Recast a clip

Recast puts your own people into a video clip. You give it a clip and a photo for each person you want to replace. Their movement, the camera and the original sound stay as they were. You review a draft first, then approve a 1080p final.

Before you start

• A video card on the canvas, 2 to 15 seconds long, or a longer one you will trim. The clip needs to be at least 480p.
• An image card or image file for each person you want to replace. Use a photo that shows the face clearly.
• Credits for the draft. The final is charged separately, only if you approve it.

Add the card

Drag the wand from the tool rail onto the canvas, then click Use Recast. See Magic for the picker and the card’s stages.

Choose the video

1. In the inspector, click Choose a video. It reads Choosing… and the canvas waits for a pick.
2. Click a video card on the canvas. You can also drag a video card onto the slot.

The slot shows the clip’s name and the seconds Recast will use. A clip under 4 seconds is refused. A clip over 15 seconds opens the trim window straight away.

Trim and crop

Click Trim & crop on the video slot. The switch at the top picks Trim or Crop. Space plays and pauses in both.

To trim, drag the in and out handles on the filmstrip. The selection stays between 4 and 15 seconds. The readout shows the length and the in and out times.

To crop, drag the rectangle’s corner and edge handles on the picture, or drag inside it to move it. The aspect lock offers Free, Original, 16:9, 9:16 and 1:1. The crop’s size shows in pixels beside it, and Reset returns to the whole frame. Crop out a logo or a burned-in caption you don’t want in the result.

Click Done to keep both as one undo entry. Cancel, Esc, the close button or a click outside the window changes nothing.

The crop has a minimum size. The handles stop there, and the final is the cropped picture.

Cast the people

When the video is set, Cask Film finds the people in it on your Mac. This is free. The Cast list shows Finding people in the video…, then one row per person, left to right, up to 4.

Each row is that person’s face, an arrow and a photo slot.

1. Click Add photo, then click an image card on the canvas. You can also drag an image card, or an image file from Finder, onto the slot.
2. The slot reads Photo set. Click the × beside it to clear it.
3. Repeat for each person you want to replace.

You need at least one photo. A person without a photo gets a new look.

To leave someone off the list, hover their face and click the × on it. Removed (1) · Restore under the list brings everyone you removed back.

Add direction

Direction is optional. Describe what should change beyond the faces, such as the light or what someone wears: “Golden-hour light, she wears a linen dress”.

Make the draft

1. Check the cost rows: Draft and Final · 1080p, if you approve.
2. Download any kits in Pay less by running parts on this Mac if you want a lower price. See Magic.
3. Click Make draft · N credits.

If the button is dimmed, the line under it says why, for example Pricing… or the clip-length message.

The card shows its loader and one progress bar. You can keep editing while it works.

Review the draft

When the draft is ready, the card’s border turns blue and it plays the draft under a DRAFT tag, with the clip’s original sound.

• Approve · M credits makes the 1080p final from this draft.
• Use draft keeps this draft as the result, when it is good enough. It’s free: no final is made.
• Again · N credits makes a new draft. It reuses the work already done, so it costs only the draft itself.

A draft lasts about a day. After that the card reads The draft expired, and New draft replaces Approve. Use draft still works.

With Use draft, the card becomes a video card just as it does with a final, but it holds the draft instead of a 1080p render. Undo turns it back into the draft card.

Result

The card becomes a regular video card holding the 1080p final, with the original sound and a Recast badge. Its name is the source clip’s name followed by · recast. It is in the library, and you can drag it onto the timeline or use it as an input for another generation.

If the source clip is on the timeline, the final also lands on that clip as a new source version labelled Recast. The landing is one undo step.

If it doesn’t work

This video’s quality is too low. Choose a sharper clip, at least 480p. The clip, or your crop of it, is too small. Use a sharper clip, or make the crop larger.

No one found in this video. Recast found no people to cast. Trim to a stretch where people are clearly in view, or use a different clip.

A photo has no clear face or Photo 2 can’t be used. Change it and continue. Swap that photo for one that shows the face clearly, then click Continue. Only the steps that use the photos run again.

This video can’t be used. Continue to try again, or use a different video. or Photo 1 can’t be used. These content checks sometimes refuse a clip or photo that is fine. Click Continue to try again first; a refused attempt costs nothing. If it keeps happening, change the input a little: trim or crop the video differently, or use another photo of the person.

Recast stopped at 40% with a reason such as The connection dropped. or You ran out of credits. Fix the cause and click Continue. Everything finished is kept. Changing the video, trim or crop on a stopped card starts the run over at the full draft price, shown on the button before you spend it.