Settings for an effect are available from the list of effects that have been assigned to the current clip. Click an effect name in the list to select it; this causes its settings to be displayed for inspection and editing in the parameters area below the list. Most effects also offer a dropdown list of preset parameter combinations.

When a clip has multiple effects, they are applied in the order they were added, which is the reverse of the order in which they are listed (new effects are added at the top of the list, not the bottom). To change the order, drag the effect header up or down in the list.

The right-hand end of the effect header has four buttons for operations related to that effect. From left to right they are:

Diamond: Toggle keyframing for parameters of the effect. See “Working with keyframes for effect settings” on page 125.

Expand All Settings: All the groups of settings for the effect can be expanded for editing or closed with one click.

Trashcan: Remove the effect from the clip.

Dot: Toggle the effect on and off. You can switch the effect off for comparison purposes without deleting it and losing your settings.

Drag handle: Use either this zone or the name area for dragging the effect up or down in the effect list when the clip uses multiple effects. As mentioned above, effects are applied in bottom-up order. In some cases, changing the order can dramatically affect the cumulative result.

Parameters are organized into named groups of related controls. Click the expand/collapse triangle on the group header to open the group and access its parameters, or close it and conserve screen space.

Numeric parameters are controlled by horizontal sliders, with a bar that you can drag horizontally to change the value. For more precise control, use the Left or Right arrow. Double-click the bar to reset a particular parameter to its default value.

Most effects furnish a dropdown list of preset parameter combinations for fast selection of variants. Once a preset has been selected, you can customize it by editing the parameters if desired.

Changes to the settings in the Editor panel are saved automatically.

The normal use of some types of effect is to transform the source material in a uniform way from beginning to end. Atmospheric effects like Old film, and effects that change only the coloration of the clip, are among those in this category. Their parameters are generally set once and for all at the start of the clip. This is the static use of an effect.

Other effects, such as Water drop, depend on a sense of motion. They are likely to be effective only when their parameters are allowed to vary throughout the clip. The easiest method is to use a preset that has animation built in, like most of those for Water drop. In this kind of keyframe animation, one or more parameters of the effect has a different value at the end of the clip than it did at the beginning. On playback, the parameters are updated after every frame to move smoothly from the start value to the end value.

Keyframing isn’t limited to just the start and end frames of a clip. Keyframes can be defined with particular values of effect parameters at any point in the clip to produce effect animations of arbitrary complexity. If, for example, you would like an image to reduce to half-size by the middle of the clip and return to full size by the end, you would need to add at least a third keyframe.

For information about using keyframes, see “Using keyframes” on page 42.