ENDA Episode 180→ The time when ENDA tells a little secret called: Deep Anything (Part 2)

In a previous episode, we talked about how the node Deep Anything can help us generate a depth pass from a live-action plate and use it in our final comp to control the depth of field.

However, we also mentioned that there was another application for this pass, and that is to create depth on a 3D card.

I know, I know… Let me explain.

When you’re doing a breakdown or setting up your 3D scene in Nuke, you’ll often notice that your 3D cards still look like 2D images placed in 3D space. They work, but something feels flat.

The answer?

They’re missing a bit of volume.

In the video below, you can see how the DisplaceGeo node allows us to use a displacement map to modify our geometry, or in this case, the image projected on our card.

This is where our depth pass, created with Deep Anything, becomes extremely useful. By shuffling the depth channel into the alpha channel, we can give a convincing sense of volume to what started as a flat 2D image.

If we need to refine the result, we can manually adjust specific areas using roto shapes and Grade nodes, allowing us to sculpt a more precise volume for our 3D scene.

Of course, there will be situations where you can simply use the alpha or luminance channels and build your displacement from there. But having a map that already interprets depth correctly across the image significantly reduces the workload and lets you focus more on the artistic details of the shot.

But, once again… what if I told you that there is yet another use for this depth pass?

Well, that will be for a future episode.

The journey continues...

Deep Anything download: https://github.com/rafaelperez/Depth-Anything-for-Nuke