A custom effect is a visual effect you bring yourself and apply to any clip, instead of using one of Sequence's built-in effects like Color, Blend, Halation, or Chroma Key. Someone on your team, or an AI, hands you the effect; you drop it onto a clip and adjust it. Custom effects live entirely in the Effects tab of the Inspector, for whatever clip is selected.
Two kinds of custom effect#
There are two kinds, told apart by what they do to the clip:
- A look. This kind adjusts the clip's existing picture — like a grade or a stylized filter. What you see depends on the footage underneath.
- Generative. This kind draws its own pattern and ignores the clip's picture, so it looks the same over any clip. Generative effects are handy for backgrounds, wipes, and overlays.
Where custom effects live#
The Effects tab has two sub-tabs, switched with a small tab bar at the top:
- Applied shows the effects currently on the selected clip. Each one gets its own module with its adjustable controls and a Remove Effect button. A + button in the module's header lists the project's validated custom effects so you can add one to the clip. Removing an effect here only takes it off this clip — it stays in the Library for reuse.
- Library shows every custom effect that exists in the project, not just the ones applied to this clip. Each row lists the effect's name, an optional one-line description, a version badge (such as "v3") once it's been published at least once, and a colored status dot — green means it passes validation, red means it fails. Click a row to open that effect, or click the + button to start a new one.
Adjustable controls#
Each applied effect exposes its own set of adjustable controls — sliders, knobs, color pickers, and switches — right in its Applied module. Change them to tune the effect on that clip.
Every control is an ordinary Sequence property, the same as Position or Opacity, so you can arm it for keyframing and animate it over time exactly the same way. That's how you animate a custom effect. See Keyframe animation.
Versions#
A custom effect isn't a single, fixed thing — it keeps a small history. Every time you publish a change, Sequence adds a new version and keeps the earlier ones, so you can revert if a change doesn't work out. The version badge in the Library tracks this.
Applying versus building#
You don't need to know anything about how an effect is built to use one someone else made — applying it is just picking it from the + list on the Applied sub-tab.
Building your own is where the effect editor comes in. To make one — a look that adjusts the clip's picture, or a generative effect that draws its own pattern — see Create a custom effect. You can also ask Sequence's AI assistant, Snippy, to build the effect for you.