Quick Video Cloning Effect in After Effects Using Difference Masking
Important notice for English members
This tutorial video has been translated into English with a voice-over, but the software interface remains in French.
Information
Thanks to Make Some Tea for providing the footage.
Creating a quick video cloning effect in After Effects, without any rotoscoping, using the Difference masking technique.

We’ll learn how to recreate the video cloning effect used in the "Echo" campaign by DVS, the well-known shoe brand. We’ll see how to achieve results close to DVS’s renders in just a few minutes, without doing any rotoscoping.
Of course, for the best results, a rotoscoping pass will usually be needed later on, but the goal here is to rough out most of the work quickly and easily.
- Isolating and creating a background reference when actors aren’t completely out of frame.
- Discovering and using the Difference Matte effect.
- Cleaning up masks with Luma Matte and the Matte Choker effects.
- Time offsetting the various cleaned layers to achieve the cloning effect.
- Quick color grading using Curves and Color Balance to easily change the overall mood.
About the author

I am the Founder of Mattrunks. I work as Creative Director and Motion Designer in my studio. I also create video tutorials to share my passion of motion.