Tutorial: Advanced Effects

Master ASCII Motion's procedural effects system — non-destructive, keyframeable, timeline-based effects for color grading, distortion, and motion.

What You'll Learn

• Adding and configuring effect blocks on the timeline
• Keyframing effect parameters
• Effect scoping (per-layer, per-group, global)
• Stacking and ordering effects
• Creative recipes using multiple effects

Prerequisites

• Complete Creating Animations
• Read the Effects Overview

Effects Workflow

Adding an Effect

Non-Destructive Editing

Effect Scoping

Keyframing Effect Parameters

Animate any effect parameter over time:

Example: Fade-in hue shift

1. Add Hue & Saturation to a layer
2. At frame 0, keyframe Hue = 0
3. At frame 24, keyframe Hue = 90
4. Set Ease In-Out easing
5. Colors smoothly shift by 90° over 24 frames

Color Correction

Making Art Pop

Add a Levels effect globally:

• Shadows Input: 20–30 (clip darks)
• Highlights Input: 220–230 (clip brights)
• Result: Higher contrast without losing midtone detail

Creating Mood

Animated Color Transition

Keyframe a Hue & Saturation effect to transition from full color to grayscale:

• Frame 0: Saturation = 0 (no change)
• Frame 30: Saturation = -100 (full grayscale)
• Use Ease In-Out for a smooth transition

Distortion Effects

Water Ripple

Add Wave Warp to a layer:

• Axis: Horizontal
• Frequency: 0.3–0.5
• Amplitude: 3–5 cells
• Speed: 2–3

The wave animates automatically during playback — no keyframes needed for basic wave motion.

Camera Shake

Add Wiggle globally:

• Mode: Noise
• H Amplitude: 2–5 cells
• V Amplitude: 2–5 cells
• Octaves: 4–6

Keyframe amplitude from 0 to max for a shake that starts and stops.

Glitch Effect

Add Wiggle to a layer:

• Mode: Noise
• H Amplitude: 20–40 cells
• V Amplitude: 0–2 cells
• H Frequency: 2–3

Creates horizontal line displacement typical of digital glitches.

Motion Effects

Speed Trails

Add Motion Trails to a layer with animated position:

• Trail Count: 4–6
• Frame Delay: 1–2
• Set trail colors to a gradient (light → dark)

The trails automatically follow the layer's previous positions.

Organic Texture

Add Scatter to a layer:

• Pattern: Noise or Gaussian
• Strength: 50–100
• Blend Colors: On
• Keyframe seed for animated texture

Stacking Effects

Effect Order

Effects on the same layer/scope process in array order (top to bottom in the timeline). Order matters:

1. Color effects first (Levels, Hue & Saturation)
2. Mapping effects next (Remap Colors, Remap Characters)
3. Spatial effects last (Scatter, Wave Warp, Wiggle, Motion Trails)

Drag effect tracks to reorder them.

Multi-Scope Stacking

Combine per-layer and global effects:

• Per-layer: Wave Warp on a water layer (only distorts water)
• Global: Levels + Hue & Saturation (color grade the entire scene)

Baking Effects

To permanently apply an effect's result to the canvas data:

• Right-click an effect block → Bake Effect
• Time-dependent effects (Wave Warp, Wiggle) generate per-frame content
• The effect block is removed after baking
• This operation is undoable

Use baking when you want to draw on top of the effect result or reduce rendering complexity.

Creative Recipes

Cinematic Look

1. Global Levels: Shadows 15, Highlights 240
2. Global Hue & Saturation: Saturation -15, Hue +10
3. Global Scatter: Noise at strength 40, Blend Colors on

8-bit Retro

1. Global Remap Colors: Reduce to 8–16 colors using palette mode
2. Global Scatter: Bayer 2×2 at strength 200

Reveal Transition

1. Per-layer Wave Warp: Keyframe amplitude from 30 → 0 over 24 frames
2. Per-layer Hue & Saturation: Keyframe saturation from -100 → 0

Quick Reference