Real anti-aliased ASCII, code and halftone glyph mosaics with a 3D depth stage, custom text/logo glyphs, edge structure lines and an audio-reactive glitch engine.
MainCharacter Setpopup: ASCII / Code (0-F) / Shades / Blocks / Dots (Halftone) / Custom Layer, default ASCII
Picks which glyphs fill each cell: real Menlo ASCII, a matrix-style code alphabet (0-F plus brackets/slashes), solid shade blocks, box glyphs, halftone dots, or a symbol you supply via the Custom Glyph Source layer. This is the core look of the effect.
Cell Size4-96 px, default 12, integer
Height of one character cell in pixels, so it sets the resolution of the mosaic. Smaller cells pack in more, finer glyphs; larger cells give a chunky, low-res look.
Cell Aspect0.3-1, default 0.5
Cell width as a fraction of its height. The 0.5 default matches the tall, narrow proportions of a monospaced text character; raise it toward 1.0 for square cells.
Color Modepopup: Mono (Ink/Paper) / Source Color / Terminal / Gradient, default Mono
How glyphs are colored. Mono inks the shadows onto paper (printed look), Source tints each glyph with the underlying footage color, Terminal lights bright pixels up in the Ink color on a dark background (phosphor CRT), and Gradient ramps from Ink to Gradient High by brightness.
Amount0-100%, default 100
Blends the finished ASCII render back toward the original footage. 100 is full effect; lower it to dial the glyph treatment in as an overlay on the source.
CharacterInvert Rampcheckbox, default off
Flips the tone-to-glyph mapping so dense glyphs land in highlights instead of shadows (or vice versa). Use it when the image reads as a photo negative.
Gamma0.2-3, default 1
Brightness response of the glyph ramp, measured in linear light. Above 1 lifts the midtones so more mid-gray areas fill with denser characters; below 1 darkens them.
Contrast-100 to 100, default 0
Pre-contrast applied before the glyph ramp is chosen. Push it up to snap the image toward pure ink-or-paper cells and drop out the middle glyphs.
Edge Structurepopup: Off / Edges Only / Fill + Edges, default Off
Adds oriented line strokes that follow the true image gradient, drawing real slanted / - \ | strokes along contours. Edges Only keeps just the outlines; Fill + Edges overlays them on the normal glyph fill.
Edge Threshold0-100, default 25
How strong a gradient must be before a cell is treated as an edge and gets a stroke. Lower values outline more of the image; higher values keep strokes to only the hardest contours.
Edge Stroke Width5-50%, default 16
Thickness of the edge stroke as a percentage of the cell. Thin values give delicate line art; wide values give bold, marker-like contours.
Custom Glyph Sourcelayer, default None
The layer whose shape (logo, word, symbol) is baked into a single tile and stamped in every cell when Character Set is Custom Layer, with each stamp's opacity driven by cell tone. This is the my-logo-is-the-glyph look.
Threshold0-100, default 0
A coverage gate that restricts the effect to only part of the tonal range, so glyphs appear only in the brighter (or, inverted, darker) cells. At 0 the whole frame is treated.
Threshold Feather0-100, default 20
Softens the edge of the Threshold gate so glyphs fade in gradually across the boundary instead of switching on hard. Higher values give a smoother transition.
Threshold: Shadowscheckbox, default off
Flips the Threshold gate to keep the shadows instead of the highlights, so the effect touches dark areas of the frame rather than bright ones.
ColorInk (Foreground)color, default RGB(226,232,240)
The glyph/phosphor foreground color used in Mono and Terminal modes, and the low end of the Gradient. The light default gives a terminal-text look on dark paper.
Paper (Background)color, default RGB(10,12,18)
The background color drawn behind the glyphs (the near-black default reads as a screen or dark page). Its visibility is set by Background Opacity.
Gradient Highcolor, default RGB(255,0,89)
The high-brightness end of the Gradient color mode; cells ramp from Ink up to this color by tone. Only used when Color Mode is Gradient (default is the Oblivixn pink).
Background Opacity0-100%, default 100
Opacity of the Paper background. Drop it below 100 to let the original footage or layers below show through behind the glyphs.
Draw Over Sourcecheckbox, default off
Composites the glyphs directly over the original footage instead of over the Paper background. Handy for laying an ASCII texture on top of live action.
Depth (3D)Depth Sourcepopup: Off / Auto (Luminance) / Depth Map Layer, default Off
Enables per-cell depth that drives parallax, glyph pop and fog. Auto derives depth from image luminance (bright = near); Depth Map Layer reads depth from the connected Depth Map layer.
Depth Maplayer, default None
The external grayscale depth layer used when Depth Source is Depth Map Layer, where white is near and black is far. Ignored in the other depth modes.
Invert Depth (Near = Dark)checkbox, default off
Reverses the depth reading so dark areas are treated as near and bright as far. Use it when your depth source has the opposite convention.
Parallax0-100, default 25
Strength of the depth-driven positional shift, offsetting near cells more than far ones for a fake-3D displacement. Zero keeps the grid flat.
Parallax Angleangle, default 0
The direction in which the Parallax shift is applied, so you control which way near and far layers slide apart.
Pop (Near Scale)0-100, default 35
Scales each glyph by its depth so near cells magnify and far cells shrink, reading as the character lifting off the page. Higher values exaggerate the near/far size spread.
Depth Fog0-100, default 30
Fades far cells toward the Paper color (and transparency), sinking the background into atmospheric haze. Higher values pull more of the distant range out.
GlitchEnable Glitchcheckbox, default off
Master switch for the whole techno-glitch stage below (RGB split, block slice, scanlines, flicker, noise). Off by default so glyphs stay clean until you want the damage.
RGB Split0-100, default 0
Chromatic split that offsets the red and blue channels either side of green along the Split Angle, for a color-fringed, mis-registered look. Measured in pixels.
Split Angleangle, default 0
The axis along which the RGB Split fringes are pushed, so you can aim the chromatic offset horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
Block Displace0-100, default 0
Sparse horizontal slice displacement that shoves random comp-space bands sideways, temporally hashed so they jitter per frame. The classic datamosh/tear glitch.
Scanlines0-100, default 0
Darkens alternating rows for a CRT scanline effect. Higher values deepen the gaps between lines.
Scanline Size1-20 px, default 3
Height in comp pixels of one scanline band, setting how coarse or fine the CRT lines are. Small values give tight, dense lines.
Flicker0-100, default 0
Temporal brightness flicker centered on neutral, so the image brightens and darkens frame to frame like an unstable signal. Higher values flicker harder.
Noise0-100, default 0
Adds static grain over the render for a noisy, degraded-signal texture. Higher values raise the grain intensity.
Seed0-1000, default 0, integer
Random seed for all the deterministic glitch hashes (block slices, flicker, noise). Change it to get a different but repeatable pattern of damage.
Reactor (Audio)Reactor0-100, default 0
The audio-drive input, meant to be keyframed or expression-linked to Audio Amplitude. Its level feeds whichever reactor targets you enable below so the look pulses with the sound.
Reactor > Glitchcheckbox, default off
Routes the Reactor value into the glitch stage, gating glitch intensity from zero up with the audio. Off by default so glitch stays a standalone, manual look until you opt in.
Reactor > Cell Sizecheckbox, default off
Routes the Reactor value into Cell Size, shrinking cells as the audio gets louder so detail sharpens on the beat. Louder means smaller cells and more glyphs.
Turns footage into real drawn artwork: anime cel, manga screentone, pencil, ink, watercolour, oil and engraving. Lines follow the shape of the image instead of its noise, and the screens stay moire-free at any resolution.
MainStylepopup: Anime Cel / Anime Modern / Anime 90s / Anime Film / Anime Light / Anime Painted / Cel Minimal / Manga / Shonen Ink / Shojo Ink / Sumi Ink / Brush Pen / Fountain Pen / Minimal Ink / Comic Book / Storyboard / Layout Drawing / Genga (Key Drawing) / Douga (Clean-Up) / Animation Rough / Blue Pencil / Red Pencil / Construction Sketch / Graphite / Charcoal / Colored Pencil / Pastel / Marker / Loose Sketch / Cross Hatch / Watercolor / Gouache / Oil Paint / Acrylic / Concept Art / Digital Painting / Speed Paint / Halftone / Screen Tone / Woodcut / Engraving / Blueprint / Technical Line, default Anime Cel
The recipe that sets every other control at once, from Anime Cel through Sumi Ink and Watercolor to Engraving. Pick the style first; everything below either follows it or overrides one part of it.
Intensity0-100, default 100
How far the drawing is taken toward the chosen style. At 0 you are back at the original footage, at 100 the style is fully applied.
Detail0-200, default 100
How much of the image's fine structure survives into the drawing. Lower values simplify the subject into broader shapes, higher values keep small features as marks.
Line Amount0-200, default 100
How much ink the drawing carries overall. Drop it toward 0 for a style built from tone alone, raise it for a line-led look.
Line Weight0-300, default 100
Overall thickness of the ink. Above 100 the strokes get heavier without changing where they fall.
Shadingpopup: Style Default / Continuous / 2 Tones / 3 Tones / 4 Tones / 5 Tones / 6 Tones / 8 Tones, default Style Default
How tone is quantised. Style Default follows the recipe, Continuous keeps a smooth ramp, and the numbered options band the shading into that many flat cel tones.
Texture0-200, default 100
Strength of the media texture, meaning the pigment and stroke structure of the chosen medium. It is the difference between flat fill and something that reads as material.
Paperpopup: Style Default / Smooth / Animation Paper / Rough / Canvas / Rice Paper / Watercolor Paper / Marker Paper / Old Paper / Sketchbook, default Style Default
The surface the drawing sits on, from Smooth through Animation Paper to Rice Paper and Canvas. It changes both the tooth the media catches on and the look of the ground.
Imperfection0-200, default 100
Hand wobble, overdraw and pressure variance in one control. At 0 the drawing is machine-clean; raise it to make the marks read as made by a person.
Colorpopup: Style Default / Full Color / Ink on Paper / Monochrome / Duotone / Blue Pencil / Red Pencil / Sepia, default Style Default
The colour treatment: Full Color, Ink on Paper, Monochrome, Duotone, the pencil colours, or Sepia. Style Default uses whatever the recipe calls for.
Preserve Detail0-100, default 0
Pushes the original detail and lighting back in over the finished drawing. A little restores the read of a face or a product that the abstraction simplified away.
LineLine Stylepopup: Style Default / Clean / Brush / Technical Pen / Marker / Sumi / Rough, default Style Default
How the ink behaves: Clean for even weight, Brush for a loaded, tapering stroke, Technical Pen for a hard uniform line, Marker, Sumi for a broad wet brush, or Rough.
Line Detail10-400, default 100
The scale at which something counts as an edge. Low values catch only major contours; high values pull out fine internal detail as line work.
Line Threshold0-300, default 100
How strong an edge has to be before it gets drawn at all. Raise it to leave out the weak edges and keep the drawing sparse.
Line Softness5-400, default 100
How gradually a line fades in around its threshold. Soft values give a drawn, feathered edge; hard values give a cut, printed one.
Pressure Taper0-200, default 100
How much the stroke thins toward its ends, the way a real nib lifts off. Higher values give more pronounced tapering.
Coherence0-100, default 40
How far the flow field is smoothed before the lines follow it. This is what makes strokes trace the form of the subject instead of chasing grain and compression noise, and it costs the same at any setting.
Ink Colorcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
The colour of the ink. Used directly unless Ink Takes Image Color pulls it toward the picture.
Ink Takes Image Color0-200, default 100
How far the ink drifts from the Ink Color toward the colour of the image underneath it. At 100 every line is tinted by what it is drawing.
Tone & ColorTone Hardness5-400, default 100
How sharp the edges between cel tone bands are. Hard values give the crisp step of an anime cel; soft values let the bands blend.
Tone Bias-100 to 100, default 0
Shifts every tone band lighter or darker without changing how many there are. Use it when a style bands the subject too dark or washes it out.
Shadow Tintcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
The colour the shadow bands are tinted toward, which is the anime convention of shading in a hue rather than in black.
Shadow Tint Amount0-200, default 100
How strongly that tint is applied to the shadows. At 0 shadows stay neutral.
Saturation0-300, default 100
Saturation of the finished artwork. 100 leaves the style's own colour as it is.
Paint & MediaPaint Amount0-200, default 100
How much pigment and brush build-up the paint styles lay down. It is the difference between a thin wash and loaded paint.
Brush Size10-300, default 100
Scale of the individual strokes. Larger brushes simplify the subject; smaller ones describe it more finely.
Wetness0-200, default 100
Bleeding and wet-in-wet wobble, where colour runs into neighbouring colour. High values give watercolour's characteristic spread.
Edge Darkening0-200, default 100
The dark rim pigment leaves as a wash dries at its boundary. It is what makes a watercolour read as watercolour rather than as a soft airbrush.
Granulation0-200, default 100
Pigment settling into the tooth of the paper, so the texture shows through the wash. Rougher papers make this more visible.
Dry Brush0-200, default 100
Break-up of the stroke where the brush runs out of paint, leaving the paper showing through in streaks.
Screen & HatchingScreenpopup: Style Default / Off / Hatching / Cross-Hatching / Halftone Dots / Screen Tone / Stipple, default Style Default
The reprographic pattern laid over the tone: Hatching, Cross-Hatching, Halftone Dots, manga Screen Tone, or Stipple. The patterns are analytic and energy-preserving, so they hold up at any resolution instead of moireing.
Screen Size (Pixels)10-400, default 100
Pitch of that pattern in full-resolution pixels, so the physical size of the dots or lines stays the same regardless of comp resolution.
Screen Angleangle, default 0
The angle the pattern runs at. The traditional screen angles are what stop dots from beating against the image grid.
Screen Amount0-200, default 100
How strongly the pattern is applied. Lower values let it sit under the artwork as texture rather than replacing the tone.
Follow Formcheckbox, default off
Bends the screen along the flow of the image instead of holding one fixed angle, so hatching wraps around the subject the way a person would draw it.
Paper SurfacePaper Scale10-500, default 100
Size of the paper grain. Larger values give a coarser, more visible surface.
Paper Tooth0-200, default 100
Depth of that surface, meaning how much the paper interferes with the media laid on it. High values make dry media skip and catch.
Paper Colorcolor, default RGB(0,0,0)
The colour of the paper itself, which shows wherever the drawing leaves it bare.
Hand-Drawn MotionBoil0-100, default 0
Frame-to-frame wobble in the lines, the boil of hand-drawn animation. Zero holds the drawing perfectly still, which reads as digital.
Shoot Onpopup: Ones (Every Frame) / Twos / Threes / Fours, default Twos
How often a new drawing is generated: every frame, or held for two, three or four. Twos is the traditional animation default and is what makes the boil read as drawn rather than as noise.
Seed0-1000, default 0, integer
Random seed behind the boil, the wobble and the media texture. Change it for a different but exactly repeatable drawing.
OutputViewpopup: Final / Lines Only / Flat Color / Flow Field / Paper Only, default Final
Switches between the Final artwork and the diagnostic passes: Lines Only, Flat Color, the Flow Field the strokes follow, and Paper Only. The Flow Field view is the quickest way to see what Coherence is doing.
Backgroundpopup: Paper / Transparent / Source, default Paper
What sits behind the drawing: the Paper surface, Transparent so you can composite it yourself, or the original Source.
Luma RevealReveal Bypopup: Off / Shadows First / Highlights First / Midtones First / Shadows + Highlights First, default Off
Animates the drawing on by luminance instead of all at once, starting from the shadows, the highlights, the midtones, or both ends inward. Off draws everything together.
Reveal0-100, default 100
How far the reveal has progressed. Keyframe it 0 to 100 to draw the artwork on over the original footage.
Reveal Softness0-100, default 35
How wide the transition band between drawn and undrawn is. Soft values let the artwork fade in; hard values give a distinct advancing edge.
Solves flame spread across the layer's own artwork rather than thresholding noise, so the front runs around holes, crawls through thin necks, climbs far faster than it creeps downward and jumps gaps by radiant heat. 36 materials from paper to steel.
MainMaterialpopup: Paper / Newsprint / Cardboard / Photograph / Blueprint / Wallpaper / Book Page / Film Stock / Wood / Plywood / Tree Bark / Fabric / Canvas / Cotton / Leather / Rope / Fuse / Carbon Fiber / Plastic / Rubber / Foam / Wax / Paint / Ink / Steel / Iron / Copper / Bronze / Aluminium / Titanium / Glass / Ceramic / Stone / Concrete / Brick / Clay / Custom, default Paper
What the layer is made of, from Paper and Film Stock through Wax and Plastic to Steel and Stone. It sets the spread behaviour, the flame temperature and how the surface fails, so it is the first thing to pick. Metals do not burn at all; they heat, oxidise and take on temper colours.
Burn0-100, default 0
How far the fire has progressed. This is the one control you animate: keyframe it 0 to 100 and everything else follows from the solved front.
Ignitionpopup: Edges / Point / Multiple Points / Random / Directional / Radial / Noise / Map Layer / Center, default Directional
Where the fire starts: at the artwork's Edges, from a single Point, several points, at random, along a Direction, radially, from Noise, from a Map Layer, or at the Center.
Ignition Pointpoint, default 50%, 50%
The starting point for the point-based ignition modes. Ignored by the others.
Burn Directionangle, default 90
The direction the front travels and the wind blows, with 90 pointing straight up. Because upward spread is preheated by its own plume and downward spread is not, this angle changes the speed of the burn, not just its bearing.
Front Width0.2-40, default 4.5
Depth of the actively burning band as a percentage of the layer height. Narrow values give a sharp line of flame; wide ones a broad burning zone.
Random Seed0-10000, default 7, integer
Seed for every random part of the burn: the fractal front detail, the ember scatter and the cracking. Change it for a different but exactly repeatable fire.
FireFire Amount0-400, default 100, integer
How much visible flame the burn produces. Drop it to zero for a smouldering, charring burn with no open fire.
Fire Size0-400, default 100, integer
Scale of the flame structures. Larger values give slower, more massive flames, smaller ones a fast, fine fire.
Flame Temperature (0 = Material)0-3200, default 0, integer
Flame temperature in Kelvin, which is what actually sets the colour: emission is real blackbody radiation, so a flame colour is a temperature rather than a swatch. Leave it at 0 to use the material's own.
Blue Base0-200, default 35, integer
The blue at the base of the flame, which in reality is chemiluminescence from the premixed zone rather than hot soot. Strongest for clean-burning fuels, so raise it for gas-like flames and keep it low for sooty ones.
Flicker0-300, default 100, integer
How much the flame varies over time. Higher values give a restless, wind-troubled fire.
Turbulence0-200, default 80, integer
How much the flame breaks up into fine structure rather than reading as a smooth tongue of fire.
Fire Light0-400, default 55, integer
How much light the fire casts back onto the surface it is burning. This is what stops the flame from looking pasted on top of the artwork.
HeatEmber Glow0-400, default 100, integer
Brightness of the glowing material just behind the front, where the surface is still hot but no longer flaming.
Glow Width1-200, default 35, integer
How far back from the front that glow reaches. Wide values give a long cooling tail, narrow ones a hot edge that dies quickly.
Heat Haze0-300, default 65, integer
Strength of the refractive shimmer in the hot air above the fire.
Haze Size10-400, default 100, integer
Scale of that shimmer. Small values give a fine boil, large ones slow rolling distortion.
CharChar Amount0-200, default 100, integer
How much blackened char builds up behind the front. Charring materials insulate themselves as this layer forms, which is why they decelerate as they burn.
Char Colorcolor, default RGB(46,38,33)
The colour of that char layer.
Cracking0-200, default 70, integer
How much the char cracks open as it shrinks, revealing the hotter material beneath.
Crack Size10-400, default 100, integer
Scale of the crack pattern. Small values give a fine crazing, large ones a few deep splits.
Surface Detail0-100, default 60, integer
How rough the charred surface reads, meaning the fine texture on top of the char rather than its cracks.
Scorch0-200, default 100, integer
How much browning appears ahead of the char, where the material is heat-damaged but not yet burnt.
Scorch Colorcolor, default RGB(122,74,36)
The colour of that scorched, heat-damaged zone.
SmokeSmoke Amount0-400, default 100, integer
How much smoke the burn produces. Sooty materials read best with plenty, clean-burning ones with very little.
Smoke Size0-400, default 100, integer
Scale of the smoke structures, from fine wisps to heavy billows.
Rise10-300, default 100, integer
How quickly the smoke climbs. Lower values leave it hanging around the fire, higher ones send it straight up.
Turbulence0-200, default 100, integer
How much the smoke churns as it rises rather than drifting as a smooth column.
Smoke Colorcolor, default RGB(62,58,55)
The colour of the smoke, which in reality follows the fuel: dark and sooty for plastics, pale for clean cellulose.
AshAsh Amount0-200, default 100, integer
How much ash is left where the material has fully burnt away.
Ash Colorcolor, default RGB(176,172,166)
The colour of that ash.
Breakup0-100, default 50, integer
How much the ash crumbles and falls apart rather than holding the shape of what burnt.
EmbersEmber Amount0-400, default 100, integer
How many sparks lift off the front. Embers come from the same solved field as the flame, so they can only appear where something is actually burning.
Ember Size10-400, default 100, integer
Scale of the individual sparks.
Ember Life0.2-12, default 3
How long each ember burns before it dies, in seconds. Long-lived embers travel much further from the fire.
Rise0-400, default 100, integer
How strongly the embers are carried upward by the plume.
Spread0-300, default 60, integer
How far the embers scatter sideways as they rise, so the sparks fan out instead of tracking straight up.
GlowGlow Amount0-400, default 70, integer
Brightness of the broad glow the whole fire throws into the surrounding frame.
Glow Radius10-400, default 100, integer
How far that glow reaches out from the burning area.
SpreadWind0-300, default 30, integer
How strongly the front is pushed along the Burn Direction. It changes the spread itself, not just the look, so a strong wind makes the fire genuinely travel faster downwind.
Updraft Bias0-200, default 100, integer
How much faster fire climbs than it falls. At 100 the strong real-world asymmetry is in place; lower it toward 0 to make spread equal in all directions, which reads as unnatural but is sometimes what a shot needs.
Speed Variation0-100, default 45, integer
How uneven the local spread rate is, so the front advances raggedly rather than as a clean curve.
Image Density0-100, default 0, integer
Lets the artwork's own tones steer the front, treating light areas as faster-burning material. This is what makes the fire follow the picture rather than ignore it.
Gap Jump0-20, default 2.6
How far the fire can leap across empty space by radiant heat, in pixels. Zero confines it to connected material; raise it so a burn crosses the gaps between letters.
Material DetailEdge Roughness0-300, default 100, integer
How ragged the burning edge is. The detail is added to the arrival time rather than to a threshold, which is why fingers of flame genuinely run ahead of the front instead of the edge simply wobbling.
Edge Scale10-400, default 100, integer
Scale of that raggedness, from fine serration to broad tongues.
Curl0-300, default 100, integer
How much the material curls back at the burning edge, the way paper rolls away from a flame.
Shrink0-300, default 100, integer
How much the material contracts as it dries out and burns.
Melt0-300, default 100, integer
How much the material softens and flows before it ignites. This is the thermoplastic behaviour, so it does nothing on paper and a great deal on plastic and wax.
Blister0-300, default 100, integer
How much the surface bubbles and lifts as volatiles push out from underneath, which is what paint and coatings do.
Oxidation0-200, default 100, integer
How strongly the oxide film grows on metals, which is where the straw, bronze, purple and blue temper colours come from. Metals do not burn, so on those materials this is most of the effect.
Burn Through0-150, default 100, integer
How completely the material is destroyed where it has burnt, meaning whether it leaves a hole or just a charred surface.
AdvancedMap Layerlayer, default None
An external layer that steers the burn, used as set by Map Mode.
Map Modepopup: Burn Order / Speed Map / Ignition Mask / Fuel Mask, default Burn Order
How the Map Layer is read: Burn Order to dictate the sequence directly, Speed Map to vary the local spread rate, Ignition Mask to say where fire may start, or Fuel Mask to say what is flammable at all.
Qualitypopup: Draft / Normal / High / Ultra, default Normal
Resolution of the front solver and the fire detail. Draft is for blocking the timing; raise it for the final render.
Working Spacepopup: Auto / sRGB / Linear, default Auto
Which colour space the combustion is computed in. Auto follows the project, and since emission is physical blackbody radiation, Linear is what makes the flame colours correct.
Outputpopup: Result / Fire Only / Smoke Only / Embers Only / Burn Matte / Arrival Time / Temperature / Surface Only, default Result
Switches between the finished Result and the individual passes: Fire, Smoke and Embers on their own, the Burn Matte, the Arrival Time field, the Temperature field, or Surface Only. Arrival Time is the fastest way to see exactly how the front will travel before you tune the look.
Opacity0-100, default 100
Opacity of the whole effect over the original layer.
A physically-based cathode-ray tube emulator that turns any footage into a vintage CRT image with phosphor mask, electron-beam scanlines, glass curvature, halation glow and analog signal wobble.
MainTubepopup: Trinitron (Aperture Grille) / Consumer TV (Shadow Mask) / Arcade (Slot Mask) / PVM Monitor (Fine Grille) / Green Phosphor / Amber Terminal, default Trinitron (Aperture Grille)
Picks the CRT tube family, which sets the phosphor mask pattern and the phosphor tint (neutral color for the first four, monochrome green or amber for the last two). This is the one control that defines the overall look; the rest fine-tune it.
Amount0-100, default 100
Master intensity that mixes the processed CRT image back with the original source. At 0 you get the untouched footage, at 100 the full tube effect.
Brightness0-200, default 120
Phosphor brightness trim applied to the emulated image. Values above 100 push the picture brighter to compensate for the light lost to the mask and scanlines.
TubePhosphor Mask0-100, default 65
Depth of the phosphor mask (aperture grille / shadow mask / slot mask) overlaid on the image. Higher values make the RGB triad structure more visible.
Dot Pitch (Pixels)1.5-16, default 3
Spacing of the mask triads measured in full-resolution pixels. Smaller pitch gives a fine, sharp grille; larger pitch gives coarse, chunky dots.
Scanlines0-100, default 55
Depth of the horizontal electron-beam scanlines. Higher values darken the gaps between lines for a stronger raster look.
Convergence0-100, default 12
Amount of RGB beam misconvergence, offsetting the red, green and blue channels slightly. Adds the characteristic color fringing of an imperfectly aligned tube.
GlowBloom0-100, default 35
Phosphor / electron-beam bloom that spreads light out from bright areas. Simulates highlights blooming across the screen.
Halation0-100, default 25
Warm halation glow from light scattering inside the glass around bright regions. Gives highlights a soft reddish halo.
GlassCurvature0-100, default 25
Barrel curvature of the tube face, bowing the image outward as on a real curved CRT. Higher values increase the bulge.
Corner Radius0-100, default 20
Rounds off the bezel corners of the screen area. Higher values give the more rounded rectangle of an older tube.
Vignette0-100, default 25
Darkening falloff toward the edges of the screen. Higher values deepen the shadowing around the picture border.
Glare0-100, default 0
Soft reflection across the glass surface. Off by default; raise it to add a subtle sheen as if light were catching the tube face.
SignalFlicker0-100, default 8
Refresh / interlace flicker that varies brightness over time. Adds the subtle pulsing of a low-refresh CRT.
Roll Bar0-100, default 0
Strength of a rolling frame-hold bar that sweeps vertically through the image, the dark band seen when filming a CRT out of sync. Off by default.
Roll Speed0.05-10, default 0.6
How many times per second the roll bar sweeps down the screen. Only matters when Roll Bar is above zero.
Noise0-100, default 6
Analog snow / static grain mixed into the image. Higher values add a noisier, weaker-signal look.
OutputSurroundpopup: Black / Transparent, default Black
What fills the area outside the curved, rounded tube face. Black gives a solid bezel surround; Transparent leaves it clear so layers below show through.
Spectral chromatic aberration & lens dispersion: smooth prismatic fringing, not three hard RGB ghosts.
MainAmount0-500, default 8, float slider
Master dispersion strength, and the one control you reach for first. It is resolution-relative (roughly 4 px of peak fringe per unit on a UHD frame) so the look holds across comp sizes; at 0 the image is untouched.
Dispersion Modepopup: Radial (Lens) / Directional / Displacement Map, default Radial (Lens)
Picks how the fringe is driven. Radial grows the shift from an optical center toward the frame edges like a real lens, Directional applies one uniform shift at a set angle for a stylized/glitch look, and Displacement Map lets a second layer's luma gradient steer it.
Spectrum Steps2-64, default 12, integer slider
How many spectral samples are integrated between the red and blue ends of the fringe. Higher values give a smoother continuous rainbow instead of discrete color ghosts; lower values render faster and look chunkier.
DispersionRed Shift-2 to 2, default 1
Relative displacement of the red end of the spectrum. Sign sets which direction the red fringe pushes and magnitude how far; the default +1.00 opposes Blue Shift for a natural lens fringe.
Blue Shift-2 to 2, default -1
Relative displacement of the blue end of the spectrum. Pair it with Red Shift to set the fringe spread and orientation; matching signs collapse the rainbow, opposite signs widen it.
Spectrumpopup: Natural / Rainbow (Wide) / Purple / Green (Lens), default Natural
Shapes how the wavelengths are tinted. Natural is a subtle realistic fringe, Rainbow (Wide) is vivid and broad, and Purple / Green (Lens) reproduces the magenta-green longitudinal fringing that fast real lenses produce.
Radial (Lens)Optical Centerpoint, default 50%, 50% (frame center)
The point the radial dispersion radiates out from, so the fringe is zero at the center and grows toward the edges. Only used in Radial (Lens) mode; move it off-center to fake a decentered lens.
Edge Falloff0-6, default 2
Exponent controlling how the dispersion ramps from the optical center out to the edge. Higher values keep the center sharp and shove the fringing to the frame edges; 0 spreads it uniformly across the frame.
Aspect (H / V)25-400%, default 100, float slider
Stretches the radial field horizontally versus vertically for an anamorphic lens feel. 100% is a circular field; below that biases the distortion vertically, above it biases horizontally.
DirectionalAngle-180 to 180 deg, default 0, float slider
Direction of the single uniform shift used in Directional mode. Set the angle and let Amount drive how far the spectrum smears along that line.
Displacement MapLens / Displacement Maplayer, default None
The second layer whose luma gradient steers the dispersion in Displacement Map mode. Bright-to-dark transitions in this layer become the lens surface that bends the fringe.
Map Smoothness1-50 px, default 2, float slider
Spacing (in pixels) used when sampling the map's gradient. Larger values smooth out noise and hard edges in the map so the resulting warp is gentle instead of jagged.
OutputBlend (Dry / Wet)0-100%, default 100, float slider
Mixes the dispersed result back against the original image. 100% is the full effect and 0% is a clean bypass, useful for dialing in a subtle aberration.
OptionsEdge Behaviorpopup: Transparent (Classic) / Extend Frame Edges / Mirror Frame Edges / Lock Alpha (Keep Edges), default Transparent (Classic)
Controls how pixels are sampled where the shift reaches past the layer edge. Transparent fades to alpha, Extend clamps the border pixels, Mirror reflects the frame back in, and Lock Alpha keeps the original alpha so the layer's edge shape is preserved.
A searchable effects console: pop up a hotkey overlay, type to find and apply any effect or preset instantly, pin six favourites, and grab full-resolution frame snapshots. It is a workflow tool, not an effect, so it has no layer controls.
How it worksSearch & applyhotkey overlay
Press the shortcut to open the console from anywhere, start typing an effect or preset name, and press Enter to apply it to the selected layer. No digging through menus.
Pinned slots6 slots
Pin your six most-used effects or presets so they are one keystroke away without searching.
Frame snapshotfull-res
Capture a full-resolution snapshot of the current frame for quick before/after comparisons while you work.
Real topographic contour lines traced from any depth map or image. Levels sweep through the depth, neighbouring lines cross-link into a mesh, and the whole drawing can unravel into a tangle and wind back together exactly.
MainDepth Frompopup: Layer Luminance / Depth Layer / Layer Alpha, default Layer Luminance
What the height field is read from: the layer's own luminance, a separate depth layer, or the layer's alpha. Luminance works on ordinary footage, while a real depth map gives true topography.
Depth Layerlayer, default None
The grayscale layer used as the height field when Depth From is set to Depth Layer. Its own resolution is what the engine sees, so a detailed map stays detailed.
Levels1-500, default 40, integer
How many contour lines are traced through the depth range. This is the single control that decides how dense the drawing reads, from a few bold rings to a fine topographic mesh.
Level Drift-100 to 100, default 0
Slides every level through the depth over time, so the contours sweep across the shape instead of sitting still. Keyframe it to make the topography flow.
Spacingpopup: Equalized / Linear, default Equalized
How the levels are distributed. Equalized spaces them by area so each line covers a similar amount of the frame, which keeps flat regions from going empty; Linear spaces them evenly by height instead.
DepthInvert Depthcheckbox, default off
Flips the height field so near reads as far. Use it when the depth source uses the opposite convention.
Smooth0-200, default 2
Blurs the height field before the lines are traced, in layer pixels. Raise it to stop noise and compression artefacts from breaking contours into confetti.
Black Point0-100, default 0
Where the darkest depth value is taken to sit, remapping the input range from below. Raising it pushes more of the shadows down to flat.
White Point0-100, default 100
Where the brightest depth value is taken to sit. Lowering it pulls the highlights down so more levels land inside the visible range.
Gamma10-400, default 100
Bends the depth response between the black and white points. Above 100 spreads the dark end so more lines land in the shadows; below it does the same for the brights.
Range Start0-100, default 0
Where in the remapped depth the first level sits, so you can trace only part of the range. Useful for drawing just the near or just the far half of a shape.
Range End0-100, default 100
Where the last level sits. Together with Range Start it crops the band of depth that gets contoured at all.
LineWidth0-40, default 1.2
Thickness of the contour lines in layer pixels. Fine values give a drafting-pen topography; thick ones read as ribbons.
Width by Depth-100 to 100, default 0
Ties line thickness to depth, so near lines can be drawn heavier and far ones lighter. Positive thickens the near end, negative the far end.
Opacity0-100, default 100
Overall opacity of the lines before any depth weighting is applied.
Opacity by Depth-100 to 100, default 0
Fades lines by their depth, positive keeping the near ones solid and negative doing the reverse. This is what gives the drawing atmospheric recession.
Colorpopup: Solid / Depth Ramp / From Source, default Solid
Where each line takes its colour: a single Solid colour, a Depth Ramp running from Colour A to Colour B, or From Source, which samples an image.
Image Layerlayer, default None
The layer sampled when Colour is set to From Source. Each strand is sampled at its home position on its own contour, so an unravelled tangle is the picture in pieces and winding Unravel back to zero reassembles it exactly.
Image Boost10-400, default 100
Lifts the sampled image so dark source material still reads once it is broken into thin threads. Above 100 brightens, below darkens.
Color Acolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
The line colour in Solid mode, and the near end of the ramp in Depth Ramp mode.
Color Bcolor, default RGB(255,0,89)
The far end of the ramp in Depth Ramp mode. Unused in the other colour modes.
Hue Shiftangle, default 0
Rotates the hue of the finished lines, whichever colour mode produced them. A quick way to retune the whole drawing without touching the individual colours.
GlowGlow Radius0-300, default 8
How far light spreads out from the lines, in layer pixels. Zero leaves them crisp.
Glow Intensity0-400, default 60
How bright that spread is. Combined with a wide radius it turns a technical drawing into something closer to light on a dark ground.
MeshRungs0-100, default 0
Cross-links neighbouring contours with short rungs, turning stacked lines into a connected mesh. The value is the fraction of candidate sites that actually get a rung.
Rung Spacing2-400, default 24
Distance in layer pixels between rung roots along a contour. Small values give a dense ladder, large ones an occasional tie.
Rung Width10-200, default 60
Thickness of the rungs as a percentage of the main line width, so cross-links can sit lighter than the contours they join.
UnravelUnravel0-100, default 0
Pulls the whole drawing apart into a drifting tangle of threads. It is fully reversible: winding it back to zero reassembles the exact original contours, so it animates in both directions.
Unravel Scale10-2000, default 220
Feature size of the noise that does the pulling, in layer pixels. Small values shred the lines locally, large ones sweep whole regions off together.
Unravel Frompoint, default 50%, 50%
The origin the unravelling travels out from, in normalised layer coordinates. Only matters once Unravel Focus is above zero.
Unravel Focus0-100, default 0
How localised the unravelling is. At 0 the whole drawing comes apart at once; at 100 it travels outward from the Unravel From point like a front.
Unravel Roughness0-100, default 35
How ragged that front is. Higher values break the boundary up so the tangle spreads unevenly instead of as a clean circle.
Unravel Detailpopup: Low / Normal / High / Best, default Normal
How many advection steps each point takes. Higher settings follow the noise more faithfully at a proportional cost, so leave it at Normal until the threads visibly cut corners.
Life0-400, default 0
Slowly drifts the noise field over time, so a held unravel keeps breathing instead of freezing. Measured per second, and it reads the clock, so still images animate too.
Depth PushPush-2000 to 2000, default 0
Displaces each point along Z by its height, which is what turns a flat contour map into visible relief. Negative pushes the near end away instead.
Orbitangle, default 0
Rotates the projected view around the vertical axis, so the relief can be seen from an angle rather than straight on.
Tiltangle, default 0
Tips the projected view forward or back, the second half of framing the relief.
Distance100-20000, default 2000, integer
Camera distance in layer pixels for the projection. Short distances exaggerate the perspective, long ones flatten it toward an orthographic view.
OutputCompositepopup: Lines Only / Over Source / Add, default Lines Only
What ends up on screen: Lines Only on transparency, Over Source composited on the footage, or Add for a light-emitting look.
Source Opacity0-100, default 0
How much of the original footage shows through beneath the lines. Zero leaves the drawing on its own.
Qualitypopup: Draft / Normal / High / Best, default Normal
Supersampling level for the rasteriser. Draft is for scrubbing; raise it to Best when thin lines alias on the final render.
Seed0-10000, default 0, integer
Random seed for the unravel noise and the rung placement. Change it for a different but exactly repeatable arrangement.
OVN Current is a mask-driven flow-warp effect: draw up to three mask paths and it builds a flow field that streams the image along those paths with multi-step advection plus divergence-free curl turbulence.
FlowFlow Mask 1mask path, default none
First mask path that defines a flow direction. The image is pushed along this path; leave unset to disable it.
Flow Mask 2mask path, default none
Optional second mask path. Its flow is combined with the other masks to build the overall field.
Flow Mask 3mask path, default none
Optional third mask path for adding another stream direction to the combined flow field.
Strength0-7500, default 40
How far pixels are pushed along the flow, in pixels. Higher values produce longer, more pronounced smears.
Field Width1-4000, default 160
The reach of each mask's influence, in pixels, measured out from the path. Wider fields affect more of the surrounding image.
Falloff0-100, default 50
How quickly the flow influence fades from the path out to the edge of the field width. Higher values concentrate the warp near the path.
Flow Quality1-64, default 16, integer
Number of advection steps used to trace each pixel along the flow. More steps give smoother, more accurate curved streaks at higher render cost.
Reverse Flowcheckbox, default off
Flips the flow direction so pixels stream backward along the mask paths.
Edgespopup: Transparent / Repeat / Reflect / Clamp, default Clamp
How pixels sampled beyond the layer bounds are handled. Clamp holds the edge color, Reflect mirrors, Repeat tiles, and Transparent leaves them empty.
Mask Endspopup: Fade at Ends / Hard Stop / Extend Past Ends, default Fade at Ends
Controls how flow behaves near the start and end of each mask path. Fade eases it out, Hard Stop cuts it off, and Extend keeps pushing past the endpoints.
TurbulenceTurbulence0-100, default 0
Amount of divergence-free curl noise mixed into the flow to add organic swirl and detail. Zero leaves the flow clean and purely mask-driven.
Typepopup: Smooth / Fractal / Ridged, default Smooth
The character of the turbulence noise. Smooth is gentle, Fractal layers detail, and Ridged creates sharper, vein-like structures.
Noise Scale4-2000, default 120
Size of the turbulence features, in pixels. Larger values give broad, slow swirls; smaller values give fine, busy detail.
Detail1-6, default 3, integer
Number of noise octaves layered into the turbulence. More detail adds finer structure on top of the base swirl.
Evolution Speed-20 to 20, default 0
How fast the turbulence pattern animates over time. Positive and negative values evolve the noise in opposite directions; zero keeps it static.
Phase-10000 to 10000, default 0
Manual offset into the turbulence animation. Keyframe this for precise control over the evolving pattern instead of, or alongside, Evolution Speed.
PreviewPreview Flow Fieldcheckbox, default off
Renders a visualization of the computed flow field instead of the warped image, so you can see the direction and strength of the streams while setting up the masks.
ColourHue Shiftangle, default 0
Rotates the hue of the warped pixels, strongest on the mask centreline and fading out exactly where the warp does. At 0 the colour stage is skipped entirely, so the render is identical to a version without it.
Hue Spread10-400, default 100, integer
How far the hue tint reaches out from the centreline relative to the warp itself. Below 100 the colour stays tighter to the stroke than the distortion; above it the tint bleeds further out than the warp.
SourceWarp Sourcelayer, default None
An optional second layer that gets cross-faded in wherever the flow is active, so the stream carries another image instead of the layer's own pixels. With no layer picked, this whole stage is skipped.
Source Mix0-100, default 100
How much of the Warp Source is blended in at full field amplitude. At 100 the centreline shows the source layer outright; lower values keep it as a tint over the original footage.
OptionsSaturation0-500, default 100
Saturation of the warped pixels, riding the field the same way Hue Shift does: full effect on the centreline, gone where the warp is gone. 100 leaves the colour untouched.
Build0-100, default 100
A master level on the entire effect. Keyframe it 0 to 100 to grow the flow in and back out, which is the simplest way to animate the whole look on and off.
Trim PathTrim Start0-100, default 0
Where along the mask the flow begins, as a percentage of the stroke's arc length. Masks carry no Trim Paths of their own, so this is how you shorten the active part of the stroke from its start.
Trim End0-100, default 100
Where along the mask the flow ends, again as a percentage of arc length. Animating it 0 to 100 grows the flow along the stroke instead of merely fading it up.
Trim Offsetangle, default 0
Slides the trimmed window along the mask, exactly like a shape layer's trim offset. AE counts whole turns here, so it can be keyframed continuously around a closed mask to run a pulse through the stroke.
Flow Mask 1 SettingsUse Own Settingscheckbox, default off
Lets this mask slot ignore the global settings above and use the values in this group instead. Off by default, so a project made before per-mask settings existed renders unchanged.
Strength0-7500, default 40
How far pixels are pushed along the flow, in pixels. Higher values produce longer, more pronounced smears.
Field Width1-4000, default 160
The reach of each mask's influence, in pixels, measured out from the path. Wider fields affect more of the surrounding image.
Falloff0-100, default 50
How quickly the flow influence fades from the path out to the edge of the field width. Higher values concentrate the warp near the path.
Turbulence0-100, default 0
Amount of divergence-free curl noise mixed into the flow to add organic swirl and detail. Zero leaves the flow clean and purely mask-driven.
Saturation0-500, default 100
This slot's own saturation, applied along its stroke only. Useful for making one stream read hotter or more washed out than the others.
Build0-100, default 100
This slot's own level. The global Build stays a master over it, so both have to be up for this mask to show.
Trim Start0-100, default 0
Where this mask's flow begins along its own stroke, as a percentage of that stroke's arc length.
Trim End0-100, default 100
Where this mask's flow ends along its own stroke. Animating it per mask is how you stagger several streams so they grow in one after another.
Trim Offsetangle, default 0
Slides this mask's trimmed window along its own stroke, in whole turns, so each stroke can run its own pulse independently of the others.
Flow Mask 2 SettingsUse Own Settingscheckbox, default off
Lets this mask slot ignore the global settings above and use the values in this group instead. Off by default, so a project made before per-mask settings existed renders unchanged.
Strength0-7500, default 40
How far pixels are pushed along the flow, in pixels. Higher values produce longer, more pronounced smears.
Field Width1-4000, default 160
The reach of each mask's influence, in pixels, measured out from the path. Wider fields affect more of the surrounding image.
Falloff0-100, default 50
How quickly the flow influence fades from the path out to the edge of the field width. Higher values concentrate the warp near the path.
Turbulence0-100, default 0
Amount of divergence-free curl noise mixed into the flow to add organic swirl and detail. Zero leaves the flow clean and purely mask-driven.
Saturation0-500, default 100
This slot's own saturation, applied along its stroke only. Useful for making one stream read hotter or more washed out than the others.
Build0-100, default 100
This slot's own level. The global Build stays a master over it, so both have to be up for this mask to show.
Trim Start0-100, default 0
Where this mask's flow begins along its own stroke, as a percentage of that stroke's arc length.
Trim End0-100, default 100
Where this mask's flow ends along its own stroke. Animating it per mask is how you stagger several streams so they grow in one after another.
Trim Offsetangle, default 0
Slides this mask's trimmed window along its own stroke, in whole turns, so each stroke can run its own pulse independently of the others.
Flow Mask 3 SettingsUse Own Settingscheckbox, default off
Lets this mask slot ignore the global settings above and use the values in this group instead. Off by default, so a project made before per-mask settings existed renders unchanged.
Strength0-7500, default 40
How far pixels are pushed along the flow, in pixels. Higher values produce longer, more pronounced smears.
Field Width1-4000, default 160
The reach of each mask's influence, in pixels, measured out from the path. Wider fields affect more of the surrounding image.
Falloff0-100, default 50
How quickly the flow influence fades from the path out to the edge of the field width. Higher values concentrate the warp near the path.
Turbulence0-100, default 0
Amount of divergence-free curl noise mixed into the flow to add organic swirl and detail. Zero leaves the flow clean and purely mask-driven.
Saturation0-500, default 100
This slot's own saturation, applied along its stroke only. Useful for making one stream read hotter or more washed out than the others.
Build0-100, default 100
This slot's own level. The global Build stays a master over it, so both have to be up for this mask to show.
Trim Start0-100, default 0
Where this mask's flow begins along its own stroke, as a percentage of that stroke's arc length.
Trim End0-100, default 100
Where this mask's flow ends along its own stroke. Animating it per mask is how you stagger several streams so they grow in one after another.
Trim Offsetangle, default 0
Slides this mask's trimmed window along its own stroke, in whole turns, so each stroke can run its own pulse independently of the others.
Error-diffusion palette quantizer & retro dither: the omino-diffusion look, modernized.
MainPalettepopup: 2-Tone (Ink/Paper) / Grayscale / RGB Levels / Sepia / Amber CRT / Green CRT / Game Boy / CGA / EGA / C64, default 2-Tone (Ink/Paper)
Chooses the target color set every pixel is snapped to: a two-color ink/paper duotone, a Grayscale or RGB Levels ramp, tinted Sepia/Amber CRT/Green CRT ramps, or fixed retro-hardware palettes (Game Boy, CGA, EGA, C64). This is the core look of the effect and decides which of the other controls matter.
Levels / Steps2-32, default 4, integer
Sets how many tonal steps the ramp palettes are quantized to, affecting Grayscale, RGB Levels, Sepia, Amber CRT and Green CRT. Fewer steps give a harsher posterized banding; it is ignored by 2-Tone and the fixed hardware palettes.
Ditherpopup: None (Posterize) / Floyd-Steinberg / Atkinson / Jarvis-Judice-Ninke / Stucki / Sierra / Burkes / Ordered (Bayer 8x8), default Floyd-Steinberg
Picks the error-diffusion kernel that scatters quantization error into neighboring pixels to fake extra shades. None just posterizes, the classic kernels (Floyd-Steinberg, Atkinson, Jarvis-Judice-Ninke, Stucki, Sierra, Burkes) trade grain for smoothness, and Ordered uses a fixed 8x8 Bayer threshold pattern instead of diffusion.
Diffusion Strength0-200%, default 100
The signature omino control: scales how much quantization error is carried into neighboring pixels (or the Bayer amplitude in Ordered mode). 100% is a true dither, below damps toward flat posterize, and above exaggerates it into heavy grain, break-up and worming.
Amount0-100%, default 100
Blends the processed result back over the untouched source. 100% is the full effect and 0% is the original footage, so it works as a wet/dry mix.
PixelatePixel Size1-64 px, integer, default 1
Downsamples the image into chunky square blocks of this size before dithering, so the whole diffusion runs on that coarse grid. 1 keeps full resolution while higher values give bigger, blockier retro pixels.
Smooth Blockscheckbox, default on
On averages all source pixels under each block for clean, anti-aliased blocks; off samples a single center pixel for a crisp, harsher result. Only visibly matters once Pixel Size is above 1.
ColorInk (Dark)color, default near-black (12,16,24)
The dark end of the 2-Tone duotone. Only used when Palette is set to 2-Tone (Ink/Paper).
Paper (Light)color, default off-white (244,244,236)
The light end of the 2-Tone duotone. Only used in 2-Tone (Ink/Paper) mode.
Saturation0-200%, default 100
Pushes or pulls color saturation before the image is quantized. 0% feeds grayscale in, 100% leaves it unchanged, 200% doubles it, which is a handy way to steer which palette colors get chosen.
Contrast-100 to 100, default 0
Applies contrast around mid-gray before quantizing. Negative flattens the tones and positive crushes shadows and highlights, changing how the image spreads across the palette steps.
QualitySerpentine Scancheckbox, default on
Alternates the diffusion direction on every other row instead of always scanning left-to-right. This reduces directional artifacts and the diagonal worm patterns that error diffusion tends to produce.
Diffuse in Linear Lightcheckbox, default off
Runs the quantization and error diffusion in linear light rather than display/sRGB space. On gives more even, physically correct mid-tones; off keeps the punchier classic retro look.
Error Jitter0-100%, default 0
Adds a deterministic per-pixel random nudge before quantizing, scaled to the palette step, to break up repetitive worming and structured dither patterns. 0 is clean and higher values add grain and noise while staying temporally stable.
The complete gradient-warp family in one effect: warp, warp blur, chroma, RGB and flow. GPU-accelerated.
MainModepopup: Warp / Warp Blur / Warp Chroma / Warp RGB / Warp Flow, default Warp
Picks which warp engine runs. Warp is a plain glassy displacement; Warp Blur smears the image along the gradient; Warp Chroma splits the smear into a spectral rainbow fringe; Warp RGB warps red, green and blue by separate amounts; Warp Flow follows the gradient as a curved streamline for a liquid, flowing look. Controls that do not apply to the chosen mode grey out.
Amount-5 to 5, default 0.5
Master strength of the distortion. Negative values invert the warp direction (push instead of pull). In Warp Blur this sets the length of the smear rather than a displacement.
Finecheckbox, default off
Scales the whole warp down by 100x so the same Amount value gives a subtle expand/contract or shimmer. Turn on when full-range Amount is far too strong for delicate glass or heat-haze looks.
LensLens Sourcepopup: Source Luminance / Lens Layer / Built-in Noise, default Source Luminance
Chooses what drives the warp. Source Luminance bends the image along its own brightness; Lens Layer uses a second layer as the distortion map; Built-in Noise generates a procedural field so you need no extra layer. If Lens Layer is chosen but none is assigned it falls back to Source Luminance.
Lens Layerlayer, default None
The second layer whose gradient drives the warp when Lens Source is Lens Layer. Bright-to-dark transitions in this layer become the push/pull direction.
Lens Channelpopup: Luminance / Red / Green / Blue / Alpha, default Luminance
Which channel of the lens is read to build the gradient. Luminance is the usual choice; pick Red/Green/Blue/Alpha to drive the warp from a single channel or a matte painted into alpha. Ignored when using Built-in Noise.
Blur Lens (px)0-500, default 40
Gaussian-smooths the lens before its gradient is taken, giving broad rounded lobes that read as real glass instead of a sliding texture. Higher values make larger, softer warp waves; the warp strength stays roughly constant as you change it.
Noise Scale4-4000, default 200
Feature size in pixels of the Built-in Noise lens. Large values give slow rolling swells; small values give tight, busy ripples. Only active with the Built-in Noise source.
Noise Evolution0-10000, default 0
Animate this to evolve the built-in noise field over time, so the distortion churns and shifts on its own. Keyframe it for continuously morphing heat-haze or water.
Loop Period (0 = Off)0-1000, default 0
Makes the noise evolution seamlessly loop: Evolution from 0 up to this period returns to the identical field, so a keyframed cycle tiles perfectly. Leave at 0 for non-looping evolution.
DirectionRotate Warp Directionangle, default 0 deg
Rotates the direction each pixel is pushed relative to the lens gradient. 0 degrees pushes straight along the gradient; around 90 degrees turns the displacement sideways for a swirling, twisting warp.
Relative Amount X0-200, default 100
Scales how much horizontal distortion is applied. Drop below 100% to weaken sideways movement, or to 0 to lock the warp to purely vertical.
Relative Amount Y0-200, default 100
Scales how much vertical distortion is applied. Drop below 100% to weaken up/down movement, or to 0 for a purely horizontal warp.
SpectrumWarp Red-2 to 2, default 0.5
Warp scale at the red end of the spectrum. In Warp Chroma it sets where the red side of the rainbow fringe lands; in Warp RGB it is the red channel's warp amount. Signed, so red can lead or trail the other channels.
Warp Green-2 to 2, default 0.75
Green channel warp amount, used only in Warp RGB. Set between Red and Blue for a natural chromatic spread, or push it opposite for an exaggerated split.
Warp Blue-2 to 2, default 1
Warp scale at the blue end. In Warp Chroma it anchors the blue side of the fringe; in Warp RGB it is the blue channel's warp amount. The gap between Warp Red and Warp Blue is the width of the colour separation.
Spectrum Steps3-100, default 8, integer
Number of spectral samples blended across the fringe in Warp Chroma. Higher values give a smoother, continuous rainbow at the cost of speed; low values give a banded, stepped fringe.
Fringe Saturation0-200, default 100
Intensity of the rainbow colour in Warp Chroma. 100% is a natural prism fringe, 0% removes the colour (leaving a plain smear), and above 100% over-saturates the fringe. White balance is preserved at every setting.
Blur / FlowSamples2-64, default 16, integer
Quality of the smear in Warp Blur and the number of integration steps in Warp Flow. More samples give a smoother streak or a longer, more accurate flow path but cost render time.
Extra Warp-5 to 5, default 0
In Warp Blur, offsets the centre of the smear along the gradient. At 0 the blur is symmetric around each pixel; setting it near plus or minus half the Amount makes the smear one-sided for a melt or drip effect.
MatteMatte Sourcepopup: Matte Layer / Source Shadows / Source Highlights, default Matte Layer
Limits where the distortion is applied. Matte Layer uses a separate layer; Source Shadows confines the warp to dark areas of the image; Source Highlights confines it to bright areas. Shadows/Highlights work with every mode for shadow-warp or light-warp looks.
Matte Layerlayer, default None
Layer that locally scales the distortion when Matte Source is Matte Layer. Black areas leave the image untouched, white areas get the full warp, so you can paint the effect in.
Matte Usepopup: Luminance / Alpha, default Luminance
Whether the matte layer is read from its Luminance or its Alpha channel. Use Alpha to drive the mask from a shape or roto layer's transparency.
Blur Matte0-100, default 0
Gaussian-softens the matte before it is applied, so the distortion fades in gradually at the mask edges instead of cutting sharply.
Invert Mattecheckbox, default off
Flips the matte so the warp hits everywhere the mask was blocking, and vice versa. Handy for protecting a subject instead of masking to it.
EdgesWrap Xpopup: Transparent / Tile / Reflect, default Reflect
How the warp reads pixels that fall off the left/right edge. Transparent leaves them empty, Tile repeats the image, Reflect mirrors it back for a seamless edge.
Wrap Ypopup: Transparent / Tile / Reflect, default Reflect
Same edge handling for the top/bottom. Reflect is the default so strong warps do not reveal transparent gaps at the frame edge.
OutputViewpopup: Result / Lens, default Result
Result shows the warped image. Lens is a diagnostic view that displays the blurred lens field actually driving the warp, so you can see exactly what is pushing the pixels while dialling in Blur Lens and Noise Scale.
Blend (Dry / Wet)0-100, default 100
Mixes the distorted result back over the untouched original. 100% is fully warped, 0% is the clean source, so you can dial in the effect strength or animate it on and off.
Retro palette quantization & dithering: 15 dither methods, 15 palettes, temporally stable on video.
MainPixel Size1-64, default 4, integer
Sets the chunky-pixel block size the frame is averaged down to before it gets dithered. Larger values give a coarser, lower-res retro look; the value is in comp pixels and auto-scales with resolution and downsampling.
Palettepopup: From Source (Auto) / Custom / RGB Levels / Black & White / Grayscale / Game Boy (DMG) / PICO-8 / CGA / Commodore 64 / NES / Apple II / ZX Spectrum / EGA / MSX / Sepia, default Game Boy (DMG)
Chooses the target color set the image is quantized to. From Source (Auto) builds one from the frame via median-cut, Custom uses your pickers, RGB Levels posterizes each channel, and the rest are curated retro palettes (Black & White, Grayscale, Game Boy, PICO-8, CGA, Commodore 64, NES, Apple II, ZX Spectrum, EGA, MSX, Sepia).
Colors / Levels2-32, default 8, integer
Does triple duty depending on the palette: the number of colors for the auto From Source palette, the number of gray steps for Grayscale, or the levels-per-channel for RGB Levels. It is ignored by the fixed retro console palettes and by Custom.
Ditherpopup: None / Ordered 2x2 / Ordered 4x4 / Ordered 8x8 / Blue Noise / Cluster Dot 4x4 / Cluster Dot 8x8 / Floyd-Steinberg / Atkinson / Jarvis-Judice-Ninke / Stucki / Burkes / Sierra / Two-Row Sierra / Sierra Lite, default Ordered 4x4
Picks how in-between colors are approximated. None snaps to the nearest palette color; Ordered (Bayer 2x2/4x4/8x8) and Blue Noise add a stable patterned threshold; Cluster Dot gives a printed halftone; and the error-diffusion kernels (Floyd-Steinberg, Atkinson, Jarvis-Judice-Ninke, Stucki, Burkes, Sierra variants) scatter quantization error for smoother gradients.
Dither Amount0-100%, default 100, tenths
Strength of the dithering. At 100% you get the full pattern or error spread; lower values fade it out toward flat posterization while keeping the same palette.
Custom PaletteCustom Colors2-8, default 4
How many of the eight color swatches below are actually used. Only matters when Palette is set to Custom; swatches past this count are ignored.
Color 1color picker, default RGB 20,12,28
First entry of the Custom palette (a near-black ink by default). Active only in Custom mode.
Color 2color picker, default RGB 120,40,90
Second Custom palette entry (a deep plum by default). Active only in Custom mode.
Color 3color picker, default RGB 255,0,89
Third Custom palette entry (a hot pink by default). Active only in Custom mode.
Color 4color picker, default RGB 255,230,200
Fourth Custom palette entry (a warm cream by default). Active only in Custom mode.
Color 5color picker, default RGB 30,60,110
Fifth Custom palette entry (a navy blue by default). Used only when Custom Colors is 5 or higher.
Color 6color picker, default RGB 60,160,140
Sixth Custom palette entry (a teal by default). Used only when Custom Colors is 6 or higher.
Color 7color picker, default RGB 230,170,60
Seventh Custom palette entry (a gold by default). Used only when Custom Colors is 7 or higher.
Color 8color picker, default RGB 240,240,235
Eighth Custom palette entry (a near-white by default). Used only when Custom Colors is 8.
QualityDither Spacepopup: sRGB (Gamma) / Linear, default sRGB (Gamma)
The color space the quantization and error diffusion run in. sRGB gives the classic, punchier retro look; Linear blends light more physically for smoother, more accurate gradients.
Serpentine Scancheckbox, default on
For error-diffusion methods, alternates the scan direction on every other row to break up directional streaking and worming. Has no effect on ordered, blue-noise, or halftone dithers.
Temporalpopup: Static (No Crawl) / Animate Per Frame, default Static (No Crawl)
Controls the ordered and blue-noise patterns over time. Static locks the pattern to the layer grid so it does not shimmer or crawl on video; Animate Per Frame advances the noise each frame for a moving, film-grain-like flicker.
OutputMix with Original0-100%, default 100, tenths
Blends the dithered result back toward the untouched source. 100% is the full effect, 0% is the original footage, and values in between crossfade the two.
One recursion engine covering the Droste spiral, endless zoom, mirror, tunnel, kaleidoscope and grid. GPU rendered, and because advancing the picture by exactly one recursion level reproduces it exactly, a seamless loop is frame-exact rather than approximate.
MainLookpopup: Custom / Classic Droste / Escher / Infinite Mirror / Endless Hallway / Sci-Fi Portal / Hyperspace / Mandala / Spiral Collapse / Recursive Frame / Vortex / Dream Fold, default Classic Droste
Preset recipes that set the mode and its parameters in one go, from Classic Droste and Escher through Hyperspace and Mandala. Touching any control below moves this to Custom.
Modepopup: Droste / Infinite Zoom / Infinite Mirror / Tunnel / Kaleidoscope / Grid, default Droste
The recursion geometry itself: Droste is the conformal spiral, Infinite Zoom repeats straight in and out, Infinite Mirror reflects at each level, Tunnel unrolls it flat, and Kaleidoscope and Grid fold the plane before recursing.
Centerpoint, default 50%, 50%
The point everything recurses toward, in layer coordinates. This is the vanishing point of the effect and the single most useful thing to reposition.
Zoom1-10000, default 100
Linear view zoom on the whole result, with 100 as neutral. It scales what you see without changing the recursion itself.
Rotationangle, default 0
Rotates the entire result. Distinct from Twist, which rotates each level relative to the one before it.
Depth1-32, default 10, integer
How many recursion levels are composited. Raise it until the centre stops showing a visible end; beyond that point extra levels cost time without appearing.
Scale2-98, default 25
How much the picture shrinks at each level, as a percentage. Small values plunge inward quickly, values near 100 stack levels almost on top of each other.
Twistangle, default 0
Extra rotation added at every level, which is what turns a plain nested repeat into a spiral. It compounds, so a small angle becomes a strong twist by the deepest level.
SpiralPeriodicity0.1-8, default 1
How many times the picture wraps around before it repeats in the Droste spiral. Together with Strands it sets the pitch of the spiral arms.
Strands-8 to 8, default 1
How many spiral arms the Droste map has, with the sign choosing the handedness. One strand gives the classic single spiral; higher values braid several arms together.
Unroll0-100, default 0
Morphs continuously between the Droste spiral and a flat log-polar tunnel. It is a smooth blend, so it can be keyframed to unwind the spiral into a corridor.
Strand 2 Layerlayer, default None
An optional second layer mapped onto the second spiral arm, so each arm can carry a different picture.
Strand 3 Layerlayer, default None
The layer carried by the third spiral arm.
Strand 4 Layerlayer, default None
The layer carried by the fourth spiral arm.
PortalPortal Shapepopup: Auto (Layer Alpha) / Circle / Rectangle / Rounded Rectangle / Polygon / Layer / None, default Circle
The hole each recursion level is seen through: the layer's own alpha, a Circle, Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Polygon, a Layer you supply, or None for an uncut recursion.
Portal Layerlayer, default None
The layer used as the portal cut when Portal Shape is set to Layer.
Portal Layer Usespopup: Luminance / Alpha, default Luminance
Whether that portal layer is read by its Luminance or its Alpha.
Portal Size2-100, default 95
How large the portal is relative to the gapless radius, meaning the size at which levels meet without a seam. Below that the levels separate; above it they overlap.
Portal Aspect10-1000, default 100
Stretches the portal horizontally or vertically, so a circle becomes an ellipse and a square a rectangle.
Portal Roundness0-100, default 30
How rounded the corners of a rectangular portal are. Ignored by the circle and polygon shapes.
Portal Sides3-24, default 6, integer
Number of sides when the portal is a Polygon, from a triangle up to a near-circle.
Portal Rotationangle, default 0
Rotates the portal shape without rotating the image inside it.
Portal Feather0-500, default 1
Softens the portal edge so levels blend into each other instead of cutting hard. A small amount hides the seam where two levels meet.
Inner Layerlayer, default None
An optional layer drawn behind the front level, so the recursion opens onto something other than more of itself.
SymmetrySlices2-64, default 6
Number of kaleidoscope wedges the plane is folded into before recursing. Only used by Kaleidoscope mode.
Tiles1-64, default 3
How many tiles run across the frame in Grid mode, setting the size of the repeating cell.
Mirror Cellscheckbox, default on
Mirrors every other cell or wedge so neighbours meet edge to edge instead of repeating with a visible seam.
LayoutOffset X-200 to 200, default 0
Shifts each level sideways relative to the previous one, so the recursion drifts off-axis rather than nesting concentrically.
Offset Y-200 to 200, default 0
The vertical version of the same per-level shift.
Tilt X-95 to 95, default 0
Perspective tilt around the vertical axis, which turns a flat recursion into one receding into the frame.
Tilt Y-95 to 95, default 0
Perspective tilt around the horizontal axis.
DistortionTwirlangle, default 0
Rotates the image around the centre by an amount that falls off with distance, swirling the picture into the recursion.
Twirl Falloff5-400, default 60
How far out the twirl reaches, in pixels. Short falloff keeps the swirl tight around the centre.
Wave-50 to 50, default 0
Amplitude of a radial ripple running out from the centre, in pixels. Negative values push the crests the other way.
Wavelength1-200, default 25
Distance between ripple crests. Short wavelengths give fine corrugation, long ones a slow undulation.
Wave Phaseangle, default 0
Slides the ripple pattern along its radius. Keyframe it to make the waves travel outward or inward.
Bulge-95 to 95, default 0
Barrel or pincushion distortion around the centre. Positive bulges the middle out toward the viewer, negative pinches it in.
LevelsFade per Level0-100, default 0
How much opacity each level loses relative to the one before it, so the recursion fades into the distance instead of running at full strength forever.
Tintcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour each level is tinted toward, applied cumulatively with depth.
Tint per Level0-100, default 0
How strongly that tint is applied at each step. Combined with Fade it gives the recursion atmospheric depth.
Softness per Level0-4, default 0
Blurs each level a little more than the last, by biasing which mip level it is sampled from. It reads as depth of field down the tunnel.
Inside Frontcheckbox, default off
Puts the deepest level in front of the outer ones instead of behind, which inverts the recursion so it appears to come out of the frame rather than recede into it.
AnimationAuto Zoom-10 to 10, default 0
Zooms continuously over time, in levels per second, which is the endless-zoom animation. Because one level reproduces the picture exactly, it never drifts.
Spin-720 to 720, default 0
Rotates the whole result continuously over time, in degrees per second.
Loop0-120, default 0
Length of a seamless loop in frames. Set it to your comp length and the Auto Zoom and Spin rates are quantised so the last frame matches the first exactly rather than approximately.
Quality & OutputQualitypopup: Fast / Normal / Sharp, default Normal
Sampling quality. Fast is for scrubbing, Normal for most work, and Sharp adds extra taps for the steep, heavily minified regions near the centre.
Sharp Taps1-8, default 4, integer
How many samples the Sharp quality mode takes. Raise it only if the deep centre still looks soft or aliased.
Edgespopup: Transparent / Tile / Reflect, default Transparent
What happens beyond the source layer: Transparent leaves it empty, Tile repeats the image, and Reflect mirrors it so the recursion never runs out of picture.
Viewpopup: Result / Portal Mask, default Result
Switches between the finished Result and the Portal Mask, which is the fastest way to see exactly where the levels are being cut.
Blend0-100, default 100
Blends the result back toward the original layer. 100 is the full effect.
Breaks any footage into content-aware crystal facets that refract the image, split light into a prismatic edge fringe and glint to a movable light, with animatable crystallisation and shimmer.
FacetsDensity0-100%, default 40
Sets how many facets the image is broken into. Higher values pack in smaller, more numerous crystal cells; lower values give a few large facets.
Irregularity0-100%, default 60
Controls facet shape regularity. At 0 the cells form an ordered grid; at 100 they become chaotic, uneven shards.
Content Bias0-100%, default 50
Pulls facet seed points toward image edges and detail so the faceting follows the content. Higher values make the crystal structure hug the picture's features.
Seedinteger, 0-999, default 7
Reshuffles the random facet pattern. Change it to get a different arrangement of cells at the same settings.
RefractionRefraction0-100%, default 45
How strongly each facet bends the image seen through it. Higher values displace the refracted picture more, for a stronger glass-crystal distortion.
Depth0-100%, default 50
Facet relief: adds per-facet tilt variance and a lens-like bulge so cells feel three-dimensional rather than flat.
DispersionSpread0-100%, default 35
Amount of prismatic spectrum spread at the facet edges, splitting light into a chromatic fringe. Higher values widen the rainbow separation.
Spectrumpopup: Natural / Rainbow / Purple-Green / Blue-Yellow, default Rainbow
Chooses the color palette used for the dispersion fringe, from a subtle natural spread to bold rainbow or two-tone splits.
LightLight Positionpoint, default (50%, 30%)
Position of the virtual light that facets glint toward, draggable on the canvas. Moving it changes which facets catch the highlight.
Glint0-100%, default 55
Strength of the sparkle/glint that individual facets throw off toward the light. Higher values make the crystal shimmer more brightly.
Shine0-100%, default 50
Tightness of the glint highlights. Higher values give sharper, more concentrated sparkles instead of broad soft shine.
Glint Colorcolor, default white (255,255,255)
Tints the glint highlights. Leave white for neutral sparkle or set a color to warm or cool the crystal's shine.
LookFacet Edges0-100%, default 40
Strength of the outline drawn along facet boundaries, defining the cells. Higher values make the crystal seams more visible.
Facet Shading0-100%, default 30
Per-facet flat-shade variance that lightens and darkens individual cells for a more dimensional, faceted look.
MotionGrow0-100%, default 100
Crystallisation coverage: how much of the frame is faceted. Animate from 0 to 100 to spread the crystal across the image over time.
Evolutionangle, default 0deg
Drives the facet shimmer over time. Rotate/keyframe this angle to make the crystals subtly move and sparkle.
OutputEdgespopup: Transparent / Repeat Edges, default Repeat Edges
How refraction sampling handles pixels pulled from outside the layer. Transparent leaves them empty; Repeat Edges clamps the border pixels to avoid gaps.
Blend (Dry / Wet)0-100%, default 100
Mixes the faceted result back over the original footage. 0 is the untouched image (dry), 100 is the full crystal effect (wet).
Procedural lens flare: a movable light drives glow, halo, iris ghosts along a steerable optical axis, anamorphic streaks, starburst and chromatic fringing, with a flare-only output.
MainLight Positionpoint, default ~35% / 30%
The on-screen position of the light source that the whole flare radiates from. The glow, iris, streaks and halo sit here, and the ghost chain runs from this point through the Ghost Center.
Brightness0-1000%, default 100%
Master intensity of every flare element at once. Push past 100% for a blown-out hero flare, pull down for a faint lens bloom.
Scale10-1000%, default 100%
Master size of all elements, scaled off the frame's half-diagonal so it reads the same at any resolution. Grows or shrinks glow, iris, streaks, ghosts and halo together.
Flare Colorcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
A global tint multiplied over the entire flare. Mix it in with Color Amount for a unified color cast across every element.
Color Amount0-100%, default 30%
How strongly Flare Color is blended into the result. 0% keeps each element's own color, 100% forces the global tint everywhere.
Stylepopup: Natural / Anamorphic / Warm Cinema / Cool Sci-Fi / Star / Subtle, default Natural
A one-click look bias layered on top of your sliders - it reweights the elements, sets streak color and count floors, and adds a warm or cool ghost/tint push. Anamorphic gives a wide blue horizontal streak, Star forces at least six spokes, Subtle dials everything back.
GlowGlow Intensity0-400%, default 100%
Brightness of the soft core bloom sitting right at the light. This is the hot central glow made of a tight core plus a wide veiling tail.
Glow Size0-400%, default 100%
Radius of the glow bloom. Larger values spread the veil further across the frame.
Glow Colorcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
Tints the glow element on its own, independent of the other parts. Useful for a warm hot-core or a cold sci-fi center.
IrisIris Intensity0-400%, default 100%
Brightness of the aperture shape at the light - the bright disc or polygon that mimics the camera's iris blades. Set to 0 to remove it.
Iris Size0-400%, default 100%
Diameter of the iris aperture shape around the light.
Iris Blades (0 = round)integer 0-24, default 8
Number of polygon sides for the aperture. 0 (or under 3) gives a perfectly round iris; 6 or 8 gives the classic faceted lens-aperture look.
Iris Rotationangle, default 0 degrees
Spins the iris polygon around the light. Also rotates the polygonal shape of the ghosts, which share the iris blade count.
Iris Colorcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
Tints the iris aperture element by itself.
Iris Edge Softness0-100%, default 50%
Biases the iris between a soft filled body and a bright hard rim. Lower values sharpen the polygon's edge, higher values fill it in softly; 50% reproduces the classic profile.
StreaksStreak Intensity0-400%, default 60%
Brightness of the diffraction spokes shooting out from the light. Set to 0 to hide all streaks.
Streak Countinteger 0-16, default 2
Number of spokes, spaced evenly around the light. 2 gives a single anamorphic line through the center, 6-8 gives a star/sunstar.
Streak Length0-400%, default 100%
How far each spoke reaches before it fades out.
Streak Width1-100%, default 30%
Thickness of each spoke across its length. Thin for sharp diffraction lines, wide for a soft anamorphic bar.
Streak Angleangle, default 0 degrees
Rotates the whole set of spokes around the light.
Streak Colorcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
Tints the streaks (and their joining core hub) on their own - handy for the classic blue anamorphic streak.
Streak Core (joins spokes)0-200%, default 100%
A compact bright hub at the light that bridges opposing spokes so they connect through the center. Fixes the dark gap that appears between spokes when the glow and iris are turned off; 0 leaves the gap.
GhostsGhost Centerpoint, default 50% / 50% (comp center)
The optical center the reflection chain aims through. Ghosts are placed along the line from Light Position through this point, so moving it swings the whole chain.
Ghost Intensity0-400%, default 80%
Overall brightness of the ghost chain - the string of lens-reflection discs and rings running across the frame. Set to 0 to remove them.
Ghost Countinteger 0-32, default 10
How many reflection blobs are generated along the chain. More gives a denser, busier trail of iris reflections.
Ghost Spread0-300%, default 120%
How far the ghosts spread along the light-to-center axis. Higher values fling them further out past the optical center.
Ghost Size0-400%, default 100%
Base scale of the individual ghost discs and rings (each still gets its own random size variation).
Ghost Chroma0-200%, default 50%
Radial chromatic aberration on each ghost - splits the red edge outward and blue edge inward for that rainbow-fringed reflection look.
Ghost Tintcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
Multiplies a color over the whole procedural ghost palette, letting you push the reflections toward one hue.
Ghost Saturation0-200%, default 100%
Saturation of the ghost palette. 0 makes them neutral light discs, higher values make the reflection colors more vivid.
Seedinteger 0-999, default 7
Randomization seed for ghost positions, sizes, brightness and colors. Change it to shuffle the chain into a different arrangement; it stays identical across machines and threads.
HaloHalo Intensity0-400%, default 22%
Brightness of the thin chromatic ring encircling the light. Kept subtle by default; set to 0 to remove it.
Halo Size0-400%, default 100%
Radius of the halo ring around the light.
Halo Chroma0-200%, default 70%
Color separation across the ring - offsets the red, green and blue ring radii so the halo shows a spectral rainbow edge.
Halo Colorcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
Tints the halo ring on its own.
AnimationFlicker0-100%, default 0%
Amount of automatic brightness flicker, for a live, unstable light. 0 keeps the flare perfectly static (the classic look); higher values pulse the overall brightness.
Flicker Speed0-30 per second, default 6
Rate of the flicker in flickers per second, and it is frame-rate independent so it looks the same regardless of comp fps.
Position Jitter0-100%, default 0%
Adds a subtle wandering drift to the light position over time for a handheld, alive feel. 0 keeps the light perfectly still.
Source ResponseAuto Triggercheckbox, default off
When on, the flare's brightness is driven by the actual source footage at the light position, so it only fires when something bright (or opaque) is under it. When off, the flare always shows and the three controls below are greyed out.
Trigger Channelpopup: Luminance / Alpha, default Luminance
Which channel of the source is sampled to trigger the flare - the pixel brightness under the light, or its alpha coverage. Only active when Auto Trigger is on.
Trigger Threshold0-100%, default 10%
The level the sampled channel must reach before the flare ramps up. Raise it so only the brightest sources light the flare up. Only active when Auto Trigger is on.
Occlusion0-100%, default 0%
Dims the flare where the source coverage at the light is low, so the flare fades as objects pass in front of the light. 0 disables occlusion. Only active when Auto Trigger is on.
CompositeRender Enginepopup: Auto (GPU when available) / CPU, default Auto
Where the synthesis runs. Auto uses the GPU when AE's Mercury GPU acceleration is on (and Auto Trigger is off); CPU forces the multithreaded CPU path. The flare looks identical either way.
Blend Modepopup: Add / Screen, default Screen
How the flare is combined over the source. Add is a pure additive HDR punch, Screen is gentler and safer for SDR output.
Render Behind Sourcecheckbox, default off
Composites the flare behind the source layer using its alpha, so opaque foreground elements sit in front of the flare instead of being washed over.
Hide Source (Flare Only)checkbox, default off
Outputs only the flare over transparency and drops the source layer entirely - ideal for putting the effect on a solid and comping the bare flare with your own blend mode. Greys out Blend Mode and Render Behind Source, which no longer apply.
Flare Opacity0-100%, default 100%
Overall opacity of the composited flare, letting you dial the whole effect back without touching the individual element intensities.
Add realistic flicker: periodic (sine / triangle / square strobe / sawtooth at any Hz, incl. mains hum) or seeded random noise, with colour flicker and rolling bands.
MainLight Sourcepopup: Custom (Manual) / Candle / Fire / Fluorescent Tube / Neon Sign / Old Film Projector / CRT / Monitor / Lightning / Faulty Bulb; default Candle / Fire
Picks the flicker recipe: each preset dials in its own characteristic random and periodic motion, color cast, and darken-only or flash-only behavior. Choose Custom (Manual) to switch the presets off and drive everything yourself from the Random, Periodic, and Color groups below.
Amount0-200%, default 50, tenths
Master intensity that scales the entire flicker effect: brightness swings, color shifts, and band depth all ride on it. At 0% the layer is untouched; push it up for stronger, more aggressive flicker.
Speed0-400%, default 100, tenths
Master time scale for how fast the flicker plays: 100% runs at the true rates you set, lower slows the whole animation down, higher speeds it up. Affects every time-based part at once (random, waveform, color wobble, band scroll).
Random FlickerRandom Amount0-100%, default 0, tenths
Depth of organic, noise-based brightness variation in the manual engine. This is the irregular, unpredictable flicker; raise it for candle- or faulty-bulb-style life. Only active when driving the effect manually (default 0 keeps presets clean).
Random Frequency (Hz)0.1-60, default 8, tenths
How many times per second the random flicker changes value. Low values give slow breathing, high values give fast jitter.
Hardness (Smooth - On/Off)0-100%, default 0, tenths
Shapes the random flicker from a smooth interpolated wobble (0%) toward stepped, sample-and-hold jumps and finally hard on/off snapping (100%). Turn it up for stuttering, switch-like blackouts instead of a soft glow.
Periodic FlickerWave Amount0-100%, default 0, tenths
Depth of the regular, repeating flicker (mains hum, strobe, pulse) in the manual engine. Unlike Random, this is a steady rhythm; raise it for a metronomic beat on the brightness.
Wave Frequency (Hz)0-120, default 10, tenths
Oscillation rate of the periodic flicker in cycles per second. Set it to 50 or 100 for mains-power hum, or lower for a visible strobe pulse.
Waveformpopup: Sine / Triangle / Square (Strobe) / Sawtooth; default Sine
Shape of the periodic oscillation: Sine and Triangle are smooth pulses, Square (Strobe) hard-switches between on and off, and Sawtooth ramps then snaps. Square is the choice for classic strobe blinking.
Square Duty1-99%, default 50, tenths
On-time ratio of the Square (Strobe) waveform: 50% is an even blink, lower makes brief flashes with long dark gaps, higher makes long bright with brief dark. Only affects the Square waveform.
ColorColor Flicker0-100%, default 0, tenths
Adds independent random flicker to the red, green, and blue channels so the light shifts hue as it flickers, not just brightness. Great for unstable neon or dying-bulb color noise.
Color Temperature0-100%, default 0, tenths
Amount of warm/cool wobble over time, pushing red up while blue dips and back. Simulates a flame or old light source drifting between warm and cool as it flickers.
ResponseTonal Bias (Shadows - Highlights)-100 to 100, default 0, tenths
Targets which tones the flicker affects: negative concentrates it in the shadows, positive in the highlights, 0 hits everything evenly. Use it to make only the bright parts pulse or only the dark areas breathe.
Min Level0-100%, default 0, tenths
Brightness floor: clamps how dark the flicker can pull a pixel, so blackouts never go below this level. Raise it to keep some fill light during dips.
Max Level100-400, default 150
Brightness ceiling: clamps how bright a flash can push a pixel, capping blown-out peaks. Lower it to tame harsh flashes, raise it to allow big overexposed spikes.
Flicker Inpopup: sRGB (Gamma) / Linear Light; default sRGB (Gamma)
Chooses the working space for the brightness math: sRGB (Gamma) gives a punchier, more stylized look, Linear Light gives physically more accurate falloff. Switch to Linear Light for realistic exposure behavior.
Rolling BandsBand Amount0-100%, default 0, tenths
Depth of horizontal brightness bands rolling through the frame, the classic CRT/LED screen-capture look. At 0% there are no bands; raise it for visible scan stripes.
Band Count1-60, default 8, tenths
How many bands appear across the height of the frame at once. Low values give a few wide bars, high values give tight scanline-like stripes.
Band Speed-60 to 60, default -6, tenths
How fast the bands scroll vertically, in bands per second, with sign setting direction (negative rolls one way, positive the other). Set to 0 to freeze the bands in place.
OutputSeed0-1000, default 1, integer
Changes the random pattern of the flicker without altering its character. Nudge it to get a different-but-equivalent flicker take, useful for varying multiple layers.
Evolution (Time Offset)-100 to 100, default 0
Shifts the flicker forward or backward in time by this many seconds, and is keyframeable so you can scrub or retime the animation by hand. Handy for lining a flash up to a specific frame.
Mix with Original0-100%, default 100, tenths
Blends the flickered result back against the untouched source: 100% is fully processed, 0% is the original, in-between eases the effect in. Pull it down to soften the overall intensity.
Melting flow-blur: smear footage along a living flow field, from soft directional drift to full liquid melt, with a seamless loop option.
MainMelt Amount (px)0-1500, default 60
The master streak length: how far each pixel is smeared along the melt direction, in pixels. Everything else shapes this blur, so at zero the effect is off.
Centerpoint, default 50% / 50%
The pivot the melt radiates out from. Streaks flow away from this point (or toward it with Inward on), so move it to aim the melt.
Inwardcheckbox, default off
Reverses the melt so streaks pull toward the Center instead of away from it. Use it for implosion or suction looks rather than an outward smear.
Falloff-100 to 100, default 0
Fades the streak length across the frame based on distance from Center. Positive values concentrate the melt near the Center and taper it toward the edges; negative values do the opposite, weakening the middle and strengthening the edges.
Preserve0-100%, default 0
Biases the blur samples toward the source pixel so the original color and detail stay visible even at heavy melt. Higher values keep the image crisper while still trailing off into the smear.
ShapeAspect-100 to 100, default 0
Stretches the melt field into an ellipse, lengthening the streaks along the Angle axis and compressing them across it. At zero the melt is perfectly circular around the Center.
Angleangle, default 0 deg
Sets the orientation of the elliptical stretch controlled by Aspect. Only matters when Aspect is non-zero.
FlowFlow Sourcepopup: Procedural / Layer (Luma) / Layer (Direction RG), default Procedural
Chooses where the field that bends the streaks comes from. Procedural uses the built-in Flow Type noise; the two Layer modes drive the melt from the Flow Layer instead, either following its brightness iso-lines (Luma) or reading its red/green channels as an explicit direction vector (Direction RG).
Flow Layerlayer, default None
The layer that acts as the flow field in either Layer source mode (for example Fractal Noise or a painted direction map). Left on None, the melt falls back to a pure radial smear with no bend.
Flow Typepopup: Liquid / Turbulent / Ripple / Swirl / Drift / Fibrous, default Liquid
Picks the procedural flow pattern that bends the streaks: Liquid gives divergence-free curly flow, Turbulent rougher chaos, Ripple concentric waves, Swirl a vortex around Center, Drift gentle random angles, and Fibrous stringy noise-ridge fibers. Only used in Procedural source mode.
Flow Amount0-200%, default 60
How strongly the flow field bends the streaks away from the plain radial direction. At zero you get a clean radial melt; higher values give increasingly curved, liquid trails.
Flow Scale1-400, default 40
The spatial size of the flow features. Small values make many tight swirls; large values make broad, sweeping currents. Scaled with downsampling so the look holds at any resolution.
Flow Detail1-5, default 3, integer
Number of noise octaves in the procedural flow, i.e. how much fine detail rides on top of the large shapes. Higher is more intricate but a little heavier to compute.
Flow Phaseangle, default 0 deg
Animates the flow field over time. It is built to loop seamlessly: every full 360 degrees returns to the starting pattern, so you can drive it for perfectly cycling motion.
TextureScatter0-100%, default 0
Randomly jitters the blur taps along and across each streak, breaking up the clean smear into a softer, more dispersed spray. Good for grittier, less uniform melt.
Diffusion0-100%, default 0
Adds fine granular noise to the melted result for a grainy, frosted texture. It respects alpha, so transparent areas stay clean.
Wind0-100%, default 0
Adds a global directional push to every streak on top of the radial and flow directions, biasing the whole melt one way. Strength of the drift in the Wind Direction.
Wind Directionangle, default 0 deg
The direction the Wind bias blows the melt. Only has an effect when Wind is above zero.
QualitySamples4-128, default 24, integer
The maximum number of taps taken along each streak. Higher values give smoother, cleaner trails at the cost of render time; the plugin adapts down for short streaks automatically.
Linear Lightcheckbox, default off
Accumulates the blur in linear light instead of gamma space, giving more physically correct brightness where bright and dark pixels mix. Turn on for more natural-looking highlights in the smear.
Chroma Spread0-100%, default 0
Offsets the red and blue channels along the streak so the melt fringes into a prism-like chromatic trail. At zero all channels smear together with no color separation.
OutputEdgespopup: Transparent / Repeat Edges, default Repeat Edges
How samples that reach past the layer are handled. Transparent lets the melt fade into empty alpha at the borders; Repeat Edges clamps to the edge pixels so the smear stays opaque and filled.
Blend (Dry / Wet)0-100%, default 100
Mixes the melted result back over the original footage. 100 is the full effect, 0 is the untouched source, and values between let you dial the melt in for a subtle blend.
Procedural glass & material fracture: cracks, spider-web breaks and flying shards directly on footage, with real ballistic physics, collisions and re-shatter to dust.
MainMaterialpopup: Glass (radial + concentric) / Tempered Glass (fine dice) / Stone / Concrete / Ceramic / Ice / Mud / Dried Earth / Custom Voronoi; default Glass
Picks the break preset, which sets the whole crack character: Glass gives you the classic radial spokes plus concentric rings, Tempered dices into fine uniform bits, Stone/Concrete/Ceramic/Ice/Mud give chunkier or blockier partitions, and Custom Voronoi is a pure irregular cell break you shape by hand. Switching it re-tunes density, ring behaviour and edge feel.
Displaypopup: Shatter (cracks + break-apart) / Cracks Only (over footage) / Cracks Only (transparent) / Crack Map / Fragment Map; default Shatter (cracks + break-apart)
Chooses what the effect renders: the full break-apart with flying shards, just the crack lines over your footage, cracks on transparency for compositing, or the raw Crack Map / Fragment Map passes you can feed to other effects. Use the map modes when you want to drive displacement or masks downstream.
Shatter Progress0-100%, default 0, tenths
The master break-apart amount: at 0 the material is intact, and as you raise it the shards separate and launch away from the impact. Keyframe this (or use Simulated timing) to run the shatter over time.
Crack Growth0-100%, default 100, tenths
How much of the crack network is actually drawn, so you can animate cracks racing across the surface before anything falls. At 100 the whole web is present; lower values reveal it progressively out from the impact.
Impact Pointpoint, default (50%, 50%)
Where the break originates on the layer. Radial cracks, rings and the shockwave all radiate from here, and shards launch outward from this point.
Random Seed1-9999, default 7, integer
Reshuffles the entire procedural pattern without changing any other setting. Nudge it when you want a different-looking break at the same density and material.
Fracture PatternPattern Sourcepopup: Procedural / Custom Map Layer; default Procedural
Decides whether the crack network is generated procedurally from the controls below, or read from a layer you supply. Switch to Custom Map Layer to drive breaks with your own artwork or another render.
Pattern Map Layerlayer, default None
The layer used as the crack source when Pattern Source is Custom Map Layer. Its luminance defines where cracks run, so paint bright lines where you want the material to split.
Map Crack Threshold0-100%, default 50, tenths
The luminance cutoff that turns pixels of the pattern map into crack lines. Lower it to pick up faint marks as cracks, raise it to keep only the brightest lines.
Density / Fragment Count0-100%, default 50, tenths
How many fragments the material breaks into. Low values give a few big chunks, high values give a fine mosaic of small shards.
Irregularity0-100%, default 35, tenths
Randomises fragment shapes and sizes away from a clean, even pattern. Push it up for a natural, chaotic break; keep it low for a regular, geometric one.
Impact Focus0-100%, default 50, tenths
How concentrated the break is around the impact point. High focus packs tight, small fragments near the hit and larger ones toward the edges; low focus spreads the break evenly across the layer.
Impact Hole Radius0-2000, default 0
Punches an open hole at the impact point, as if something passed clean through. At 0 there is no hole; raise it to blow out a bullet-style opening surrounded by radiating cracks.
Crack Reach (0 = full layer)0-6000, default 0
Limits how far cracks spread from the impact, in pixels. At 0 the break covers the whole layer; set a radius to keep the damage local to a hit zone that fades out to intact material.
Radial Cracks (Glass)3-120, default 24, integer
Number of straight spider-web spokes shooting out from the impact, used by the glass-style materials. More spokes read as a tighter, busier star pattern.
Concentric Rings (Glass)2-60, default 9, integer
Number of ring-shaped cracks circling the impact point on glass breaks. Together with the radial spokes these make the classic spider-web look.
Ring Spacing0-100%, default 55, tenths
Controls how the concentric rings are spaced out from the impact, from tightly bunched near the hit to evenly distributed. Tunes the rhythm of the spider-web.
Edge Roughness (jagged)0-100%, default 30, tenths
Adds jaggedness and wobble to every crack edge instead of clean straight lines. Raise it for rough, hand-torn glass and stone; keep it low for surgical cuts.
Branching / Micro Cracks0-100%, default 35, tenths
How many secondary hairline cracks split off the main crack lines. More branching gives a realistic web of fine fractures feeding the big breaks.
Re-Shatter Amount (0=none, 100=all)0-100%, default 0, tenths
Fraction of the shards that get broken a second time into smaller pieces. At 0 nothing re-breaks; at 100 every fragment sub-shatters for a much finer result.
Re-Shatter Pieces (smaller)2-24, default 4, integer
How many smaller pieces each re-shattered shard splits into. Higher values grind the chosen shards down toward debris and dust.
Re-Shatter Progress (to dust)0-100%, default 0, tenths
A second-stage progress you keyframe so re-shattered shards crumble to dust after the main break. Animate it to sequence a big shatter followed by a fine disintegration.
Target Single Shard (point)checkbox, default off
When on, re-shattering is aimed at just one shard near the Re-Shatter Point instead of a random fraction across the layer. Use it to blow apart one specific piece.
Re-Shatter Pointpoint, default (50%, 50%)
The location of the single shard to re-shatter when Target Single Shard is on. Place it over the piece you want to break down further.
Re-Shatter Radius0-3000, default 0
How large an area around the Re-Shatter Point is affected when targeting a single shard. Widen it to re-break a cluster of neighbouring pieces rather than just one.
Micro Crack Shatter0-100%, default 0, tenths
Turns the fine branch and micro cracks into their own breakable pieces, not just drawn lines. Raise it so the tiny fractures also release small fragments.
Micro Break Timing (- early / + late)-100 to 100, default 40, tenths
Shifts when those micro pieces break relative to the main shards: negative makes them go earlier, positive holds them back until later. Use it to stagger big chunks and fine debris for a more layered break.
Crack LookCrack Width0-30, default 2.5
Thickness of the drawn crack lines in pixels. Thin for hairline glass, thick for gouged concrete or stone.
Crack Taper0-100%, default 40, tenths
Makes cracks thinner the farther they run from the impact, so lines fade from bold at the hit to fine at the tips. At 0 the width is uniform everywhere.
Crack Colorcolor, default RGB(8, 10, 14)
The tint of the crack lines and gaps, defaulting to near-black. Change it for stylised or coloured fractures.
Crack Darkness0-100%, default 80, tenths
How strongly the crack color darkens the footage inside the crack. Lower it for faint hairlines, raise it for deep black splits.
Edge Highlight (glint)0-100%, default 55, tenths
Adds a bright specular glint along crack edges to sell the thickness and shine of broken glass. Turn it down for matte materials like stone or mud.
Highlight Colorcolor, default RGB(235, 240, 255)
The tint of that edge glint, defaulting to a cool near-white. Warm it or colour it to match your scene lighting.
Refraction0-60, default 4
Bends the footage seen through the glass at the crack edges, faking the optical distortion of a broken pane. Higher values give thicker, more warped glass edges.
Chromatic Aberration0-100%, default 25, tenths
Splits the refracted light into rainbow fringing along the glass edges for a prismatic, dispersive look. Pairs with Refraction; drop it to zero for clean cracks.
Bevel / Faceting0-100%, default 35, tenths
Adds a shaded bevel to each fragment so pieces read as thick, faceted chunks with dimensional edges rather than flat cutouts. Great for chunky glass and ice.
Light Angleangle, default 315 degrees
The direction the virtual light comes from, driving where highlights and bevel shading fall on the edges. Match it to your scene's key light.
Shatter MotionMotion Timingpopup: Manual (Progress = Position) / Simulated (Physics over Time); default Simulated (Physics over Time)
Chooses how shards move: Manual ties their position directly to Shatter Progress so you scrub the break by hand, while Simulated runs a real physics sim over comp time so shards fly, arc and fall on their own. Use Manual for precise keyframed control, Simulated for one-key realistic debris.
Explode / Launch Speed0-4000, default 120
How fast shards are thrown outward from the impact when they break loose. Low for a gentle crumble, high for an explosive blast.
Gravity0-4000, default 60
Strength of the downward pull on flying shards, curving their paths into falling arcs. Raise it for heavy material that drops fast, lower it for a floaty, weightless break.
Gravity Directionangle, default 180 degrees
The direction gravity pulls, defaulting to straight down. Rotate it to make shards fall sideways or up for stylised or zero-g effects.
Air Drag0-100%, default 30, tenths
Air resistance that slows shards as they travel, shaping the ballistic arcs and settling motion. More drag makes pieces decelerate and drift; less lets them keep flying.
Tumble / Rotation0-100%, default 45, tenths
How much each shard spins in the layer plane as it flies. Adds natural rotation so pieces do not slide flat.
Scatter0-100%, default 40, tenths
Randomises the launch direction and speed of each shard so they do not all fly out uniformly. Higher scatter gives a messier, more chaotic spray of debris.
Turbulence0-100%, default 20, tenths
Adds chaotic flutter to shard paths, as if wind or turbulence is buffeting them mid-flight. Good for lightweight material that wobbles as it falls.
3D Tumble (flip)0-100%, default 0, tenths
Fakes out-of-plane flipping so shards appear to rotate in 3D and turn edge-on as they fly, not just spin flat. Adds depth to the tumble without a real 3D layer.
3D Depth (perspective)0-100%, default 0, tenths
Adds a perspective sense of shards moving toward or away from camera, scaling them with fake depth as they scatter. Raise it for a more volumetric explosion.
Fragment Scale-100 to 100, default -10 (slider full range), tenths
Grows (positive) or shrinks (negative) each shard as it flies away. The slight negative default makes pieces contract a touch as they leave, reading as debris receding.
Propagation (shockwave)0-100%, default 35, tenths
Staggers the launch so shards near the impact leave first and outer ones follow, like a shockwave rippling outward. At 0 everything breaks free at once; raise it for a rolling, sequenced blast.
Fragment Fade0-100%, default 25, tenths
Fades shards out as they age and travel, so flying debris dissolves instead of lingering. Higher values make pieces vanish sooner.
Dust Grain (on re-shatter)0-100%, default 0, tenths
Amount of fine dust that shards disintegrate into as they break down, tied to the re-shatter stage. Push it up to turn crumbling pieces into powdery grain.
Dust Grain Start0-100%, default 55, tenths
The age at which shards begin dusting, so pieces fly intact first and only then start turning to grain. Lower it to dust sooner, raise it to hold solid longer.
Dust Grain Fineness0-100%, default 55, tenths
How fine the dust particles are, from coarse specks to a fine powder. Tune it to match the material breaking down.
Gap Revealpopup: Transparent / Reveal Color / Darken; default Transparent
What shows in the gaps left behind as shards fly away: see-through to the layers below, filled with the Gap Color, or a darkened version of the footage. Use Transparent to composite, Reveal Color or Darken for a self-contained look.
Gap Colorcolor, default RGB(0, 0, 0)
The fill color used in vacated gaps when Gap Reveal is set to Reveal Color. Defaults to black for a void behind the break.
CollisionsEnable Collisionscheckbox, default off
Master switch for physics collisions, letting flying shards bounce off walls, a floor and collider layers instead of passing through. Turn it on to make debris pile up and interact with the scene.
Floorcheckbox, default on
Adds a collision floor so falling shards land and settle instead of dropping off-frame. Position it with Wall Inset.
Ceilingcheckbox, default off
Adds a collision ceiling that shards bounce off when launched upward. Handy for containing debris inside a boxed area.
Left Wallcheckbox, default off
Adds a collision wall on the left edge so shards bounce back inward. Combine walls to trap debris in the frame.
Right Wallcheckbox, default off
Adds a collision wall on the right edge so shards bounce back inward. Combine with the other walls to fully box the sim.
Wall Inset-2000 to 2000, default 0
Moves the floor and walls inward (positive) or outward (negative) from the comp edges. Use it to set the floor line above the frame bottom or push walls off-screen.
Collider Layer (Alpha)layer, default None
Any layer whose alpha becomes a solid obstacle that shards collide with, so debris can land on props or bounce off shapes in your scene. Pick a matte-style layer to define the collider geometry.
Collider Alpha Threshold0-100%, default 50, tenths
The alpha cutoff that decides which parts of the collider layer count as solid. Raise it to treat only strong alpha as obstacles, lower it to include soft edges.
Responsepopup: Bounce / Stick; default Bounce
How shards react on impact: Bounce lets them ricochet off surfaces, Stick makes them stop and cling where they hit. Use Stick for debris that plasters onto a collider.
Bounciness0-100%, default 45, tenths
How much energy shards keep when they bounce, from a dead thud to a lively rebound. Only relevant when Response is Bounce.
Friction0-100%, default 30, tenths
How much surfaces slow shards along contact, so pieces skid or grip when they land. Higher friction makes debris settle quickly instead of sliding.
CompositeFootage Sourcepopup: Break Material / Reflection on Glass; default Break Material
Whether your footage IS the material being shattered, or is treated as a reflection sitting on top of a glass pane. Reflection mode keeps a transparent glass sheet that breaks while your footage reads as what is mirrored in it.
Glass Opacity (Reflection)0-100%, default 25, tenths
How opaque the glass sheet is in Reflection mode, controlling how much of the pane you see versus what is behind it. Only applies when Footage Source is Reflection on Glass.
Crack Opacity0-100%, default 100, tenths
Overall opacity of the crack lines drawn over the footage. Pull it down to soften or partially blend the cracks into the shot.
Qualitypopup: Draft (fastest) / Normal / Best (anti-aliased); default Normal
Trades render speed against edge quality: Draft is fastest for scrubbing, Normal is the working default, and Best anti-aliases the crack and shard edges for final output. Bump to Best only for renders.
MainCrack Growth Inwardcheckbox, default off
Reverses the direction the crack-growth front sweeps, so cracks appear to grow from the outer rim back toward the impact instead of outward. Pair it with an animated Crack Growth for an implosion feel.
Shatter Entire Layercheckbox, default on-only-if-set, default off
Forces the whole layer to break apart at full progress with no intact outer border left behind. Turn it on when you want the entire frame to disintegrate rather than keeping a solid rim around a local break.
Shards Follow Crackscheckbox, default on
Makes the flying shards break exactly along the rendered crack lines, so the pieces that fly off match the cracks you see. Leaving it on keeps the drawn cracks and the break-apart geometry perfectly consistent.
Fly To Camera (Z)-100 to 100, default 0, tenths
Sends shards flying toward the camera (positive) or away into the distance (negative) with a perspective zoom, on top of their outward scatter. Great for a shard bursting past the lens or debris receding into the scene.
Compositional guides drawn straight into the Composition and Layer panel instead of a separate window, as a non-rendering overlay. Twelve guide systems, all pixel-aspect correct, so diagonals and perpendiculars stay geometrically true on anamorphic footage. One checkbox bakes the same guides into the render for tutorials and client reviews. Works in After Effects and Premiere Pro.
MainRule of Thirdscheckbox, default on
The two vertical and two horizontal lines at one third and two thirds. The default guide, and the one most framing decisions start from.
Phi Gridcheckbox, default off
Like the rule of thirds, but the divisions sit at the golden section, 0.382 and 0.618 instead of a third. The bands are narrower and pull the subject closer to the centre.
Golden Spiralcheckbox, default off
A logarithmic spiral that grows by phi every quarter turn, normalised into the frame. Place the point of interest at the tight end and let the composition unwind outward from it.
Spiral Cornerpopup: Top-Left / Top-Right / Bottom-Left / Bottom-Right, default Top-Left
Which corner the tight end of the spiral sits in. Pick the corner your subject occupies.
Golden Trianglescheckbox, default off
One corner-to-corner diagonal plus a perpendicular dropped onto it from each of the other two corners, which splits the frame into triangles. Suits diagonal compositions where the rule of thirds has nothing to say.
Triangle Diagonalpopup: TopLeft-BottomRight / TopRight-BottomLeft, default TopLeft-BottomRight
Which of the two diagonals carries the triangles. Choose the one that runs with your subject rather than against it.
Diagonal Methodcheckbox, default off
A 45 degree line from each corner, based on the observation that a subject placed on such a line reads as naturally placed. The lines run at a true 45 degrees on screen, not corner to corner, so they stop short on any non-square frame.
Dynamic Symmetrycheckbox, default off
Both diagonals plus all four reciprocals, the perpendiculars from each corner onto the opposite diagonal. Their intersections are the classic eyes of the frame, and the armature is a stronger tool than thirds for deliberate, built compositions.
Center Crosscheckbox, default off
A vertical and a horizontal line through the middle. Useful for symmetry, for centred titles and as a quick check that a pan really is centred.
Horizoncheckbox, default off
A single horizontal line at a height you choose, for levelling a horizon or an eye line across a sequence of shots.
Horizon %0-100, default 50
Height of that line, measured from the top of the frame. 50 puts it in the middle.
Even Gridcheckbox, default off
A regular grid of equal divisions, for layout work and repeating elements rather than for classical composition.
Grid Divisions2-12, default 4, integer
How many equal parts the grid splits the frame into, in both directions.
Safe Marginstopicx
Broadcast safe areas, drawn as rectangles inset from the frame edge.
Action Safecheckbox, default off
The rectangle inside which the action should stay so nothing important is lost to overscan or a platform's cropping.
Action Safe %50-100, default 93
How much of the frame the action safe rectangle covers. 93 is the broadcast convention.
Title Safecheckbox, default off
The tighter rectangle for text, which needs more margin than action because a clipped letter is more obvious than a clipped elbow.
Title Safe %50-100, default 90
How much of the frame the title safe rectangle covers. 90 is the broadcast convention.
Framingtopicx
Portrait framing guides for headroom and looking room.
Headroomcheckbox, default off
A horizontal line for the space above the subject's head. Too much reads as an accident, too little as claustrophobic.
Headroom % (from top)0-100, default 33
Where that line sits, measured down from the top of the frame.
Lead Roomcheckbox, default off
A vertical line for the space a subject looks or moves into, which should be larger than the space behind them.
Lead Room % (from left)0-100, default 33
Where that line sits, measured from the left of the frame.
StyleLine Colorcolor, default RGB(255,0,89)
Colour of the guides. The default is the Oblivixn pink, which stays legible over most footage.
Opacity0-100, default 80
How strongly the guides read against the image. Lower it once the framing is set and the guides are only there for reference.
Line Thickness0.25-10, default 1.5
Width of the guide lines in pixels. Thin lines are more precise, thicker ones survive a small preview.
Contrast Outlinecheckbox, default on
Draws a dark halo behind each line so the guides stay visible over bright and light-coloured footage. On by default.
OptionsBurn into Rendercheckbox, default off
Bakes the guides into the output pixels instead of drawing them as a preview-only overlay. Off means the footage passes through completely untouched at 8, 16 and 32 bpc. Turn it on to explain framing in a tutorial or a client review, and to keep the guides visible in After Effects even when the effect is not selected: put the effect on an adjustment layer, turn this on, and mark that layer as a guide layer. In Premiere Pro there is no comp overlay, so this checkbox is how the guides are shown at all.
Turn bright hotspots into cinematic glints: spinning star streaks, bloom, twinkle and a moving light sweep.
MainBrightness0-400, default 100
Master intensity of the whole glint layer before it is composited over your footage. 100% is the natural level; push past it for a blown-out hero shimmer, drop toward 0 to fade all glints out.
Compositepopup: Add / Screen / Over Source / Glints Only / On Black, default Add
How the generated glints are blended back onto the source. Add and Screen build light additively over the footage, Over Source lays glints as an emissive layer, while Glints Only and On Black output just the glints (transparent or on a black fill) so you can grade or reuse them separately.
HighlightsThreshold0-100%, default 70, float
Brightness cutoff that decides which pixels count as hotspots. Raise it so only the very brightest speculars glint; lower it to catch more mid-tone highlights.
Threshold Softness0-100%, default 15, float
Width of the soft knee around the threshold, so highlights ramp in gradually instead of popping on hard. Higher values give smoother, more forgiving hotspot edges.
Bias Colorcolor, default RGB 0,0,0 (black)
A color the detector should be less sensitive to. Pixels matching this color get their threshold raised, producing fewer glints there; black (the default) applies no bias.
Bias Amount0-100%, default 0, float
Strength of the Bias Color effect. Turn it up to strongly suppress glints on that hue (for example to keep a colored sky or logo from sparkling) while other highlights still glint.
Blur Input0-100%, default 0, float
Pre-smooths the source (up to about 2% of frame size) before hotspots are detected, so tiny single-pixel specks and noise do not each spawn a glint. Raise it for cleaner, chunkier hotspots.
Saturation0-200%, default 100, float
Color saturation of the detected glint energy. 0 gives neutral white glints, 100% keeps the source color, and above 100% boosts the hotspot's color for richer, more tinted streaks.
Star StreaksPoints1-16, default 4, integer
Number of arms on each star streak. 2 gives a classic anamorphic horizontal flare, 4 a plus-shaped cross, and higher counts a full radial starburst.
Length0-100%, default 35, float
How far each streak reaches from its hotspot, up to about 30% of the frame's longest side. The render buffer is expanded so long streaks are not clipped at the layer edge.
Falloff0-100%, default 50, float
How quickly each streak fades along its length. Low values keep the arms bright and even to their tips; high values concentrate energy near the hotspot for sharp, fast-decaying spikes.
Rotationangle, default 0 deg
Base orientation of the whole star. Rotate it to line the arms up with the shot or to offset a cross into a diagonal.
Spin (deg/sec)-200 to 200, default 0, float
Adds automatic rotation over time, in degrees per second, on top of the Rotation angle, so the star arms turn as the clip plays without keyframing. Negative values spin the other direction; 0 holds still.
Streak Intensity0-200%, default 100, float
Brightness of the star streaks in the final glint. Set to 0 to disable streaks entirely and keep only bloom and twinkle.
BloomBloom Radius0-100%, default 25, float
Size of the soft glowing halo around each hotspot, up to about 10% of the frame. Larger values spread the bloom into a wide, diffuse haze.
Bloom Intensity0-200%, default 60, float
Brightness of that halo. Turn it up for a heavy dreamy glow; set to 0 to remove bloom and keep the glints crisp.
TwinkleTwinkle Amount0-100%, default 0, float
Depth of an animated shimmer that modulates each glint's brightness over time. 0 is a steady glint; higher values make hotspots visibly sparkle and flicker.
Twinkle Speed0-100%, default 40, float
How fast the twinkle shimmer cycles over time. Low is a slow gentle pulse, high is a rapid glittering sparkle.
Twinkle Scale0-100%, default 40, float
Grain size of the shimmer pattern (roughly 6 to 66 pixel blobs). Small values give fine per-highlight glitter, large values make broader areas twinkle together.
Light SweepEnable Sweepcheckbox, default off
Turns on a moving band of light that travels across the frame and temporarily lifts brightness where it passes. Off by default so the sweep never appears unless you want it.
Sweep Position0-100%, default 50, float
Position of the light band across the frame along its travel direction. This is the parameter to keyframe to animate the sweep moving from one side to the other.
Sweep Directionangle, default 90 deg
The direction the band travels and the angle it is oriented at. The default 90 degrees sweeps horizontally across the image.
Sweep Width0-100%, default 20, float
Thickness of the light band. Narrow gives a tight moving highlight line; wide gives a broad soft wash of brightness.
Sweep Boost0-400%, default 150, float
How much the band lifts brightness where it crosses the image. Higher values make the passing light stronger and more likely to push pixels over the hotspot threshold.
Sweep Generates Glintscheckbox, default on
When on, the sweep band itself becomes a hotspot, so anything it crosses can spark its own streaks and bloom, gated by the source coverage. Turn off to have the sweep only brighten without spawning new glints.
LookTint Colorcolor, default RGB 255,240,200 (warm white)
A color the glints are pushed toward, by luminance, for a stylized tone. The warm default gives a golden cinematic cast.
Tint Amount0-100%, default 0, float
How strongly the Tint Color is mixed into the glints. 0 keeps the natural glint color; higher values colorize the whole glint layer toward the tint.
Qualitypopup: Draft (fastest) / Normal / Best (high-res), default Normal
Trades render speed against glint resolution by choosing how much the internal energy buffer is downsampled. Draft is fastest for previewing, Best gives the sharpest streaks and bloom for final renders.
Cinematic glow/bloom with true 32-bit/HDR: the OBLIVIXN answer to Deep Glow.
MainGlow Modepopup: Linear (wide haze) / Exponential (tight core), default Exponential
Sets the shape of the bloom falloff. Linear spreads a soft, wide haze evenly; Exponential keeps a bright, tight core that falls off fast for a punchier, more concentrated highlight.
Blend Modepopup: Add / Screen, default Screen
How the glow is combined back over the source. Add stacks brightness and can blow out to white; Screen is gentler and naturally protects highlights from clipping.
Glow Radius0-2000, default 60
Size of the bloom in pixels: how far the glow reaches out from the bright areas. Small for a tight rim light, large for a soft atmospheric wash.
Exposure0-20, default 1
The single master brightness of the glow, measured in photographic stops. Raise it to make the bloom hotter and more intense, lower it to tame the whole effect.
Source / ThresholdThreshold Modepopup: Luminance / Saturation / Color Key, default Luminance
Decides which pixels are allowed to glow: bright pixels (Luminance), vivid/saturated pixels (Saturation), or only pixels matching specific key colors (Color Key).
Threshold0-100%, default 22
The cutoff above which pixels count as highlights and bloom. Lower catches more of the image, higher restricts the glow to only the very brightest (or most saturated) areas.
Threshold Softness0-100%, default 45
Feathers the threshold edge so pixels ramp into the glow gradually instead of clipping on hard. Higher values give a smoother, more organic transition with no harsh on/off boundary.
Key Color 1color, default red (255,40,40)
In Color Key mode, the first color that is allowed to glow. Only pixels close to this hue will bloom, so you can light up, say, just the neon signs.
Color Range 10-100%, default 25
How far a pixel's hue can stray from Key Color 1 and still be treated as a match. Wider values let more neighboring colors join the glow.
Key Luma Tolerance0-100%, default 100
Brightness tolerance for the color key, on a separate axis from hue. At 100 it matches the key color at any brightness (ideal for dark scenes); lower it to only catch that exact shade.
Enable Key Color 2checkbox, off
Turns on a second independent key color so two different hues can glow at the same time.
Key Color 2color, default blue (40,120,255)
The second keyed color, active only when Enable Key Color 2 is on.
Color Range 20-100%, default 25
Hue tolerance around Key Color 2, controlling how many nearby colors also glow.
Enable Key Color 3checkbox, off
Turns on a third independent key color.
Key Color 3color, default green (40,255,120)
The third keyed color, active only when Enable Key Color 3 is on.
Color Range 30-100%, default 25
Hue tolerance around Key Color 3.
GlowQualitypopup: Draft (1/4 res, fastest) / Normal (1/2 res, fast) / High (full res) / Ultra (full res, max), default Normal (1/2 res, fast)
Trades speed for bloom resolution. Draft and Normal compute the glow at reduced internal resolution for fast scrubbing (a low-frequency glow looks nearly identical); High and Ultra render it at full resolution for the final, pixel-exact look.
Anamorphic / Aspect-100 to 100, default 0
Stretches the bloom along one axis to fake an anamorphic lens streak. 0 is perfectly round; push it either way to squeeze the glow into a directional flare.
Aspect Angleangle dial, default 0 degrees
The direction of the anamorphic streak. Rotate to aim the stretched flare horizontally, vertically, or at any diagonal.
Shape Follow0-100%, default 0
Blends the bloom kernel from a round Gaussian (0) toward a square, shape-hugging spread (100) that clings to the silhouette of the source rather than radiating in a soft circle.
ColorGlow Tintcolor, default white (255,255,255)
Recolors the bloom. White leaves the glow at its natural source color; pick a hue to push the whole glow toward it.
Tint Amount0-100%, default 0
How strongly Glow Tint is mixed in. 0 keeps the original glow color, 100 fully overrides it with the tint.
Saturation Bias-100 to 100, default 0
Pushes the saturation of the glow. Negative desaturates toward a neutral white bloom; positive boosts the color intensity for a richer, more vivid glow.
Chromatic Aberration0-100%, default 0
Splits the glow's color channels for a lens-fringe rainbow edge. Higher values widen the colored fringing for a dreamier, more optical feel.
Aberration Multiply R50-200%, default 100
Scales the red channel's glow radius relative to the others, letting you tune the direction and amount of the color fringing by hand.
Aberration Multiply G50-200%, default 100
Per-channel glow-radius scaling for green, used together with the R and B multipliers to sculpt the fringe.
Aberration Multiply B50-200%, default 100
Per-channel glow-radius scaling for blue, used together with the R and G multipliers to sculpt the fringe.
Shuffle Channelspopup: Off / Rotate R>G>B / Rotate R>B>G, default Off
Cycles the blurred glow's color channels for a stylized false-color fringe instead of natural aberration - a quick way to get a graphic, glitchy color split.
Radial CA (Layer Bounds)checkbox, on
On: the chromatic split radiates outward from the layer center like a real lens. Off: bounds-independent spectral fringing driven purely by the aberration amount and per-channel radii.
Tone Mappingpopup: Off / Reinhard / Reinhard 2 / Filmic (ACES) / Hable, default Off
Rolls off blown-out glow highlights with a film-style HDR curve so intense blooms retain color and detail instead of clipping flat to white. Filmic (ACES) and Hable give the most cinematic shoulder.
Gamma0.2-4, default 1
Gamma correction applied to the glow. Below 1 deepens and tightens the falloff; above 1 lifts the mid-glow for a softer, more spread-out bloom.
CompositeGlow Opacity0-100%, default 100
Overall strength of the glow layer in the final composite. Dial it back to blend the bloom more subtly with the source.
Source Opacity0-100%, default 100
How much of the original layer shows through beneath the glow. Lower it to fade or drop out the source while keeping the bloom.
Protect Highlights0-100%, default 0
Holds the glow back over areas that are already bright in the source, so those regions don't bleach out to featureless white.
Glow Onlycheckbox, off
Outputs just the bloom on transparency and hides the source - handy for building the glow on its own layer or compositing it elsewhere.
Glow Behind Sourcecheckbox, off
Composites the original source over the glow, so the source keeps its own untouched color and the bloom only shows in the spill around it.
Unmult (alpha from glow)checkbox, off
Derives the alpha channel from the glow's brightness, so the effect can be dropped over other footage with Add/Screen without carrying a black box.
Lens Dirt Layerlayer picker, default None
Choose a texture or dirt-map layer that modulates the bloom to simulate grime, smears and dust on the lens.
Lens Dirt Amount0-100%, default 0
How strongly the Lens Dirt Layer texture is applied to the glow.
Glow MatteMatte Layerlayer picker, default None
Restricts where the glow is generated to a chosen layer - a rotobrushed matte, luma matte or pre-key. The glow only forms where the matte is bright, and it multiplies with the threshold modes so it stacks on top of Luminance/Saturation/Color-Key selection.
Matte Channelpopup: Luminance / Luminance Inverted / Alpha / Alpha Inverted, default Luminance
Which channel of the Matte Layer to read, and whether to invert it, when masking where glow is allowed to appear.
OptionsGPU Accelerationcheckbox, on
Uses the Metal GPU bloom engine when it's available and the current settings are GPU-eligible, otherwise falls back transparently to the multi-threaded CPU engine (which also covers 8/16-bit and exotic feature combinations). This control sits at the very bottom of the effect, below the Glow Matte group.
Havoc cuts time into slots. Every slot draws a value and decides whether it fires at all, and a fired slot plays one shaped pulse with an attack, a hold and a release. Eight operators read those pulses: Shake, Scale, Rotate, Light, Color, Blur, Time and Opacity. Each can run on its own rate and its own seed, which is the classic every-operator-does-its-own-thing behaviour, or you bind several to one of three shared Sync channels and they fire on exactly the same instants with exactly the same value. That is the difference between three effects that happen to overlap and one event that slides, flashes and cuts together. Shake, Scale and Rotate collapse into a single affine resample and Light, Color and Opacity into a single colour matrix, so switching more operators on barely moves the per-pixel cost, and a frame where nothing fires is a straight copy.
MainAmount0-400, default 100
Master multiplier over every operator at once. 100 means each operator does exactly what its own Amount says. Keyframe this to bring the whole effect in and out without touching anything else, or push past 100 to exaggerate a setup you already like. At 0 nothing displaces at all, which is also why Overscan stops zooming there: there is no edge left to hide.
Speed0.05-10, default 1
Multiplies every rate in the effect, the per-operator ones and the Sync channels alike. Leave it at 1 while you dial the individual rates, then use this to make the whole performance faster or slower as one gesture.
Rhythmpopup: Custom / Machine Gun / Stutter / Nervous / Sparse Hits / Chaos, default Custom
Character presets for the trigger, and nothing else. They set Density, Duration and the two Ease controls to a combination that reads a certain way, and they multiply Speed. They never touch an operator Amount, so the strengths you dialled in stay yours. Custom is the pure manual path and changes nothing. Machine Gun is relentless hard cuts, Stutter holds each hit almost the whole slot, Nervous is quick and jittery, Sparse Hits leaves long gaps between events, Chaos is fast and soft-edged.
OperatorsShakecheckbox, default on
Displaces the layer. The direction is random per twitch unless you narrow it with Direction and Spread. This is the operator most people come here for, so it is on by default.
Scalecheckbox, default off
Punches the layer bigger or smaller around the Origin.
Rotatecheckbox, default off
Rotates the layer around the Origin. Video Copilot's Twitch has no rotation operator at all; this is one of the two additions here.
Lightcheckbox, default on
Exposure-style brightness jumps. On by default, because brightness reads on any material, including a flat colour where a displacement is invisible by definition.
Colorcheckbox, default off
Tints, randomises or rotates the colour of the frame.
Blurcheckbox, default off
Blurs the frame in bursts, with a holdout so you can bloom only the bright parts.
Timecheckbox, default off
Jumps to a different frame of the same layer. Needs footage with actual movement to read; on a still it does nothing, correctly.
Opacitycheckbox, default off
Fades the layer out, to black, or to white. The second addition over Twitch.
Shake ControlsShake Amount0-2000, default 100
How far the layer can travel at full amplitude, in pixels. A fired twitch reaches somewhere between Minimum and this value.
Shake Twitches [sec]0.1-60, default 8
How many slots per second this operator gets. Not how many twitches you see: Density decides how many of those slots actually fire. Ignored when Shake Trigger is set to a Sync channel, because then the channel's rate applies.
Shake Triggerpopup: Own / Sync A / Sync B / Sync C, default Own
Which sequence this operator listens to. Own gives it a private rate and a private seed, so it fires independently of everything else. Sync A, B and C are three shared sequences: put two operators on the same channel and they fire on the same instants with the same value, as one event rather than a coincidence. This is the control that makes a hit feel deliberate.
Shake Directionangle, default 0
The base direction of the displacement, as an angle. Only meaningful once Spread is below 100; at full spread the direction is random anyway.
Shake Spread0-100, default 100
How far the direction may wander from the angle above. 100 is fully random in every direction, which is the classic shake. 0 locks it to the axis you set, which gives a clean horizontal or vertical slam.
Shake Tendency-100 to 100, default 0
Biases the displacement to one side of the direction instead of both. 0 is symmetric. Push it to one extreme and every twitch goes the same way, which turns a shake into a repeated shove. It never makes a twitch larger, only one-sided.
Chromatic Aberration0-200, default 0
Separates red and blue by this many pixels while the shake fires, leaving green in place, which is what keeps the image readable instead of just smeared. It rides the same trigger as the shake, so the colour fringe appears in the same instant the frame jumps. It also works with Shake Amount at 0 if you want the fringing without any displacement.
Aberration Modepopup: Along Shake / Radial, default Along Shake
Along Shake pushes red and blue apart along the direction the frame is moving, so the fringe follows the motion. Radial is the lens look: the separation points away from the Origin and grows with the distance from it, so the centre stays clean and the corners fringe hardest.
Scale ControlsScale Amount0-100, default 35
How far the scale can jump, as a percentage. At 35 a twitch lands somewhere between a slight and a third-larger or third-smaller frame, depending on Tendency.
Scale Twitches [sec]0.1-60, default 8
Slots per second for this operator. Ignored on a Sync channel.
Scale Triggerpopup: Own / Sync A / Sync B / Sync C, default Own
Own for an independent sequence, or one of the three Sync channels to fire together with other operators.
Scale Tendency-100 to 100, default 0
Biases the scale towards shrinking or growing instead of both. At full negative every twitch only shrinks, at full positive only grows. Shrinking is what reveals the layer edge, so this interacts with Border and Auto Overscan.
Scale Aspect-100 to 100, default 0
Breaks the scale out of being uniform. Away from 0 the horizontal and vertical scales differ, which stretches the frame instead of just zooming it.
Rotate ControlsRotate Amount0-180, default 15
Maximum rotation of a twitch, in degrees, around the Origin.
Rotate Twitches [sec]0.1-60, default 8
Slots per second for this operator. Ignored on a Sync channel.
Rotate Triggerpopup: Own / Sync A / Sync B / Sync C, default Own
Own for an independent sequence, or one of the three Sync channels.
Rotate Tendency-100 to 100, default 0
Biases the rotation to one direction. 0 turns both ways, the extremes turn only clockwise or only counter-clockwise.
Light ControlsLight Amount0-200, default 60
How hard the exposure jumps. 100 can double the brightness or take it to black, depending on Behaviour; the range goes to 200 for genuinely blown-out flashes.
Light Twitches [sec]0.1-60, default 12
Slots per second for this operator. Ignored on a Sync channel.
Light Triggerpopup: Own / Sync A / Sync B / Sync C, default Own
Own for an independent sequence, or one of the three Sync channels.
Light Behaviourpopup: Brighter / Darker / Both, default Both
Brighter only ever raises the exposure, Darker only ever lowers it, Both swings either way per twitch. Darker is the one for a failing lamp or a dropped frame, Brighter for a camera flash.
Color ControlsColor Amount0-100, default 70
How far the colour is pushed towards the target. At 100 a fired twitch replaces the colour completely.
Color Twitches [sec]0.1-60, default 8
Slots per second for this operator. Ignored on a Sync channel.
Color Triggerpopup: Own / Sync A / Sync B / Sync C, default Own
Own for an independent sequence, or one of the three Sync channels.
Color Modepopup: Colorize / Random Color / Channel Shift / Hue Rotate, default Colorize
Colorize pushes the frame towards the one colour in the swatch below. Random Color does the same thing but draws a new fully saturated colour for every twitch, so you get a different hue each time instead of one. Channel Shift gives red, green and blue independent random gains, which reads as a broken signal rather than a colour wash. Hue Rotate turns the existing hues around the colour wheel and leaves greys grey.
Colorizecolor, default RGB(255,0,89)
The target colour for Colorize mode. Ignored by the other three modes.
Blur ControlsBlur Amount0-200, default 60
Blur radius at full amplitude, in pixels.
Blur Twitches [sec]0.1-60, default 8
Slots per second for this operator. Ignored on a Sync channel.
Blur Triggerpopup: Own / Sync A / Sync B / Sync C, default Own
Own for an independent sequence, or one of the three Sync channels.
Blur Aspect-100 to 100, default 0
Makes the blur directional. At 0 it is round; towards one extreme it blurs only horizontally, towards the other only vertically.
Blur Holdout0-100, default 0
Protects everything below this brightness from being blurred. At 0 the whole frame blurs. Raise it and only the bright parts smear, which turns the blur into a bloom instead of a defocus.
Blur Holdout Sharpness0-100, default 50
How abruptly the holdout takes hold. Low values fade the blur in over a wide range of brightness, high values switch it on almost as a threshold.
Blur Boost0-400, default 100
Multiplies the blurred copy before it is combined. Only bites in the Add, Screen, Multiply and Overlay transfer modes; in Normal the blur simply replaces the source and there is nothing to boost.
Blur Opacity0-100, default 100
A fixed ceiling on how much of the blurred copy is used, independent of the twitch. Lower it to keep even a full-amplitude blur subtle.
Blur Tintcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
Colours the blurred copy before it is combined. Leave it white for a neutral blur; give it a colour and the bloom takes on that cast while the sharp image underneath stays untouched.
Blur Transfer Modepopup: Normal / Add / Screen / Multiply / Overlay, default Normal
How the blurred copy is put back over the frame. Normal replaces it, which is an ordinary defocus. Add and Screen lay it on top and only brighten, which is what makes a bloom. Multiply and Overlay darken and contrast instead.
Time ControlsTime Amount [frames]0-60, default 4, integer
The furthest a twitch may jump, in frames. The effect asks After Effects for that frame of the same layer, so the jump is real footage, not a held copy.
Time Twitches [sec]0.1-60, default 6
Slots per second for this operator. Ignored on a Sync channel.
Time Triggerpopup: Own / Sync A / Sync B / Sync C, default Own
Own for an independent sequence, or one of the three Sync channels.
Time Directionpopup: Both / Forward Only / Backward Only / Hold Frame, default Both
Both jumps forwards and backwards. Forward Only skips ahead, Backward Only repeats material you have already seen, which is the classic stutter. Hold Frame is different in kind: instead of jumping to a random frame it freezes on the frame the twitch started on and holds it for as long as the twitch lasts.
Opacity ControlsOpacity Amount0-100, default 100
How far the twitch fades the layer. At 100 it disappears completely for the duration of the twitch.
Opacity Twitches [sec]0.1-60, default 8
Slots per second for this operator. Ignored on a Sync channel.
Opacity Triggerpopup: Own / Sync A / Sync B / Sync C, default Own
Own for an independent sequence, or one of the three Sync channels.
Opacity Modepopup: To Transparent / To Black / To White, default To Transparent
To Transparent takes the alpha down, so whatever sits underneath shows through. To Black and To White fade the colour instead and leave the alpha alone, which is what you want when the layer must stay opaque.
TimingDensity0-100, default 75
The share of slots that fire at all. At 100 every slot produces a twitch, which reads as constant motion. Lower it for isolated hits with quiet between them. It is keyframable, and it fades a twitch in over a narrow band rather than switching it on, so an animated density ramp stays musical instead of popping. That also makes this the control to link to an audio amplitude if you want the glitches to land on the beat.
Minimum0-100, default 60
The floor of the random strength. At 0 a fired twitch can be arbitrarily weak, so many of them are barely visible; raise this and every twitch that fires is worth seeing. The sign stays random, only the magnitude is lifted.
Ease In0-100, default 0
The attack of a twitch, as a share of its length. 0 snaps to full strength instantly, which is the hard glitch. Raise it and the twitch ramps up.
Ease Out0-100, default 40
The release of a twitch. 0 cuts off abruptly, higher values let it fall away. Ease In and Ease Out share the length of the twitch between them; if they add up to more than all of it, both are scaled down proportionally rather than overlapping.
Duration1-100, default 70
How much of its slot one twitch occupies. Low values give short spikes with gaps between them, 100 fills the slot completely so consecutive twitches run into each other. Watch this against your frame rate: at 8 twitches per second a slot is about three frames at 25 fps, so a duration of 35 makes each twitch a single frame, which is easy to miss.
Seed0-9999, default 7, integer
Changes every random draw in the effect at once while keeping the character identical. Use it when the timing is right but this particular set of hits is not.
Sync ChannelsSync A Twitches [sec]0.1-60, default 8
Rate of the first shared sequence. Every operator set to Sync A fires on these instants with these values.
Sync B Twitches [sec]0.1-60, default 3
Rate of the second shared sequence. Set slower than A for occasional heavy hits.
Sync C Twitches [sec]0.1-60, default 16
Rate of the third shared sequence. Set faster than A for a nervous layer on top of the main rhythm.
Motion BlurMotion Blurcheckbox, default on
Integrates the frame across the shutter instead of sampling one instant, so a fast twitch smears the way real motion does. A hard cut is constant inside its slot, so it needs no integration at all and costs nothing here; the expense only arrives on the frames where the movement genuinely happens.
Use Comp Shutter Anglecheckbox, default off
Takes the shutter angle from the composition instead of the slider below. After Effects only reports it when the layer itself has motion blur switched on, so if it comes back as zero the slider is used anyway rather than silently rendering without blur.
Shutter Angle0-720, default 180
How much of the frame interval the shutter is open, in degrees. 180 is the film convention, higher values smear more.
Shutter Samples2-64, default 8, integer
The ceiling on how many sub-frames are integrated, not the number actually used. The effect measures how far the frame really travels during the shutter and takes about one sample per pixel of movement, so a small twitch is cheap and only a violent one spends the full budget. Raising this only matters when a twitch is large enough to show stepping.
FramingExtend Beyond Layercheckbox, default on
Lets displaced content travel outside the layer box instead of being clipped at its edge. On, because a shake that gets cut off at the original bounds is not a shake; the corners of a rotated layer are the clearest case. Switch it off if you need the effect to stay strictly inside the layer, for instance because something downstream depends on the bounds.
Originpoint, default 50%, 50%
The pivot for Scale and Rotate. Shake ignores it, because a displacement has no pivot.
Origin Randomizecheckbox, default off
Picks a new pivot for every twitch instead of using the point above, so scale punches and rotations come from a different place each time. The pivot stays inside the middle of the frame, so it never sits on the very edge.
Borderpopup: Transparent / Tile / Mirror, default Transparent
What fills the area a displacement has vacated. Transparent leaves it empty, which is the honest answer and the default: you see that the layer moved. Tile repeats the edge pixels, Mirror reflects them. Both of those hide the edge, but be aware they also hide the movement itself on flat material, because the fill is the same colour that just moved away.
Auto Overscancheckbox, default off
Scales the frame up by exactly as much as the current settings can displace it, so no edge is ever revealed. The amount is calculated rather than estimated, because every pulse is bounded, and it is the cleaner way to avoid edges than filling them in with Tile or Mirror.
Overscan0-100, default 0
A manual scale-up on top of whatever Auto Overscan asks for. It is scaled by the master Amount, so at Amount 0 it does nothing: there is no displacement to hide, and a zoom there would be a visible change for no reason.
OutputSamplingpopup: Bilinear / Bicubic, default Bicubic
Bicubic is sharper and is used when the frame needs a single sample. Bilinear is used automatically once motion blur is integrating several sub-frames, where the averaging makes the difference invisible and the extra taps would only cost time.
Linear Lightcheckbox, default off
Does the colour and blur maths in linear light instead of the working gamma. It changes how bright a blur bloom reads and how a flash falls off; leave it off unless your comp is already working in linear.
Blend0-100, default 100
Mixes the result back over the untouched frame. 100 is the full effect, lower values keep some of the original visible underneath, which is the quickest way to take the edge off a setup that is nearly right.
Perceptual hue, saturation and lightness in Oklab: color shifts that never break.
MainHueangle dial, default 0
Rotates every color's hue around the Oklab color wheel by the dialed angle. Because the rotation happens in perceptual space, reds stay red-weighted and blues stay blue as you spin, instead of jumping through artificial neon in-betweens.
Saturation0-400, default 100
Multiplies each pixel's chroma, so 100 leaves the image untouched, values below drain toward neutral gray and values above intensify color. Being multiplicative means already-vivid areas scale proportionally rather than clipping to a flat wash.
Lightness-100 to 100, default 0
Shifts perceptual lightness (Oklab L) up toward white or down toward black without changing hue. Internally scaled gently (a 0.30 factor), so the full range is a usable exposure-style nudge rather than an all-or-nothing crush.
Vibrance-100 to 100, default 0
A smart saturation that pushes muted colors hard while easing off on pixels that are already saturated, protecting skin tones and preventing hot spots from blowing out. Negative values pull the whole frame toward neutral.
Chroma Boost-100 to 100, default 0
Adds or subtracts a constant amount of Oklab chroma on top of Saturation, giving a flat all-over color lift that reaches even near-gray pixels. Useful as a final punch when multiplicative Saturation alone leaves desaturated regions untouched.
Target RangeAffectpopup: All Colors / Reds / Oranges / Yellows / Greens / Cyans / Blues / Purples / Magentas, default All Colors
Limits every adjustment above to a single hue family instead of the whole frame. Choices: All Colors, Reds, Oranges, Yellows, Greens, Cyans, Blues, Purples, Magentas; pick a band to grade just that color, like deepening skies or shifting only the greens.
Range Width0-120 degrees, default 45
Sets the half-width of the targeted hue band, in degrees around the chosen color's center, that receives the full-strength effect. Wider values pull in neighboring hues; only active when Affect is set to a specific band.
Range Softness0-90 degrees, default 30
The feathered falloff added beyond Range Width, over which the effect smoothly fades to zero. Larger values blend the graded band seamlessly into surrounding colors so there is no hard edge; only active when Affect targets a specific band.
GamutGamut Mappingpopup: Adaptive Hue-Aware / Preserve Chroma / Clip to sRGB / None (HDR), default Adaptive Hue-Aware
Decides how colors pushed outside the sRGB gamut are pulled back in. Adaptive Hue-Aware trades a little lightness and chroma for the most natural result, Preserve Chroma keeps saturation and sacrifices lightness, Clip to sRGB hard-clips channels, and None (HDR) leaves values unclamped for 32-bit or HDR work.
Adaptive Amount0.05-5, default 0.5
Controls how aggressively the Adaptive Hue-Aware mode bends lightness while recovering out-of-gamut colors. Lower values protect chroma at the cost of lightness accuracy, higher values do the reverse; only relevant in Adaptive mode.
OutputProcess in Linear Lightcheckbox, on
Decodes sRGB to true linear light before the Oklab transform and re-encodes after, which is the color-correct path and the reason hues stay clean. Turn off only to match the look of legacy tools that operate on gamma-encoded values.
Mix0-100%, default 100
Blends the processed result back against the original pixels, so 100 is the full effect and lower values dial it down. A quick way to soften an aggressive grade or keyframe the effect in and out.
OVN Husk wraps a clean geometric shell: convex hull, bounding box, or minimum-area oriented rectangle: around a layer's alpha silhouette, with padding, rounded corners, and a fillable dashed/trimmable stroke.
MainShell Shapepopup: Convex Hull / Bounding Box / Oriented Box, default Convex Hull
Chooses which geometric shell is fitted to the silhouette: the tight convex hull, an axis-aligned bounding box, or a minimum-area rotated (oriented) rectangle.
SilhouetteAnalyzepopup: Source Alpha / Full Frame, default Source Alpha
Selects what the shell is fitted around: the layer's alpha silhouette, or the entire frame extent.
Alpha Threshold0-100, default 50
Alpha cutoff that decides which pixels count as part of the silhouette. Raise it to ignore faint semi-transparent edges, lower it to include them.
ShellPadding-200 to 200, default 0
Inflates the shell outward with positive values or deflates it inward with negative values, giving margin around or inset within the silhouette.
Corner Round0-300, default 0
Rounds the shell's corners via a Minkowski expansion. 0 keeps sharp corners; higher values produce a softer, more capsule-like outline.
FillEnable Fillcheckbox, default off
Turns on a solid color fill inside the shell.
Fill Colorcolor, default white (255, 255, 255)
Color used to fill the interior of the shell.
Fill Opacity0-100, default 100
Opacity of the fill, letting the shell interior be fully opaque or partially transparent.
StrokeEnable Strokecheckbox, default on
Turns on the outline drawn along the shell's edge.
Stroke Colorcolor, default pink (255, 0, 89)
Color of the shell outline.
Stroke Width0-300, default 4
Thickness of the outline in pixels.
Stroke Positionpopup: Center / Inside / Outside, default Center
Aligns the stroke on the shell edge: straddling it, entirely inside the boundary, or entirely outside it.
Stroke Opacity0-100, default 100
Opacity of the outline.
Dash0-300, default 0
Length of each dash segment along the stroke. 0 keeps the stroke solid; any positive value creates a dashed outline.
Gap0-300, default 12
Length of the empty space between dashes when Dash is active.
Trim PathTrim Start0-100, default 0
Where the drawn stroke begins along the shell's perimeter, as a percentage of its length.
Trim End0-100, default 100
Where the drawn stroke ends along the perimeter. Pulling it below 100 leaves part of the outline undrawn, ideal for reveal animations.
Trim Offsetfloat %, -100-100, default 0
Rotates the trimmed start/end range around the perimeter, sliding the visible stroke segment along the shell.
OutputCompositepopup: Shape Only / Behind Source / Over Source, default Over Source
Controls how the shell is combined with the original layer: rendered alone, placed behind the source footage, or drawn over it.
A one-click selective keyer that picks a colour and lets a single Strength slider remove a background, isolate a colour to feed a glow, or unmult bright elements off black - all in one tool.
MainModepopup: Remove (key out) / Isolate (keep only) / Unmult (bright on black), default Remove (key out)
Selects what the one engine does: Remove keys the picked colour out (background removal), Isolate keeps only the picked colour, and Unmult turns brightness into alpha for fire, smoke or light-leaks on black.
Key Colorcolor, default RGB(0, 177, 64)
The colour the keyer targets, pickable with the eyedropper. The default is a typical digital green-screen green.
Strength0-100 %, default 35
The master chroma tolerance: how far a pixel's colour can differ from the Key Color and still be affected. Higher values key or isolate a wider range around the picked colour.
SelectionLuma Tolerance0-100 %, default 70
How much brightness variation to allow when matching the key colour. Wider values make the match more brightness-independent so shadowed and lit areas of the same colour are treated alike.
Pre-Blur0-30 px, default 0
Blurs only the source used to build the matte (not the final image), which helps grainy or noisy footage produce a cleaner selection.
Softness0-100 %, default 25
Sets the width of the transition shell around the key edge, controlling how gradually the matte falls from opaque to transparent.
Clip Black0-100 %, default 0
Raises the matte's black point so near-transparent values are forced fully transparent, cleaning up residual haze in the keyed-out areas.
Clip White0-100 %, default 100
Lowers the matte's white point so near-opaque values are forced fully opaque, solidifying the kept subject.
Despeckle0-20 px, default 0
Removes isolated specks from the matte via a morphological opening, clearing stray keyed pixels in solid regions.
Choke / Grow-50 to 50, default 0
Shrinks (negative) or expands (positive) the matte edge to tighten around the subject or recover clipped fringe.
Feather0-50 px, default 0
Blurs the finished matte to soften its edge for a more natural blend against the new background.
DespillDespill0-100 %, default 0
Suppresses the key colour that bleeds onto the subject's edges. Off by default because applied to an arbitrary key it can de-tint the whole image, so it is opt-in for green/blue-screen work.
Replace Spill With Tintcheckbox, default off
When on, the removed spill is filled with a chosen tint colour instead of being neutralised, useful for matching edge colour to a new background.
Tintcolor, default RGB(128, 128, 128)
The replacement colour used when Replace Spill With Tint is enabled.
OutputUnmult Sourcepopup: Max RGB (Screen) / Luminance, default Max RGB (Screen)
In Unmult mode, chooses the metric that drives brightness-to-alpha: the maximum RGB channel (screen-like) or overall luminance.
Invert Mattecheckbox, default off
Flips the matte so what was kept becomes removed and vice versa.
Viewpopup: Result / Matte / Despill Only / Over White / Over Black, default Result
Chooses what to display: the final keyed result, the raw matte for inspection, the despill pass alone, or the result composited over a white or black background to judge edges.
Image-driven agent line-art: thousands of agents spawn on your source by brightness and stream through an image-built flow field, weaving glowing woven trails.
MainModepopup: Particles / Static Trails / Trails, default Trails
Chooses how agents are rendered. Particles draws moving dots, Static Trails reveals the full baked paths, and Trails animates each agent's recent path as a moving streak.
Drawingpopup: Nice / Simple, default Nice
Rendering quality of the line rasterization. Nice gives smooth antialiased strokes, Simple renders faster with rougher lines.
SpawnAgent Countinteger, 100-200000, default 8000
Number of agents spawned on the source. More agents means denser, more detailed weaving at higher render cost.
Brightness Cutoff0-100%, default 8
Minimum source brightness needed for an agent to spawn there. Raising it keeps agents out of dark areas so lines concentrate on the bright parts of the image.
Seedinteger, 0-9999, default 1
Random seed for agent placement and behavior. Change it to get a different but equally deterministic layout from the same settings.
MotionLifetimeinteger steps, 2-800, default 150
How many simulation steps each agent lives before respawning. Longer lifetimes let agents travel farther and draw longer paths.
Step Rateinteger steps/sec, 1-480, default 60
Simulation speed in steps per second, tying the animation to time. Higher rates make agents advance through their paths faster.
Step Sizepx, 0.1-30, default 2
Distance an agent moves per step. Larger values cover more ground per step, producing looser, longer strokes.
Trail Lengthinteger steps, 1-800, default 60
Length of the visible streak behind each agent, in steps, used in Trails mode. Longer trails read as flowing ribbons, shorter ones as short dashes.
Growth0-100%, default 100
Fraction of the baked paths revealed in Static Trails mode. Animate it from 0 to 100 to draw the whole picture on progressively.
FlowStructure Follow0-100%, default 0
Blends the flow direction between the image brightness-angle field (0) and the image edge-tangent field (100). Higher values make agents hug edges and contours of the source.
Angle Spanturns, 0-8, default 1
How many full turns the brightness range maps across when building the brightness-angle field. Larger spans give the flow more swirling directional variety.
Global Directionangle, default 0deg
Direction of an overall drift added on top of the image flow. Sets which way agents are nudged globally.
Global Amount0-100%, default 0
How strongly the Global Direction drift is blended into the flow. Raise it to make all agents lean toward one common direction.
TurbulenceTurbulence0-100%, default 0
Amount of divergence-free curl-noise added to the flow. Higher values make the trails wander and curl organically instead of flowing smoothly.
Noise Scalepx, 4-2000, default 120
Spatial size of the turbulence features. Small values give tight, busy curls, large values give broad, sweeping swirls.
Detailinteger octaves, 1-6, default 3
Number of noise octaves layered into the turbulence. More detail adds finer, higher-frequency wiggle on top of the large swirls.
Evolution Speedrev/sec, -20 to 20, default 0
How fast the turbulence pattern animates over time, in revolutions per second. Non-zero values make the flow field churn and evolve; sign sets direction.
FluctuationFluctuation0-100%, default 0
Per-step random jitter applied to each agent's heading. Adds a hand-drawn, sketchy quality to the strokes without changing overall flow.
Force Point 1Enable Force 1checkbox, default off
Turns the first attract/repel/vortex force point on. Only affects the flow while enabled.
Position 1point, default (30%, 50%)
Screen location of the first force point. Agents within its radius are pulled, pushed, or swirled around this spot.
Attract / Repel 1-100 to 100%, default 0
Pull-versus-push strength of force point 1. Positive values attract agents toward the point, negative values repel them away.
Swirl 1-100 to 100%, default 0
Vortex strength around force point 1. Positive and negative values spin agents around the point in opposite directions.
Radius 1px, 1-4000, default 300
Reach of force point 1. The influence fades to nothing beyond this distance from the point.
Force Point 2Enable Force 2checkbox, default off
Turns the second attract/repel/vortex force point on. Only affects the flow while enabled.
Position 2point, default (70%, 50%)
Screen location of the second force point. Agents within its radius are pulled, pushed, or swirled around this spot.
Attract / Repel 2-100 to 100%, default 0
Pull-versus-push strength of force point 2. Positive values attract agents toward the point, negative values repel them away.
Swirl 2-100 to 100%, default 0
Vortex strength around force point 2. Positive and negative values spin agents around the point in opposite directions.
Radius 2px, 1-4000, default 300
Reach of force point 2. The influence fades to nothing beyond this distance from the point.
ColorColor Bypopup: Source Image / Speed / Age / Brightness / Solid, default Source Image
Selects what drives each trail's color. Source Image samples the layer, while Speed, Age, and Brightness map the Color A to Color B palette to those quantities and Solid uses Color A only.
Color Acolor, default RGB(255, 90, 216)
The low end of the palette, and the single color used in Solid mode. Maps to slow, young, or dark values depending on Color By.
Color Bcolor, default RGB(77, 179, 255)
The high end of the palette. Maps to fast, old, or bright values for the Speed, Age, and Brightness color modes.
Hue Shift Speedrev/sec, -5 to 5, default 0
Animates the trail hue over time, in revolutions per second. Non-zero values cycle the colors continuously; sign sets direction.
Intensity0-400%, default 100
Overall brightness/opacity of the drawn trails. Push above 100 for glowing, additive-looking lines.
LookLine Widthpx, 0.2-20, default 1.3
Thickness of the rasterized trails. Thin values give delicate line-art, thick values give bold ribbons.
Bloom0-100%, default 0
Density-based glow that brightens areas where many trails overlap. Adds a soft luminous haze to the busiest regions.
Backgroundpopup: Transparent / Solid Color / Original Image, default Solid Color
What the trails are drawn over. Choose an alpha-transparent background, a flat fill color, or the original source image.
Background Colorcolor, default RGB(0, 0, 0)
Fill color used when Background is set to Solid Color. Ignored for the Transparent and Original Image options.
Original Amount0-100%, default 30
How strongly the original source image shows through when Background is set to Original Image. Higher values make the underlying footage more visible behind the trails.
Turn any footage into faceted low-poly art: content-aware triangulation, one click.
MainDetail1-100, default 24, integer slider
Sets triangle density, from 6 up to 250 cells across the long edge of the frame. Low values give big chunky facets, high values a fine mesh; it is resolution-aware and capped, so it stays performant on large comps.
Edge Bias0-100%, default 70
Controls how strongly each mesh vertex is pulled onto the strongest nearby image edge. Low keeps an even, jittered grid, while high snaps triangle corners to contours and the object silhouette so the facets follow the picture. A little jitter always remains so it never reads as a plain grid.
Detail Boost0-100%, default 35
Adds extra triangles only in busy, high-contrast cells by subdividing them at their gradient peak. Raise it to preserve detail in areas like eyes and edges while flat regions stay coarse; 0 leaves the base grid untouched.
Seed0-999, default 1, integer slider
Changes the deterministic jitter pattern of the vertices, giving a different facet layout at the same settings. Use it to reroll the look or to animate variation over time.
ShadingFillpopup: Flat (Average) / Flat (Centroid) / Smooth (Gradient), default Flat (Average)
Chooses how each triangle is colored. Flat (Average) uses the triangle's mean color and switches to a crisp center sample where it straddles a hard edge; Flat (Centroid) simply samples one point at the triangle's center; Smooth (Gradient) blends the three corner colors for a soft Gouraud-shaded gradient across each facet.
WireframeShow Wireframecheckbox, default off
Draws the triangle edges on top of the fill for a mesh or blueprint look. Each shared edge is drawn once so overlaps do not double-darken.
Wire Colorcolor, default near-black (20, 20, 26)
The color of the wireframe lines.
Wire Thickness0.2-5, default 1
The stroke width of the wireframe lines in pixels.
Wire Opacity0-100%, default 100
The opacity of the wireframe overlay. It is also multiplied by the Mix amount, so pulling Mix down fades the wires along with the fill.
OutputMix0-100%, default 100
Blends the finished low-poly result back over the original footage. 100 is the full effect, 0 returns the untouched source (and skips the whole tessellation as a pure passthrough).
Isolate the brightest areas of a clip while keeping their original color: a clean highlights and contrast pass.
MainOutputpopup: Highlights Only / Add to Source / Screen over Source / Brighten Source, default Highlights Only
Chooses how the isolated lustre is delivered: on its own (Highlights Only), or composited straight back over the source via Add, Screen, or Brighten so the effect raises contrast without a manual composite. Pick a composite-back mode when you want the plug-in to do the layering for you.
DetectionBlur Input0-200, default 0
Gaussian-blurs a working copy of the frame before detection so tiny sparkles and noise are smoothed away instead of being caught as highlights. The blurred color also becomes the lustre color, so softened spots still bleed a little into the result.
Detect Onpopup: Luminance / Max Channel / Average, default Luminance
Which brightness measure the threshold tests against: Rec.709 Luminance, the Max of R/G/B (catches a single blown channel that luma would miss, like a hot neon), or the plain Average of the three channels.
Threshold0-4, default 0.5
Only source areas whose detect value is above this are kept as lustre. Lower it to include more of the midtones, raise it to keep only the very brightest; the range extends past 1 for HDR / over-range footage.
Rolloff0-100, default 5
Soft-knee width around the threshold, independent of any blur. At 0 you get a hard on/off cutoff; higher values fade the highlights in gradually for smooth, non-clipped edges.
Threshold Add Colorcolor, default black (0,0,0)
Raises the local threshold wherever the source contains this color, letting you hold back highlights of a specific hue (for example keep a warm sky out while catching cool speculars). Black means no per-color raise.
Detect in Linear Lightcheckbox, default off
Converts the working color to linear light before measuring brightness so the threshold behaves perceptually evenly across the tonal range. Leave off to detect on the raw sRGB / display values.
LookSaturation0-4, default 1
Scales the color saturation of the isolated lustre around its own luma: 0 gives a monochrome highlight pass, 1 keeps the original color, above 1 punches it up.
Brightness0-8, default 1
Multiplies the brightness of the isolated highlights before they are composited back. Push above 1 for a stronger bloom or lift, drop below 1 to tame the effect.
Alpha (Highlights Only)popup: Highlight Alpha / Source Alpha, default Highlight Alpha
Only used in Highlights Only output: Highlight Alpha makes the pass transparent everywhere there is no lustre (great for stacking as a glow layer), Source Alpha keeps the layer's original alpha. Ignored in the Add / Screen / Brighten modes.
MaskMask Layerlayer dropdown, default None
Optional second layer that limits where the effect applies: white keeps the processed result, black falls back to the untouched source, and greys crossfade between the two. Off outside the mask layer's bounds counts as source.
Mask Usepopup: Luma / Alpha, default Luma
Read the mask layer from its Luma (brightness) or its Alpha channel to build the black-to-white control signal.
Blur Mask0-200, default 0
Gaussian-softens the mask edges so the effect feathers in and out instead of hard-cutting at the mask boundary.
Invert Maskcheckbox, default off
Flips the mask so the effect applies where the mask is black and the source shows through where it is white.
OptionsOpacitypopup: Normal / Premultiplied / All Opaque, default Normal
How incoming alpha is interpreted before processing: Normal treats it as straight, Premultiplied un-multiplies first, and All Opaque forces alpha to 1 so the whole frame is treated as solid. Sits at the bottom of the panel as a global option.
An editable liquid-glass refraction effect that inflates a silhouette (built-in shape, own alpha, or matte) into a glass body and refracts your footage through it, with spectral split, Fresnel, glare, tint, contact shadow, plus liquid ripple, caustics, iridescence and quicksilver chrome.
SourceSilhouette Sourcepopup: Built-in Shape / Self Layer (own alpha) / Matte Layer, default Built-in Shape
Chooses where the glass silhouette comes from: a procedural built-in shape, the layer's own alpha channel, or a separate matte layer. This is the master switch that decides which of the Source controls below apply.
Matte Layerlayer, default None
The layer used to define the glass silhouette when Source is set to Matte Layer. Ignored for the other source modes.
Matte Channelpopup: Alpha / Luminance, default Alpha
Selects whether the matte layer's alpha or its luminance is read to form the silhouette. Use Luminance when the matte has no usable alpha.
Built-in Shapepopup: Rounded Rectangle / Ellipse / Capsule, default Rounded Rectangle
Picks the procedural shape used as the glass silhouette when Source is Built-in Shape. Capsule is a fully rounded pill; Rounded Rectangle uses the Corner Radius below.
Centerpoint, default 50%, 50% (layer center)
Position of the built-in shape, expressed as a percentage of the layer. Defaults to the middle of the frame.
Width0-8000, default 640, integer
Width of the built-in shape in pixels. Only affects the Built-in Shape source mode.
Height0-8000, default 360, integer
Height of the built-in shape in pixels. Only affects the Built-in Shape source mode.
Corner Radius0-2000, default 120, integer
Rounds the corners of the Rounded Rectangle shape. Higher values give a softer, more pill-like outline; has no effect on Ellipse or Capsule.
Refract Layer (optional)layer, default None
An optional separate layer to refract through the glass instead of the layer the effect is applied to. Leave as None to refract the effect's own layer.
MaterialMaterialpopup: Clear Glass / Frosted Glass / Quicksilver, default Clear Glass
Selects the overall look of the glass body: transparent clear glass, scattering frosted glass, or reflective quicksilver chrome. Sets the base behavior that the Optics and Surface controls refine.
Thickness0-300, default 100
How far the silhouette is inflated into a 3D glass body. Higher values give a thicker, more domed lens with stronger refraction at the edges.
Profilepopup: Round / Cushion (Flat Top) / Bevel, default Cushion (Flat Top)
Shapes the cross-section of the inflated body: a rounded dome, a cushion with a flatter top, or a hard bevelled edge. Changes how light and refraction fall across the surface.
Surface Smoothing0-50, default 3
Softens the silhouette edge before it is inflated, removing jaggies and hard steps. Small values keep detail; larger values round off fine features.
OpticsRefraction0-100, default 40
Strength of the lens bending applied to the footage seen through the glass. Higher values push and warp the background more, like a denser glass index.
Spectral Split0-100, default 25
Amount of chromatic dispersion, splitting the refracted image into rainbow fringes at the edges. Simulates the color separation of real glass.
Pre-Blur (Behind)0-200, default 0
Blurs the footage behind the glass before it is refracted, for a soft out-of-focus backdrop. Applied to the source, not the glass body itself.
Frost0-200, default 24
Frosted-glass scatter that diffuses the refracted image. Higher values give a milkier, more translucent surface, most visible with the Frosted Glass material.
Post-Blur (Body)0-200, default 0
Blurs the finished glass body after refraction and shading. Useful for softening the whole element or faking depth of field.
LiquidWobble0-100, default 0
Strength of the time-driven liquid ripple that distorts the surface and refraction. At 0 the glass is still; raise it to make the body ooze and shimmer like liquid.
Wobble Scale4-600, default 90, integer
Size of the ripple features. Small values give fine, busy waves; large values give broad, slow undulations.
Wobble Speed0-10, default 1
How fast the liquid ripple animates over time, in cycles per second. The motion is deterministic and driven by the composition time.
Merge (Metaball)0-200, default 0
Metaball fusing that lets nearby parts of the silhouette blob together like mercury droplets. Higher values pull separate forms into one connected liquid mass.
Surface / LightFresnel0-100, default 55
Brightness of the Fresnel meniscus, the bright rim highlight around the glass edge where grazing light reflects. Adds the signature glassy outline.
Glare0-200, default 80
Intensity of the specular hotspot reflected off the surface from the key light. Values above 100 push the highlight to bloom.
Gloss0-100, default 75
Tightness of the specular highlight. Higher gloss makes a small, sharp hotspot (polished glass); lower gloss spreads it into a broad, soft sheen.
Caustic0-100, default 0
Amount of refractive caustic, the focused bright light patterns the lens casts through itself. Adds bright concentrated streaks where the glass focuses light.
Iridescence0-100, default 0
Thin-film iridescence that adds shifting soap-bubble rainbow tints across the surface based on viewing angle. Layers colorful sheen over the glass.
Light Directionangle, default -45 degrees
Azimuth (compass direction) of the key light that drives glare, Fresnel and shading. Rotate it to move the highlight around the surface.
Light Elevation0-90, default 45
Height of the key light above the surface plane. Low angles create long grazing highlights; high angles light the body more from overhead.
Environment0-100, default 45
Amount of environment reflection mixed into the surface, giving the glass something to reflect. Strongest with the Quicksilver material for a chrome look.
TintTint Colorcolor, default RGB(150, 190, 255) (pale blue)
The color applied to the glass body. Sets the hue of the tint; it only becomes visible once Tint Amount is raised.
Tint Amount0-100, default 0
How strongly the Tint Color is blended into the glass. At 0 the glass is neutral; raise it to color the refracted image.
Contact ShadowShadow0-100, default 25
Strength of the grounding contact shadow cast under the glass body. Helps the element sit on the footage instead of floating.
Softness0-200, default 18
Blur radius of the contact shadow edge. Low values give a tight, hard shadow; high values spread it into a soft ambient one.
Distance0-300, default 16
How far the shadow is offset from the glass, in the direction opposite the light. Larger offsets lift the element further off the surface.
OutputBlend0-100, default 100
Dry/wet mix between the original footage and the full Mercury result. At 100 the effect is fully applied; lower it to dial back the whole effect.
A broadcast-ready motion matte: per-channel, temporal-window detection with a clean threshold, camera-shake rejection and morphological despeckle plus fill.
DetectionDetect Modepopup: Pair (Fast) / Window (Robust), default Pair (Fast)
Chooses how frames are compared. Pair (Fast) does a quick difference between the current frame and one reference frame; Window (Robust) measures the range across several frames, which rejects single-frame sensor noise and catches slow motion that a two-frame diff would miss.
Delay1-30, default 1, integer slider
How far back in time the reference frame sits. Larger values compare against an older frame, so slower or subtler movement registers more strongly. Read in frames or seconds depending on Delay Unit.
Delay Unitpopup: Frames / Seconds, default Frames
Sets whether the Delay value counts in frames or seconds. Use Seconds when you want the look-back to stay consistent across comps at different frame rates.
Window Samples2-16, default 5, integer slider
How many frames are gathered when Detect Mode is Window (Robust). More samples give a steadier, noise-resistant matte at the cost of more frames checked out; ignored in Pair mode.
Detect Onpopup: Color / Luma, default Color
Whether motion is measured per color channel or on brightness only. Color catches a colored object moving over an equally bright background that a luma-only diff would miss; Luma is cheaper and ignores pure hue shifts.
Motionpopup: All / Brighter / Darker, default All
Polarity gate. All keeps every change; Brighter keeps only pixels that got lighter than the reference, Darker keeps only pixels that got darker - handy for isolating something moving onto or off of a background. Softness feathers this decision.
Sensitivity0-1000%, default 150, float slider
Gain applied to the raw detected difference before thresholding. Raise it to make faint motion pop; lower it to calm down a noisy or high-contrast source.
Threshold0-50%, default 6, float slider
The noise floor: difference below this level is treated as no motion and stays black. Nudge it up to kill grain and static-background shimmer, down to keep the tiniest movement.
Softness0-100%, default 35, float slider
Width of the soft knee above the threshold, so the matte ramps in gradually instead of hard-clipping. Also feathers the Brighter/Darker polarity edge for a cleaner, less brittle matte.
Motion Smoothing0-32 px, default 1, float slider
Blurs the raw difference before the threshold to denoise it, so scattered single-pixel sparkle gets averaged out. Higher values give a smoother but slightly softer motion region.
Shake Rejection0-100%, default 0, float slider
Suppresses global camera motion by subtracting a fraction of the frame's average difference, so a pan or handheld wobble does not light up the whole matte. Turn it up when the camera itself is moving; leave at 0 for a locked-off shot.
Matte CleanupDespeckle0-16 px, default 1, float slider
Morphological opening that erases isolated specks and stray dots smaller than this radius. Cleans up salt-and-pepper noise in the matte without touching the main moving region.
Fill Holes0-16 px, default 1, float slider
Morphological closing that seals small gaps and pinholes inside the matte up to this radius, so a solidly moving object reads as one filled shape instead of a lace of holes.
Matte Blur0-32 px, default 1, float slider
A final softening blur on the finished matte for feathered, anti-aliased edges. Use it to blend the motion region gently into whatever it feeds.
OutputOutputpopup: Matte / Matte to Alpha / Heat Map / Motion Vectors / Composite, default Matte
Selects what the effect renders. Matte is a black-and-white motion mask; Matte to Alpha keeps the source RGB with motion in the alpha (drop straight onto a track matte); Heat Map colors motion strength on a ramp; Motion Vectors false-colors flow direction and speed; Composite lays the highlight over the footage.
Blend Modepopup: Motion Only / Add / Screen / Multiply / Difference / Overlay / Subtract, default Screen
Only used in Composite output. Sets how the highlight color is mixed over the source footage - from showing just the highlight (Motion Only) through the classic photographic blend modes.
Highlight Colorcolor, default pink (255,10,85)
The tint painted onto detected motion in Composite output. It is the color that gets blended over the footage at the coverage of the matte.
Heat Lowcolor, default deep blue (8,20,90)
The cold end of the Heat Map ramp, mapped to little or no motion. Only affects the Heat Map output.
Heat Highcolor, default gold (255,210,40)
The hot end of the Heat Map ramp, mapped to the strongest motion. Only affects the Heat Map output.
LookBrightness0-400%, default 100, float slider
Overall intensity multiplier on the final matte value before output. Push past 100% to bloom faint motion up, pull below to tame an overly hot matte.
Saturation0-200%, default 100, float slider
Color saturation for the tinted outputs - Heat Map, Motion Vectors, and Composite. Drop toward 0 for a muted look or push up for punchier false color; it has no effect on the plain Matte.
Offset Darks-50 to 50%, default 0, float slider
A lift/pedestal added to the matte value after brightness. Positive values raise the black floor (a base glow everywhere), negative values crush the low end for a cleaner cutoff.
Invert Mattecheckbox, default off
Flips the matte so still areas become opaque and moving areas become transparent. Useful when you want to key out or mask the motion rather than isolate it.
Linear-Lightcheckbox, default off
Performs detection and compositing in linear light instead of the source gamma, for more physically correct differences and blends. Turn it on when working in a linear or scene-referred pipeline.
Every common blur in one effect, in linear light, with a shared Focus system.
MainBlur Typepopup: Gaussian / Box / Directional (Motion) / Radial (Zoom) / Spin / Lens (Bokeh) / Surface (Smart) / Channel, default Gaussian
Picks which blur kernel runs; everything else in the effect adapts to the type you choose. Gaussian and Box are smooth all-over blurs, Directional/Radial/Spin are motion streaks, Lens builds aperture-shaped bokeh, Surface is edge-preserving smoothing, and Channel blurs R/G/B/A independently.
Blur Amount (px)0-1000, default 20
The master blur radius, or streak length for the motion types, measured in pixels. Set to 0 for no blur; higher values gather from a wider neighborhood.
Qualitypopup: Draft / Normal / High / Ultra, default Normal
Trades render speed for smoothness by controlling how many samples the gather takes. Use Draft while designing and push to High or Ultra for final renders where banding or stepping would show.
FocusFocus Sourcepopup: Uniform (whole layer) / Depth Map / Tilt-Shift Gradient / Control Layer (luma), default Uniform
Decides how the blur amount varies across the frame. Uniform blurs everything equally, Depth Map and Control Layer read a connected layer's luminance to drive the amount, and Tilt-Shift creates a soft in-focus band you angle across the shot.
Depth / Control Layerlayer, default None
The comp layer sampled when Focus Source is Depth Map or Control Layer. Its luminance either picks a focal plane (depth of field) or directly scales the per-pixel blur amount.
Focus Distance0-100%, default 50
In Depth Map mode this is the focal plane, the depth value that stays sharp while everything nearer or farther blurs. In Tilt-Shift mode it sets where the in-focus band sits across the frame.
Focus Range0-100%, default 15
How wide the sharp, in-focus zone is around the Focus Distance. Small values give a shallow, punchy falloff; larger values keep more of the frame crisp.
Invert Mapcheckbox, default off
Flips the focus reading so near and far (or the control map's light and dark) swap roles. Handy when a depth or control layer reads the opposite way to what you want.
Gradient Angle-180 to 180 deg, default 90
Orientation of the Tilt-Shift in-focus band across the frame. Rotate it to line the sharp strip up with a horizon or a subject.
Gradient Softness0-100%, default 30
How gradually the Tilt-Shift band transitions from sharp to fully blurred. Higher values give a gentler, more natural rolloff at the edges of the focus strip.
Direction (Directional / Radial / Spin)Direction Angleangle, default 0
Sets the streak orientation for Directional (Motion) blur. The smear runs symmetrically along this angle.
Centerpoint, default (50%, 50%)
The pivot for Radial (Zoom) and Spin blur. The image stays sharp at this point and smears outward (zoom) or around it (spin) with increasing distance.
Ellipse Ratio0.1-5, default 1
Stretches the Radial/Spin field into an ellipse instead of a circle. 1.0 is perfectly round; other values elongate the smear along one axis for anamorphic-style zoom or spin.
Ellipse Angle-180 to 180 deg, default 0
Rotates the major axis of the elliptical Radial/Spin field. Only matters once Ellipse Ratio is away from 1.0.
StylizeEnable Stylizecheckbox, default off
Master switch for the anime-streak look on the motion blur types. While off, every control in this group is neutralized so the blur stays clean.
Asymmetry (Fwd / Back)-100 to 100, default 0
Biases the streak so it reaches more one way than the other instead of smearing evenly both directions. Positive pushes the smear forward (outward or clockwise), negative pulls it back (inward or counter-clockwise).
Comet Trail0-100%, default 0
Concentrates weight at the head of the streak so the tail fades toward transparent, like a comet. Great for speed-line and motion-trail looks.
Streak Noise (Speed Lines)0-100%, default 0
Randomizes the streak length per pixel to break the smooth smear into jagged speed lines. Higher values give a rougher, more hand-drawn motion effect.
Noise Thickness1-100, default 10
Frequency of the streak noise, controlling how fine or chunky the speed lines are. Lower values make broad bands; higher values pack in thin lines.
Noise Typepopup: Smooth / Block, default Smooth
Character of the streak noise. Smooth gives soft, flowing variation; Block gives hard-edged, cellular steps for a more digital speed-line feel.
Noise Seed1-1000, default 1
Reshuffles the random pattern of the speed lines. Change it to get a different noise layout without altering any other setting.
Noise Evolve-1000 to 1000, default 0
Animatable offset that scrolls the streak noise over time. Keyframe it to make the speed lines shimmer and move rather than sit static.
Aperture (Lens)Blades (0 = Circle)0-12, default 6
Number of diaphragm blades that shape the Lens bokeh discs. 0 (or fewer than 3) gives perfectly round bokeh; 5, 6, or 8 give the polygonal shapes of real camera irises.
Blade Roundness0-100%, default 30
Curves the straight blade edges toward a circle. 0 is a hard-edged polygon; 100 rounds the aperture back out to a near-perfect disc.
Iris Rotation-180 to 180 deg, default 0
Spins the bladed aperture shape. Use it to orient the flat side or point of polygonal bokeh.
Anamorphic Aspect25-400%, default 100
Squeezes or stretches the bokeh into an oval for an anamorphic-lens look. 100 keeps it round; lower or higher values elongate the discs on one axis.
Highlights (Lens)Highlight Threshold0-100%, default 75
Luminance level above which pixels are treated as highlights and allowed to bloom in Lens bokeh. Lower it to let more of the image glow, raise it to restrict blooming to the brightest points.
Highlight Gain0-2000, default 200
Extra energy pumped into the highlights before the bokeh gather, giving those signature bright, blooming discs. Higher values make the bokeh balls pop hard against the background.
Highlight Desaturate0-100%, default 0
Pulls the boosted highlights toward white as they bloom. Useful when saturated highlights would otherwise blow out into unnatural color.
Channels (Channel Blur)Red Amount0-400, default 100
How much the red channel is blurred in Channel mode, as a percentage of Blur Amount. 100 matches the master radius; 0 leaves red sharp.
Green Amount0-400, default 100
Blur applied to the green channel as a fraction of Blur Amount. Offsetting the R/G/B amounts creates chromatic separation and fringing.
Blue Amount0-400, default 100
Blur applied to the blue channel as a fraction of Blur Amount. Blue is often blurred more than red or green to mimic lens softness.
Alpha Amount0-400, default 0
Blur applied to the alpha channel independently, defaulting to 0 so edges stay crisp. Raise it to soften a matte without smearing the color.
Surface (Smart Blur)Edge Threshold1-100%, default 15
In Surface (Smart) mode, the color difference that counts as an edge and is therefore preserved. Low values keep more detail and edges; high values smooth across larger tonal jumps for a cleaner, plastic-like result.
OutputLinear Lightcheckbox, default on
Gathers the blur in linear light rather than in the footage's gamma space, which keeps highlights and bokeh physically bright and correct. Leave on for natural results; turn off only to match legacy gamma-space blurs.
Working Gamma1-3, default 2.2
The gamma value used to convert to and from linear light when Linear Light is on. 2.2 suits standard sRGB/Rec.709 footage; adjust only if your working space differs.
Repeat Edge Pixelscheckbox, default on
When on, the blur repeats the outermost pixels so the frame edge stays opaque. When off, areas outside the layer read as transparent and the alpha fades at the borders.
Brightness0-400, default 100
Scales the brightness of the blurred result, with 100 being neutral. Push above 100 to intensify glow and bokeh, or below to tame an overly bright blur.
Blend (Dry / Wet)0-100%, default 100
Mixes the blurred (wet) result back against the original sharp (dry) image. 100 is fully blurred; lower values dial in a partial blur for subtle softening.
A brightness-driven directional melt that drags pixels along an axis into shaded, emissive ooze streaks, shaped by a source channel, threshold/response/bias, turbulence, and ripple.
MainMelt Directionpopup: Down / Up / Left / Right, default Down
Sets the axis and direction the pixels ooze along. Vertical options melt up or down; horizontal options melt left or right.
Melt0-100, default 55
Master amount of the effect, scaling how far and how strongly pixels ooze. At 0 the layer is unchanged.
TravelReach0-8000, default 300, integer
Maximum distance in pixels that the brightest driven pixels travel along the melt axis. Larger values create longer drips.
Stretch0-4000, default 140, integer
How far each pixel smears into a continuous streak as it travels, controlling the length of the trailing tail rather than the reach of the tip.
Stretch Align0-100, default 100
How tightly the stretch stays aligned to the pure melt axis. Lower values let the smear follow the perturbed, turbulent path instead of a straight line.
SourceDrive Bypopup: Luma / Red / Green / Blue / Alpha / Inverse Luma, default Luma
Chooses which channel of the source (or optional Melt Map) drives the melt amount per pixel. Inverse Luma melts the dark areas instead of the bright ones.
Threshold0-100, default 6
Cutoff below which the driving value produces no melt, so only areas brighter than this start to ooze.
Response10-400% (default 100%)
Gamma applied to the driving value, shaping the falloff between threshold and full melt. Below 100% ramps up faster; above 100% keeps more of the image static until it is very bright.
Bias-100 to 100, default 0
Shifts the overall driving level up or down, adding or removing melt uniformly across the frame. Negative holds pixels back, positive pushes more into oozing.
Melt Maplayer, default None
Optional external layer sampled by the Drive By channel to control the melt amount, letting you paint or animate where the ooze happens independent of the source image.
TurbulenceTurbulence0-100, default 35
Amount of noise-based perturbation applied to the streak paths so the drips wander and break up organically instead of running perfectly straight.
Scale4-2000, default 220, integer
Feature size of the turbulence noise in pixels. Larger values give broad, sweeping variation; smaller values give fine, ragged detail.
Detailinteger 1-5, default 3
Number of noise octaves layered into the turbulence, adding finer sub-detail at higher settings for a more complex, fractal wander.
Evolveangle, default 0deg
Rotational phase of the turbulence field; animate it to make the noise shift and evolve over time.
StreakShadingpopup: Solid / Light Trail / Sine Wave / Triangle Wave / Ramp Up / Ramp Down, default Light Trail
Brightness profile drawn along the length of each streak, from a flat solid fill to fading trails, oscillating waves, or one-directional ramps.
Shading Phaseangle, default 0deg
Offsets the shading pattern along the streaks; animate it to slide the wave or ramp bands through the ooze.
Emissive0-200, default 0
Boosts the streaks' self-lit glow so the ooze reads as a bright emissive substance rather than a plain smear.
Tintcolor, default RGB(255,120,40)
Color mixed into the streaks, used together with Tint Amount to recolor the ooze toward a chosen hue.
Tint Amount0-100, default 0
How strongly the Tint color is blended into the streaks. At 0 the ooze keeps its original source colors.
RippleRipple0-100, default 0
Amount of a wave modulation applied across the streaks (perpendicular to the melt axis), giving the ooze a rippled, corrugated look.
Ripple Period8-4000, default 300, integer
Wavelength of the ripple in pixels along the perpendicular axis. Smaller values pack the ripples closer together.
Ripple Phaseangle, default 0deg
Phase offset of the ripple pattern; animate it to make the ripples travel sideways across the ooze.
OutputCompositepopup: Over Source / Melt Only / Behind Source, default Over Source
How the ooze is combined with the original layer: drawn on top of the source, shown alone, or placed behind the source.
Seal Gapscheckbox, default off
Fills in thin holes and gaps between streaks for a more continuous, sealed ooze surface.
Wrap Edgescheckbox, default off
Wraps streaks that run off one edge of the frame back onto the opposite edge instead of clipping them.
Fade Start0-100, default 0
Position along each streak where it begins fading toward transparent, used with Fade End to taper the tail off.
Fade End0-100, default 0
Position along each streak where the fade completes, controlling how soft and drawn-out the far end of the ooze becomes.
OptionsMelt Angleangle, default 0
The free melt direction used when Direction is set to Custom Angle. 0 points straight down so switching over from the Down preset changes nothing, and positive values turn clockwise.
Both Wayscheckbox, default off
Melts the chosen direction and its opposite at the same time, turning Down into Down plus Up, or any Custom Angle into that angle plus the one 180 degrees away. The two melts are merged before compositing, so the untouched source is not blended into itself twice.
OVN Opal paints angle-reactive thin-film iridescence (oil-slick / soap-bubble "play of color") over a fluid procedural map or the layer's own relief, with Fresnel edge glow, a virtual specular highlight, interference fringes, sparkle flakes and a 2D/3D view tilt.
ColorPalettepopup: Pearl / Oil Slick / Soap Bubble / Aurora / Beetle / Compact Disc / Fuel / Custom, default Pearl
Picks the artist color set that tints the iridescence. Choose Custom to drive the look from the Base Color / Color A / Color B swatches below instead of a preset.
Color Modepopup: Mono / Duo / Trio, default Trio
How many of the palette colors are blended across the spectrum. Mono uses just the base, Duo mixes base and Color A, Trio uses all three for the fullest rainbow sweep.
Base Colorcolor, default RGB(242, 89, 191)
The primary tint color, used only when Palette is set to Custom. Ignored for the built-in presets.
Color Acolor, default RGB(89, 217, 247)
The second custom color blended into the spectrum in Duo and Trio modes. Only active when Palette is Custom.
Color Bcolor, default RGB(184, 140, 250)
The third custom color, added to the spectrum in Trio mode. Only active when Palette is Custom.
Hue Rangefloat slider, 0-360 deg, default 228
How far the hue travels across the film thickness, in degrees of color cycle. Higher values spread more distinct rainbow bands; lower values keep the color shift subtle.
Spectrum Amountfloat slider, 0-100, default 50
Balances the physically-derived interference spectrum against the chosen palette colors. 0 leans fully on the palette tint, 100 leans on the true optical spectrum.
Saturationfloat slider, 0-200, default 145
Scales the intensity of the iridescent colors. Below 100 desaturates toward pearly white, above 100 pushes vivid oil-slick saturation.
SurfaceHeight Frompopup: Procedural Map / Source Luminance / Source Alpha, default Procedural Map
Chooses what surface relief the iridescence rides on. Procedural Map uses the internal fluid noise; the other two derive the height field from the source layer's brightness or alpha channel.
Invert Reliefcheckbox, default off
Flips the height field so peaks become valleys. Useful to reverse where the thick-film color bands land.
Relief0-200, default 45
Overall strength of the surface relief, controlling how much the height field bends the shading and color. Higher values give a more three-dimensional, embossed look.
Contrast10-400, default 140
Contrast of the height field before it drives the film. Higher values steepen the surface so color bands pack tighter and highlights sharpen.
Film Thickness0.05-8, default 1.2
The base thickness of the simulated thin film, which sets where in the spectrum the colors start. Changing it shifts the whole hue sequence, like a thicker or thinner soap film.
Film Sensitivity0.05-8, default 0.95
How strongly thickness variation translates into color change. Higher values produce more rapid, densely packed color cycling across the surface.
Grazing Boost0-400, default 100
Fresnel-style boost of iridescence toward grazing edges. Raising it makes the play-of-color glow brighter at rims and silhouettes, like real thin films.
Highlight Intensity0-400, default 100
Brightness of the virtual specular highlight sitting on the surface. Higher values add a stronger wet/glossy sheen.
Light Angleangle, default 34 deg
Direction of the virtual light that casts the specular highlight and shades the relief. Rotate it to move where the glossy sheen falls.
Light Sizefloat slider, 0.1-8, default 1.2
Size of the specular highlight, mapped from a broad soft glow to a tight sharp glint. Small values give a pinpoint hotspot, large values a wide diffuse sheen.
Fluid MapOffsetpoint, default (50%, 50%)
Pans the procedural fluid pattern across the frame. Animate it to slide the iridescent map around.
Scale0.1-20, default 2.6
Zoom of the fluid pattern. Lower values make large sweeping blobs, higher values pack in finer swirls.
Detailinteger slider, 1-7, default 3
Number of fractal noise octaves in the fluid map. More detail adds finer wrinkles and texture at the cost of a busier look.
Flow Typepopup: Directional / Swirl / Turbulence, default Directional
The character of the fluid distortion applied to the map. Directional smears along one axis, Swirl rotates it into vortices, Turbulence churns it chaotically.
Flow Angleangle, default 80 deg
Direction of the flow, most meaningful for Directional flow. Sets which way the pattern streaks or biases.
Flow Strength0-300, default 110
How strongly the flow distorts the fluid map. 0 leaves the base noise undisturbed; higher values stretch it into liquid, oily streaks.
Flow Scale0.1-5, default 0.75
Scale of the flow field driving the distortion. Smaller values give broad coherent motion, larger values finer, more localized warping.
Fringe Sharpnessfloat slider, 0-100, default 55
Sharpness of the thin interference fringe lines overlaid on the film. Higher values make crisp, hard-edged rainbow contour lines.
Fringe Amountfloat slider, 0-100, default 20
How many interference fringe lines appear, and how strongly. 0 hides them; higher values add more of the fine banded contour detail.
Fringe Scale0.5-30, default 5.5
Spacing/frequency of the fringe lines. Larger values pack more, tighter fringes across the surface.
Random Seedinteger slider, 0-1000, default 0
Seed for the procedural pattern. Change it to get a different but equivalent fluid map layout.
SparkleSparkle Amountfloat slider, 0-100, default 0
Density and intensity of glittering micro-flakes across the surface. 0 is off; raising it scatters bright iridescent sparkles like glitter or metallic flake.
Sparkle Size0.3-30, default 3
Size of the individual sparkle flakes. Smaller values give a fine dusting, larger values chunkier, more visible glints.
View & MotionView Tilt Xangle, default 0 deg
Simulates tilting the surface toward or away from the viewer around the horizontal axis. Because iridescence is angle-dependent, tilting shifts the visible colors like turning an opal.
View Tilt Yangle, default 0 deg
Simulates tilting the surface around the vertical axis. Animate together with View Tilt X to make the play-of-color shimmer as the viewing angle changes.
Flow Phaseangle, default 0 deg
Animation phase of the flow and film. Keyframe or spin it continuously to make the iridescent fluid churn and evolve over time.
OutputCompositepopup: Iridescence Only / Over Source / Add / Screen, default Iridescence Only
How the generated iridescence combines with the source layer. Iridescence Only replaces it, while Over Source, Add and Screen blend the effect onto the original footage.
Mixfloat slider, 0-100, default 100
Overall opacity of the effect against the original. 100 is full effect; lower values dial the iridescence back toward the untouched source.
Generates real ML depth maps from any footage using Depth Anything V2 on the GPU, with a one-click flicker-free bake plus built-in depth-of-field and fog.
MainDepth Modepopup: Preview / Final, default Preview
Chooses the depth source. Preview runs the Depth Anything V2 model per frame in real time; Final reads a pre-baked flicker-free depth pass instead.
Flicker-Freebutton ("Finalize")
One-click bake: renders the layer through the Video Depth Anything engine, imports the temporally-stable result, wires it into Final Depth Map, and switches Depth Mode to Final.
Final Depth Maplayer, default None
The baked flicker-free depth layer used when Depth Mode is Final. Normally set automatically by the Finalize button, but can be pointed at any depth pass manually.
Outputpopup: Depth Map / Depth of Field / Fog, default Depth Map
Selects what the effect renders: the raw depth pass, a depth-based lens blur, or atmospheric fog composited over the footage.
Focus0-100%, default 50
Sets the focal plane in depth for the Depth of Field output (0 = far, 100 = near). Pixels at this depth stay sharp; everything else blurs with distance from it.
Blur Amount0-100%, default 40
Controls the aperture / strength of the depth-of-field blur. Higher values produce a stronger, more cinematic out-of-focus falloff.
Fog Colorcolor, default RGB(205, 214, 224)
The tint of the atmospheric fog blended over distant parts of the image. Defaults to a soft cool haze.
Fog Amount0-100%, default 70
Density of the fog: how strongly the fog color takes over as depth increases toward the far plane.
Fog Start0-100%, default 0
The depth at which the fog begins to accumulate (0 = right at the camera). Raising it keeps nearer objects clear before the haze sets in.
White ispopup: Near / Far, default Near
Sets depth-map polarity: whether the brightest (white) pixels represent objects closest to camera or farthest away. Applies to the Depth Map output.
Qualitypopup: Fast / Balanced / High, default Balanced
Sets the model input resolution for the live Preview inference: higher quality gives finer depth detail at the cost of speed. Only active in Preview mode.
Color Mappopup: Grayscale / OVN / Viridis / Inferno / Turbo / Spectral / Magma, default Grayscale
Applies a false-color ramp to the depth map for visualization. Grayscale keeps a plain luminance pass; the others map depth to a color gradient.
Depth Contrast0-200%, default 100
Adjusts the spread of the depth values around their midpoint. Above 100 exaggerates near/far separation, below 100 flattens it.
Clip Near0-100%, default 0
Trims the near end of the shown depth range, discarding the closest depth values so the remaining range is remapped to full contrast.
Clip Far0-100%, default 0
Trims the far end of the shown depth range, discarding the most distant depth values so the remaining range is remapped to full contrast.
GPU (CoreML)checkbox, default on
Runs the depth model on the GPU via CoreML when available, falling back to CPU otherwise. Only active in Preview mode.
Liquify and Mesh Warp work, done by grabbing points instead of pushing a grid around. Mesh Warp lays its grid over the whole effect buffer, and for a text or shape layer that buffer is the entire composition, so a single letter ends up smaller than one grid cell. Point Warp has no cells at all: you place handles exactly where the work is, and each one pushes, squeezes, scales or twists inside its own radius. Every control is an ordinary keyframable parameter, so the deformation animates and takes expressions, with no hidden mesh stream to manage. The deformation is integrated as a flow rather than applied in one step, which means it cannot fold in on itself however far a handle is dragged, and the radius you set is the radius you get. Only the area a handle actually covers is computed, so warping one letter inside a 4K frame costs about a millisecond.
MainStrength0-400, default 100
Master multiplier over every handle at once. 100 means each handle does exactly what it says. Animate this to fade a whole deformation in or out without touching the individual handles, or push past 100 to exaggerate the setup you already dialled in.
Qualitypopup: Draft / Normal / High, default Normal
How the source is sampled where the image is being compressed. Draft takes one sample per pixel and is the fastest to scrub. Normal and High add supersampling along the direction the image is squeezed, which is what keeps fine detail from breaking up in a strong squeeze. The extra samples are only spent where compression actually happens, so High is rarely the thing that slows a comp down.
RegionLimit Topopup: Whole Buffer / Content Bounds / Custom Region, default Whole Buffer
Fences the warp so it cannot touch anything outside the fence. Whole Buffer lets the handles work anywhere. Content Bounds measures the visible alpha box of the layer and limits the warp to it, which is the useful setting on a text or shape layer where the buffer is comp sized but the artwork is not. Custom Region gives you a rectangle you place yourself, which is how you deform one letter and leave its neighbours provably untouched. Note that Content Bounds is measured per frame, so on animating artwork the fence moves with it; use Custom Region when you want it to stay put.
Region Top Leftpoint, default 25%, 25%
Top left corner of the custom region. Drag it in the Composition panel. Only used when Limit To is set to Custom Region.
Region Bottom Rightpoint, default 75%, 75%
Bottom right corner of the custom region. Only used when Limit To is set to Custom Region.
Region Softness0-2000 px, default 40
How gradually the warp fades out at the edge of the region, in pixels. Zero gives a hard cut, which shows as a crease where the deformation stops. Give it enough softness that the fade happens over empty space and the boundary becomes invisible.
Handle 1Enablecheckbox, default on
Turns this handle on. Handle 1 is on by default; the rest wait in More Handles until you need them. A handle that is off costs nothing.
Modepopup: Move / Squeeze / Scale / Twist, default Move
What this handle does inside its radius. Move drags the image from one point to another. Squeeze scales it along an axis, which is the letter-squeeze control. Scale pinches or bloats it evenly. Twist rotates it. Which parameters below apply depends on this choice; the ones that do not are greyed out.
Frompoint, default 50%, 50%
The spot you grab. In Move mode this is the pixel that gets carried to the To point. In the other modes it is the pivot the deformation happens around. Drag it in the Composition panel.
Topoint, default 50%, 50%
Where the grabbed pixel lands, in Move mode. The pixel under From arrives exactly here, at any distance: the falloff travels along with the drag like a brush stroke, so material can be pulled far beyond the radius without tearing. Leave To on From and the handle does nothing.
Amount-98 to 400, default 0
Strength of a Squeeze or Scale. For Squeeze, positive values narrow the image along the axis and negative ones widen it. For Scale, positive bloats and negative pinches. Not used by Move or Twist.
Angleangle, default 0
In Squeeze mode this is the axis the image is narrowed along, so 0 squeezes horizontally and 90 vertically. In Twist mode the same control is the rotation itself. Not used by Move or Scale.
Radius1-20000 px, default 200
How far this handle reaches, in pixels. It is also the resolution of the deformation: a small radius bends a detail, a large one moves a whole shape. The number is honest, the effect never quietly reaches further than this. If a deformation looks too sharp or too local, this is almost always the control to change first.
Falloffpopup: Soft / Round / Tight / Flat Core, default Round
The shape of the transition from full strength at the handle to nothing at the rim. Soft spreads the deformation widely and is the gentlest. Round is the default and the most neutral. Tight concentrates it near the handle for a sharper, more local dent. Flat Core keeps a plateau of full strength in the middle and does all its falling off near the rim, which is what you want to move or rotate a whole letter without bending it.
Squash and Stretchcheckbox, default on
Makes a Squeeze preserve area: narrowing also makes the image taller, and widening makes it shorter, the way a bouncing ball deforms. Turn it off if you want to narrow something without it growing in the other direction.
More HandlesHandle 2 to Handle 6same controls as Handle 1, all disabled by default
Five more handles, each with the same controls as Handle 1 and all disabled until you switch them on. They are grouped here so applying the effect does not greet you with six identical blocks. Handles combine, so a squeeze and a twist in the same place produce both at once, in any order.
OptionsExpand Boundscheckbox, default on
Lets the result grow past the edge of the layer, so material dragged outward stays visible instead of being cut off at the original boundary. Turn it off if you need the output to keep exactly the layer's size.
Outside Layerpopup: Transparent / Repeat Edge, default Transparent
What the warp finds when it reaches past the edge of the layer. Transparent pulls in nothing, which keeps the silhouette honest. Repeat Edge smears the outermost pixels outward, which avoids a transparent bite when you drag content in from just outside the frame.
Virtual relighting / pre-light pass: add real directional, point and ambient lights to flat footage.
MainModepopup: Relight (over Footage) / Lights Only / Surface Normals, default Relight
Chooses what you see: the relit footage, just the lighting pass on its own for compositing, or the raw estimated surface normals as an RGB map. Use Surface Normals to check that the derived geometry looks right before you light it.
Master Intensity0-400, default 100
Overall gain of the entire lighting pass on top of the footage. One knob to push the whole relight brighter or dial it back without touching individual lights.
SurfaceSurface Frompopup: Scene Depth (Estimated) / Luminance, default Scene Depth (Estimated)
Sets how the pseudo-geometry is built: a depth estimate inferred from haze, ground plane, sharpness and framing cues, or plain image luminance. Scene Depth reads more like real form; Luminance is simpler and follows brightness directly.
Relief0-400, default 150
Strength of the surface relief, i.e. how steeply the height field tilts the normals. Higher values make the shading react more dramatically to the shapes in the image.
Smoothing (px)0-50, default 1
Pre-smooths the height field before slopes are computed, in pixels. Raise it to kill grain and noise that would otherwise show up as jittery lighting; keep it low to preserve fine form.
Surface Detail0-200, default 40
Layers crisp luminance micro-detail on top of the main form (active only when Surface From is Scene Depth). Adds fine texture to the shading so surfaces read less rubbery.
Occlusion0-100, default 50
Depth-curvature ambient occlusion that darkens crevices and contact areas. Higher values deepen the shadowing in concave detail for more grounded, dimensional shading.
Light 1Enable Light 1checkbox, default on
Turns the first virtual light on or off. Light 1 defaults to a warm key light from the upper left.
Typepopup: Directional / Point / Ambient Wrap, default Directional
Sets how the light casts: Directional is a distant parallel key aimed by Direction and Elevation, Point is a positioned lamp with falloff, and Ambient Wrap is a directionless soft fill that wraps around the form.
Directionangle, default -50 deg
Azimuth of a Directional light, i.e. which way around the frame it comes from. Ignored for Point and Ambient Wrap types.
Elevation / Height0-90 deg, default 35
How high the light sits: for Directional it is the angle above the surface (grazing at 0, straight-on near 90); for Point it also sets how far the lamp floats above the plane.
Position (Point)point, default 30%, 30% of frame
Screen position of the light when Type is Point, draggable in the comp. Has no effect on Directional or Ambient Wrap lights.
Reach (Point)1-150, default 35
Falloff radius of a Point light as a percentage of the frame diagonal. Small values give a tight local pool of light; large values spread it across the whole shot.
Colorcolor, default warm white (255, 241, 224)
Tint of this light. The default is a slightly warm key; change it to color your relight.
Intensity0-400, default 110
Brightness of this individual light before the Master Intensity gain. Push past 100% for a punchy key or lower it to let other lights dominate.
Light 2Enable Light 2checkbox, default on
Turns the second virtual light on or off. Light 2 defaults to a cool low fill from the opposite side, balancing the warm key.
Typepopup: Directional / Point / Ambient Wrap, default Directional
Sets how this light casts: distant Directional, positioned Point with falloff, or directionless Ambient Wrap fill.
Directionangle, default 130 deg
Azimuth of this light when it is Directional. Ignored for Point and Ambient Wrap types.
Elevation / Height0-90 deg, default 22
Angle above the surface for Directional, or the floating height above the plane for Point. Low values graze the form for longer shadows.
Position (Point)point, default 70%, 70% of frame
Screen position used only when this light is a Point light. Draggable in the comp viewer.
Reach (Point)1-150, default 35
Falloff radius of this Point light as a percentage of the frame diagonal. Controls how far its pool of light spreads.
Colorcolor, default cool blue (206, 221, 255)
Tint of this light. Defaults to a cool blue so it reads as a sky/bounce fill against the warm key.
Intensity0-400, default 45
Brightness of this light before Master Intensity. Kept low by default so it fills rather than competes with Light 1.
Light 3Enable Light 3checkbox, default off
Turns the third virtual light on or off. Off by default; enable it for an accent, practical or extra kicker.
Typepopup: Directional / Point / Ambient Wrap, default Point
How this light casts. Defaults to Point so it acts as a localized practical or accent lamp you place in the frame.
Directionangle, default 0 deg
Azimuth used only when this light is Directional. Ignored while it stays a Point light.
Elevation / Height0-90 deg, default 45
Angle above the surface for Directional, or the floating height above the plane for a Point light. Affects the shape of its falloff.
Position (Point)point, default 50%, 50% of frame
Screen position of this light while it is a Point type, centered by default. Drag it in the comp to place the accent.
Reach (Point)1-150, default 30
Falloff radius of this Point light as a percentage of the frame diagonal. Smaller values keep the accent tight and local.
Colorcolor, default white (255, 255, 255)
Tint of this accent light, neutral white by default. Color it for a practical glow or a stylized kicker.
Intensity0-400, default 90
Brightness of this light before Master Intensity. Sets how strong the accent reads once the light is enabled.
LookAmbient0-200, default 18
Flat ambient fill added everywhere so shadows never go fully black. Raise it to lift the whole image; lower it for more contrast.
Ambient Colorcolor, default cool grey-blue (150, 165, 190)
Tint of the ambient fill, i.e. the color your shadows lean toward. Defaults to a cool sky tone.
Softness0-100, default 55
Wrap / half-Lambert softness of the diffuse falloff, from hard terminator at 0 to soft wrap-around light at 100. Higher values make the lighting gentler and more flattering.
Specular0-200, default 25
Gain of the Blinn-Phong specular highlights. Adds glossy hits where lights reflect toward the camera; raise for wet or shiny surfaces.
Shininess1-200, default 28
Tightness of the specular highlight. Low values give broad soft sheen, high values give small sharp glints.
Rim Light0-200, default 0
Fresnel rim / back light that brightens grazing edges to separate the subject from the background. Off by default; raise it for a glow along contours.
Rim Colorcolor, default white (255, 255, 255)
Tint of the rim / back light. Color it for a stylized edge glow.
Volumetric Haze0-100, default 0
Depth-driven atmospheric haze that thickens with distance so far areas fade into the air. Off by default; adds depth and mood when raised (uses the depth estimate).
Haze Colorcolor, default pale blue-grey (170, 185, 205)
Color of the atmosphere the haze fades distant areas toward. Defaults to a cool atmospheric tint.
Protect Highlights0-100, default 60
Anchors already-bright areas back toward the original footage so relighting does not blow them out. Higher values preserve more of the source highlights.
Protect Shadows0-100, default 40
Anchors the darkest areas back toward the original so relighting does not crush them. Higher values keep more of the source shadow detail.
OutputBlend (Dry / Wet)0-100, default 100
Mixes the relit result over the untouched original, from fully dry at 0 to fully wet at 100. Pull it back to ease the whole effect in as a subtle pass.
GPU volumetric light rays from text, logos, mattes and footage. Light is transported in a polar grid rather than sampled along the ray, so there is no banding or stepping and a very long ray costs exactly what a short one does.
MainStylepopup: Classic / Silk / Prism / Nova / Shaft, default Classic
The overall character of the light. Classic is the straight volumetric beam, Silk is softer and more diffuse, Prism splits the spectrum outward, Nova is a burst, and Shaft swaps the point source for parallel light, which is how you get directional atmospheric shafts.
Sourcepoint, default 50%, 50%
Where the light comes from, as a point on the layer. In Shaft style the beam is parallel instead, so this stops being the origin and Shaft Angle takes over.
Intensity0-1000, default 100
Master brightness of the rays. 100 is the neutral setting, and the styles are tuned to read properly there.
Ray Length0-400, default 35
How far the light reaches, as a percentage of the frame diagonal. Because the transport is a closed-form recursion rather than a stack of samples, a 5 percent ray and a 100 percent ray render at the same speed.
Spread0-180, default 3.5
Angular width of the beam in degrees. Narrow values give distinct shafts; wide values fill the frame with a glow.
Atmosphere0-200, default 25
How much haze the light travels through, which is what makes the beam visible between the source and where it lands. Higher values give a thicker, foggier room.
Colorpopup: Source Color / Tint / Gradient, default Source Color
Where the ray colour comes from: sampled from the source pixels, a single Tint, or the three-stop Gradient below.
Tintcolor, default RGB(255,236,204)
The single ray colour used in Tint mode, ignored in the other two.
EmitterEmit Frompopup: Smart / Luminance / Alpha / Edges / Matte Layer, default Smart
What in the layer actually emits light. Smart picks a sensible source on its own, Luminance uses the bright pixels, Alpha uses the silhouette, Edges lights only the outlines, and Matte Layer takes it from a separate layer.
Matte Layerlayer, default None
The layer used as the emitter when Emit From is set to Matte Layer.
Invert Mattecheckbox, default off
Flips the matte so the dark parts emit instead of the bright ones.
Threshold0-100, default 55
How bright a pixel has to be before it emits. Raise it to light only the true highlights, lower it to let the midtones glow too.
Soft Knee1-100, default 30
How gradually emission comes up above the threshold. A wide knee stops the light from switching on hard at an arbitrary brightness and is what keeps gradients from banding at the cut.
Edge Width1-32, default 2
Thickness of the emitting band in Edges mode, in pixels. Only used by that mode.
Boost0-1000, default 100
Gain on the emitter before any light is transported. Use it to make a dim source throw properly without touching Intensity, which also scales the atmosphere.
Respect Alphacheckbox, default on
Gates the emitter by the layer's own alpha, so light only comes from where the layer actually is. Leave it on for text and logos; turn it off if you want the whole frame to emit.
ColorGradient Corecolor, default RGB(255,244,224)
The colour at the very centre of the beam in Gradient mode, where the light is hottest.
Gradient Midcolor, default RGB(255,166,92)
The colour partway out along the ray, the middle stop of the gradient.
Gradient Outercolor, default RGB(92,122,255)
The colour at the far end of the ray. A cool outer against a warm core is what reads as light travelling through air.
Saturation0-200, default 100
Saturation of the finished rays, whichever colour mode produced them. 100 leaves them as generated.
OVN SignatureCore0-400, default 60
Gain on the Core lobe, the short steep transport that hugs the source silhouette. A single lobe reads as a smear; the core is what makes energy pile up against the edge first and then release, which is what reads as light rather than blur.
Core Size1-100, default 14
How far the Core lobe reaches, as a fraction of the full ray reach. Small values keep it tight to the silhouette, large ones let it merge into the veil.
Breath0-100, default 30
Modulates the veil with a continuous angular harmonic field, so the beam breathes instead of sitting dead. It is analytic rather than sampled noise, which is why it cannot crawl or flicker at any frame rate or under motion blur.
Breath Rate0-4, default 0.12
How fast that modulation drifts, in cycles per second. Low values give a slow swell; high values a restless shimmer.
Generatebutton
Rolls a completely new Light DNA, which is the seed behind Breath and the atmosphere detail. Press it until the character of the light suits the shot.
Mutatebutton
Nudges the current Light DNA into a related variant instead of replacing it, so you keep the look you found and explore around it.
Atmosphere DetailHaze0-400, default 12
Broad scatter added back on top of the transported light, filling the space around the beam. This is the soft bloom that sits between the rays rather than along them.
Dust Detail1-8, default 2
Harmonic order of the atmospheric structure. Higher values put finer striation into the haze, as if the air carried more dust.
Drift Rate0-4, default 0.07
How fast the atmospheric detail moves, in cycles per second. Keep it low: air drifts, it does not race.
GeometryShaft Angleangle, default -60
Direction of the parallel beam in Shaft style, ignored by the radial styles. This is the control that aims a window-light shaft across the frame.
Shaft Width1-2000, default 60
Perpendicular width of the shaft in pixels, the Shaft-style equivalent of Spread.
Both Directionscheckbox, default off
Smears the shaft both ways instead of one, which is how you get a symmetrical anamorphic streak rather than a directional beam.
Reverse Rays0-100, default 0
Sends part of the light inward, toward the source, instead of outward. A small amount reads as light falling into the emitter and thickens the core.
Falloff0.2-4, default 1
Exponent of the radial brightness profile. Above 1 the light drops off faster and stays close to the source; below 1 it carries further before fading.
Bias Outer0-100, default 0
Pushes brightness outward along the ray, so the far end holds up rather than fading. Useful when a long ray dies before it reaches the edge of frame.
Motion ResponseEnable Motion Responsecheckbox, default off
Lets the rays react to the source point moving. Off by default, and it is a modulator rather than a gate, so turning it on with the defaults changes very little.
Drag0-100, default 50
How much the rays stretch into the direction of travel while the source moves, the optical drag of a light being whipped across frame.
Compress On Stop0-100, default 40
How much the core compresses when the motion stops, so the light snaps back rather than simply freezing.
QualityQualitypopup: Auto / Draft / Normal / Best, default Auto
Overall render quality. Auto follows the comp's resolution setting, which is usually what you want; force Best only if a final render shows softness in the transport.
Ray Resolutionpopup: Auto / Full / 1/2 / 1/4, default Auto
How far below render resolution the polar grid is built. The transport is band-limited by construction, so half resolution is visually near-free and is the default.
Light Spacepopup: Auto / Linear / Working, default Auto
Which space the light is transported in. Linear is physically correct, Working matches the project's colour settings, and Auto picks the right one for the project.
Extend Beyond Layercheckbox, default on
Lets the rays draw outside the layer's own bounds instead of being cut off at its edge. Leave it on for anything but a full-frame layer.
Extend Limit0-2000, default 400
How far past the layer edge the rays may reach, in pixels. It caps the buffer the effect asks After Effects for, so raise it only as far as the shot actually needs.
OutputBlend Modepopup: Add / Screen / Over / Lighten, default Screen
How the rays are combined with the layer: Add for pure light, Screen for a gentler version of the same, Over to composite them as opaque, and Lighten to keep only what is brighter.
Rays Under Sourcecheckbox, default off
Puts the rays behind the layer instead of in front, so a logo stays crisp and the light comes out from behind it.
Source Opacity0-100, default 100
How much of the original layer is kept in the result. Drop it to fade the source out while the light it throws remains.
Rays Add To Alphacheckbox, default on
Lets the rays contribute to the output alpha, so the glow survives when the layer is composited further downstream. Turn it off to keep the original silhouette exactly.
Viewpopup: Result / Rays Only / Emitter, default Result
Switches between the finished Result, the Rays Only pass, and the Emitter itself. The Emitter view is the fastest way to dial Threshold and Soft Knee.
Blend0-100, default 100
Blends the whole effect back toward the untouched layer. 100 is fully on.
Procedural rain on glass: refractive sliding droplets with trails, condensation fog with hand-wipe reveal, and falling rain behind the glass. Deterministic and perfectly loopable.
MainRain Amount0-200, default 80
Master density for all the droplets on the glass, scaling both the sliding drops and the static condensation drops at once. Turn it to 0 to clear the glass of drops entirely.
Speed0-400, default 150
Global time scale for every animated element: how fast drops slide, condensation cycles, and rain streaks fall. At 0 the whole effect freezes into a still frame.
Size4-200, default 70
Base droplet scale in full-resolution pixels, which also drives the spacing of drops and the size of the behind-glass streaks. Larger values give fewer, chunkier drops; smaller values give a fine misted look.
Refraction0-200%, default 100
How strongly each drop acts as a lens, showing an inverted, minified image of the scene behind it (the classic upside-down-world look). At 0 the drops barely bend the image; higher values fully invert what shows through each drop.
DropletsSliding Drops0-200%, default 100
Density of the larger drops that run down the glass leaving wet paths. Lower it to thin out the runners, raise it for a heavily streaming pane.
Slide Directionangle, default 0 deg
Direction the sliding drops travel, with 0 degrees being straight down. Use it to imply wind or a tilted surface so the runners drift diagonally.
Condensation Drops0-200, default 80
Density of the small static drops that grow, sit, and evaporate in place without sliding, like breath fog on cold glass. These are cleared wherever the wipe reveal passes.
Trail Length0-200%, default 100
Length of the wet track a sliding drop leaves behind it, made of trailing micro-drops plus a clear wet streak that wipes the fog away. Set to 0 for clean drops with no tails.
Wiggle0-200%, default 100
How much the sliding drops meander sideways and jitter as they descend instead of falling in a perfectly straight line. Higher values give a more organic, wandering path.
Shading0-200%, default 80
Strength of the 3D shading on each drop: darkened rims from the glass thickness plus a small specular glint. Raising it makes the drops read as more rounded and glassy.
Light Angleangle, default 135 deg
Direction of the light used for the specular highlight on the drops. Rotate it to move the shiny glint around each drop to match your scene lighting.
Glass & FogCondensation Fog0-100, default 5
Amount of misty condensation haze over the glass, which blurs and washes out the background. Drops and wet trails punch back through the fog to stay clear.
Fog Brightness-100 to 100, default 15
Lifts or darkens the fog tint, letting the condensation read as bright white steam or a darker grey haze. Positive values brighten, negative values deepen it.
Fog Blur0-200 px, default 60
Extra softening applied inside the fogged areas on top of the background defocus, so misted regions look heavily out of focus. Higher values make the fog thicker and creamier.
Background Blur0-150, default 5
Defocus applied to the whole scene seen through the glass, as if the camera is focused on the pane rather than the world beyond. Adds depth and sells the shallow-focus rainy-window look.
Wipe RevealWipe Amount0-100%, default 0
How much a circular hand-wipe clears the fog and condensation to reveal the scene behind. Animate it up to smear a clean spot open, or keep at 0 for none.
Wipe Centerpoint, default 50%, 50%
The center of the wiped-clear region on the glass. Keyframe it to drag the clear patch around like a hand moving across the pane.
Wipe Size10-4000 px, default 400
Radius of the wiped-clear circle in full-resolution pixels. Larger values open a bigger window through the fog.
Wipe Softness0-100%, default 30
How gradual the edge of the wipe is, from a hard-edged smear to a soft feathered falloff. Higher values blend the clear patch smoothly into the surrounding fog.
Rain Behind GlassStreak Amount0-200%, default 40
Density of the falling-rain streaks rendered behind the glass and lit by the background, in near and far layers for depth. Set to 0 to remove the falling rain entirely.
Streak Angleangle, default 8 deg
Slant of the falling rain streaks to suggest wind blowing the rain across the frame. Small angles read as gentle drizzle, larger angles as a driving storm.
Streak Brightness0-200%, default 60
How bright the rain streaks glow, scaled by the local background luminance so they catch light where the scene is bright. Raise it to make the rain pop against a dark backdrop.
Streak Length10-300%, default 100
Length of each falling rain streak, from short dashes to long stretched lines. Longer streaks imply faster, heavier rain.
AnimationSeed0-1000, integer, default 1
Random seed for the entire drop and streak pattern. Change it to get a completely different arrangement of drops without altering any other setting.
Loop (Seconds, 0 = Off)0-60 s, default 0
Sets a perfect-loop period in seconds so the animation repeats seamlessly for overlays and backgrounds. Leave at 0 for free-running rain that never repeats.
OutputOutputpopup: Rendered / Droplet Map / Fog Matte, default Rendered
Chooses what the effect returns: the full rendered rain-on-glass, a white-on-black droplet coverage map, or the fog matte. The map and matte modes are handy as luma mattes or to drive other effects.
Mix with Original0-100%, default 100
Blends the finished result back against the untouched source layer. Pull it below 100 to dial in a subtler rain pass over the original footage.
A motion-aware echo: it measures motion per pixel, so only what actually moves leaves a trail.
Frames On TimelineFrame Count1-64, default 16, integer
How many timeline frames are gathered to feed the motion analysis and the trail. More frames mean longer, smoother echoes but a heavier checkout and render cost; 64 is the hard ceiling for extreme streaks.
Time Step0-60, default 1, hundredths
The spacing between each gathered sample on the timeline, measured in the unit set below. Larger steps reach further back or forward and space the ghosts wider apart; smaller steps pack them tight for a dense continuous streak.
Step Unitpopup: Frames / Seconds, default Frames
Whether Time Step is counted in frames or in seconds. Use Seconds when you want the trail reach to stay consistent across comps of different frame rates.
Trail Directionpopup: Past / Future / Both, default Past
Which way in time the samples are pulled: Past trails behind the motion (classic echo), Future leads ahead of it, and Both fans the trail out symmetrically in both directions.
Edge Timepopup: Clamp / Loop / Mirror, default Clamp
What happens when a sample lands before the first or after the last frame of the layer. Clamp holds the end frame, Loop wraps around to the other end, and Mirror ping-pongs back into the valid range.
Motion AnalysisMotion Sensitivity0-400%, default 100%, tenths
Gain on the detected per-pixel motion energy. Raise it to make subtle movement register and echo more strongly; lower it so only bold, fast motion leaves a trail.
Motion Threshold0-50%, default 4%, tenths
The noise floor: any pixel with motion below this level is treated as static and produces no trail. Nudge it up to keep grain, compression noise, and tiny jitter from ghosting the whole frame.
Motion Smoothing0-64 px, default 2 px, tenths
Spatial blur applied to the motion field before it drives the echo, which denoises the mask and softens its edges. Higher values give cleaner, smoother trail boundaries at the cost of fine detail in the motion detection.
Static Echo0-100%, default 0%, tenths
How much non-moving pixels are still allowed to echo. At 0 the effect is fully motion-gated (only moving areas trail, a clean plate everywhere else); raise it toward 100 to bring back a conventional whole-frame echo.
Energy Curve0.2-5, default 1, hundredths
A gamma applied to the motion energy that reshapes the falloff between still and moving areas. Below 1 lifts weak motion so more of the frame echoes; above 1 crushes it so only the strongest motion survives.
Echo ModelModelpopup: Motion Energy / Velocity Trails / Ghost Frames / Material Trail, default Motion Energy
Picks what the motion field drives. Motion Energy renders the raw per-pixel motion as a heat ramp, Velocity Trails streak fast pixels far and slow ones barely, Ghost Frames stamps discrete motion-gated multi-exposures, and Material Trail smears the subject's own color along its estimated motion direction.
Trail Length0-100%, default 70%, tenths
The base reach of the echo into the gathered sequence, before local speed modulates it. Higher values push the streak or ghost stack further from the subject.
Trail Decay0-100%, default 65%, tenths
How quickly the trail fades along its length. Low decay keeps distant ghosts bright and solid; high decay fades them out fast for a short, punchy tail.
Velocity Response0-100%, default 100%, tenths
How much a pixel's local speed modulates its trail length and brightness. At 0 every moving pixel echoes uniformly; at 100 the trail is fully velocity-driven so fast areas streak long and slow areas stay short.
LookTrail Compositepopup: Add / Screen / Lighten / Over / Behind, default Screen
The blend mode used to lay the trail back over the original plate. Add and Screen glow, Lighten keeps the brightest, Over stacks it opaquely on top, and Behind tucks it under the subject so it only shows through transparent areas.
Trail Colorpopup: From Source / Tint / Energy Ramp, default From Source
Where the trail gets its color. From Source keeps the moving subject's own pixels, Tint recolors the whole trail with the Tint Color, and Energy Ramp maps trail intensity across the Energy Low to Energy High gradient.
Tint Colorcolor, default RGB 0,200,255 (cyan)
The single color the trail is dyed with when Trail Color is set to Tint. Only active in Tint mode.
Energy Lowcolor, default RGB 10,30,120 (deep blue)
The cold end of the gradient used by the Motion Energy view and the Energy Ramp trail color, mapped to the weakest motion or dimmest trail. Active only when a ramp is in play.
Energy Highcolor, default RGB 255,90,0 (orange)
The hot end of that same gradient, mapped to the strongest motion or brightest trail. Active only when Motion Energy or Energy Ramp is in use.
Linear-Light Blendingcheckbox, default on
Blends and accumulates the trail in linear light rather than gamma space for physically correct, cleaner-looking overlaps. Turn it off to match a legacy gamma-space look.
OutputTrails Onlycheckbox, default off
Outputs just the trails on a transparent plate, dropping the original layer entirely. Ideal for stacking the echo on its own layer or grading it separately.
Opacity (Dry / Wet)0-100%, default 100%, tenths
The overall mix between the untouched input (dry) and the full echo result (wet). Pull it down to dial the whole effect back or keyframe it in and out.
A broken analog-TV damage effect that layers multipath ghosting, horizontal/vertical hold failures, rolling hum bars, RF interference, snow, chroma stripes, tape dropouts, chunky broadcast pixels and the classic CRT power-off collapse onto your footage.
MainModepopup: Color TV / Mono B&W, default Color TV
Switches the whole simulation between a color TV signal and a monochrome black-and-white set. Mono strips chroma so artifacts read as an old B&W broadcast.
Damage0-100%, default 45
Master reception-damage amount that scales every artifact at once. Turn it up to intensify the overall broken-signal look without touching each slider.
Amount0-100%, default 100
Blends the damaged result back against the original source. Lower values mix the clean footage back in for a subtler effect.
ReceptionGhosting0-100%, default 55
Adds offset multipath ghost images, the doubled/echoed edges caused by a signal arriving via multiple paths. Higher values push the ghosts further and make them stronger.
Horizontal Hold0-100%, default 40
Introduces horizontal-hold jitter that shifts and tears scanlines sideways. Simulates a set that can't lock the horizontal sync.
Vertical Roll0-100%, default 20
Makes the picture roll vertically as if the vertical hold has slipped. Higher values speed up and strengthen the rolling frame.
Hum Bars0-100%, default 30
Adds rolling brightness bands (power-line hum bars) drifting through the image. Recreates AC interference bleeding into the signal.
NoiseStatic0-100%, default 55
Controls the amplitude of TV snow, the random speckle of a weak signal. Higher values make the static brighter and more prominent.
Static Density0-100%, default 70
Sets how densely the snow speckles cover the frame. Low values give sparse grain, high values fill the picture with noise.
Interference0-100%, default 45
Adds RF interference as scattered colored dots and streaks. Simulates radio-frequency noise breaking into the broadcast.
Color Stripes0-100%, default 25
Introduces chroma phase stripes, the banded color-shift artifacts of a corrupted color subcarrier. Higher values widen and strengthen the striping.
Tape & SignalDropouts0-100%, default 20
Adds VCR-style dropout streaks, the horizontal white/black flecks from worn tape. Higher values produce more frequent and longer dropouts.
TV Pixelsinteger 32-1920, default 480
Sets the effective horizontal pixel/line count of the broadcast, controlling how chunky the picture is. Lower values give a coarse low-resolution signal; higher values keep more detail.
TubeScanlines0-100%, default 25
Overlays CRT scanlines so the image reads as a physical tube screen. Higher values darken the gaps between lines for a stronger scanline pattern.
Vignette0-100%, default 30
Darkens the corners like the edge falloff of a CRT tube. Higher values deepen the vignette toward the frame edges.
Curvature0-100%, default 20
Applies fish-eye/barrel distortion to mimic the bulged glass of a CRT screen. Higher values bow the image outward more strongly.
PowerTurn Off0-100%, default 0
Animates the classic CRT power-off collapse; drive it from 0 to 100 to crush the picture into a bright horizontal line and point. Keyframe it for a switch-off transition.
Motion Speed0-300%, default 100
Master speed for all animated artifacts (roll, hum bars, hold jitter). Values above 100 make everything move faster; lower values slow the motion down.
Replaces one colour with another while the lighting survives: shadows, highlights, texture and gradients all stay, including white to black and grey to gold. Up to eight independent swaps run in one effect.
MainSource Colorcolor, default RGB(200,40,40)
The colour being replaced, normally picked off the footage with the eyedropper. How chromatic it is decides on its own whether the selection keys on hue and chroma or on lightness, so achromatic picks like white or grey work the same way.
Target Colorcolor, default RGB(45,90,215)
The colour it becomes. Lightness is remapped through a monotone curve rather than offset, which is why a white shirt turned black keeps its creases instead of collapsing into a flat silhouette.
Tolerance0-100, default 30
How far from the Source Color a pixel may sit and still be selected, measured as a shading-tolerant distance in Oklab. Raise it until the whole material is caught, including its shaded parts.
Softness0-100, default 50
How gradually the selection falls off at the edge of the tolerance range. Higher values give a smoother matte that hides fringing on compressed or grainy footage.
ShadingMatch Lightness0-100, default 100
How far the swap moves the source's lightness toward the target's. At 100 the target lightness is hit exactly; lower it to keep the material closer to its original brightness while still taking on the new hue.
Preserve Shading0-100, default 100
How much of the original shading survives the swap. At 100 every fold and gradient is kept; at 0 the selection is filled flat with the target colour.
Preserve Detail0-100, default 65
Re-injects the fine texture that the lightness curve compresses away, using an edge-aware split so the detail comes back without haloing along the outline. Raise it when a dark target flattens fabric or skin texture.
ProtectProtect Highlights0-100, default 0
Pulls the effect out of the brightest pixels, so speculars and blown highlights keep their original colour. Useful when a swap makes a glossy material look painted.
Protect Shadows0-100, default 0
Pulls the effect out of the darkest pixels so deep shadows stay neutral instead of taking on the target hue.
Protect Skin Tones0-100, default 0
Weights the selection away from the skin-tone region, so a background swap does not drag faces and hands with it. Raise it only as far as needed, since it also protects anything else in that hue and lightness range.
Color 2Enablecheckbox, default off
Switches this colour group on. Groups 2 to 8 are off by default and cost nothing until enabled, so the effect stays as fast as a single swap unless you need more.
Source Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group replaces. Every enabled group proposes its own target and the proposals are blended by their selection weights, so red to blue and blue to red in one effect works and is order-independent.
Target Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group produces, with the same shading-preserving transfer the first group uses.
Tolerance0-100, default 30
How far from this group's Source Color a pixel may sit and still be selected.
Softness0-100, default 50
How gradually this group's selection falls off at the edge of its tolerance range.
Color 3Enablecheckbox, default off
Switches this colour group on. Groups 2 to 8 are off by default and cost nothing until enabled, so the effect stays as fast as a single swap unless you need more.
Source Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group replaces. Every enabled group proposes its own target and the proposals are blended by their selection weights, so red to blue and blue to red in one effect works and is order-independent.
Target Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group produces, with the same shading-preserving transfer the first group uses.
Tolerance0-100, default 30
How far from this group's Source Color a pixel may sit and still be selected.
Softness0-100, default 50
How gradually this group's selection falls off at the edge of its tolerance range.
Color 4Enablecheckbox, default off
Switches this colour group on. Groups 2 to 8 are off by default and cost nothing until enabled, so the effect stays as fast as a single swap unless you need more.
Source Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group replaces. Every enabled group proposes its own target and the proposals are blended by their selection weights, so red to blue and blue to red in one effect works and is order-independent.
Target Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group produces, with the same shading-preserving transfer the first group uses.
Tolerance0-100, default 30
How far from this group's Source Color a pixel may sit and still be selected.
Softness0-100, default 50
How gradually this group's selection falls off at the edge of its tolerance range.
Color 5Enablecheckbox, default off
Switches this colour group on. Groups 2 to 8 are off by default and cost nothing until enabled, so the effect stays as fast as a single swap unless you need more.
Source Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group replaces. Every enabled group proposes its own target and the proposals are blended by their selection weights, so red to blue and blue to red in one effect works and is order-independent.
Target Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group produces, with the same shading-preserving transfer the first group uses.
Tolerance0-100, default 30
How far from this group's Source Color a pixel may sit and still be selected.
Softness0-100, default 50
How gradually this group's selection falls off at the edge of its tolerance range.
Color 6Enablecheckbox, default off
Switches this colour group on. Groups 2 to 8 are off by default and cost nothing until enabled, so the effect stays as fast as a single swap unless you need more.
Source Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group replaces. Every enabled group proposes its own target and the proposals are blended by their selection weights, so red to blue and blue to red in one effect works and is order-independent.
Target Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group produces, with the same shading-preserving transfer the first group uses.
Tolerance0-100, default 30
How far from this group's Source Color a pixel may sit and still be selected.
Softness0-100, default 50
How gradually this group's selection falls off at the edge of its tolerance range.
Color 7Enablecheckbox, default off
Switches this colour group on. Groups 2 to 8 are off by default and cost nothing until enabled, so the effect stays as fast as a single swap unless you need more.
Source Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group replaces. Every enabled group proposes its own target and the proposals are blended by their selection weights, so red to blue and blue to red in one effect works and is order-independent.
Target Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group produces, with the same shading-preserving transfer the first group uses.
Tolerance0-100, default 30
How far from this group's Source Color a pixel may sit and still be selected.
Softness0-100, default 50
How gradually this group's selection falls off at the edge of its tolerance range.
Color 8Enablecheckbox, default off
Switches this colour group on. Groups 2 to 8 are off by default and cost nothing until enabled, so the effect stays as fast as a single swap unless you need more.
Source Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group replaces. Every enabled group proposes its own target and the proposals are blended by their selection weights, so red to blue and blue to red in one effect works and is order-independent.
Target Colorcolor, default RGB(128,128,128)
The colour this group produces, with the same shading-preserving transfer the first group uses.
Tolerance0-100, default 30
How far from this group's Source Color a pixel may sit and still be selected.
Softness0-100, default 50
How gradually this group's selection falls off at the edge of its tolerance range.
AdvancedMatte Smoothing0-30, default 0
Pre-smooths the image used for selection only, so grain and 8-bit compression blocks do not shred the matte. The output colour always comes from the true pixel, so this never softens the result itself.
Invert Selectioncheckbox, default off
Flips every group's matte, so the swap lands on everything except what was picked. Handy for treating a background by picking the subject.
Solopopup: Off / Color 1 / Color 2 / Color 3 / Color 4 / Color 5 / Color 6 / Color 7 / Color 8, default Off
Shows a single colour group on its own, with the others switched off, so you can dial in one swap without the rest interfering. Set it back to Off before rendering.
Gamut Mappingpopup: Adaptive / Preserve Lightness / Clip / None (HDR), default Adaptive
What happens when a target colour lands outside the displayable range. Adaptive pulls it back while protecting hue, Preserve Lightness holds brightness instead, Clip cuts it hard, and None leaves values untouched for HDR work.
Process In Linear Lightcheckbox, default on
Runs the whole swap in linear light, which is where the colour model is defined. Leave it on unless you are matching a pipeline that deliberately works in the display space.
Viewpopup: Result / Selection / Overlay / Original, default Result
Switches the panel between the finished Result, the raw Selection matte, an Overlay of the matte on the footage, and the untouched Original. Selection and Overlay are for dialling Tolerance and Softness, not for rendering.
Mix0-100, default 100
Blends the finished recolour back toward the original footage. 100 is the full swap; lower it to let some of the original colour show through.
Height-map refraction: bend footage through glass, heat haze, water and force fields with a smooth spectral fringe, not a flat displacement map.
MainStrength (px)0-1000, default 50
Overall bend amount in pixels: how hard the image is pushed along the height map's slope. Flat areas stay put while steep gradients (edges in the map) bend the most, so this scales the whole glass/heat-haze effect.
Displacement Layerlayer picker, default None (self)
The layer read as the height map that drives the bending. Leave it on None and the layer refracts itself for instant heat-haze on footage; pick another layer (noise, gradient, text) to shape the refraction.
Height Frompopup: Luminance / Red / Green / Blue / Alpha, default Luminance
Which channel of the displacement layer is treated as height. Luminance uses overall brightness; choose a specific channel when your map stores the shape in R, G, B, or Alpha.
Invert Heightcheckbox, default off
Flips the height map so peaks become valleys, reversing the direction every slope bends. Use it when the refraction is pushing the wrong way for your map.
ChromaChroma Spread0-200, default 40
How far the color spectrum separates as it refracts: each wavelength is displaced slightly differently along the same slope. At 0 it is pure colorless refraction; higher values push a wider prismatic rainbow fringe onto edges.
Chroma Tint-100 to 100, default 0, float
Shifts the color of the fringe from purple/green at negative values, through natural spectrum at 0, to blue/yellow at positive values. Tune it to match the light or the look you want on the prismatic edge.
Spectrum Steps2-64, default 12, integer
Number of spectral samples used to build the rainbow fringe. Higher counts give a smoother, more continuous gradient (no banded R/G/B ghosts) at the cost of render time; lower counts render faster with a chunkier fringe.
SofteningDetail Smoothness0-200, default 0
Blurs the height map before it bends the image, softening fine detail into broader, more organic slopes. Raise it for smooth flowing glass or gentle heat haze; leave at 0 to keep every sharp detail in the map.
Result Smoothness0-200, default 0
Blurs the final refracted output after bending, for a frosted or soft-glass finish. This softens the image itself rather than the map, so it smooths the refracted result without changing the amount of bend.
OutputEdgespopup: Transparent / Repeat Edges, default Repeat Edges
Decides what gets pulled in when refraction samples outside the frame. Transparent leaves those areas empty (clean for compositing over other layers), while Repeat Edges clamps to the border pixels so the frame stays filled.
Blend (Dry / Wet)0-100%, default 100, float
Mixes the original image (dry) against the fully refracted result (wet), blended in premultiplied space for clean alpha edges. Pull it below 100% to dial the whole effect back in without touching Strength.
A procedural 3D terrain raymarcher: it generates and shades a whole landscape inside your comp, a fractal-noise heightfield with altitude and slope biomes, sun lighting and shadows, optional water, and atmospheric fog, optionally driven by your comp camera.
TerrainNoise Typepopup: fBm (rolling) / Ridged (sharp peaks) / Hybrid multifractal / Billow (dunes) / Eroded (warped ridged), default Ridged
Chooses the fractal regime that shapes the land: rolling hills, sharp mountain ridges, mixed multifractal, dune-like billows, or warped eroded ridges. This sets the fundamental terrain character.
Height0-4000 px, default 780
Vertical scale of the terrain. Higher values raise taller peaks and deeper valleys.
Feature Size100-8000 px, default 2600
Size of the largest landforms. Smaller values pack in more, tighter hills; larger values give broad sweeping mountains.
Detail (Octaves)1-16, default 11
How many noise octaves are layered in. More octaves add finer rock detail at higher render cost.
Roughness0.2-0.85, default 0.47
How much each finer octave contributes. Higher values make the surface rougher and more jagged.
Lacunarity1.5-3.5, default 2.05
Frequency step between octaves. Higher values space the detail levels further apart for a more broken look.
Warp / Erosion0-100, default 0
Domain-warps the noise to fake erosion, bending ridges into more natural, weathered shapes.
Terraces0-100, default 0
Steps the height into flat terraces (rice-paddy / sedimentary look). 0 leaves the terrain smooth.
Terrace Steps2-40, default 6
Number of terrace levels when Terraces is above zero.
Terrain Offset X-50000 to 50000 px, default 0
Scrolls the terrain sideways under the camera. Keyframe it to fly across new ground without moving the camera.
Terrain Offset Z-50000 to 50000 px, default 0
Scrolls the terrain forward/back. Combine with Offset X to travel over the landscape.
Random Seed0-9999, default 7
Seed for the terrain shape. Change it to roll a completely different but repeatable landscape.
ViewUse Comp Cameracheckbox, default off
When on, the render is driven by the comp's own 3D camera instead of the built-in camera controls below, so Ridge moves with your scene.
Camera Height10-8000, default 400
Height of the built-in camera above the terrain. Higher gives a more aerial view.
Pitch (Look Down -)-89 to 89 deg, default -7
Tilt of the built-in camera. Negative looks down onto the terrain, positive looks up toward the sky.
Headingangle, default 0deg
Which compass direction the built-in camera faces. Keyframe to pan across the scene.
Focal Length (mm)10-300 mm, default 32
Lens focal length of the built-in camera. Low is wide-angle, high is telephoto/compressed.
Position X (Fly)-1000000 to 1000000, default 0, integer
World X position of the built-in camera, for flying through the scene.
Position Z (Fly)-1000000 to 1000000, default 0, integer
World Z position of the built-in camera, for flying forward through the scene.
LightingSun Azimuthangle, default 132deg
Compass direction the sun comes from, setting where shadows fall.
Sun Elevation-10 to 90 deg, default 26
Height of the sun above the horizon. Low gives long dramatic shadows and golden-hour raking light; high is midday.
Sun Colorcolor, default warm RGB(255,230,194)
Color of the direct sunlight. Warm for sunset, cool for overcast.
Light Strength0-300, default 125
Intensity of the direct sun lighting on the terrain.
Sky / Ambient Light0-150, default 55
Fill light from the sky that lifts the shadows. Higher flattens contrast.
Cast Shadowscheckbox, default on
Ray-marched terrain self-shadowing. Off is faster but flatter.
Shadow Softness0-100, default 50
How soft the shadow edges are. Higher softens for a hazier, penumbra look.
Material / BiomesBiome Amount0-100, default 92
How strongly the altitude/slope biome coloring is applied versus plain rock. 0 is bare rock everywhere.
Rock Colorcolor, default RGB(102,94,89)
Base rock color used on steep faces and where no other biome applies.
Grass Colorcolor, default RGB(69,92,46)
Color of the grass biome on gentle low-altitude ground.
Grass Max Height0-100, default 32
Altitude ceiling for grass. Above this, grass gives way to rock/snow.
Grass Max Slope0-80 deg, default 30
Steepest slope grass will grow on. Steeper faces stay rock.
Snow Colorcolor, default near-white RGB(245,247,255)
Color of the snow biome on high peaks.
Snow Min Height0-100, default 58
Altitude at which snow starts to appear. Lower brings the snowline down.
Snow Max Slope0-80 deg, default 38
Steepest slope snow will settle on; steeper faces stay bare rock.
Sand Colorcolor, default RGB(194,179,128)
Color of the shore/beach biome around low ground and water edges.
Shore Height0-100, default 6
How high the sand band reaches above the lowest ground / water level.
Edge Breakup0-200, default 110
Noisy variation along biome boundaries so the transitions look natural instead of banded.
Specular0-100, default 5
Specular sheen on the terrain surface. Small amounts add subtle wet-rock highlights.
WaterEnable Watercheckbox, default off
Adds a reflective water plane that floods the terrain up to the Water Level.
Water Level0-100, default 20
Height the water fills to. Higher drowns more of the terrain into lakes and seas.
Shallow Colorcolor, default RGB(26,77,97)
Water color in shallow areas near the shore.
Deep Colorcolor, default RGB(5,23,38)
Water color in deep areas, blended with Shallow by depth.
Ripple Amount0-300, default 100
Strength of the animated surface ripples on the water.
Ripple Scale1-500, default 60
Size of the water ripples. Smaller is choppier, larger is smoother swell.
Ripple Speed-300 to 300, default 30
How fast the ripples move; sign flips the direction.
Reflectivity0-100, default 70
How mirror-like the water is, reflecting the sky and terrain.
Sun Glint0-100, default 60
Brightness of the specular sun sparkle on the water surface.
Atmosphere / SkyEnable Atmospherecheckbox, default on
Renders a gradient sky plus distance haze. Off gives a plain space background.
Sky Zenith Colorcolor, default RGB(71,117,184)
Sky color straight overhead.
Sky Horizon Colorcolor, default RGB(199,214,230)
Sky color at the horizon, blended up to the zenith.
Fog Density0-400, default 130
How quickly distance haze builds up, fading far terrain into the sky for depth.
Fog Height Falloff0-300, default 100
How fast the fog thins with altitude, keeping peaks clear while valleys stay hazy.
Sun Diskcheckbox, default on
Draws a visible sun disk in the sky at the sun's direction.
Space Color (No Atmos)color, default RGB(0,0,0)
Background color used when Enable Atmosphere is off.
Transparent Skycheckbox, default off
Outputs the terrain with a clear (alpha) sky so you can composite it over your own background.
Sky Texture Layerlayer, default none
Optional layer used as a custom sky/environment instead of the built-in gradient.
Sky Layer Mappingpopup: Screen (backdrop) / Dome (360 environment), default Screen (backdrop)
How the Sky Texture Layer is applied: flat behind the scene, or wrapped as a 360 dome that reflects in water.
PostDepth of Fieldcheckbox, default off
Adds camera depth-of-field blur based on distance.
Focus Distance0-40000, default 4000
Distance that stays sharp when Depth of Field is on.
Blur Amount0-40, default 6
Strength of the out-of-focus blur.
Qualitypopup: Draft / Normal / High, default Normal
Raymarch quality versus speed. Draft for previewing, High for final renders.
Anti-Aliaspopup: 1x (fast) / 2x / 4x (slow), default 1x (fast)
Edge supersampling. Raise for cleaner ridgelines in final output at higher cost.
OutputOpacity0-100, default 100
Overall opacity of the rendered terrain.
Composite On Originalcheckbox, default off
Draws the terrain over the source layer instead of replacing it.
Physically shaded 3D water ripples over any layer: one analytic height field drives refraction, specular glints, Fresnel and depth relief, with Puddle, Drop and Rain emission, no keyframes, deterministic and loopable.
MainAmountFloat slider, 0-200%, default 100
Master strength of the whole ripple effect. Scales every wave's displacement and shading at once; 0 leaves the layer untouched.
Ripple Scale6-600, default 90
Wavelength / feature size of the ripples in pixels. Smaller values pack in tight fine wavelets, larger values give broad slow swells.
Speed0-400, default 100
How fast rings expand outward and the surface shimmers. 0 freezes the water into a still relief.
CenterPoint, default 50%, 50% (layer center)
Impact / puddle center where ripples originate. Drives the origin of Puddle rings and the reference point for the emission modes.
EmissionModePopup: Puddle | Drop | Rain, default Drop
Chooses how ripples are generated: Puddle is a continuous ring-train, Drop fires periodic single impacts, Rain scatters many random impacts. The relevant sub-controls below apply per mode.
RingsFloat slider, 0-100%, default 45
Richness of the wave train, i.e. how many concentric rings ride out from each impact. Low values give a clean single pulse, high values a busy rippling wake.
Inner RadiusFloat slider, 0-100%, default 0
Puddle only: size of a calm flat zone around the center before ripples begin. 0 starts ripples right at the center.
Outer RadiusFloat slider, 2-150%, default 90
Puddle only: distance at which ripples fade out. Sets how far the disturbance reaches across the layer.
Drop Interval (sec)0-30, default 1.4
Drop only: seconds between successive drop impacts. Set near 0 for a single one-shot impact.
Rain Drops1-64, default 14, integer
Rain only: number of concurrent drop impacts active at once. Higher counts build a dense, chaotic rain-on-water surface.
Lifetime (sec)0.05-60, default 3
Drop / Rain only: how long each impact's ripples live before fading. Longer lifetimes leave lingering overlapping wakes.
3D SurfaceReliefFloat slider, 0-200%, default 65
Strength of the depth / relief shading that makes the water read as a raised 3D surface rather than a flat distortion.
Refraction0-200, default 30
How far the water bends the underlying layer, in pixels. This is the see-through lensing that pulls the background around each wave.
Chromatic DispersionFloat slider, 0-100%, default 12
Splits the refracted colors slightly by wavelength for a prismatic rainbow fringe at the wave edges. 0 keeps refraction color-neutral.
SpecularFloat slider, 0-200%, default 70
Intensity of the Blinn specular glints where the light catches wave crests. Adds bright sparkle to the surface.
Glossiness2-200, default 60
Specular exponent controlling glint tightness. Low values give broad soft highlights, high values sharp pinpoint sparkles.
FresnelFloat slider, 0-100%, default 35
Fresnel rim sheen that brightens the water at grazing angles, the way real water lights up toward its edges.
Light DirectionAngle, default 135 deg
Compass direction the key light comes from, setting where specular glints and relief shadows fall.
Light HeightFloat slider, 0-100%, default 55
Elevation of the light above the surface. Low keeps the light near the horizon for long raking highlights, high puts it overhead.
Water ColorColor, default RGB(90,160,205) (blue)
Tint color mixed into the water body. Works together with Water Tint to color the surface.
Water TintFloat slider, 0-100%, default 12
Amount of the Water Color blended into the result. 0 leaves the underlying layer's own colors.
Perspective3D TiltFloat slider, 0-100%, default 0
Tilts the flat ripple plane into a receding 3D floor seen in perspective. 0 is a straight top-down view.
HorizonFloat slider, 0-100%, default 35
Position of the horizon line when 3D Tilt is used, controlling how far back the tilted water plane recedes.
ShapeRel HeightFloat slider, 20-300%, default 100
Elliptical stretch of the rings. 100 keeps them perfectly circular; other values squash or elongate them into ovals.
RotateAngle, default 0 deg
Rotation of the elliptical ripples. Only visible when Rel Height is not 100.
AnimationRandom SeedInteger slider, 0-1000, default 1
Seed for the deterministic randomness (Rain drop placement, timing). Change it to get a different but repeatable pattern.
Loop Duration (sec)0-60, default 0
Length of a seamless loop in seconds. 0 runs free (non-looping); any positive value makes the motion repeat perfectly over that span.
OutputQualityPopup: Draft | Normal | High, default Normal
Render quality / sampling tradeoff. Draft is fastest for previewing, High refines the ripple detail for final renders.
ViewPopup: Rendered | Height Map | Normal Map | Displacement Map, default Rendered
Switches between the final shaded result and diagnostic passes (height, normal, displacement) useful for debugging or feeding other effects.
EdgesPopup: Transparent | Repeat | Reflect, default Transparent
How refraction samples beyond the layer bounds: leave transparent, tile the edge (Repeat), or mirror it (Reflect) to avoid empty gaps.
MixFloat slider, 0-100%, default 100
Blend between the original layer (0) and the full ripple result (100). Lets you dial the effect back for a subtle overlay.
Modern screen emulator: hyper-real macro LCD/OLED/LED looks with 3D perspective, depth of field and bloom.
MainScreen Pixels8-2000, default 160, integer slider
Sets how many emulated display pixels span the width of the frame. Low values give a chunky LED-wall or macro look, high values give a fine retina-panel feel.
Panel Typepopup: RGB Stripe (LCD) / BGR Stripe (LCD) / OLED PenTile / OLED RGBW / LED Wall / Monochrome LCD, default RGB Stripe (LCD)
Chooses the real subpixel geometry drawn inside each pixel cell, from classic vertical LCD stripes and diamond OLED PenTile to an RGBW layout, a coarse LED video wall, and a single-emitter monochrome panel. This is the core look of the display being faked.
Pixel Gap0-90%, default 35, tenths
Widens the dark grid gap between pixel cells. Higher values expose more black between subpixels for a visible screen-door / matrix texture.
Pixel Softness0-100%, default 25, tenths
Softens the edges of each subpixel emitter from crisp rectangles toward a soft glow. Raise it to blur hard pixel boundaries, lower it for a sharp, technical panel.
Exposure0-4, default 1
Linear brightness gain on the light emitted by the panel. Because output keeps HDR headroom, pushing this drives the bright subpixels into bloom.
Auto Exposurecheckbox, default off
Normalizes the panel brightness to the mean luminance of the source so different clips read at a consistent level. Turn it on to stop dark or bright footage from over- or under-driving the emitters.
Camera & LensTilt X-75 to 75 deg, default 0, tenths
Pitches the virtual screen forward or back in 3D for a real perspective foreshortening. Zero is head-on, extremes give a steep raking macro angle.
Tilt Y-75 to 75 deg, default 0, tenths
Yaws the screen left or right in 3D so one side recedes into the frame. Combine with Tilt X for a convincing off-axis product-shot angle.
Roll-180 to 180 deg, default 0, tenths
Rotates the panel around the lens axis, tilting the whole pixel grid on screen.
Zoom10-1000, default 100
Scales how much of the panel fills the frame; higher zoom pushes in for a tighter macro crop of fewer, larger pixels. Values are clamped to a sane minimum internally.
Auto Zoomcheckbox, default on
Automatically rescales the tilted screen so no empty edges are ever visible in the frame. Leave it on when tilting hard; turn it off for manual framing control.
Focus Pointpoint, default (50%, 50%) = center
Sets where the virtual lens focuses; the depth at this point becomes the sharp focal plane for depth of field. Drag it onto the part of the panel you want tack-sharp.
Depth Of Field0-100%, default 20, tenths
Strength of the lens blur that grows with distance from the focus plane, so tilted pixels defocus toward the edges. Higher values give a shallower, more macro-lens look.
Chromatic Aberration0-100%, default 15, tenths
Adds lens color fringing that splits red/blue toward the frame edges. A little sells the real-camera-through-glass feel; a lot gives a heavy prism edge.
Vignette0-100%, default 20, tenths
Darkens the corners with a lens light falloff. Use it to focus the eye on the center of the panel.
Film Grain0-100%, default 10, tenths
Adds animated, tileless camera grain over the whole frame. Keeps the macro shot from looking too clean and digital.
PanelBlack Level (LCD)0-25%, default 5, tenths
Lifts the backlight floor so black pixels glow slightly, as on a real LCD. Set to 0 for OLED-style true black.
Backlight Bleed0-100%, default 20, tenths
Adds uneven light leak in the edges and corners of the panel, the classic cheap-LCD flashlighting. Higher values push more glow inward from the borders.
Bloom0-100%, default 30, tenths
Amount of HDR bloom that spills out of the brightest subpixels into their surroundings. Drives the emissive, glowing quality of a lit display.
Bloom Radius (Pixels)0.5-8, default 1.5, tenths (in screen pixels)
How far the bloom spreads, measured in screen-pixel cells rather than absolute pixels. Small keeps glow tight around each pixel, large washes light across neighbours.
Refresh Band0-100%, default 0, tenths
Intensity of a rolling refresh/scan band that sweeps down the panel, the banding you get when filming a screen. At 0 it is off; raise it for that phone-camera-of-a-monitor artifact.
Refresh Speed0.05-10, default 0.5
How many times per second the refresh band sweeps across the screen. Higher values scroll the band faster; it animates with comp time.
Tintpopup: Neutral / Warm / Cool / Green Phosphor, default Neutral
Picks a display color cast, from warm and cool white points to a retro green-phosphor monitor. Neutral leaves the panel color untouched.
Tint Amount0-100%, default 30, tenths
How strongly the chosen Tint is mixed in. At 0 the tint has no effect regardless of the mode selected.
OutputBackgroundpopup: Transparent / Black, default Transparent
Chooses whether the area outside/behind the emitters stays transparent for compositing or is filled solid black. Use Black for a self-contained screen render, Transparent to layer it over other footage.
Blend With Original0-100%, default 0, tenths
Mixes the untouched source footage back over the screen effect. Raise it to dial back the emulation or blend it partway with the original image.
Procedural camera shake: position, rotation and zoom driven by smooth seeded noise, each with its own frequency, plus motion blur. Reproducible and frame-rate independent.
MainShake Amount (%)0-1000, default 100
Master intensity that scales every motion channel at once. Keyframe it as an envelope to ramp the whole shake in and out; at 0% the frame sits perfectly still with no scale-up.
Frequency0-30, default 8
Base speed of the shake in shakes per second. Low values give slow drifting sway, high values give fast jitter.
Complexity1-6, default 3, integer slider
Number of noise octaves layered into each channel. More octaves add fine, irregular detail on top of the main motion for a busier, less predictable shake.
Seed0-9999, default 7, integer slider
Random seed that decorrelates all six motion channels. Change it to get a completely different trajectory at the same settings.
Stylepopup: Custom / Smooth / Handheld / Rough / Earthquake / Bumpy, default Handheld
Preset noise character that sets how the octaves fall off (persistence and lacunarity). Smooth is soft and floaty, Rough and Bumpy are sharp and edgy, Earthquake is heavy and low; Custom matches the neutral Handheld feel.
Axes (strength per motion)X - Horizontal (%)0-100%, default 100, float slider
Weight for horizontal translation. Drop it to remove side-to-side motion; 0% turns off the X axis entirely.
Y - Vertical (%)0-100%, default 100, float slider
Weight for vertical translation. Drop it to remove up-and-down motion; 0% turns off the Y axis entirely.
Rotation (%)0-100%, default 100, float slider
Weight for the roll/rotation channel. Set to 0% to keep the frame level while everything else still shakes.
Tilt (%)0-100%, default 100, float slider
Weight for the perspective-tilt channel that drives the fake-3D Perspective motion. At 0% the keystone parallax is disabled regardless of the Perspective amount.
Zoom (%)0-100%, default 100, float slider
Weight for the zoom (Z) punch channel. Set to 0% to kill the in/out breathing while other axes keep moving.
PositionPosition (px)0-2000, default 40
Maximum translation of the frame in pixels. This is the core side-to-side and up-and-down travel of the shake.
H / V Balance-100 to 100, default 0, float slider
Biases the translation between horizontal and vertical. -100 gives pure horizontal shake, +100 pure vertical, 0 is even on both.
Position Freq0.1-10, default 1, float slider
Frequency multiplier applied on top of the base Frequency for the position channel only. Use it to make the translation faster or slower than the rest of the motion.
RotationRotation (deg)0-45, default 2.5
Maximum roll of the frame in degrees around the anchor. Small values read as a natural handheld tilt; large values swing hard.
Rotation Freq0.1-10, default 1, float slider
Frequency multiplier for the rotation channel relative to the base Frequency, so the roll can wobble at its own rate.
ZoomZoom (%)0-100, default 8
Maximum zoom punch, the amount the frame pushes in and out around the anchor. Keeps the shake from feeling flat by adding depth pulses.
Zoom Freq0.1-10, default 1, float slider
Frequency multiplier for the zoom channel relative to the base Frequency, letting the in/out breathing run at its own speed.
Perspective (3D)Perspective (%)0-100%, default 0, float slider
Amount of fake-3D keystone parallax, applied as a real animated homography about the anchor. Adds a subtle sense of the camera tilting in 3D rather than sliding flat; off by default.
Perspective Freq0.1-10, default 1, float slider
Frequency multiplier for the perspective-tilt channel relative to the base Frequency.
ImpactTriggerpopup: Continuous / Impact, default Continuous
Continuous runs a steady, ongoing shake. Impact fires a single keyframe-free hit at a set time that then decays away, ideal for punches, explosions and landings.
Impact Time (s)0-60, default 0
The moment in seconds when the Impact hit fires. Only used in Impact mode; before this time the frame is still.
Decay (s)0.05-5, default 0.6
How long the Impact hit takes to fade out, as an exponential decay. Short values snap back quickly, long values let the shake ring on.
Bounce (%)0-100%, default 30, float slider
Adds a springy secondary ripple to the Impact decay so it settles with a wobble instead of a clean fade. 0% is a smooth exponential drop-off.
TransformAnchorpoint, default 50%,50% (layer center)
The pivot that rotation, zoom and perspective move around. Offset it to swing the shake about a corner or off-screen point instead of the frame center.
Overscan (%)0-100, default 0
Manual scale-up headroom so the shifted frame never reveals its edge. It is gated by Shake Amount, so at 0% amount there is no zoom-in at all.
Auto Scale (hide edges)checkbox, default off
Automatically computes the exact scale-up needed so the displacement can never expose an empty edge, on top of any manual Overscan. Because the shake is a bounded noise the fit is exact, not a guess.
Edgespopup: Transparent / Repeat Edges / Mirror, default Mirror
What fills the area outside the original footage when the shake pushes past it. Transparent leaves alpha, Repeat clamps the border pixels, Mirror reflects the image back in for the most seamless look.
Motion BlurMotion Blurcheckbox, default on
Integrates each frame across the shutter window so the blur follows the real shake velocity, unlike AE's generic motion blur. Turn off for crisp, un-blurred frames.
Shutter Angle0-720, default 270
Controls how long the shutter stays open per frame and therefore how much motion blur streaks. Higher angles give longer, smoother trails.
Shutter Samples2-128, default 16, integer slider
Number of sub-samples taken across the shutter window. More samples give smoother blur at the cost of render time; the plugin collapses to one sample when the frame barely moves.
QualitySamplingpopup: Bilinear / Bicubic, default Bicubic
Resampling filter used when the footage is warped through the shake. Bicubic is sharper and cleaner; Bilinear is slightly faster.
Linear Lightcheckbox, default off
Accumulates the motion blur and blend in linear light instead of gamma. Gives more physically correct highlights in the blur streaks, especially on bright edges.
Blend (Dry / Wet)0-100%, default 100, float slider
Mixes the shaken result back against the original untouched frame. 100% is fully shaken; lower values ease the effect in for a subtler move.
Long-exposure / slow-shutter on ordinary footage: integrate light across a shutter window for motion smear, light trails and silky water.
ShutterShutter Duration0-240, default 12, float slider (hundredths)
Length of the virtual exposure window, i.e. how long the trail is. Read in Frames or Seconds depending on the Duration Unit below.
Duration Unitpopup: Frames / Seconds, default Frames
Whether Shutter Duration is measured in frames or in seconds. Seconds keeps the exposure length consistent regardless of comp frame rate.
Samples2-64, default 20, integer
How many real frames are checked out and stacked across the shutter window. More samples means smoother, gap-free trails at the cost of longer renders; up to 64 for extreme exposures.
Directionpopup: Trailing / Centered / Leading, default Trailing
Where the exposure window sits relative to the current frame. Trailing gathers past frames (comet tail behind motion), Centered spans equally before and after, Leading gathers upcoming frames.
Edge Timepopup: Clamp / Loop / Mirror, default Clamp
How sample times that fall outside the layer's duration are handled. Clamp holds the first/last frame, Loop wraps around, Mirror bounces back into range.
Frame Rate (0 = Off)0-60, default 0 (off), float slider (tenths)
Snaps the current time onto a lower fps grid before opening the shutter, for a Posterize-Time-style stutter where each held frame is still a full slow-shutter integration. 0 disables it, and it never snaps at or above the comp's own rate.
ExposureAccumulationpopup: Average (Long Exposure) / Lighten (Light Trails) / Add (Bulb) / Screen, default Average
How the gathered frames combine. Average is the physically-correct long exposure (smooth water/clouds), Lighten keeps the brightest value per pixel (clean light trails), Add builds up light like a bulb exposure, and Screen is a softer additive blend.
Trail Falloff0-100%, default 0, float slider (tenths)
Weights the samples so they decay with distance from the current frame, giving a fading comet tail. 0 exposes every sample evenly; 100 fades the far end of the trail out fast.
Exposure Gain0-800%, default 100, float slider (tenths)
Overall brightness multiplier on the accumulated result, used to compensate exposure. It is the main brightness control for the Add (Bulb) mode where light keeps building up.
Trail Softness0-100%, default 0, float slider (tenths)
Spatially smooths the trail with a separable blur to fill the gaps between the discrete sampled frames, so stacked ghosts blend into continuous blur. Raise it when the trail shows distinct frame steps at low Samples.
Linear-Light Accumulationcheckbox, on by default
Accumulates the frames in linear light rather than gamma space, which is how a real sensor integrates and keeps highlights and blends physically correct. Turn off only for a stylized, punchier look.
Light StreaksStreak Highlights Onlycheckbox, off by default
Isolates the effect to bright moving lights: only pixels above the Highlight Threshold leave a streak, which is added back over the still-sharp current frame. Ideal for traffic, sparkler and star trails without smearing the whole shot.
Highlight Threshold0-100%, default 60, float slider (tenths)
The brightness level a pixel must exceed to leave a streak. Lower it to catch dimmer lights, raise it to keep only the brightest highlights streaking. Only active when Streak Highlights Only is on.
Streak Boost0-400%, default 50, float slider (tenths)
Extra glow gain applied to the isolated streaks so the light trails read brighter than the base frame. Only active when Streak Highlights Only is on.
LookTrail Tint0-100%, default 0 (off), float slider (tenths)
Blends the trail toward the Tint Color for a stylized motion look. 0 leaves the trail its natural color.
Tint Colorcolor, default R80 G180 B255 (light blue)
The color the trail is pushed toward by Trail Tint. Has no effect while Trail Tint is at 0.
OutputBlend (Dry / Wet)0-100%, default 100, float slider (tenths)
Mixes the finished long-exposure result back against the original sharp frame. 100 is the full effect; lower values dial the trail back over the untouched footage.
One hotkey tidies your whole project: it auto-renames layers and sorts the Project panel into folders. It is a workflow tool, not an effect, so there is no panel to keep open and no layer controls.
How it worksTidy hotkeyone shortcut
A single assignable shortcut runs the full cleanup in one pass: layers get sensible auto-names and the Project panel is sorted into folders by type.
Headlessno panel
Runs without a docked panel, so it stays out of your way until you invoke it.
A colormap and false-color engine that remaps luminance or any chosen channel through perceptual and cinematic colormaps, with a custom gradient, posterize, iso-contours, ordered dithering, blend modes and a preserve-luminance mode.
MainColormappopup: Viridis / Magma / Plasma / Inferno / Cividis / Turbo / Grayscale / Sepia / Hot / Cool / Jet / Rainbow / Thermal / Copper / Bone / Ocean / Terrain / Neon / Ember / Custom Gradient, default Viridis
Picks which color ramp the driver value is mapped through. The perceptual maps (Viridis through Turbo) are even-stepping; the classics and Custom Gradient give cinematic or scientific looks. Choosing Custom Gradient activates the five color stops below.
Reverse Colormapcheckbox, default off
Flips the colormap end to end, so dark input reads as the map's high color and bright input as its low color.
Strength0-100%, default 100
Blends the mapped result back against the original image. At 100 the output is fully remapped; lower values mix the source through for a subtler tint.
Blend Modepopup: Normal / Add / Screen / Multiply / Overlay / Soft Light / Color / Luminosity, default Normal
Controls how the colormapped result is combined with the original pixels. Color and Luminosity are useful for recoloring while keeping the source tone or detail.
Preserve Luminancecheckbox, default off
Keeps each pixel's original brightness while applying only the colormap's hue and saturation, so the remap re-tints without shifting exposure.
Custom GradientStop 1 (Low)color, default black (0, 0, 0)
The color at the very bottom of the ramp, used for the darkest driver values. Only active when Colormap is set to Custom Gradient.
Stop 2color, default deep purple (42, 10, 74)
The second gradient stop, sitting a quarter of the way up the ramp.
Stop 3 (Mid)color, default pink (255, 0, 89)
The midpoint color of the custom gradient, mapped to mid-range driver values.
Stop 4color, default warm orange (255, 158, 92)
The fourth gradient stop, three quarters of the way up the ramp.
Stop 5 (High)color, default white (255, 255, 255)
The color at the top of the ramp, used for the brightest driver values.
SourceDriverpopup: Luminance (Rec.709) / Luminance (Linear) / Value (Max RGB) / Min RGB / Average RGB / Red / Green / Blue / Saturation, default Luminance (Rec.709)
Chooses which scalar value drives the colormap lookup. Pick a single channel or saturation to false-color by that property instead of overall brightness.
Black Point0-100%, default 0
Sets the input level that maps to the bottom of the colormap. Raise it to clip shadows into the map's low color and increase contrast in the remap.
White Point0-100%, default 100
Sets the input level that maps to the top of the colormap. Lower it to push highlights into the map's high color.
Gamma0.1-5, default 1
Applies a gamma curve to the driver before lookup, redistributing where mid-tones land on the ramp. Below 1 lifts the midpoint toward high colors; above 1 pushes it toward low colors.
Brightness-100 to 100, default 0
Shifts the driver value up or down before mapping, sliding the whole image along the colormap.
Contrast-100 to 100, default 0
Expands or compresses the driver values around mid-gray before mapping, widening or narrowing the range of colors the map spans.
Invert Inputcheckbox, default off
Inverts the driver value so bright areas read as low map colors and dark areas as high. Differs from Reverse Colormap in that it acts on the input rather than the ramp.
StylizeColormap Repeat1-8, default 1
Tiles the colormap across the input range this many times, producing repeating banded rings of color for a contour-map or thermal look.
Phase (Scroll)angle, default 0deg
Offsets the colormap lookup position, scrolling the colors along the ramp. Animate it for cycling or rolling color motion, especially with Colormap Repeat above 1.
Wrappopup: Clamp / Repeat / Mirror, default Mirror
Determines how lookups past the ramp edges behave when Repeat or Phase push values out of range: Clamp holds the end color, Repeat tiles, Mirror ping-pongs for seamless bands.
Posterize (0 = Off)integer, 0-64, default 0 (off)
Quantizes the mapped output into this many discrete color steps for a banded, poster-like look. Zero disables posterizing.
Contour Linescheckbox, default off
Draws iso-value contour lines over the image at evenly spaced driver levels, like a topographic map.
Contour Levelsinteger, 1-64, default 8
How many contour lines are drawn across the value range. More levels give finer, denser contours.
Contour Width0-100%, default 40
Thickness of the contour lines as a fraction of the spacing between levels.
Contour Colorcolor, default black (0, 0, 0)
The color the contour lines are drawn in.
Dithercheckbox, default on
Applies ordered dithering to the lookup to break up visible color banding in smooth gradients, especially at 8-bpc.
Dither Amount0-400%, default 100
Strength of the ordered dithering. Higher values scatter more aggressively to hide banding; only active when Dither is on.
A camera-aware 3D pattern-field generator that fills your comp's space with a lattice of lit geometric primitives, driven by your footage, with built-in keyframe-free Z-flow motion.
MainPrimitivepopup: Dot / Ring / Square / Cube / Cross / Triangle / Grid Lines, default Dot
Chooses the shape drawn at every lattice node. Ring, Cross and Grid Lines are stroked with the Line Width control while the others are solid fills.
Spacing5-30000, default 100
Distance in pixels between neighbouring nodes of the lattice. Smaller spacing packs more, denser elements into the same volume.
Element Size0-30000, default 30
Base world size in pixels of each primitive before any random, media or motion scaling is applied.
Depth0-30000, default 3000
How far the field extends into Z, in pixels. Larger values create a deeper tunnel of elements running away from the camera.
Random Seed0-9999, default 0, integer
Seeds all the per-element randomness. Change it to get a different but fully repeatable arrangement of the same field.
AppearanceColorColor, default white (255,255,255)
The base color of every element before shading, depth gradient, media tint or per-node color variance modify it.
OpacityFloat slider, 0-100, default 100
Master opacity of the whole field, in percent.
Depth Fade0-30000, default 1200
Width in pixels of the fog band at the far plane where elements fade to nothing. Larger values push the fade deeper for a softer horizon.
Line Width0.5-100, default 3
Stroke thickness in pixels for the outlined primitives (Ring, Cross and Grid Lines).
ShadingEnable ShadingCheckbox, default off
Turns on per-element Lambert diffuse shading so solid primitives catch light and read as 3D rather than flat.
Light AngleAngle, default 135°
Azimuth (compass direction) of the light source that shades the elements.
Light Elevation-90 to 90, default 45
Height of the light above or below the field, in degrees. 90 lights from directly above, negative values light from below.
Shade StrengthFloat slider, 0-200, default 70
Percent intensity of the diffuse shading contribution. Above 100 exaggerates the light-to-shadow contrast.
AmbientFloat slider, 0-100, default 30
Ambient floor in percent, the minimum brightness of shaded elements so shadowed faces never go fully black.
Depth GradientCheckbox, default off
Enables a two-color blend across the field's depth, tinting near elements one color and far elements another.
Near ColorColor, default white (255,255,255)
Color applied to elements closest to the camera when Depth Gradient is on.
Far ColorColor, default blue (60,90,200)
Color applied to elements at the far end of the field when Depth Gradient is on.
TransformRotation XAngle, default 0°
Rotates the entire field around its X axis (pitch).
Rotation YAngle, default 0°
Rotates the entire field around its Y axis (yaw).
Rotation ZAngle, default 0°
Rotates the entire field around its Z axis (roll, in the screen plane).
Uniform ScaleCheckbox, default on
When on, scales the field equally on all axes; turn off to expose the independent per-axis scale sliders below.
Scale X0-1000, default 100
Horizontal scale of the field in percent (used when Uniform Scale is off).
Scale Y0-1000, default 100
Vertical scale of the field in percent (used when Uniform Scale is off).
Scale Z0-1000, default 100
Depth scale of the field in percent (used when Uniform Scale is off).
Offset XYPoint, default (50%, 50%)
Screen-space center of the field, defaulting to the middle of the comp.
Offset Z-20000 to 20000, default 0
Shifts the whole field toward or away from the camera in pixels.
RandomizePosition0-200, default 0
Percent jitter added to each node's position, breaking up the perfect grid into an organic scatter.
ScaleFloat slider, 0-100, default 0
Percent of random size variance from element to element.
RotationAngle, default 0°
Maximum random rotation applied per element, so shapes are turned by varying amounts.
VisibilityFloat slider, 0-100, default 0
Percent of nodes randomly hidden, thinning the field.
ColorFloat slider, 0-100, default 0
Percent of random per-node hue variance around the base color.
OpacityFloat slider, 0-100, default 0
Percent of random per-node opacity variance for a twinkling, uneven look.
Evolve PhaseAngle, default 180°
Spread of the per-node motion phase, so each element's evolve oscillation starts at a different point in its cycle.
Media DrivenSourcepopup: Off / Luminance / Alpha / Luma x Alpha, default Off
Selects which channel of the input footage samples the field. Off ignores the layer; the others turn footage brightness and/or transparency into a per-element driver.
Drive VisibilityFloat slider, 0-100, default 100
How strongly the sampled source controls which elements appear, so footage carves the volumetric field.
Drive ScaleFloat slider, 0-100, default 0
How strongly the sampled source modulates each element's size.
Drive ColorFloat slider, 0-100, default 0
How strongly the sampled source tints each element's color.
MotionFlow Z (px/sec)-5000 to 5000, default 0
Automatic travel speed through Z in pixels per second, creating a wrapping tunnel-flight with no keyframes. Negative values fly the opposite direction.
Drift X (px/sec)-5000 to 5000, default 0
Automatic lateral drift speed in pixels per second, wrapping seamlessly.
Drift Y (px/sec)-5000 to 5000, default 0
Automatic vertical drift speed in pixels per second, wrapping seamlessly.
Evolve Rate (Hz)0-10, default 0.5
Frequency in Hz of each element's built-in oscillation, driving the shimmer of scale and opacity over time.
Evolve AmountFloat slider, 0-100, default 0
Depth of the evolve oscillation in percent, how much the scale and opacity pulse per node.
CropCrop Shapepopup: Off / Box / Sphere / Cylinder, default Off
Clips the field to a volume. Off shows the whole lattice; Box, Sphere and Cylinder confine it to that shape with the extents below.
Crop Radius0-20000, default 1000
Radius in pixels for Sphere and Cylinder crops, and the base half-extent that the box percentages scale from.
Box Extent XFloat slider, 0-300, default 100
Percent width of the Box crop relative to the crop radius.
Box Extent YFloat slider, 0-300, default 100
Percent height of the Box crop relative to the crop radius.
Box Extent ZFloat slider, 0-300, default 100
Percent depth of the Box crop relative to the crop radius.
Crop Center Z-20000 to 20000, default 0
Shifts the center of the crop volume forward or back in Z, in pixels.
Crop Fade0-5000, default 200
Soft falloff width in pixels at the crop boundary so elements fade out rather than clip hard.
CameraUse Comp CameraCheckbox, default on
Projects the field through the comp's active camera so it moves with your scene. Turn off to use the plugin's built-in default camera instead.
OutputBlendpopup: Normal / Add / Screen, default Normal
How the field's elements combine with each other and the background. Add and Screen give glowing, additive results ideal for light-like dots.
Composite On OriginalCheckbox, default on
When on, draws the field over the original footage; turn off to output the field alone on transparency.
Max Elements1000-500000, default 65536, integer
Budget cap on how many elements are drawn, protecting render time when spacing is small or the field is large.
OptionsCentre Frompopup: Offset Values / Layer, default Offset Values
Picks what positions the field: the typed Offset values, or a layer. Switching to Layer greys out the offsets, since only one centre source is live at a time.
Centre Layerlayer, default None
The layer whose world-space position becomes the centre of the field, so a null can drive it instead of typed numbers. It overrides the Offset values outright rather than adding to them.
Rebuild your footage out of hundreds of geometric shapes: a temporally stable, flicker-free geometric stylizer.
MainShapepopup: Lines / Curves / Triangles / Squares / Rectangles / Circles / Diamonds / Hexagons / Mixed, default Lines
Picks the geometric primitive Tessa draws the picture from. Mixed randomly assigns one of the eight shapes to each cell for a varied hand-drawn mosaic.
Density0-100%, default 55, float
Sets how many shapes are packed in, higher values pack a finer lattice of smaller cells for more detail and coverage. This drives shape count independently of Size, so you can go dense without fattening every shape.
Size2-400, default 28
Base size of each shape in full-resolution pixels, scaled automatically for the render resolution. Larger sizes give a bolder, more abstract mosaic; small sizes read closer to the original image.
Size Growth0-100%, default 35, float
Adds per-shape random size variation so shapes are not all identical. At 0 every shape is the same size; higher values create a lively mix of big and small pieces.
Recursion Steps0-12, default 4, integer
For Lines and Curves, how many steps each stroke follows the image contour as a traced polyline, so strokes hug edges instead of being short dashes. 0 gives simple straight strokes; higher values snake longer flowing lines along the detail.
Trace Tolerance0-100%, default 35, float
How forgiving the contour tracer is about brightness change while following an edge. Higher tolerance lets a traced stroke keep going across softer gradients; lower tolerance stops it at sharper edges.
Random Seed1-9999, default 7, integer
Reshuffles all the per-shape randomness (placement jitter, angles, sizes) deterministically. Change it to get a different arrangement while keeping the same overall look.
LookFill Shapescheckbox, default off
Off draws shapes as outlines/strokes; on fills them as solid colored polygons. Filled mode gives a denser paper-cut or stained-glass look, outline mode a sketchy wireframe.
Line Width0.1-40, default 2
Thickness of the stroke or outline in full-resolution pixels. Thin values read as fine pen lines; thick values become chunky ribbons that can nearly fill the frame.
Shape Opacity0-100%, default 100, float
Per-shape opacity, so overlapping shapes build up translucently instead of fully covering each other. Lower it for a layered, watercolor-like accumulation of color.
Edge Align0-100%, default 70, float
Blends each shape's orientation toward the local image edge direction so strokes follow contours and detail. At 0 shapes ignore the image and only use the Orientation angle; at 100 they lock hard to edges wherever the image has strong gradients.
Color Boost0-200%, default 100, float
Saturation of the sampled shape colors around their brightness; 100 is neutral (untouched). Drop toward 0 for near-grayscale pieces, push past 100 for punchy, poster-like color.
OrientationStart Angleangle dial, default 0 degrees
Base rotation applied to every shape before any randomness or edge alignment. Use it to set the dominant direction of strokes across the whole frame.
Angle Randomness0-100%, default 100, float
How much each shape's angle is randomly jittered away from the Start Angle. At 0 all shapes share one clean direction; at 100 orientation is fully scattered within the Angle Range.
Angle Range0-360 degrees, default 360, float
The angular span that Angle Randomness draws from. Narrow it for shapes that fan within a tight wedge around the Start Angle, or leave it at 360 for fully free rotation.
MotionFlow (animated drift)0-100%, default 0, float
Animates a gentle time-based drift of the shapes so a still image shimmers and breathes over the timeline. At 0 the result is perfectly still and frame-stable; raise it for a living, hand-drawn boil.
CompositeFilter Intensity0-100%, default 100, float
Mixes the geometric result back against the original footage. 100 is the full effect; lower it to dial the mosaic in as a subtle treatment over the untouched image.
Backgroundpopup: Original (composite over) / Solid Color / Transparent, default Original
Chooses what fills the gaps between shapes. Original lays the shapes over the source footage, Solid Color uses the Background Color swatch, and Transparent leaves bare alpha to composite on layers below.
Background Colorcolor swatch, default black (0,0,0)
The fill color used when Background is set to Solid Color. Ignored for the Original and Transparent background modes.
Frame-blend time-warp: echo, motion trails and time-smear by blending the layer across many frames, with backward / forward / centered direction.
Frames On TimelineFrame Count1-64, default 12, integer
How many frames of footage are gathered off the timeline and blended into the effect. More frames give longer, smoother smears and echo trails at the cost of render time and memory (hard ceiling 64).
Time Step0-60, default 1
The spacing between each gathered frame, measured in the unit set below. Small steps sample tightly for clean melts, large steps spread the frames apart for stuttered, strobing trails.
Step Unitpopup: Frames / Seconds, default Frames
Whether Time Step is counted in frames or in seconds. Seconds keeps the look consistent when you change the comp frame rate.
Directionpopup: Backward / Forward / Centered, default Backward
Where the gathered frames sit relative to the current frame: Backward reaches into the past (classic trailing echo), Forward into the future, Centered straddles both sides of now for a symmetric smear.
Time Offset-120 to 120, default 0
Shifts the whole sampled sequence earlier or later along the timeline (in the chosen Step Unit). Use it to slide the start of the trail off the current frame.
Edge Timepopup: Clamp / Loop / Mirror, default Clamp
What happens when the gathered times run past the start or end of the footage: Clamp holds the first/last frame, Loop wraps around (and makes the time mapping cyclic for seamless loops), Mirror bounces back.
Time MappingMapping Sourcelayer, default None (self)
The layer whose brightness decides which frame of the sequence each pixel shows. Leave it as None to drive the effect from the footage itself, or pick another layer (a gradient, noise, mask) for full slit-scan control.
Map Channelpopup: Luminance / Red / Green / Blue / Alpha / Brights Only / Darks Only, default Luminance
Which channel of the mapping source is read as the time value. Brights Only and Darks Only restrict the bend to just the light or dark tones (above/below Tone Threshold), leaving the rest of the frame untouched.
Tone Thresholdfloat %, 0-100, default 50, tenths (Brights/Darks Only only)
The tone split point used by the Brights Only and Darks Only channels - only pixels past this level drive the displacement, ramping from here to white (or black). Greyed out for the other channels; 50% matches the classic fixed midpoint.
Invert Mapcheckbox, default off
Flips the mapping so bright areas read as dark and vice versa, reversing which pixels reach forward or backward in the sequence.
Time Curvefloat, 0.2-5, default 1, hundredths
A gamma applied to the map before it picks a frame. Below 1 pushes more pixels toward later frames, above 1 toward earlier ones, letting you bias where the smear concentrates.
Curve Phasefloat %, 0-100, default 0, tenths
Scrolls the whole time mapping through the sequence. Animate it to make the frozen slit-scan move, and with Edge Time set to Loop it cycles seamlessly for endless loops.
Bend Intensityfloat %, 0-100, default 100, tenths
How deep into the gathered sequence the map is allowed to reach. Lower values keep the displacement subtle and close to the current frame; 100% uses the full frame range for extreme smears.
BlendingBlend Modepopup: Crossfade / Echo Add / Echo Screen / Echo Lighten / Echo Darken, default Crossfade
How the sampled frames are combined. Crossfade shows one displaced frame per pixel (true slit-scan / Time Displacement), while the Echo modes stack all the frames as additive, screen, lighten or darken trails.
Blend Softnessfloat %, 0-100, default 100, tenths
The width of the crossfade between adjacent frames in Crossfade mode. 100% is a smooth blend between neighbours; 0% snaps to the nearest frame for hard, stepped Time Displacement-style cuts.
Echo Decayfloat %, 0-100, default 60, tenths
How quickly each successive echo fades along the trail in the Echo blend modes (and the isolated Time Bend Only pass). Low values leave only a short tail, high values keep distant frames strong for long ghost trails.
Linear-Light Blendingcheckbox, default on
Blends the frames in linear light for physically correct crossfades and echoes with no dark fringing. Turn it off only to match legacy gamma-space behavior.
Chromatic TimeChannel Time Split0-100, default 0
Offsets the red, green and blue channels to slightly different points in time, giving a chromatic RGB time-echo along the smear. At 0 the channels stay locked together (no split).
Color SelectionLimit to Colorcheckbox, default off
When on, only pixels matching the Target Color get bent - everything else shows the untouched current frame. Lets you time-smear just one object or color range.
Target Colorcolor, default red (255,0,0)
The color the bend is restricted to when Limit to Color is on. Matching is done in display (sRGB) space so it behaves the same at every bit depth.
Color Tolerancefloat %, 0-100, default 15, tenths
How close a pixel's color must be to the Target Color to be affected, as a fraction of the full RGB range. Higher values catch a wider spread of similar shades.
Color Softnessfloat %, 0-100, default 10, tenths
Feathers the edge of the color selection so the bend fades in gradually around the tolerance boundary instead of cutting hard, avoiding jagged selection edges.
OutputTime Bend Onlycheckbox, default off
Outputs only the isolated time-displaced motion trails on transparency, with the static frame subtracted away - ideal for stacking a glow or screening the trails back over the plate. Dry / Wet then acts as the opacity of this pass.
Blend (Dry / Wet)float %, 0-100, default 100, tenths
Mixes the time-bent result back against the original footage. 100% is the full effect, lower values dial it back toward the untouched frame.
Automatic colour tracking with HUD-style overlays: boxes, markers, vector-font labels, connection lines, grids and readouts, all without a single keyframe. 41 presets write into the real parameters, so a preset is a starting point rather than a mode.
MainPresetpopup: 41 presets, default (Custom)
A complete starting look written straight into the parameters below, from HUD Tactical and Blueprint through Kana Rain to Star Chart. Because it writes the real values, everything stays editable afterwards instead of locking you into a mode.
Track Modepopup: Key Color / Bright Areas / Dark Areas / Key Color (HSL), default Bright Areas
Chooses what the tracker locks onto: pixels near your Key Color (RGB distance), the brightest highlights, the darkest shadows, or Key Color matched in HSL for more forgiving hue-based keying. This is the core decision that determines which blobs in the frame get a HUD overlay.
Key Colorcolor, default white (255,255,255)
The target color the tracker hunts for in the two Key Color modes. Ignored when Track Mode is set to Bright or Dark Areas.
Tolerance0-100%, default 25
How loose the match is: higher values accept colors further from the key (or a wider brightness band in Bright/Dark modes), so more of the frame qualifies as a target. Raise it if nothing is being detected, lower it to isolate only the strongest matches.
Max Targets1-512, default 64
Caps how many detected blobs get an overlay, keeping only the largest ones. Lower it for a clean HUD on a few subjects, raise it for a dense scanner-grid look.
Min Size (px)1-500 px, default 10
Discards any detected blob smaller than this so noise and stray pixels don't sprout boxes. Increase it to ignore small speckles and track only sizable objects.
TrackingQualitypopup: Draft / Normal / High, default Normal
Sets the detection sampling stride: Draft scans every 4th pixel (fastest, chunkier bounds), Normal every 2nd, High every pixel (slowest, tightest bounds). Use Draft while designing and High for the final render.
Detect Blur0-40, default 0
Blurs the frame before detection only, so grain and compression noise do not split one target into several. It never softens the output.
Merge Distance0-200, default 0
Merges targets that end up closer together than this, in pixels. Use it when one object keeps being detected as two or three separate blobs.
Stabilize (Frames)0-4, default 1
Averages target positions over this many previous frames to smooth out jitter as blobs flicker frame to frame. Higher values calm the HUD but add lag to fast-moving subjects; each frame adds a re-detection pass so it costs render time.
Show Maskcheckbox, default off
Displays the raw detection mask instead of the overlay, which is the fastest way to see what Tolerance and Min Size are actually catching.
BoxesBox Stylepopup: Off / Rectangle / Corners / Brackets / Ellipse / Triangle / Star / Lines, default Corners
The shape drawn around each tracked target. Corners and Brackets give the classic AR reticle look, Ellipse/Triangle/Star are decorative alternatives, and Lines draws just top and bottom scan rails.
Box Scale50-300%, default 115
Pads or shrinks the box relative to the detected bounds; 100 hugs the blob exactly, higher values leave breathing room around the subject. Default 115 gives a slight margin so the box frames rather than clips.
Fixed Sizecheckbox, default off
Ignores each target's measured size and draws every box the same size. Useful when the detected blobs pulse and you want the HUD to stay steady.
Fixed Box Size4-800, default 60
The size every box is drawn at when Fixed Size is on, in pixels.
Corner Length5-50%, default 25
Length of the corner or bracket segments as a percentage of the box edge, only relevant for the Corners and Brackets styles. Short values give tiny tick marks, long values close in toward a full outline.
Corner Radius0-100, default 0
Rounds the corners of the rectangular box styles. Ignored by the shapes that have no corners.
Line Width0.5-12 px, default 2
Stroke thickness for the box outlines. Scales with comp downsampling so it looks consistent at any preview resolution.
Stroke Gap0-90, default 0
Opens gaps in the box outline, so the frame reads as a dashed or segmented HUD element rather than a solid rectangle.
Box Opacity0-100, default 100
Opacity of the boxes on their own, independent of the effect's overall Opacity.
Custom Box Colorcheckbox, default off
Lets the boxes use their own colour instead of following the global Colour and Colour Mode.
Box Colorcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
The box colour, used only while Custom Box Color is on.
Fill Modepopup: Solid / Diagonal Hatch / Cross Hatch / Scanlines / Pixelate / Posterize / Invert / Random Patch / X-Ray / Duotone / Glitch, default Solid
How the inside of each box is filled: Solid, hatching, Scanlines, Pixelate, Posterize, Invert, X-Ray, Duotone or Glitch. Several of these treat the footage inside the box rather than covering it.
Fill Opacity0-100%, default 0
Fills the interior of each box with its overlay color at this opacity, drawn beneath all other elements. Left at 0 by default for pure outlines; raise it for a tinted highlight over the subject.
Fill Pattern Scale2-200, default 12
Size of the fill pattern, in pixels. Unused by the fill modes that have no pattern, such as Solid and Invert.
Custom Fill Colorcheckbox, default off
Lets the fill use its own colour rather than following the global one.
Fill Colorcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
The fill colour, used only while Custom Fill Color is on.
Markers & LabelsMarkerpopup: Off / Dot / Cross / Plus / Crosshair, default Plus
Draws a center point glyph at each target's centroid, independent of the box. Handy as a precise lock-on indicator or a minimal alternative to boxes.
Marker Size1-100 px, default 8
Pixel size of the center marker glyph. Larger values make the crosshair or dot read clearly at distance.
Marker Line Width0-12, default 0
Stroke width of the marker. At 0 it follows the box line width instead.
Marker Rotationangle, default 0
Rotates the marker in place, which turns a plus into a cross or angles a reticle.
Polygon Sides3-12, default 6, integer
Number of sides when the marker is a Polygon, from a triangle up to a near-circle.
Filled Markercheckbox, default off
Fills the marker instead of drawing it as an outline. Only applies to the shapes that enclose an area.
Stretch To Boxcheckbox, default off
Stretches a cross or crosshair marker out to the size of its box, so it reads as a target's axes rather than a fixed-size glyph.
Marker Opacity0-100, default 100
Opacity of the markers on their own.
Custom Marker Colorcheckbox, default off
Lets the markers use their own colour rather than the global one.
Marker Colorcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
The marker colour, used only while Custom Marker Color is on.
LabelsLabelpopup: Off / Index / Coordinates / Index + Coordinates / Size / Data: Hex / Data: Binary / Data: Timecode / Data: Kana, default Index
The text tag printed beside each target. Static readouts show its index, X/Y position, or width x height, while the Data modes (Hex, Binary, Timecode, Kana) print live scrolling gibberish for a telemetry or sci-fi HUD feel.
Label Size4-60 px, default 9
Glyph height of the label text. Bump it up for readable callouts or down for dense fine-print HUD clutter.
Label Stylepopup: Plate / Tag / Bare, default Plate
How the label is framed: Plate draws a filled background chip behind the text, Tag adds a connector leader, and Bare prints raw text with no backing. Plate reads best over busy footage.
Data Speed0-30 updates/sec, default 10
How fast the scrolling Data labels (Hex/Binary/Timecode/Kana) refresh their characters over time. Only affects the Data label modes; set to 0 to freeze them.
Font Width20-300, default 100
Horizontal scale of the vector font. Below 100 the glyphs condense, above they widen.
Font Weight20-400, default 100
Stroke weight of the vector font, from hairline to bold.
Letter Spacing0-400, default 100
Tracking between glyphs. Wide spacing is what gives a label its technical, instrumented look.
Glyph Stylepopup: Stroke / Dot Matrix, default Stroke
How the glyphs are drawn: Stroke for a continuous vector line, or Dot Matrix for the segmented look of an industrial display.
Label Anchorpopup: Above Box / Below Box / Left / Right / Center / Inside Top / Inside Bottom, default Above Box
Where the label sits relative to its box: above, below, left, right, centred, or inside the top or bottom edge.
Label Offset X-1000 to 1000, default 0
Nudges the label horizontally from its anchor, in pixels.
Label Offset Y-1000 to 1000, default 0
Nudges the label vertically from its anchor.
Leader Linecheckbox, default off
Draws a thin line from the label back to its box, so an offset label still reads as belonging to its target.
Plate Padding0-200, default 40
How much space the plate leaves around the text, as a percentage of the text size. Only used by the Plate and Tag label styles.
Plate Radius0-100, default 0
Rounds the corners of the label plate.
Plate Colorcolor, default RGB(0,0,0)
Colour of the plate behind the label text.
Plate Opacity0-100, default 50
Opacity of that plate. Lower it to let the footage read through the label background.
Plate Outlinecheckbox, default off
Draws an outline around the plate instead of leaving it as a flat block.
Custom Label Colorcheckbox, default off
Lets the label text use its own colour rather than the global one.
Label Colorcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
The label text colour, used only while Custom Label Color is on.
ConnectionsConnectpopup: Off / Sequential / Star / Full Mesh / Spanning Tree, default Off
Draws lines between tracked targets: Sequential chains them in order, Star links all to one hub, Full Mesh connects every pair, and Spanning Tree builds the shortest connecting network. Turns a scatter of points into a constellation or node graph.
Pathpopup: Straight / Arc / Smooth Spline / Step / PCB Trace, default Straight
The shape of the connection lines: Straight, Arc, Smooth Spline, Step for right-angle routing, or PCB Trace for the 45-degree routing of a circuit board.
Orderpopup: Detection / Distance From Center / Left To Right / Top To Bottom / Largest First, default Detection
The sequence targets are connected in: order of Detection, by distance from the centre, left to right, top to bottom, or largest first. Only used by the Sequential and Star modes.
Neighbours (K)1-16, default 2, integer
How many nearest neighbours each target links to in K-Nearest mode. Low values give a sparse web, high values approach a full mesh.
Random Dropout0-100, default 0
Randomly leaves out a share of the connections, so a dense mesh reads as an incomplete network rather than a solved graph.
Connection Width0.5-8 px, default 1.5
Stroke thickness of the connection lines between targets. Independent of the box Line Width.
Curve-100 to 100, default 0
Bows the connection lines into arcs instead of straight segments; 0 is dead straight, positive and negative bend them to opposite sides by a fraction of the line's length. Adds an organic, flight-path feel to the network.
Bend Balance0-100, default 50
Where the bulge of an Arc path sits along its length, from one end to the other. Only used by the Arc path.
Corner Position0-100, default 50
Where the corner falls along a Step or PCB Trace route, which decides how far the line runs before it turns.
Spline Tension-100 to 100, default 0
How tightly a Smooth Spline hugs its points. Negative values loosen it into wide curves, positive values pull it toward straight segments.
Dash Length0-50 px, default 8
Dash size for the connection lines; 0 draws solid lines, larger values create longer dash-gap patterns. Pairs with Animate Dashes for a marching-ants effect.
Dash Gap5-400, default 70
Length of the gap between dashes, as a percentage of the dash length. Only matters once Dash Length is above zero.
Animate Dashescheckbox, off
Scrolls the dashes along the connection lines over time so they appear to flow between targets. Has no effect when Dash Length is 0.
Arrowscheckbox, off
Adds arrowheads at the end of each connection line to show direction of the link. Useful for Sequential or Star layouts where flow direction matters.
Arrow Size2-40 px, default 8
Pixel size of the connection arrowheads. Only visible when Arrows is enabled.
Arrow Position0-100, default 50
Where the arrowhead sits along the connection, from the start through the middle to the end.
Arrow Angle10-80, default 22
How wide the arrowhead opens, in degrees. Narrow angles give a sharp dart, wide ones a broad chevron.
Filled Arrowcheckbox, default on
Fills the arrowhead rather than drawing it as two open strokes.
Connection Opacity0-100, default 100
Opacity of the connection lines on their own.
Custom Connection Colorcheckbox, default off
Lets the connections use their own colour rather than the global one.
Connection Colorcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
The connection colour, used only while Custom Connection Color is on.
Grid & ReadoutGridpopup: Off / Edge / Cartesian, default Off
Adds a measurement grid: Edge draws rulers around the frame, Cartesian draws the full grid across it. Off leaves the overlay to the targets alone.
Columns1-200, default 24, integer
Number of grid columns across the frame.
Rows1-200, default 14, integer
Number of grid rows down the frame.
Grid Line Width0.3-6, default 1
Stroke width of the grid lines.
Grid Opacity0-100, default 30
Opacity of the grid, usually kept low so it sits behind the targets rather than competing with them.
Custom Grid Colorcheckbox, default off
Lets the grid use its own colour rather than the global one.
Grid Colorcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
The grid colour, used only while Custom Grid Color is on.
Scale Tickscheckbox, default on
Draws tick marks along the rulers, which is what makes the grid read as a measuring instrument rather than a background pattern.
Tick Size2-40, default 8
Length of those tick marks in pixels.
Tick Valuescheckbox, default on
Prints the numeric value next to each tick.
Value Modepopup: Pixels / Percent, default Pixels
Whether those values are shown in Pixels or as a Percent of the frame.
Value Size4-40, default 8
Text size of the tick values.
Scale Padding0-400, default 24
How far the rulers sit in from the frame edge, in pixels.
Projectionspopup: Off / Solid / Dashed, default Off
Drops a line from every target onto both axes, Solid or Dashed, so each one can be read off the scale. This is what turns the overlay into an actual readout.
Projection Dash1-40, default 6
Dash length of those projection lines, used only in Dashed mode.
Projection Opacity0-100, default 70
Opacity of the projection lines.
Projection Valuescheckbox, default off
Prints each target's coordinate where its projection meets the axis.
StyleColor Modepopup: Uniform / Hue Cycle / From Source, default Uniform
Decides how each overlay is colored: Uniform paints everything the single Color below, Hue Cycle gives each target a distinct rotating hue, and From Source samples the tracked pixel's own color so the HUD matches the subject.
Colorcolor, default pink (255,10,85)
The overlay color used in Uniform mode for all boxes, markers, labels, and lines. Ignored in Hue Cycle and From Source modes (though it acts as a fallback when a sampled source pixel is too dark).
Random Seed0-9999, default 0, integer
Seed behind the randomised parts of the overlay: the connection dropout, the random patch fill and the glitch fill. Change it for a different but repeatable arrangement.
Opacity0-100%, default 100
Master opacity of the entire HUD overlay. Dial it back to let the underlying footage read through the graphics.
Glow0-50 px, default 0
Adds a soft luminous halo around all overlay elements for a neon HUD glow. Off by default; raise it for a hologram or scanner aesthetic at some render cost.
Compositepopup: Over Source / Overlay Only, default Over Source
Over Source draws the HUD on top of your footage; Overlay Only outputs just the graphics on a transparent background so you can composite them separately or stack the effect on an adjustment layer.
Authentic analog-tape look from a real composite-video model: tracking wobble, dot crawl, rainbow cross-colour, chroma bleed, snow, dropouts and generation loss.
MainSystempopup: NTSC (525/60) / PAL (625/50), default NTSC (525/60)
Selects the broadcast standard being emulated, which sets the reference line count (486 for NTSC, 576 for PAL) and the color behavior. PAL averages out chroma-phase errors, so hue noise is noticeably tamer than NTSC's 'never the same color twice'.
Tape Formatpopup: VHS / S-VHS / VHS-C / Betamax / VHS LP / EP / Worn Tape, default VHS
Picks the tape stock character, which multiplies the luma softness, chroma bleed, noise, dropout, ringing and aging together. S-VHS and Betamax are cleaner and sharper, LP/EP is mushy, and Worn Tape is a chewed-up worst case.
Generation (Dubs)integer slider 1-8, default 1
Number of tape-to-tape copy generations, applied as real iterative loss: each dub compounds the luma and chroma band-limiting and adds noise. Higher values quickly turn the image soft, smeared and grainy the way a copy-of-a-copy does.
Amountfloat slider 0-100%, default 100, tenths
Master wet/dry mix that blends the fully degraded result back toward the untouched source. Drop it to dial the whole effect in subtly without touching every individual slider.
SignalLuma Softnessfloat slider 0-100%, default 40, tenths
Band-limits the brightness (luma) channel to simulate VHS's narrow luminance bandwidth, softening fine detail horizontally. This is the base blur that reads as 'tape resolution', and it compounds with each generation.
Chroma Bleedfloat slider 0-100%, default 60, tenths
Horizontally smears the color channels far more than the luma, so colors run sideways past their edges. This is the single most recognizable VHS tell, since tape carries far less color bandwidth than brightness.
Dot Crawlfloat slider 0-100%, default 35, tenths
Amount of the crawling checkerboard shimmer that appears along sharp color edges, generated by the composite subcarrier encode/decode rather than an overlay. Most visible where saturated colors meet, and it animates over time.
Rainbow (Cross-Color)float slider 0-100%, default 25, tenths
Strength of false rainbow coloring on fine luma detail (think shimmering hues on fabric weaves or tight patterns), where high-frequency brightness leaks into the color decoder. A true composite cross-color artifact, not a tint.
Hue Noisefloat slider 0-100%, default 20, tenths
Random per-line chroma-phase jitter that makes hues drift and shift unstably, strongest on NTSC. PAL automatically halves this because the standard cancels phase errors between lines.
Ringing / Sharpeningfloat slider 0-100%, default 45, tenths
Adds the bright edge overshoot / haloing that VCR luma peaking circuits produce around high-contrast edges. Gives that crunchy over-sharpened outline typical of consumer decks, scaled by the chosen tape format.
Tape DamageTape Noise (Snow)float slider 0-100%, default 30, tenths
Adds luma and chroma grain (snow) across the frame, intensified inside tracking and head-switch damage bands and by higher generation counts. This is the dusty analog fuzz that sits over everything.
Time-base Wobblefloat slider 0-100%, default 25, tenths
Horizontally displaces each scanline with slow drifting sine waves, making vertical lines wave and shimmer as if the tape transport speed is unstable. Animates continuously at real wall-clock speed regardless of comp frame rate.
Tracking Errorfloat slider 0-100%, default 0, tenths
Introduces a noisy tracking band that rolls through the frame, tearing and desaturating the picture inside it like a mistracked VCR. At 0 the band is off; raising it widens the damaged zone and its horizontal tear.
Tracking Roll Speedfloat slider -100 to 100%, default 30, tenths
Sets how fast the tracking band drifts vertically through the frame and in which direction. 0 holds the band still; negative values roll it the opposite way.
Head Switchingfloat slider 0-100%, default 40, tenths
Controls the classic torn, jittered strip of noise at the very bottom of the frame where the video heads switch. Higher values make the switch line taller and more violently displaced.
Dropoutsfloat slider 0-100%, default 15, tenths
Frequency of short bright horizontal streaks where the tape momentarily loses head contact and drops signal. Reads as flashing white dashes scattered across random lines, scaled up on worn formats.
PictureScanlinesfloat slider 0-100%, default 25, tenths
Darkens alternating interlace lines to suggest the CRT/tape line structure. Higher values deepen the striping for a more overtly retro, low-res look.
Saturationfloat slider 0-200%, default 112, tenths
Overall color intensity, applied in the composite color space. Values under 100 fade colors toward the washed-out tape look; the 112 default gives a slightly punchy analog cast.
Aged Colorfloat slider 0-100%, default 30, tenths
Applies an aged tape color cast, lifting blacks and pushing the image toward a faded, slightly warm/yellow-green vintage tone. Pushes highlights and shadows the way decades-old tape and lamp fade would.
Vignettefloat slider 0-100%, default 25, tenths
Darkens the frame edges and corners for the soft falloff of an old consumer camcorder lens or CRT. Subtle at default, heavy toward 100.
AnimationMotion Speedfloat slider 0-400%, default 100, tenths
Scales how fast the whole animated degradation churns: snow, wobble, tracking roll, dropouts and tears. 100% is natural (~30fps-equivalent), 0% freezes everything into a static paused-tape frame, and higher values speed up the flicker.
Seedinteger slider 0-999, default 0
Random seed for all the noise, dropout and tear patterns. Change it to get a different but equally random-looking variation, or hold it fixed for a repeatable result across renders.
Put any layer under real water: refraction, physically-derived caustics, spectral dispersion, sun glitter and depth tint from one wave field.
MainWave Scale10-1000, default 750
Sets the size of the wave features in pixels, so it acts like a zoom on the whole surface. Small values give tight ripples, large values give broad rolling swells.
Speed0-400%, default 100, float slider
Controls how fast the water evolves over time. 0 freezes the surface for a still, 100 is a natural pace, and higher values churn faster.
Caustics0-400, default 25
Master intensity of the bright light-fold patterns cast on the floor beneath the water. 0 removes them entirely; push past 100 for strong dramatic light webs.
Refraction0-200, default 15
How far the water bends the underlying layer, in pixels of maximum displacement. Higher values make the footage below wobble and warp more strongly through the surface.
Highlights0-400, default 30
Overall strength of the specular sun glitter that sparkles off the wave crests. 0 gives a matte surface; high values scatter bright sparkles across the peaks.
WavesComplexity1-6, default 4, integer slider
Number of noise octaves layered into the wave field. Low is smooth and simple, high adds progressively finer ripple detail on top of the big waves (and costs more to render).
Detail0-100%, default 50, float slider
How much the finer octaves contribute relative to the coarse ones (their persistence). Low keeps the surface soft and smooth, high makes it busy and textured with fine chop.
Layering0-100%, default 60, float slider
Blends in a second wave train crossing the first at an angle, breaking up any repetitive look. Higher values give a more irregular, interfering, natural sea pattern.
Chop0-100%, default 15, float slider
Sharpens the wave crests toward pointed peaks instead of smooth sine humps. Raise it for a rougher, choppier, more wind-blown water surface.
Wind Directionangle, default 25 deg
The direction the waves drift across the frame. The second wave train drifts at an angle offset from this so the motion never looks perfectly uniform.
Wind Speed0-200%, default 40, float slider
How fast the whole wave pattern slides along the wind direction, on top of its in-place evolution. 0 keeps the waves stationary while still animating; higher values scroll them across the surface.
CausticsFocus0-100%, default 55, float slider
Controls the focal depth of the light folds, i.e. how tightly the caustic light concentrates into filaments. Low spreads the light out softly, high pinches it into crisp bright veins.
Softness0-20 px, default 1.2, float slider
A post blur applied to the caustic light field in pixels. Small keeps the light webs razor sharp; raise it to soften them into a gentle shimmer.
Spectral Dispersion0-100%, default 20, float slider
Splits the caustic light into red/green/blue focal shifts so the bright edges fringe with rainbow color, like light through water. 0 keeps the caustics neutral white.
Caustic Colorcolor, default warm white (255,250,240)
The tint of the caustic light itself. Use a warm sunny hue or a cool underwater blue-green to set the mood of the light cast on the floor.
Blend Modepopup: Realistic / Add / Screen, default Realistic
How the caustic light combines with the layer below. Realistic both brightens and darkens like true light, while Add and Screen only lighten for a more stylized glow.
RefractionChromatic Dispersion0-100%, default 15, float slider
Refracts the red, green and blue channels of the underlying layer by slightly different amounts, adding subtle color fringing at the edges of the distortion. Adds a lens-like realism to the bending.
HighlightsGlossiness2-200, default 80, float slider
The specular exponent, i.e. how tight and hard the sun sparkles are. Low gives broad soft sheen; high concentrates the highlights into small sharp glints on the crests.
Light Directionangle, default 135 deg
The compass direction the sun or key light comes from, which sets where the glitter sparkles appear on the waves. Rotate it to match your scene's lighting.
Light Height0-100%, default 55, float slider
The elevation of the light from grazing (low, near the horizon) to overhead zenith (high). Low, raking light throws long spread-out glints; high light keeps them compact and near the crests.
Highlight Colorcolor, default RGB(255,255,255)
The color of the specular sun glitter. Keep it white for neutral sun, or tint it warm for sunset and cool for moonlight.
ColorWater Colorcolor, default blue (60,140,195)
The tint the water column absorbs into, applied to the refracted floor while keeping its luminance detail. This is the base color of the water itself.
Water Tint0-100%, default 20, float slider
How strongly the Water Color is mixed over the layer below, simulating depth absorption. 0 leaves the footage clear; high makes it read as deep colored water.
Background Colorcolor, default deep blue (8,40,66)
A solid color used to fill any transparent areas of the input layer before the water is applied. Useful when the source has alpha and you want opaque water beneath.
Background Opacity0-100%, default 0, float slider
How much of the Background Color fills in the transparent regions. At the default 0 it is off; raise it to back the water with the fill color where the layer is see-through.
TransformRotationangle, default 0
Rotates the entire wave field, letting you angle the direction of the swells independently of the wind drift. Handy for aligning the water to a perspective or camera angle.
Offsetpoint, default 0,0
Shifts the wave pattern across the layer without moving the footage. Use it to reposition the surface texture or to nudge the pattern away from a seam.
AnimationRandom Seed0-1000, default 1, integer slider
Chooses a different random variation of the wave pattern while keeping every other setting the same. Change it if you want a fresh surface or to avoid two water layers looking identical.
Loop Duration (sec)0-60 s, default 0 (off)
Sets a seamless loop length in seconds, so the animation returns exactly to its start for perfect looping. At 0 the water runs free without looping.
OutputQualitypopup: Draft / Normal / High, default Normal
Trades render speed against surface accuracy by adjusting the sampling grid and the caustic solver iterations. Use Draft for fast previews and High for final renders.
Outputpopup: Rendered / Caustics Only / Height Map / Displacement Map, default Rendered
Switches between the finished water and diagnostic passes. Rendered is the final look; Caustics Only, Height Map and Displacement Map expose the internal buffers for compositing or debugging.
Mix0-100%, default 100, float slider
Blends the finished water effect back against the original untouched layer. 100 is full water; lower values dial the whole effect back toward the source for a subtler result.