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Apply and remove effects

Learn how to apply effects to clips in the timeline. You can also learn how to enable and disable effects, how to remove them, and how to copy and paste clip effects.

Apply effects to clips

You can apply one or more Standard effects to a clip by dragging effect icons from the Effects panel to a clip in the Timeline panel. Alternatively, select the clip and double-click an effect in the Effects panel to apply it. You can apply the same effect multiple times, using different settings each time.

You can apply Standard effects to more than one clip at a time by first selecting all the clips you want to affect.

You can also temporarily disable any effect, which suppresses the effect without removing it, or you can remove the effect completely.

To view and adjust effects for a selected clip, use the Effect Controls panel. Alternatively, you can view and adjust effects for a clip in the Timeline panel by expanding its track and selecting the proper viewing options.

By default, when you apply an effect to a clip, the effect is active for the duration of the clip. However, you can make an effect start and stop at specific times or make the effect more or less intense by using keyframes.

  1. Do one of the following:
    • To apply one or more effects to a single clip, select and drag the effects to the clip in the Timeline.

    • To apply one or more effects to more than one clip, first select the clips. Control-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) each of the desired clips in the Timeline. Then, drag one effect or a selected group of effects to any of the selected clips.

    • Select a clip, and then double click the effect.

    To apply an audio effect, drag the effect to an audio clip or the audio portion of a video clip. You cannot apply audio effects to a clip when Show Track Volume or Show Track Keyframes is enabled for the Audio track.

    Note:

    If the clip is selected in the Timeline panel, you can drag the effect directly to the Effect Controls panel.

  2. In the Effect Controls panel, click the triangle to show options for any effect, and then specify the option values.

Copy and paste clip effects

You can easily copy and paste effects from one clip to one or more other clips. For example, you can apply identical color correction to a series of clips shot in similar lighting conditions. You can copy effects from a clip in one track of a sequence and paste them onto clips in another track. You do not have to target the destination track.

You can copy and paste individual effects in the Effect Controls panel. You can also copy all effect values (including keyframes for Fixed and Standard effects) from a clip in any sequence. You can paste these values to another clip in any sequence using the Paste Attributes command. With Paste Attributes, effects intrinsic to the source clip—Motion, Opacity, Time Remapping, and Volume—replace those effects in the destination clips. All other effects (including keyframes) are added to the list of effects already applied to the destination clips.

If the effect includes keyframes, these keyframes appear at comparable positions in the target clip, starting at the beginning of the clip. If the target clip is shorter than the source clip, keyframes are pasted beyond the target clip Out point. To view these keyframes, move the clip Out point to a time later than the location of the keyframe, or deselect the Pin To Clip option.

Note:

You can also copy and paste keyframes from one effect parameter to another compatible effect parameter. See Copy and paste keyframes.

  1. In the Timeline panel, select the clip that contains the effect or effects you want to copy.

  2. (Optional) To select one or more effects to copy, in the Effect Controls panel, select the effect you want to copy. Shift-click to select multiple effects. To select all effects, skip this step.
  3. Choose Edit > Copy.
  4. In the Timeline panel, select the clip to which you want to paste the effect and choose one of the following:

    • To paste one or more effects, choose Edit > Paste.

    • To paste all effects, choose Edit > Paste Attributes.

Remove selected effects from a clip

  1. Select a clip in the Timeline panel. To make sure that only one clip is selected, click an empty space in the Timeline, then click the clip. Click a spot in the time ruler above the selected clip to move the current-time indicator to that location.

  2. In the Effect Controls panel, select the effect or effects you want to remove. To select more than one, Ctrl-click (Windows), or Command-click (Mac OS) the effects.
    Note:

    You cannot remove Fixed effects: Motion, Opacity, Time Remapping, or Volume.

  3. Do one of the following:
    • Press Delete or Backspace.

    • Choose Remove Selected Effect from the Effect Controls panel menu.

Remove all effects from a clip

  1. Select a clip in the Timeline panel. To make sure that only one clip is selected, click an empty space in the Timeline, then click the clip. Click a spot in the time ruler above the selected clip to move the current-time indicator to that location.

  2. Do one of the following:
    • From the Effect Controls panel menu, choose Remove Effects
    • Right-click a clip in the timeline, and select Remove Attributes.
  3. In the Remove Attributes dialog box, select the types of effects you want to remove, and click OK.

All selected applied effect types are removed from the clip and all selected intrinsic effects are returned to their default settings.

Disable or enable effects in a clip

  1. Select one or more effects in the Effect Controls panel, and do one of the following:
    • Click the Effect button to disable effects.

    • Click an empty Effect button box to enable effects.

    • Deselect or select the Effect Enabled command in the Effect Controls panel menu.

    Note:

    You can create a custom keyboard shortcut for the Effect Enabled command. This will toggle an effect on and off. 

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