Effects

Unlike a generator, most effects receive an image and calculate an altered image downstream. Blur does not create a title and Transform does not provide a video source. Each node performs an operation in a larger image pipeline.

Individual tools can have additional modes or inputs. Judge how the node works from its actual connectors and controls rather than just its name.

Text+ → Glow → Transform and Text+ → Transform → Glow are not equivalent: the former scales an already created glow; the latter creates glow after scaling. Blur before a distortion is different from Blur after it.

Put effects before Merge when they should change only one layer. Put them after Merge only when you intentionally want to process the entire assembled image.

Blur reduces spatial detail, helps match depth of field and can obscure selected regions. Glow adds a halo to bright pixels. Sharpen increases perceived detail but can exaggerate noise and halos.

Tune thresholds, radii and intensity in context. Do not boost sharpening before addressing noisy footage, and always inspect glow at the final viewing scale.

Transform controls position, size and rotation. Its place relative to Glow or Merge depends on whether the effect should be transformed together with the source. Large transforms may require care with filtering and image domain.

Displace and warp-style tools can use maps to distort imagery. Inspect the map and the displacement range first; extreme values often lead to unexpected tearing or clipping.

Color Corrector and Curves change image values; they are not a replacement for a correct alpha/matte workflow. For poor edge behavior check premultiplication, masks and composite order.

To match a replacement screen or graphic to a shot, grade its branch before Merge. A final overall grade after Merge affects all composited layers.

The blue Effect Mask input on many image effects can accept Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon or Bitmap masks to restrict the operation. It does not replace the regular image input.

Verify Invert, Soft Edge and animation independently. Multiple nodes may use the same mask, but they need not share a single serial effects branch.

Face blur: MediaIn → Blur → MediaOut; Rectangle or Polygon into the blue Blur mask input, with tracking when the subject moves.

Title glow: Text+ → Transform → Glow → Merge Foreground while the footage goes into Merge Background. This avoids glowing the entire shot.

Screen replacement: prepare the replacement image, align its corners, grade and composite it, then match softness and grain to the photographed image.

Expensive Blur, Glow and distortion operations can become slow over oversized domains. Position/crop the working region before heavy processing where appropriate.

Watch the result in motion, at high-contrast edges and over transparency. A single flattering still frame is not enough for delivery.

In Displace, the main image is what gets distorted, while the additional map controls displacement. Blue Effect Mask limits the visible influence of that operation. Noise connected only to the mask input is not a displacement map; an image used as a map drives distortion through its channels, regardless of the author’s intent.

A Blur mask mixes the processed and original versions according to its shape. Mask feather is therefore different from blur radius, and a white region does not promise that only that region is computed. To restrict the whole layer’s visibility, use matte/alpha controls or a mask on Merge according to the required result.

Inspect the branch in order: source, geometric result, effect output, then Merge. Compare the same frame in RGB and Alpha with consistent HiQ and resolution. For a straight clipped edge, inspect crop/domain; for a dark halo, premultiplication; for incorrect Displace patterns, the map and chosen channels.

Bypass the expensive effect on its branch and compare update time for the same frame. Then adjust radius, source dimensions or unnecessary domain one variable at a time. Proxy is useful for motion design, but fine sharpening, small text, grain and soft edges need checking at delivery size.