Video Effects Editor

Menu Command: Effect | Add Or Modify (with one video, image, caption, or overlay section selected)

The Video Effects Editor displays a list of active video effects, a video preview window, a list of settings for the selected effect, and a graph for adjusting a setting over time. Use video effects to:

Effects
Use the Add Effect [+*] button to display a list of available effects. After selecting an effect, settings are listed and the preview window shows the modified video. Check or uncheck the effect to see previewed video with or without the effect.

The order the effects are added is important. Effects are processed in the order they appear. Use the up/down buttons to change the order.

See Video Effects for details on effects.

Settings
After adding an effect, all settings for that effect are listed. Above the settings, preset settings are provided in a drop-down list. You may select presets from the list and add new presets to the list.

All effects have an "Effect range" to control when then effect starts and finishes within the video. All times are file based. Time 0 is the beginning of the file and time 10.0, for example, is ten seconds into the file. If the section has been trimmed or it's To/From range has changed, the times are still based on the very beginning of the file, not the trimmed point at which playback starts. The Start and Finish times may be anchored relative to the section's From and To range.

Usually transitions effects are added at the end of the section. Adjust Start and Finish times and anchors as needed.

Some effects have settings that can be either constant or variable. Choose the Var button next to a setting to allow it to vary over time. Click on the graph to change the setting at any time.

If an effect has a colour or hue setting and that setting is currently selected, can click-and-drag the mouse in the preview area to display the Colour Scan window. The Colour Scan shows the range of colours the mouse passed over while the button was down. Use this feature to pick a colour for transparency (chroma key) or a hue for filtering.

Point settings
Use these settings to change a point's time, curve, and anchor. The lines connecting points may have a linear shape or a curved (spline) shape. Curved shapes smooth out changes from one point to the next, which may look more natural. The anchor determines how the point's position in time changes if the effect range changes either directly or indirectly through section range changes (see Start and Finish anchors above).

Defaults
Sets the default curve and anchor to use for all new points.

f(x)
Displays the Graph Generator window where the shape of the graph can be set based on mathematical functions.

Original
Use this checkbox to show the original video without any effects applied. This is useful when setting points for some effects that shift or distort the video, such as Crop, Bounds, Rotate/Scale, etc. Displaying the original video helps to set such points.

Grid overlay
Displays a grid over the graph and the preview window.

Compose background
Combines the video and effects of all of the tracks above the track this section is in and displays it behind this section's video. If this section is in track 4, for example, then any video in tracks 1 through 3 are composited and rendered in the preview before the video in this section is displayed. The background video is visible only if you resize this section's video or there are transparent areas within the video.

Unchecking this box speeds up video previewing and settings adjustments.

Preview Buttons
Plays the audio or seeks backward or forward.