[00:01] like a high-budget anime film, and I did it using methods studios use for massive productions like Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen. Except, I'm just one dude using one app that I bought for as much as one cup of coffee. That method
[00:14] is compositing. And in this video, I'll show you the app that I used and exactly how to use it so that you can do it for yourself. Let's get it. To make our setup look like a high-budget anime movie, we first need to understand how
[00:27] anime is made. Now, bear with me. This is an important thing to understand. Every studio works differently, but if we zoom out, the production pipeline is into four different stages and quickly go over them. Starting off with stage
[00:40] one, pre-production. This is where the foundation is laid. The script is and the storyboards are created. This sets up the direction of the rest of the production. Next, we have stage two, production. This is where the animation
[00:53] actually begins. If storyboards brought the script to life, then key frame life. They are responsible for drawing key poses in the animation, but making it fluid is the job of the in-between animators who draw the frames in between
[01:07] each pose. But contrary to popular belief, animations don't actually get colored in the animation stage by the animators themselves. Rather, it is done by a dedicated coloring department guided by the animators. That is what
[01:19] these colored lines represent. At this point, the anime is most of the way there, but to really take it up to the next level, we need to dive into stage three, post-production. I don't know if you've noticed, but creating a VTuber is
[01:31] actually very similar to creating an anime. Okay, okay, hear me out. Stage one for us was creating the lore and drawing up the character designs. Stage parent to draw up the model and then our rigging parent to create that fluid
[01:44] motion in Live2D. But while anime studios keep going, for some reason, stop. When's the last time you saw a VTuber who looked like they came straight out of an episode of Demon Slayer? It's very rare, and I'd wager
[01:58] that always gets overlooked, and it's something you see everywhere, not just anime. You see it in movies, in shows, and even in cartoons, and YouTube videos. And that is compositing. Because when a composite is done right, it's
[02:12] invisible. Its job is not to stand out like animations, but rather to blend in. Well, to blend everything in so that all the separate pieces that make up an entire production looks like one single holistic creation. So, how does anime do
[02:26] it? And more importantly, how can we apply that technique to our own VTuber setups? Well, in order to control the great power of compositing, I have the power! we need to actually know what it is
[02:39] first. And like many things, it basically boils down to a quote from Shrek. Layers! A composite by definition is, quote, "made up of several parts or through the process of how anime is made earlier, because compositing is taking
[02:53] ingredients, and then squashing it all down into one believable world that some of us want to get isekai'd into. >> [screaming] like to use software like Adobe After Effects and Foundry Nuke. But for
[03:08] VTubing, we want something that happens live. So, we'll use an app that basically nobody knows about, and it's called Shust, and it's incredibly powerful for VTubers. Shust is an app developed by Miro, and unlike the
[03:21] aforementioned programs, Miro is a sole developer, creating possibly one of the most insane VTuber apps I've ever seen as a quote, "personal project." And even is actively hard at work developing Shust on their own, with the latest
[03:36] large update being on December 2nd, 2025. You can buy this app and support Miro on their Patreon for as little as $5. But okay, now that I've glazed Miro like a freshly baked donut, let's move on to Shust so I can show you how I made
[03:50] my VTuber setup look like a high-budget anime production, and how you can do it, background and our subject. In this case, it's my VTuber model. Having a PNG instead of an active model is just way easier to work with, and you can easily
[04:04] change this later for your actual model. And I'll show you exactly how to do that a PNG of yourself, just go into VTuber Studio and take a screenshot with your model in a neutral position using this button like so. Now, let me show you the
[04:17] first actual step to cinematic lighting in Shust. You first need to remember this important principle, the background is our guide. Everything we do is in service of fitting our VTuber models into the background so that it feels
[04:29] like one coherent scene. All right, now we can actually press buttons. First, effects tab. This will allow us to use all the effects this program comes with. Now, underneath color correction, we'll turn down the [music] auto color blend
[04:42] saturation. The reason for this is twofold. Number one, the color blend is supposed to color match your subject to the background, but it doesn't do a very good job sometimes. So, I prefer to do it manually for the best results. Fine.
[05:01] allows us to see light levels better without getting distracted or influenced important because we need the correct balance of light levels between our subject and our background in order to blend both of them together. With that
[05:15] said, let's head over into the layers tab. How I like to get that balance is by enabling the color correction effect on the layer that my subject is on. In this case, it's layer two. I also do it for the background if I need to. I
[05:27] it's more or less the same as the background. However, while this works in most cases, extreme ones where lights are too bright and the darks are too, well, dark, we should enable this levels effect. This effect will allow you to
[05:41] precision and control. Once that's done, we can turn saturation back to zero to get our colors back. But remember how we disabled auto color blend earlier? Well, now we're going to manually do what it was supposed to do using color grading.
[05:55] To make things easier, I will follow two simple rules. Number one, shadows are usually cooler in color, so their hues tends to be blues and purples. The opposite happens for highlights. They are usually warmer, so hues in yellows
[06:07] and oranges. The second rule is to use the lighting in the background as our guide and contrast where we can to make things more visually interesting. So, this direction, the opposite will be cast in shadows and therefore darker and
[06:21] image, we see that the yellow color is the light while purples are predominantly the cooler colors. And if we zoom out, the overall image is mostly made up of oranges. So, if we take that information and go into our color
[06:34] to be more purple, our highlights to be more yellow, and our midtones to be more the difference between log wheels and color wheels are, well, simply, log wheels have harsher blends and are more focused in certain areas, while the
[06:49] color wheels have softer blends and are spread out across more areas. I found that you can actually stack the two, so I like to do most of my color grading using log wheels and then adjust the overall feel by tweaking the color
[07:01] wheels ever so slightly, which actually brings us to a very important lesson. Subtlety is key. You should always strive to keep adjustments small. We adding more and more layers on top of
[07:14] is anarchy erupting on the canvas. We are looking for harmony, not chaos. But aside from colors, something that brings harmony to a composite is lighting, and in my opinion, this is the most fun and creative part of the process. This is
[07:28] where compositing artists can really show off their unique styles. And to do this, we'll use a combination of gradients, flares, rim lights, and glows. Now, that sounds like a lot, but once you get the hang of it, it actually
[07:41] that, if you found this video helpful or interesting, hit that like button and subscribe. All right, first up we have gradients. This is one of the most powerful tools in Shust because it's the primary way in which we can add shadows
[07:54] and light to our scenes through the use of blending modes. As a general guide, for adding light, and screen is for adding bounce or atmospheric light. In other words, light that is affected by the color of the environment. Like with
[08:08] be consistent with the direction of the some guidelines, let me walk you through my process of adding gradients. First, I enable the gradient effect on the layer my subject is in. I generally like to
[08:21] choose radial or ellipse for a more natural-looking result. Because I want where the light would hit my subject. Then, I color drop the light source and then turn the blending mode to add. Now, it looks super blown out right now, so I
[08:34] make the light a little bit darker. And remember our first rule, darker things become cooler in color. So, we'll hue shift like so. And then, I soften the gradient by adjusting its radius and, well, softness. And that's that for
[08:48] light. Now, let's add shadow. We can't stack gradients on top of each other in layer instead. But Miro, if you're watching this, I would love if you could add the ability to stack gradients in one layer. It would save so much
[09:02] clutter. But because this is a more generalized shadow, I keep it to linear. opposite to the light source at the bottom of the scene and then change the blending mode to multiply. Important tip, though, do this in the transform
[09:15] settings if you're working on a new layer, not the gradient settings, or else you'll get something like this. And finally, adjust it like we did the light source. Lastly, for screen, create a new gradient layer and turn it to radial. I
[09:28] like to have a subtle light at the top to account for atmospheric light. So, I brings everything together. Adjust it like all the others to be more subtle, and voila! It already looks pretty nice, but we can add more to really make it
[09:42] pop. If we go back to our four combinations, we see that we still have flares, rim light, and glows. Luckily, these are much more straightforward compared to gradients. First up are flares. We find this in the effects tab.
[09:55] some special effects. And then color drop the background and adjust. At this pattern, right? The cool thing about flares is that you can add more than just a few gradients. You have access to rays. This is the special effects I was
[10:10] cases, I like to add in some god rays, for example. Next, we have rim lights. For this, we want to head back to the layers tab and into our subject layer. single primary light source, keep the type to single. Next, position it to
[10:25] Then choose a color that matches the light source. Because the rim light is generally more intense, I like to bump up the brightness and intensity. This will make your model really pop. Finally, adjust everything else as
[10:38] needed. Lastly, we have glows. These are situational, so only add them in if you think they fit the scene. But, adding them in is simple and add some nice pizzazz. In the effects tab, enable glow. It's going to come out looking
[10:50] super blown out, so adjust the threshold to tone it down. And then, set the color. Usually, it's whatever color is the brightest in the scene. In this picking yellow will give you something a bit too intense. So, just like before,
[11:04] we make it dark, and because we make it darker, say with me now, we make it cooler. So, we hue shift to something more towards orange. Now, fine-tune these settings to get something subtle but effective. Okay, that was a lot of
[11:17] information, so let's give that brain of yours a break and then take a little bit of a breather before we go into the final steps. But, as we do, let me ask you, have you noticed that something is missing? Let's rewind a bit to the start
[11:29] of the video. I mentioned four stages of anime production, but only the most observant of you may have noticed that I've only covered three. So, before I complete our Shus composite, let me show you what completes an anime production.
[11:42] The fourth stage involves bringing the world and its characters to life by adding in sound, music, and of course, voice acting. VTubing is very much the voice acting. VTubing is very much the same because the fourth stage is you.
[11:55] You gave character a world, a personality, a voice. Without their iconic voices, characters like Gojo Satoru wouldn't be the same character we struggling with self-doubt, just know that the part you play is also just as
[12:09] important. So, now that I've brought it full circle, let's bring our composite full circle by adding in some finishing touches. Lens blur and screen effects. First, let's head back into our layers tab and enable lens blur on our
[12:22] background image. But, you might be wondering how much blur is good enough. So, here's a rule to know how much to apply. If your character is closer, increase the blur. If your character is further away, decrease the blur. Lastly,
[12:34] we have screen effects. This has three modes: normal, which is what we have right now, diffusion, which adds in the dreamy kind of hazy-looking effect, and then glow, which adds in a glow on top of diffusion. I generally like to keep
[12:48] things on normal unless I have specific scenes like a rainy scene, which would work great with diffusion, or a concert scene, which would work great with glow. But, regardless of what you choose, a massive boost to your scene's cinematic
[13:00] look is actually inside of screen filters. It is exactly how it sounds, a your scene similar to how you would apply filters for photos on Instagram. Just choose one that best suits you and what you're going for, and then adjust
[13:15] a few more subtle adjustments as part of my own compositing style and then adding vignettes and tilt shifts, here is a before and after of how the scene before and after of how the scene started versus the final result.
[13:35] enable spout capture in settings and then switch your layers character to your VTuber Studio spout capture source. If you like cool apps for VTubing like about an app that lets you create your own custom emotes. See you there. Ciao.