Effects

Effects are used in OpenShot to enhance or modify the audio or video of a clip. They can modify pixels and audio data, and can generally enhance your video projects. Each effect has its own set of properties, most which can be animated over time.

Effects can be added to any clip by dragging and dropping them. Each effect is represented by a small colored icon and the first letter of the effect name. To view an effect’s properties, click on the effect icon. The property editor will appear, where you can edit these properties. Note: Pay close attention to where the play-head (i.e. red playback line) is. Key frames are automatically created at the current playback position, to help create animations.

Video Effects

Effects are generally divided into two categories: video and audio effects. Video effects modify the image and pixel data of a clip. Below is a list of video effects, and their properties. Often it is best to experiment with an effect, entering different values into the properties, and observing the results.

Alpha Mask / Wipe Transition

Uses a grayscale mask image to gradually wipe / transition between 2 images.

Name	Description
brightness	(float, -1 to 1) This curve controls the motion across the wipe
contrast	(float, 0 to 20) This curve controls the hardness and softness of the wipe edge
reader	(reader) This reader can use any image or video as input for your grayscale wipe
replace_image	(int, choices: ['Yes', 'No']) Replace the clips image with the current grayscale wipe image, useful for troubleshooting

Bars

Add colored bars around your video.

Name	Description
bottom	(float, 0 to 0.5) The curve to adjust the bottom bar size
color	(color) The curve to adjust the color of bars
left	(float, 0 to 0.5) The curve to adjust the left bar size
right	(float, 0 to 0.5) The curve to adjust the right bar size
top	(float, 0 to 0.5) The curve to adjust the top bar size

Blur

Adjust the blur of the frame’s image.

Name	Description
horizontal_radius	(float, 0 to 100) Horizontal blur radius keyframe. The size of the horizontal blur operation in pixels.
iterations	(float, 0 to 100) Iterations keyframe. The # of blur iterations per pixel. 3 iterations = Gaussian.
sigma	(float, 0 to 100) Sigma keyframe. The amount of spread in the blur operation. Should be larger than radius.
vertical_radius	(float, 0 to 100) Vertical blur radius keyframe. The size of the vertical blur operation in pixels.

Brightness & Contrast

Adjust the brightness and contrast of the frame’s image.

Name	Description
brightness	(float, -1 to 1) The curve to adjust the brightness
contrast	(float, 0 to 100) The curve to adjust the contrast (3 is typical, 20 is a lot, 100 is max. 0 is invalid)

Caption

Add text captions on top of your video.

Name	Description
background	(color) Color of caption area background
background_alpha	(float, 0 to 1) Background color alpha
background_corner	(float, 0 to 60) Background corner radius
background_padding	(float, 0 to 60) Background padding
caption_font	(font) Font name or family name
caption_text	(caption) VTT/Subrip formatted caption text (multi-line)
color	(color) Color of caption text
fade_in	(float, 0 to 3) Fade in per caption (# of seconds)
fade_out	(float, 0 to 3) Fade out per caption (# of seconds)
font_alpha	(float, 0 to 1) Font color alpha
font_size	(float, 0 to 200) Font size in points
left	(float, 0 to 0.5) Size of left margin
line_spacing	(float, 0 to 5) Distance between lines (1.0 default)
right	(float, 0 to 0.5) Size of right margin
stroke	(color) Color of text border / stroke
stroke_width	(float, 0 to 10) Width of text border / stroke
top	(float, 0 to 1) Size of top margin

Chroma Key (Greenscreen)

Replaces the color (or chroma) of the frame with transparency (i.e. keys out the color).

Name	Description
color	(color) The color to match
fuzz	(float, 0 to 125) The fuzz factor (or threshold)
halo	(float, 0 to 125) The additional threshold for halo elimination.
keymethod	(int, choices: ['Basic keying', 'HSV/HSL hue', 'HSV saturation', 'HSL saturation', 'HSV value', 'HSL luminance', 'LCH luminosity', 'LCH chroma', 'LCH hue', 'CIE Distance', 'Cb,Cr vector']) The keying method or algorithm to use.

Color Saturation

Adjust the color saturation.

Name	Description
saturation	(float, 0 to 4) The curve to adjust the overall saturation of the frame’s image (0.0 = greyscale, 1.0 = normal, 2.0 = double saturation)
saturation_B	(float, 0 to 4) The curve to adjust blue saturation of the frame’s image
saturation_G	(float, 0 to 4) The curve to adjust green saturation of the frame’s image (0.0 = greyscale, 1.0 = normal, 2.0 = double saturation)
saturation_R	(float, 0 to 4) The curve to adjust red saturation of the frame’s image

Color Shift

Shift the colors of an image up, down, left, and right (with infinite wrapping).

Each pixel has 4 color channels:

• Red, Green, Blue, and Alpha (i.e. transparency)

• Each channel value is between 0 and 255

The Color Shift effect simply “moves” or “translates” a specific color channel on the X or Y axis. Not all video and image formats support an alpha channel, and in those cases, you will not see any changes when adjusting the color shift of the alpha channel.

Name	Description
alpha_x	(float, -1 to 1) Shift the Alpha X coordinates (left or right)
alpha_y	(float, -1 to 1) Shift the Alpha Y coordinates (up or down)
blue_x	(float, -1 to 1) Shift the Blue X coordinates (left or right)
blue_y	(float, -1 to 1) Shift the Blue Y coordinates (up or down)
green_x	(float, -1 to 1) Shift the Green X coordinates (left or right)
green_y	(float, -1 to 1) Shift the Green Y coordinates (up or down)
red_x	(float, -1 to 1) Shift the Red X coordinates (left or right)
red_y	(float, -1 to 1) Shift the Red Y coordinates (up or down)

Crop

Crop out any part of your video.

Name	Description
bottom	(float, 0 to 1) Size of bottom bar
left	(float, 0 to 1) Size of left bar
right	(float, 0 to 1) Size of right bar
top	(float, 0 to 1) Size of top bar
x	(float, -1 to 1) X-offset
y	(float, -1 to 1) Y-offset

Deinterlace

Remove interlacing from a video (i.e. even or odd horizontal lines)

Name	Description
isOdd	(bool, choices: ['Yes', 'No']) Use odd or even lines

Hue

Adjust the hue / color of the frame’s image.

Name	Description
hue	(float, 0 to 1) The curve to adjust the percentage of hue shift

Negative

Negates the colors, producing a negative of the image.

Object Detector

Detect objects through the video.

Name	Description
class_filter	(string) Type of object class to filter (i.e. car, person)
confidence_threshold	(float, 0 to 1) Minimum confidence value to display the detected objects
display_box_text	(int, choices: ['Off', 'On']) Draw a rectangle around detected objects
objects	(list) List of detected object ids
selected_object_index	(int, 0 to 200) Index of the tracked object that was selected to modify its properties

Pixelate

Pixelate (increase or decrease) the number of visible pixels.

Name	Description
bottom	(float, 0 to 1) The curve to adjust the bottom margin size
left	(float, 0 to 1) The curve to adjust the left margin size
pixelization	(float, 0 to 0.99) The curve to adjust the amount of pixelization
right	(float, 0 to 1) The curve to adjust the right margin size
top	(float, 0 to 1) The curve to adjust the top margin size

Shift

Shift the image up, down, left, and right (with infinite wrapping).

Name	Description
x	(float, -1 to 1) Shift the X coordinates (left or right)
y	(float, -1 to 1) Shift the Y coordinates (up or down)

Stabilizer

Stabilize video clip to remove undesired shaking and jitter.

Name	Description
zoom	(float, 0 to 2) Percentage to zoom into the clip, to crop off the shaking and uneven edges

Tracker

Track the selected bounding box through the video. The tracked object can be selected as a parent on other clips.

Wave

Distort the frame’s image into a wave pattern.

Name	Description
amplitude	(float, 0 to 5) The height of the wave
multiplier	(float, 0 to 10) Amount to multiply the wave (make it bigger)
shift_x	(float, 0 to 1000) Amount to shift X-axis
speed_y	(float, 0 to 300) Speed of the wave on the Y-axis
wavelength	(float, 0 to 3) The length of the wave

Audio Effects

Audio effects modify the waveforms and audio sample data of a clip. Below is a list of audio effects, and their properties. Often it is best to experiment with an effect, entering different values into the properties, and observing the results.

Compressor

Reduce the volume of loud sounds or amplify quiet sounds.

Name	Description
attack	(float, 0.1 to 100)
bypass	(bool)
makeup_gain	(float, -12 to 12)
ratio	(float, 1 to 100)
release	(float, 10 to 1000)
threshold	(float, -60 to 0)

Delay

Adjust the synchronism between the audio and video track.

Name	Description
delay_time	(float, 0 to 5)

Distortion

Alter the audio by clipping the signal.

Name	Description
distortion_type	(int, choices: ['Hard Clipping', 'Soft Clipping', 'Exponential', 'Full Wave Rectifier', 'Half Wave Rectifier'])
input_gain	(int, -24 to 24)
output_gain	(int, -24 to 24)
tone	(int, -24 to 24)

Echo

Reflection of sound with a delay after the direct sound.

Name	Description
echo_time	(float, 0 to 5)
feedback	(float, 0 to 1)
mix	(float, 0 to 1)

Expander

Louder parts of audio becomes relatively louder and quieter parts becomes quieter.

Name	Description
attack	(float, 0.1 to 100)
bypass	(bool)
makeup_gain	(float, -12 to 12)
ratio	(float, 1 to 100)
release	(float, 10 to 1000)
threshold	(float, -60 to 0)

Noise

Random signal having equal intensity at different frequencies.

Name	Description
level	(int, 0 to 100)

Parametric EQ

Filter that allows you to adjust the volume level of a frequency in the audio track.

Name	Description
filter_type	(int, choices: ['Low Pass', 'High Pass', 'Low Shelf', 'High Shelf', 'Band Pass', 'Band Stop', 'Peaking Notch'])
frequency	(int, 20 to 20000)
gain	(int, -24 to 24)
q_factor	(float, 0 to 20)

Robotization

Transform the voice present in an audio track into a robotic voice effect.

Name	Description
fft_size	(int, choices: ['128', '256', '512', '1024', '2048'])
hop_size	(int, choices: ['1/2', '1/4', '1/8'])
window_type	(int, choices: ['Rectangular', 'Bart Lett', 'Hann', 'Hamming'])

Whisperization

Transform the voice present in an audio track into a whispering voice effect.

Name	Description
fft_size	(int, choices: ['128', '256', '512', '1024', '2048'])
hop_size	(int, choices: ['1/2', '1/4', '1/8'])
window_type	(int, choices: ['Rectangular', 'Bart Lett', 'Hann', 'Hamming'])

For more info on key frames and animation, see Animation.