God rays, also called 3D light rays, are a beautiful illusion you can see in nature when direct light pierces through gaps in the clouds or a surface that contains holes. Because of their volume and shape, these light rays resemble torches or columns coming straight from the sky – hence the name of the artistic effect.

If you want to add the God rays effect to your video, VSDC Pro can help you achieve that within minutes. You’ll be able to use the effect on added objects, such as titles, shapes, logos, and images with a transparent background, as well as on videos. But most importantly, you’ll be able to make the effect dynamic as if the light source is moving around the scene.

This is what it’s going to look like:

In the tutorial below, we’ll walk you through the effect setup and show you how to change the length, brightness, and color of the light rays. Plus, you’ll learn how to achieve a stunning look by gradually increasing or decreasing the intensity of the effect over time!

Before getting started, make sure to download the latest version of VSDC Video Editor.

Apply the God rays effect to the object

For this tutorial, we’re going to apply the effect to a piece of text – however, the principles of working with other image and video files are exactly the same.

For starters, import your media file to the editor or create a blank project and add an object to the scene. Click the object using the right mouse button and proceed to Video effects. Select Nature - God rays.

Once you make the selection, an Object position settings window will pop up indicating that the effect will be applied to the file starting from the cursor position. Later, you’ll be able to manually change the duration of the effect and shift its position on the timeline if you want to.

Access the Properties window

As soon as you apply the effect, you’ll be prompted to the second tab of the timeline where the “Godrays” layer is located. Click it with the right mouse button and select Properties. The Properties window housing the effect settings will slide in from the right side.

The Properties window contains three groups of settings:

• Common settings
• Adjustment settings
• God rays effect settings

Each group allows you to fine-tune the effect on different levels. Let’s have a more in-depth look at what you can do at each level.

Common settings overview

The first group is called Common settings and it lets you do the following:

• change the name of the layer on the timeline
• set up the moment when the effect appears in the scene – by typing the exact second or frame
• define how long the duration of the effect should be – by typing the exact number of seconds or frames

If you’re happy with the default settings of the effect, feel free to skip this group and move on to the next one.

Adjustment settings overview

The second group is called Adjustment settings. It allows you to change the level of effect transparency, extend the boundaries of the effect area, and select presets.

The Transparency parameter defines the level of visibility of the effect. The higher the Transparency value is, the more visible the effect. You can set a constant Transparency value or make it change over time using the parameters called Initial value and Final value. To give you an idea of how it looks, below is a gradual Transparency increase from 0% to 100%

The next parameter in the group is called Extend boundaries, and it only makes sense to change it if you’re applying the God rays effect to an object smaller than the scene size – such as an icon, a piece of text, or an image.

By default, the length of the light rays is defined by the object’s borders. For example, if you’re applying it to a piece of text, we’re talking about the frame where the text is located. This way, if the Extend boundaries parameter is deactivated (set to False), the light rays will be cut by the frame. If the Extend boundaries parameter is activated (set to True), the light rays will extend to their natural length.

Finally, the third parameter in the group allows you to select one of the effect presets from the menu. To continue with the manual setup, leave the ‘Custom’ option selected.

God Rays effect settings overview

The last group of settings is designed to help you achieve a more precise, custom look of the effect. We’re going to show you what each parameter means, and how it changes the overall appearance of the rays.

Polar coordinates

The first parameter is called Polar coordinates, and it only makes sense to pay attention to it if you are creating a dynamic effect where the source of light will be moving around. If you keep the Polar coordinates mode activated (set to True), you’ll be able to make the light source move around the polar system of coordinates.

If you deactivate the mode (set it to False), you’ll be able to make the light source move around the XY system of coordinates.

In both cases, to imitate the light source movement, you’ll need to expand the parameters and type the Initial value and Final value for the coordinates. For example, if you’re using the Polar coordinate system, you can type the light source angle and distance from the object for the beginning of the effect and the end of it. When you do that, the light source will be moving from the initial point to the final point throughout the duration of the effect, as illustrated above.

Similarly, if you’re using the XY coordinate system, you’ll be able to set the XY coordinates for the beginning and the end of the effect.

Show/hide center

If you want to keep the effect’s position constant, ignore the previous parameter and click the Show/hide center button to make the center of the effect visible and manually place it in the scene.

Tip: if you are using the coordinates to create a dynamic effect, you can check its position at any given moment on the timeline by moving the playhead and using the Show/hide center button.

Light intensity and Brightness

Light intensity and Brightness directly affect the look of the light rays. As the names of these parameters suggest, the former defines how powerful the light source is, and the latter defines the brightness of the light.

By default, both parameters are set to 100%, and as you start decreasing this value, you’ll notice how the look of the effect gradually changes. See what going from 100% to 0% looks like for both parameters:

As you can see, for Light intensity, 0% means the full absence of the light rays; meanwhile, for Brightness, 0% means the full absence of light (and therefore, disappearance of the object).

Mode

Mode helps you smoothen the light rays and make them look more natural. To see the difference between the two modes, just switch from ‘Normal’ and ‘Smooth’ and look at how the rays change.

Keep in mind that the ‘Smooth’ mode requires a bit more PC resources, so it may work a little slower on your PC.

Ray length

This parameter is also self-explanatory. As you change its value, you also change the length of light rays.

Although this parameter directly affects the length of light rays, it’s important to note that other parameters, such as Brightness and Light intensity, may indirectly affect the length of light rays as well. For example, high brightness or a very powerful light source will visually extend rays.

Noise strength

The Noise strength parameter adds fractal noise to the effect and can also be set up dynamically – through the Initial and Final values.

Chromatic shift

The last parameter is designed to add a touch of color to the God rays effect. By default, it’s set at 0% which means the light rays are white. As you start increasing the Chromatic shift value, you’ll notice how light rays start taking color, based on the Channel order selected in the dropdown menu below.

The default channel order is RGB, which means the effect will contain Red, Green, and Blue – in that sequence precisely. The rest of the channels are abbreviated with the same logic: for instance, GBR means Green, Blue, Red; GB means Green and Blue; B means Blue. This way, you can apply a single color or multiple colors to the effect.

Time to practice

Now that you know how to work with the God rays effect in a video, it’s time to practice. Go ahead and try to use it in your next project. It’s easy to apply, and it works especially well for transitions, intros, and outros.

Got any questions about the effect? Email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Looking for inspiration for your next video? Check our YouTube channel.

If you want to change or replace a color in a video, you can do it using the free version of VSDC. Due to the built-in LUT editor, VSDC allows you to have full control of the video color scheme, so you can enhance the look of your footage, change its aesthetic, or add an artistic touch by replacing certain colors.

The best part about this color replacement trick? As long as your footage is of high quality, it’s surprisingly easy to replicate. As a matter of fact, you’ll be able to do it even if you have zero video editing experience. Moreover, you can replace a color in a video permanently (for the entire duration of the video) or temporarily as illustrated in the example above.

The only thing to keep in mind before getting started is that the color you want to replace should be unique and contrasting compared to the rest of the colors in the video (again, like in the example above). Otherwise, other objects in the video containing the same color tone might be affected by the changes.

Ready to start? Download the latest version of VSDC (Windows only) and follow the steps below.

Step 1. Import your footage to VSDC

Launch VSDC on your computer and hit Import content to upload your video. The program will automatically create a project with the parameters matching the parameters of your video. Just confirm the default selection in the pop-up window, and your footage will be added to the scene.

For this tutorial, we’re going to change the color of the background by replacing yellow with other colors.

Step 2. Create an empty LUT

The fastest and most efficient way to replace a color in a video is a custom LUT. To create one, switch to the View tab at the top and select Resources window. Then click anywhere in the Resources window using the right mouse button and select Add resources > Create LUT. A new empty LUT will be added to the list of resources.

Double-click on the video and drag the LUT from the Resources window to the timeline. Notice that by default the LUT will be added to the timeline from the playhead position, but you can move it with the mouse, too.

Once the LUT is on the timeline, go back to the Resources window and double-click its cube-shaped icon to open the LUT settings.

The gradient histogram represents all existing color tones, and the white spots visualize the color tones in that particular video. Using control points (the intersections of rays and circles), we can adjust any color tone in the video and change its saturation level or hue. The latter is exactly what we’ll do in the next step.

Step 3. Replace the color in your video

To replace color A with color B in a video, you need to select the corresponding control points in the color A section and drag them to the color B section on the histogram.

For our example, we can grab the brightest yellow tone control point and drag it to any other color section. You’ll be able to see the result immediately.

Notice that the entire ray of yellow color tones is dragged along. This approach produces an impeccable result and works well for most videos. In a moment, we’ll show you what happens if some of the tones remain unchanged.

How to find the right control point on the grid

Our footage makes it easy to tell which control point we should select. However, in your case, things might look different. Because of the spectrum of tones and shades, it may be unobvious how to find the right color on the gradient and which control points you should be working with.

For these cases, the eyedropper tool comes in handy. Select the eyedropper icon from the right-side menu and go to the preview window to click on the color you want to replace. The corresponding point on the grid will be selected automatically.

From there, you can try and work with the suggested control point. However, be prepared for further adjustments. In our example, the major part of the background has been replaced, however, there are noticeable artifacts in the areas where the yellow tone was brighter.

In our case, it’s an easy fix. All we need is to drag the remaining control point from the yellow section to the blue section.

Color tones can be tricky, especially if a video was shot with insufficient light. If things don’t look the way you expected right away, don’t get discouraged and try to toggle the controls a bit. For example, you may want to move control points of the same color section one by one to see how each of them affects the result. You may also want to increase the number of control points by changing the number of rays and circles on the grid.

Finally, we recommend reading this detailed guide to working with the LUT editor to better understand its toolset.

Step 4. Preview the result and export your video

Use the Preview feature, and if you’re happy with the look of the video, hit OK in the LUT editing window to close it. Next, before proceeding to export, make sure that the duration of the LUT on the timeline aligns with your goals.

For example, if you want the selected color to be replaced for the duration of the entire video, the LUT layer should have the same duration as the video you’ve applied it to. However, if you need the color replacement to be temporary, shorten the LUT layer and place it accordingly on the timeline.

Once ready, go to the Export tab and save the video to your computer.

Bonus: how to change the color of the same object more than once

Now that you’ve learned how to use LUTs to change a color in a video, feel free to experiment! For example, you can try to replicate the popular “chameleon” effect and make an object in a video change color multiple times – just like at the beginning of this tutorial.

To achieve this effect, you’ll need to create as many empty LUTs as many times you want the object’s color to change. Adjust the settings for each LUT following the guidelines from above, then shorten their duration and merge them on the timeline.

In our example, there are 5 LUTs with different color replacement settings visible somewhere between the 3rd and the 20th seconds. When you start working on your video, you will be able to fine-tune all these nuances: decide on the number of LUTs, their sequence, and duration.

Explore more color editing tricks with VSDC

If you like working with color, and you’d like to learn more tricks, go straight to the VSDC YouTube channel and browse through the videos. There’s much more to it than just color grading! For instance, if you always wanted to replicate the famous Sin City effect (which means dimming all tones in a video except for one color), below is a tutorial to help you achieve that. Enjoy!

Got any questions about the effect? Email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Looking for inspiration for your next video? Check our YouTube channel.

Of all color correction tools, LUTs are everyone’s favorite. They’re a quick, easy, and versatile way to make an average image or video look cinematic. That’s why we’re so thrilled to announce that starting version 6.9, VSDC includes a built-in LUT editor. Not only can you apply imported LUTs to your videos – but you can also edit them and even create your own custom LUTs.

But most importantly, if you’re using VSDC Pro, you’ll be able to export LUTs you’ve created and use them in 3^rd-party photo and video editors.

In this tutorial, we’re going to show you how the LUT editor works in VSDC. But before we get started, let’s answer one important question.

What is a LUT, exactly?

LUT, or a Look Up Table, is a set of values defining how the color tones should be modified. You can think of a LUT as a pre-configured color correction template.

Each LUT contains a table with information on what hue, saturation, and lightness values should be for each color tone. When you apply a LUT to an image, it compares the original values with the table values and changes the original accordingly.

LUTs are insanely popular because they can help you compensate the lack of proper lighting during the shooting, replace one color with another, and achieve a cinematic look.

How to create a new LUT in VSDC

To get started, import your image or video to the scene. From there, you can do the following:

• apply one of the built-in LUTs from the VSDC menu
• apply any 3^rd-party LUT you’ve found on the Internet
• create your own LUT and tailor it to your needs

For the purpose of this tutorial, we’re going with the third option.

To create a new LUT, you need to open the Resources window (if you can’t find it, click View in the menu at the top and select Resources window). Then click with the right mouse button anywhere in the Resources window and proceed to Add resources -> Create LUT.

Your new LUT will be added to the list of resources and named “Empty lut 1.cube.” Double-click the image or video to open it and drag the LUT from the Resources window to the scene. Keep in mind that by default, the LUT will be added from the playhead position on the timeline, so you may want to adjust it.

Now that you’ve created an empty LUT and applied it to the footage, double-click its icon in the Resources window to open the LUT editor.

The editor looks like a pop-up window featuring an HSL histogram and a compact menu on the right side. In the following section, we’ll explain what each option means and how you can fine-tune your video with this toolset.

How to change LUT settings

Let’s start with a quick overview of the LUT editor window.

The white spots on the histogram help you identify which color tones are used in the video. Predominant color tones produce more saturated white spot areas.

If you switch between two types of histograms – perspective and orthographic – you’ll notice that the white spot pattern changes as well.

The reason why the color tones are reflected differently is that the perspective histogram includes lightness values, meanwhile, the orthographic histogram excludes them. Essentially, this means you should use the perspective histogram if you’re trying to correct overexposed or underexposed footage – because you’ll want to see the lightness values on the gradient before adjusting them.

Once you’ve selected the histogram type, you can also adjust the number of rays. The more rays there are, the more control points the histogram grid will have – and the more precisely you’ll be able to correct color tones.

Control points on the grid are interactive. Go ahead and select any of them to see their Hue, Saturation, Lightness values on the right. You can also toggle the HSL sliders or just grab any control point and drag it around to get an idea of how things work.

Now that you’re familiar with the histogram and control points, let’s see how moving them in different directions can change the look of your footage.

Saturation control settings

On the histogram, less saturated colors are located in the center, so the closer to the edges we get, the higher saturation is. For example, if you’re working with raw footage, its color tones are typically unsaturated. That’s why the white spots on the histogram will be located primarily in the center.

To increase saturation for all color tones in the video at once, select the circle of control points that includes all the white spots (which means all the color tones in the video) and expand it by toggling the saturation slider on the right side.

Similarly, if you want to increase or decrease saturation for a particular color tone, you can select control points in that color tone section and drag them closer to the center or closer to the edge.

Hue control settings

Hue values change when we move points around the histogram. Essentially, you can replace any color with another one by changing its hue. Suppose you want to replace all green color tones in the video with blue or red. To do that, select all control points in the green section and drag them to the replacement color section.

Notice that as we’re changing the hue, the white spots are migrating as well because the overall color scheme of the video is rewritten. Video creators use this trick to switch cool tones to warm tones, or vice versa, adjust the look of certain objects, or even enhance skin tones.

Quick tip. If you need to select a particular color tone in the video, but you’re unsure how to identify it on the histogram, use the eyedropper tool from the right-side menu. Click the eyedropper icon and head to the preview window to find the color tone you want to work with. As you move the eyedropper around, you’ll notice two little squares on the histogram: purple and green.

The purple square shows which part of the histogram contains the color the eyedropper is currently pointing at. The green square shows the nearest control point on the grid; to select it, click the color.

Lightness control settings

Finally, let’s have a look at the Lightness control. What it does should be self-explanatory: it allows you to make the color tones in the video darker or brighter. The cool part is that you can adjust brightness for all color tones or selected color tones only. For example, suppose you want to make green tones brighter. This is what it will look like:

However, if you want to brighten or darken all color tones in the video, you’ll need to select the corresponding circles on the grid. For instance, let’s make all color tones in the video a bit darker, and then darken the less saturated ones even more.

Now that we’ve covered the basics of working with Hue, Saturation, and Lightness controls, let’s have a look at the rest of the toolset.

Quick control point selection

As you may have noticed from the video examples above, you can select individual control points by clicking them directly. You can also select multiple control points by either clicking them one by one or selecting the area on the grid where they’re located. However, you can also use the point selection tools right under the HSL sliders:

• Select central point – use this option to select the central point only
• Select outer circle – use this option to select all the control points in the outer circle
• Select ray – use this option to select a ray of points (indicate the desired ray by selecting at least one control point in it)
• Select circle – use this option to select a circle of points (similarly, you’ll need to indicate the desired circle first by selecting at least one point in it)
• Increase/Decrease selection – use this option to increase or decrease the number of selected points based on the initial selection. For instance, if you’ve selected a single point, this option will select or unselect neighboring points. If you’ve selected a circle of points, this option will select or unselect neighboring circles.
• Select all – use this option to select all the control points on the grid.

If you need to prevent a specific control point, a ray, or a circle of points from moving, use the Pin button.

Similarly, you can use the Pin nearest button to lock the neighboring points.

How to export your LUT from VSDC

Once you’ve finished working on the LUT, go up to the Title field and give it a name. To export the LUT from VSDC and use it in 3^rd-party editors, simply click Export in the bottom left corner and select the output folder on your PC. Keep in mind that LUT export is only available in VSDC Pro.

Ready to create your first LUT?

By now, you should have a clear idea of how to create a new, custom LUT for your needs. Although we’ve covered the process of creating a LUT from scratch, keep in mind that you can follow the same steps to edit an existing LUT. Simply apply any LUT from the library and open the Resources to find that LUT in the list of resources and access the editor window.

You can craft LUTs to replicate the color grading of virtually any movie and replicate its visual style. We've even crafted our own custom LUT for the Oppenheimer movie, which you can download (VSDC-oppenheimer-lut.cube) and utilize in your projects to achieve this distinctive aesthetic.

Have any questions? Feel free to email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or DM us on Facebook.

If you’re familiar with the object movement feature available in VSDC, you’ll be excited to learn about time remapping. Time remapping allows you to slow down, speed up, or reverse object movement in a selected part of its movement path. As a result, you’ll be able to create really impressive effects, like this one:

The new feature is available in VSDC Pro starting version 6.9. Below, we’ll show you how it works.

How to use time remapping in VSDC

Currently, time remapping can only be applied to moving objects. This includes images, shapes, titles, icons, or any other 3^rd-party objects added to the scene. Here is how to get started.

Create a moving object

To make an object move in a video, you need to add it to the scene, double-click it, and hit the movement icon from the left-side menu. Then place the cursor where the movement destination is and adjust the vector.

The object movement feature is newbie-friendly and straightforward, but if you’re unfamiliar with it, we have a detailed guide for you.

Open the time remapping graph

Once you’ve created the movement path, right mouse-click the movement layer on the timeline and select Properties. In the Properties window, find Time remapping, and hit the 3-dot icon to access the graph.

This graph illustrates object movement over time, and the two axes define two different aspects of it. The X axis reflects the duration of the movement effect: the left part of the timeline is the beginning of it, and the right part is the end. The Y axis reflects the object’s movement path: the bottom part of the timeline is the beginning of the path, and the top part is the end.

By modifying the graph, you can modify the object movement progress. For example, you can make the object go slower or faster through certain parts of the path, or even send it in the opposite direction. All it takes is a couple of keyframes placed in the right spots! Let’s see how you can create them.

Understanding keyframes and the Y axis

Keyframes are control points that allow you to break the graph – and therefore, the movement path – into sections so that you can work with each section independently. You can create keyframes manually by double-clicking the graph or use the templates from the menu. For this tutorial, we’ll use the former option.

Notice that the first keyframe (Y:0) indicates the initial object position on the path. The last keyframe (Y:100) is the end of the path.

As long as the graph is continuously ascending from 0 to 100, the object will be moving from point A to point B following the movement vector you created. We call it the original, unmodified time flow.

Now, let’s see what happens when we change the graph.

We’ve already mentioned that the Y axis indicates the time flow for the object. Below is a simple illustration of how you can reverse it. Suppose you want the object to go halfway through the movement vector and then go back to the initial point, at the same speed. All you need to do is create a keyframe in the middle of the graph and drag the last keyframe from 100 to 0.

Let’s break it down. The object was moving along the movement path up to the breaking point – the keyframe we created. Then, instead of continuing the movement, it started heading back because instead of continuing to ascend, the second part of the graph descends back to Y:0 which indicated the initial point on the movement path for the object. In other words, according to the Y axis, the start and the end of the movement path became the same.

Here is another way to look at it. If the angle between two subsequent keyframes is greater than zero degrees, the object time flow in this section goes in the original direction. However, if the angle between two subsequent frames is less than 0 degrees, the object time flow goes in the reversed direction.

For example, if you apply the ZigZag template from the template menu, you’ll get an object bouncing between the sides of the scene.

Note that the movement effect will continue for as long as the object is present in the video.

Understanding the X axis

Now that you have an idea of the time direction for the object, let’s go back to the drawing board and see how you can tweak movement speed at any given point in time.

Suppose you want the object to reach the middle of the way, slow down for a second, and continue at a slightly higher speed. To achieve that, place a keyframe one second past half the graph and drag it down to make that segment of the graph flatter. Here is what the result will look like:

Here is how it works. By adding a keyframe, you’ve created a new section on the graph, and by dragging the keyframe down you’ve decreased the movement speed for that section.

Suppose you want the object to briefly speed up in the middle of the path and then go back to normal speed for the rest of the way. That’s easy! Drag the new keyframe up to the desired angle and mirror its position with the central keyframe to create identical angles on the graph.

The takeaway from these two examples? The angle between two subsequent keyframes defines object movement speed. The greater the angle, the higher the movement speed is; the lower the angle, the lower the speed is.

Congratulations! By now, you should have a good understanding of how time remapping works for a single movement vector animation. However, in many cases, the object movement path contains two vectors or more. Let’s see how the time remapping graph will look in these cases, and how you should approach it.

Time remapping for multi-vector movement path

If you’ve created a movement path consisting of multiple vectors, on the time remapping graph, each vector will be represented by a light-gray rectangle. The purpose of these rectangles is to help you visualize the position of each vector in time and create keyframes accordingly.

The general approach to multi-vector movement paths is no different from what we’ve described above. However, there’s one tricky part you should keep in mind. If you decide to change any vector position in the scene, the gray rectangles will shift accordingly. The tricky part is that if you’ve already created keyframes on the graph based on those movement vectors, you’ll have to manually shift them too.

Essentially, you need to remember that keyframes aren’t attached to movement vectors. So if you want the object to move through a certain vector with a certain speed, and you’re moving that vector around, make sure to double-check the keyframes.

Have full control of object animation with remapping

Time remapping is a powerful tool, and we’re excited to introduce it in the new version of VSDC. Although we’ve gone through every step of applying this feature, there’s much more to discover. For instance, you can incorporate object rotation, transition effects, and even motion tracking.

Download VSDC 6.9 now and try it for yourself!