Effects

Effects are real-time visual transformations applied to individual Clips. They can add motion, texture, distortion, color shifts, and audio-reactive behavior to your visuals — all without modifying your original media files. You can apply one or more Effects to any Clip and customize them in the Effects Editor.

Applying an Effect to a Clip

To apply an Effect, right-click on a Clip thumbnail and select Effect from the contextual menu (or use the Clip menu at the top). You will see a list of available Effect presets organized by category. Select one and the Effect is applied immediately — you can see it in the Output Window right away if the Clip is playing.

To remove an Effect from a Clip, right-click and select Effect > None.

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Right-click a Clip to access the Effect submenu.

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Built-in Effect Presets

Visibox ships with a library of built-in Effects across several categories. Here is the full collection:

Motion

Effect	Description
Ken Burns	Slow pan-and-zoom movement across the image, the classic documentary style.
Gentle Float	A subtle drifting motion that keeps the image from feeling static.
Slow Zoom	Gradual zoom into the center of the image.
Handheld	Simulates the slight wobble of a handheld camera.
Earthquake	Aggressive shaking for high-energy moments.

Retro / Analog

Effect	Description
Floppy VHS	Analog VHS distortion with tracking errors and color bleed.
TV Static	Television static noise overlay.
Film Burn	Simulated film exposure burn with light leaks.

Dream / Atmospheric

Effect	Description
Underwater	Wavy distortion as if viewed through water.
Dream	Soft, hazy glow with gentle movement.

Glitch

Effect	Description
Glitch	Digital glitch with random displacement.
Chromatic Glitch	RGB channel separation with glitch timing.
Signal Glitch	Simulated signal interference with horizontal tearing.
RGB Split	Offset red, green, and blue channels.
Horizontal Tear	Horizontal slices that shift out of alignment.
Data Corruption	Heavy digital artifact simulation.
RGB Offset	Continuous RGB channel offset with motion.
Split Screen Glitch	Screen splits and reassembles with glitch artifacts.

Filter

Effect	Description
Halftone	Simulated halftone dot pattern, like printed media.
Vignette	Darkened edges that draw focus to the center.
Color Wash	Smooth color overlay that shifts over time.

Audio-Reactive

These Effects respond to the audio playing in Visibox, creating visuals that move with your music. They work with any audio source — Clip audio, Song audio, or the master output.

Effect	Description
Bass Pulse	The image scales up on bass hits, creating a pulsing “breathing” effect.
Audio Glow	Brightness and bloom increase with audio peaks, adding a warm radial glow.
Spectrum Bars	A visual spectrum analyzer overlaid on the Clip.
Beat Shake	The image shakes and jitters on strong beats.
Stereo Split	Left and right audio channels drive a visual stereo separation effect.
Treble Flash	Quick brightness flash on treble hits.

tip

Audio-reactive Effects look best with music that has clear dynamics — strong beats, distinct bass lines, or sharp transients. They are especially effective on Clips with darker backgrounds where the glow and pulse stand out.

The Effects Editor

The Effects Editor is a dedicated window for browsing, creating, and customizing Effects. Open it from Window > Effects Editor.

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The Effects Editor — browse presets on the left, edit CSS and SVG filters on the right.

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Preset Hierarchy

Effects in Visibox follow a four-tier hierarchy:

Tier	Name	Description
1	App Presets	The built-in Effects that ship with Visibox. Read-only.
2	Plugin Effects	Effects loaded from ~/Library/Visibox/Plugins/Effects/ at startup. Read-only.
3	My Effects	Effects you create in the Effects Editor. Fully editable. Stored locally on your machine.
4	Project Effects	Effects stored inside your Project file (.vbx). These are the copies that actually run at showtime.

When you apply a built-in or plugin Effect to a Clip, Visibox creates a linked copy in the Project. Linked copies stay in sync with the source — if you update the original, the Project copy updates too. If you want to customize an Effect for a specific Project, duplicate it first to unlink it, making it fully editable without affecting the original.

Browsing and Searching

The left panel of the Effects Editor lists all available Effects across all tiers. You can:

• Search by name using the search box at the top
• Filter by tier or category
• Sort alphabetically or by tier
• Show/Hide individual Effects from the preset list using the visibility icon on hover

Apply to Selected Clips

You can apply an Effect directly from the Effects Editor to your currently selected Clips. Select one or more Clips in the Controller, then right-click an Effect in the Effects Editor and choose Apply to Selected Clips. This is faster than applying Effects one Clip at a time through the context menu.

Audio Audition

The Effects Editor includes a built-in audio preview that lets you hear how audio-reactive Effects respond — even when no Project is open. The editor plays a test audio signal so you can see the CSS audio variables in action while you’re designing an Effect.

Creating a Custom Effect

Effects in Visibox are defined using CSS and optional SVG filters. If you are familiar with CSS, you can create remarkably expressive visual effects.

1. Click the + button in the Effects Editor to create a new Effect in “My Effects.”
2. Give it a name by double-clicking the title.
3. Write your CSS in the Stylesheet editor on the right.
4. Optionally, add an SVG Filter for more advanced effects like blur, displacement, and color manipulation.

Audio-Reactive CSS Variables

When writing custom Effects, you can use CSS custom properties that Visibox updates in real-time based on the audio:

Frequency Bands (0.0 – 1.0, smoothed):

Variable	Range
--audio-bass	20–250 Hz
--audio-low-mid	250 Hz – 1 kHz
--audio-mid	1–4 kHz
--audio-high-mid	4–8 kHz
--audio-treble	8–20 kHz

Peak Values (0.0 – 1.0, fast attack, slow decay):

Variable	Range
--audio-bass-peak	20–250 Hz peak
--audio-low-mid-peak	250 Hz – 1 kHz peak
--audio-mid-peak	1–4 kHz peak
--audio-high-mid-peak	4–8 kHz peak
--audio-treble-peak	8–20 kHz peak

Level Meters (0.0 – 1.0):

Variable	Description
--audio-level	Overall RMS level (mono)
--audio-level-l	Left channel RMS level
--audio-level-r	Right channel RMS level
--audio-peak	Overall peak level

Use these in your CSS like any custom property:

.effect-target {
  transform: scale(calc(1 + var(--audio-bass-peak) * 0.15));
  filter: brightness(calc(1 + var(--audio-peak) * 0.5));
}

Editing Project Effects

Effects that are linked to an App Preset or Plugin cannot be edited directly. To customize one:

1. Select the Effect in the Effects Editor.
2. Right-click and choose Duplicate (or use the context menu).
3. The duplicate is unlinked and fully editable.
4. Edit the CSS and SVG Filter to suit your needs.

Importing and Exporting

Effects can be exported as .vbef files and shared with other Visibox users. To import, drop a .vbef file into the Effects Editor or place it in the Plugins folder:

• Mac: ~/Library/Visibox/Plugins/Effects/
• Windows: %APPDATA%/Visibox/Plugins/Effects/

Plugin Effects are loaded at startup and appear in the Tier 2 section of the Effects Editor.