, I'm just going to

rotate it, kind of place it up here.

Now, to texture it, I'm going to hit

shift space and add in a blind and

connect this to our 3D object. Now, my

3D object came with its own texture. So,

I can just drag that in and connect it

to the blend. As you can see, now our 3D

object is textured just like that. And

now, our first kind of page here is

built out. So, we can select all this

and just kind of drag it up here a

little bit. Now, before I build our

second page and place it over here, I'm

going to come to our render node and

select hardware render. And I'm going to

enable lighting and shadows. I'm going

to drag this merge node to this merge

node and drag our camera back. I'm just

going to add in my ambient light and

connect it to the merge. Now, we can

increase or decrease the intensity of

the lighting. I'm going to keep it

pretty dark so we get harsh shadows. So,

I'm going to hit shift space and add in

a directional light and connect this to

the merge. As you can see, we have to

turn down the intensity quite a bit. And

then we can come to the transform and

rotate it until we get a nice shadow

like that. And as you can see, it's also

making our 3D object look pretty nice

with the lighting. Now, one more light

I'm going to add in is a spotlight. So,

I'm going to hit shift space and search

for a spotlight.

And I'm going to connect this to the

merge node. As you can see, if we drag

back the spotlight in our 3D

environment, we can see it right here.

So, again, I'm going to turn down the

intensity. I'm going to increase this

angle so it's a little bit softer light.

And I'm going to decrease this angle so

it's a bit of a smaller light as well.

As you can see, that spotlight got rid

of the shadow a little bit. So, I'm just

going to select the transform and rotate

the X angle on our spotlight so that our

spotlight's pointing down. And then I'm

going to drag it up. Now, as you can

see, our scene is well lit and we still

have shadows. So, now we're going to

build our second page so that our camera

can pan over to it. So, to do that, it's

pretty easy. We're just going to select

all of this excluding the 3D object. I'm

going to hit command copy, click over

here, and paste it. Now, before we

connect it, we can just throw our merge

into the viewer here. And this is what

our new page is going to look like. So,

what I'm going to do is I'm going to

select the image plane and I'm just

going to drag this over like this. Now,

to see what we're doing, I'm going to

connect this merge to this merge. And

I'm going to throw this merge into the

viewer. And I'm just going to drag this

until they match right here. Now, I'm

going to drag my camera over to the

middle. So, as you can see, we have this

line here, and it kind of looks like a

cutff. So, what I'm going to do is come

over to my media one, hit shift space,

and add in a transform. And I'm just

going to flip it horizontally. And as

you can see, it matches up perfectly

now. And so now we can drag our camera

and pan over to this one. So right away,

I'm going to hit shift space and add in

another spotlight and connect it to the

merge. I'm going to drag it over here

and I'm going to decrease the intensity

again. I'm going to rotate the X-axis so

it's pointing down. And I'm going to

drag the light up. Come to controls and

I can increase the intensity a little

bit more. So just to recap, we have our

first page here connected to a merge

node and our second page here connected

to a merge node because whatever we

connect to this merge node applies to

our 3D environment. So with this one,

I'm going to change the tape. I want

another line down the middle so that it

separates two different objects. So

first I'm just going to delete this. I'm

going to select all of this, hit

command, copy, and paste it here. Select

the transform and in the inspector I'm

just going to drag this over like this.

So right here I'm going to add in some

syringes. I'm going to drag in my FBX

file of syringes and connect this to the

merge. With this selected, I'm going to

select the transform and scale them all

the way down. As you can see, here they

are right here. So, I'm just going to

drag them over to this side. I'm going

to rotate the X to minus 90. And I'm

just going to increase the size to about

0.4 maybe or six. Drag this against the

background here and then drag it down.

So, again, this 3D object came with some

textures. So, I'm going to hit shift

space and add in a blend. Connect this

to my 3D object. And then I'm going to

drag in my syringe PNG it came with and

connect that to the blend. As you can

see, now our 3D objects are textured.

Now, we can add in our ID badge over

here. So, I'm just going to drag that in

and I'm going to connect it to this

merge here. I'm going to hit shift space

and add in a transform node. Just a

normal transform because anything before

this image plane is a 2D environment.

So, we can just size this down and then

we can place it in this one right here.

Again, I'm going to select the media in,

hit shift space, and add in a drop

shadow. Now, we're going to make a

polygon line that connects these two

pieces of tape as the camera moves. So,

for now, I'm just going to drag the

camera to kind of the middle of the two.

And again, just to keep things

organized, I'm going to drag in another

merge 3D for all the lines. So, I'm

going to hit shift space and search for

a polygon. And I'm going to drag in a

background and connect the polygon to

the background. And I'm going to drag in

an image plane. Connect the background

to the image plane. And the image plane

to the merge. I'm going to select the

background and change the color to

white. I'm going to select the polygon,

right click here, remove polygon line

one. And now, actually, I'm just going

to drag this background into here. And

I'm going to just draw out a straight

line. Now, if we increase the border

width, you can see our line. And if we

increase and decrease the length, you

can see how this is going to work out.

So, for now, I'll just kind of keep it

like that. And I'm going to drag this

merge to this merge. As you can see, our

line has appeared. So, we can throw this

merge into the viewer here. so we can

see everything. And then we can select

our image plane and we can just drag

this right here. So I think around 50 is

when my camera starts to pan. So I'm

going to drag the length all the way

down. And on frame 50 I'm going to key

frame the length. And then I'm going to

come to about frame 130 and I'm going to

drag the length all the way until it

reaches the other tape. Now if we scroll

through our timeline, you can see that

our line is animated. And so one thing

I'm going to do right here is add in

another 3D object of a car. So, I'm

going to drag in my car. I'm just going

to connect it to this merge, which is

the merge connected to the line. It

doesn't really matter which merge as

long as you stay organized. So, I'll

just connect this to that. I'll select

transform and scale this all the way

down. Now, I can just drag this over

here. And I'm going to increase the size

to about 0.2. I'm going to rotate the Z

rotation so that the car is facing that

way. I can zoom in on my 3D viewer over

here. And I can drag it up just like

this. Again, I'm going to hit shift

space and add in a blind because I have

a custom texture. And then I'll just

drag in the PNG that it came with and

connect it to the blind. As you can see,

our car is now colored. Now, to make

this even more realistic, I'm going to

add some spotlights coming out of the

front here. So, it looks like the

headlights are on, creating a pretty

cinematic effect. So, to do that, I'm

going to hit shift space and add in a

spotlight. And before I connect it, I

can just select it here and drag it to

where I want it. I'm going to rotate the

Yaxis so that it's pointing kind of like

that. And then I can just kind of place

this where the car headlight would be.

So for now, I'm just going to kind of

place it right here. We can adjust it

once we connect it here. So I'm just

going to connect it there. This is how

it's going to look. So as you can see,

we just have to pull this back. So now

we have something that kind of looks

like that. I'm going to go to controls

and I'm going to change the color to

kind of more of an orange color. Just

like that. Again, we can play around

with the angles to get kind of a softer

look. So, for the other headlight, we

can simply just copy it and paste it.

Then, all we have to do is slide this

over to this side. And it creates for a

pretty cool effect. Just like that. And

so, now after the camera pans over here,

the camera is going to pan down. So, we

need to create a third page. So, to do

that, again, we're just going to select

all of this like that. Not including the

3D objects cuz we don't want to bring

that along. I'm going to hit command

copy. Click down here so we have lots of

space and paste it. So when we zoom out,

it looks complicated, but it's all

pretty organized. We have our first

page, our second page, and our third

page all connecting to the merge node.

So because we don't need this ID badge,

I'm just going to select this and delete

it. And we also don't need this last

piece of tape we added in the last one.

So I'm going to delete that. And then I

can connect this merge node to the merge

node over here. Now, with the image

plane selected, we can drag it down

until they meet up. So now if we take

our camera over here and drag it down,

we can see our last page. So for this

one, we can keep it relatively the same.

We're just going to add two 3D objects,

a picture frame and a gun.

Now, we're just going to place our video

of the surgeon talking in the frame. So

we're just going to drag it in our

timeline here. We're going to connect it

to an image plane so it can function in

a 3D environment. And this image plane

is going to be connected to the merge.

We're just going to select transform and

scale it down. And then we can just

bring it over in front of our frame

here. Now the last thing we're going to

add, we can just add it to this merge

node is the 3D hospital bed. And we're

going to place that right here. So I'm

just going to drag this in, connect it

to the merge. As you can see, here it is

right here. We're going to select the

transform and just scale it all the way

down. And then I'm going to rotate it

this way. And then I'll drag it up

slightly. Generated this picture with

AI, and we'll connect that to the FBX

mesh. And it creates kind of a bedding

look. So now with our camera selected,

we can drag it up and then we can drag

it over. Now you can animate your camera

to do whatever you want. So on a basic

level, we can just select transform, go

to the very first frame and we can key

frame these positions here. So we can go

over to like whatever frame 40 and zoom

our camera in a little bit. Then we can

come back maybe 10 frames and I'm going

to key frame the X position. Then I'll

come over to maybe frame 140 and I can

drag my camera over to this side. Then

again I can come back a couple of frames

and I'll key frame my Y position. And

then I'll go to maybe frame 250 and I'll

drag my camera down

to this one. Now if we scroll through

our timeline, our camera zooms in and

then it follows the line to this side

and then from there the camera drops

down. So that's pretty much it. If you

want, you can add in text by just adding

them um into the merge nodes here. And

just like that, you should have

something that looks like this.