VFX technique — copy pixel area and paste elsewhere to remove unwanted objects or repair frame defects. Classic: power line out of sky.
Clone
You know the drill: the sun is perfectly positioned, the shadows fall just right, but a darn power line is cutting through the frame. Or a camera movement has left a scratch, a reflection that shouldn't be there. This is where you reach for the Clone tool — and it's one of the oldest, most reliable techniques in digital image manipulation. It works simply: you define a source point in the image (what you want to keep), and then you paint over what you want to remove with it. The program copies the pixels from the source point and places them over the problem area.
In professional VFX workflows — whether in After Effects, Nuke, or Fusion — Clone is standard for the rotoscoping phase and final plate repair. You work frame-by-frame when dealing with moving objects, or use motion tracking to follow the source point with the camera. This sounds simple, but it's extremely demanding in terms of craftsmanship. Poor clone work looks artificial immediately — duplicate structures, repeating patterns that catch the eye. The trick: small, organic strokes, multiple source points for variation, and setting the feathering values correctly. If the power line disappears in front of a forest, you need non-ideal sources to avoid monotony.
Typical applications include power line removal (classic), shadow repair after unexpected movement on set, removal of product placements in 360-degree shots, or healing sensor spots in long exposures. In a live-action context, you usually work with high-resolution RAW material — the more pixels, the better you can clone without it becoming pixelated or blurry. In greenscreen work, Clone is often the last resort to repair areas where the key was poor.
The biggest mistake: using overly aggressive clone strokes and working too quickly. Digital artistry here means cloning slowly, changing the source point frequently, and checking regularly in full screen. Some supervisors schedule clone work only after all other VFX steps — as a final polishing phase. This makes sense because every previous composition should already be cleaned up. Clone is not a quick fix, but concentrated pixel work.