Neo and Alice aren’t the only ones who can reach through the looking glass. In this latest “VFX Side Quest” for Red Giant, seasoned VFX artist Hashi (best known perhaps to many as the Action Movie Dad) shows us how to go full “red pill” with this trippy VFX tut.
Just as the Matrix reboot is starting to build up buzz, this mirror effect could be a cool VFX to add to a video short or music video, or simply a fun side quest for an aspiring visual artist to try out on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
So, let’s look through this looking glass, so to speak, and check out this tutorial as well as explore how Hashi (AKA Action Movie Dad) is able to create this cool effect.
Trippy Mirror VFX
So, this tutorial is a part of Red Giant’s series of cool VFX breakdowns and tutorials. It’s also a great side quest (to borrow their series name) as it’s surprisingly not too labor-intensive or tricky to pull off. For this VFX tutorial you only really need a few layers and some simple mesmerizing effects within Red Giant’s VFX Supercomp.
The real trick for this visual effect really just comes down to isolating the right elements and using the right plugins and tools to create the effect either from scratch or from templates.
This video breakdown is great though as Hashi really gives you some cool insights into the theory behind these mirror effects, and how these VFX are created on the big-budget sets versus how you can recreate them from your office (or bedroom or wherever your computer is set up).
Project Files and Plugins
As mentioned throughout the video, this tutorial is sponsored by Red Giant, so obviously, those are the plugins and tools which Hashi uses for this effect.
And while you could piecemeal together a similar VFX render without some of these tools perhaps, the Red Giant suite is a really great option for any serious (or hobbyist) visual artist looking to work on projects like these in After Effects.
The Red Giant plugins used for this video are linked below:
And be sure to get the project files for this tutorial specifically by following this link here.
VFX and Chill with Seth and Hashi
If you’re interested in checking out more tutorials, side quests, and just generally “hanging out” with some talented VFX artists, you can check out more of these “VFX and chill” sessions which are recorded live on Seth and Hashi’s weekly VFX show.
If you’re a fan of these two talented creators, or just generally learning from (and chilling with) some cool VFX artists, I’d highly recommend tuning in and checking out this series regularly, as they provide some great insights and tips into the crazy world of VFX.
Curious to try out this VFX effect and tutorial yourself? Let us know how it goes (and feel free to share your videos) below!
