Effect Library
Effect Library is the Effects window that collects all of Light Stream's ready-made animations. Effects are added into a composition from it: you find the one you need by its preview picture or by name and drop it onto the timeline.
The library is shared across the whole program and does not depend on the project: the same set of effects is available in any project on this computer. An effect in the library is a template. When you add it to a composition, an independent copy is created: its parameters are configured separately and do not affect either the library or other copies of the same effect.
How to open the "Effects" window
The window can be opened in two ways:
- the Effects button on the Timeline window's toolbar — it sits to the left of the other buttons, with an icon of scattered squares;
- the Window → Effects checkbox in the main menu.
The window opens as a separate floating window about 700×430 points in size and appears right above the button you used to call it — on top of the Timeline window. It doesn't get in the way: while the window is open, you can still select layouts, move the playback cursor, and watch the result. Pressing the same button again closes the window.
The window can be dragged by its title bar to any place on the screen, or docked to the edge of the workspace, and its size can be resized by dragging an edge. The window's position and whether it was open are saved in the workspace — see Workspace.
What's shown in the window
The window is divided into three parts, top to bottom:
- The search field with a magnifying glass icon on the left and a cross on the right.
- The list of sections — the names of the categories effects are sorted into.
- The effect tiles — a square preview picture with its name underneath. If there are more effects than fit, the list scrolls with the mouse wheel.
Sections
Each effect belongs to exactly one section. Clicking a section name shows only that section's effects. The set of sections in the program is fixed — you can't add your own.
| Section | What's in it |
|---|---|
| All | The entire library. The window opens to this section every time |
| Unsorted | Effects that haven't been assigned to any section |
| Favorites | An empty section you fill yourself, so you don't have to search for the same effects every time |
| Fixtures | Effects that work not with the picture but directly with fixture channels — for example Set Channel Values |
| Circles, Flow, Kaleidoscope, Fireworks, Particles, Waves, Color, Audio, None, Static | Thematic sections: effects are sorted by the character of the picture — rings and circles, flowing swirls, mirrored patterns, flashes and fireworks, flying particles, waves, fills and color transitions, sound-reactive effects, still pictures |
Searching for an effect
Start typing a name in the search field — the list immediately narrows down to matching effects. You can search by part of the name; letter case doesn't matter.
The search only looks within the selected section. To search the whole library, first select the All section. The cross to the right of the field clears the text and returns the full list.
Effect preview
The tiles in the window are still pictures: each shows a single frame of the effect with default settings. Hover the cursor over a tile — the effect comes alive and starts playing from the beginning right inside the tile, and a plus sign appears in its center. Move the cursor away — the picture freezes again. This is deliberate: drawing dozens of animations at once would needlessly load the graphics card.
The preview is always square, while a layout in the project can be elongated. So an added effect may not look the way it does on the tile: a circle will turn into an oval, and a grid will stretch. This isn't a bug — the effect is simply stretched to fit the area it lands on.
How to add an effect to a composition
- Open the composition you're assembling the animation in.
- In the Timeline window, select the row — a layout or a projection — the effect should land on. A new effect always lands wherever the selection is; if nothing is selected, it lands in the topmost layout of the composition.
- Find the effect in the library and add it in any of three ways: double-click the tile, click the plus sign that appears in its center on hover, or right-click the tile → Add.
The effect lands as the top row of the selected layout, stretches to the full length of the composition, is selected immediately, and its parameters open in the Properties window. For details, see Adding an Effect to a Composition; for configuring parameters, see Effect Settings and Keyframes and Effect Parameters.
The same effect can be added any number of times, into one composition or into several: each copy lives its own life.
What the library consists of
The library contains two kinds of effects, and they don't look different in the window.
Light Stream's own effects — a set of effects with detailed settings: they have many parameters, some of them sound-reactive, and Set Channel Values doesn't draw a picture at all — it directly sets the channel values of fixtures. All of them are listed in the table below.
Graphic effects — the main and largest part of the library: ready-made animations for every taste — fire, water, smoke, patterns, kaleidoscopes, flashes, flying particles. Each has its own set of parameters defined by the effect itself: usually speed, scale, colors, and a few pattern parameters.
There's no difference between them in use: both kinds are added the same way and support keyframes, blend modes, and opacity.
Light Stream's own effects
| Effect | What it does | Parameters |
|---|---|---|
| Color | Fills the whole area with a single color. Useful as a backdrop for other effects or as a placeholder | Color |
| Gradient | A smooth transition between several colors, moving across the area. The gradient stops and their colors are set manually | Speed, Angle, Offset, Gradient |
| Lines | Running stripes at any angle, with adjustable blur and edge softening. Can react to beats in the music | Sound, Speed, Left, Right, Blur, Angle, Color |
| Rectangle | A rectangle of a given size with rounding and edge blur. Shape color and background color are set separately, and the Switch button swaps them | Position X, Position Y, Width, Height, Size, Radius, Blur, two Colors and their opacity |
| Ellipse | The same, but the shape is a circle or oval | Position X, Position Y, Width, Height, Size, Blur, two Colors and their opacity |
| Atom | A scatter of moving points connected by thin lines — a "constellation." The Sound checkbox makes the pattern move in time with the music | Sound, Speed, Size, Audio Decay, Audio Amplitude, Brightness, Min, Brightness, Max, Color |
| Atom 3D | The same constellation, but in several layers, with a sense of depth. This is the effect placed in the first composition of a new project | Speed, Size, Color |
| Circles 2 | Bubbles of various sizes popping up, colored by a transition between two colors | Count, Speed, Radius, Randomness, two Colors |
| Hypnosis | Concentric rings spreading out from the center. The center can be moved to any point | Speed, Size, Center X, Center Y, Color |
| Hypnosis 2 | Ray sectors from the center, in which random segments flash | Speed, Count, Center X, Center Y, Color |
| Disco Tube | A flight through a tunnel of glowing rings | Speed, Count, Glow, Camera, Color |
| Circle 3D Space | A flight through a volumetric cellular structure; a vector sets the direction of movement | Count, Speed, Blur, Blur 2, Direction, Color |
| Tile Zoom | An endlessly approaching grid of squares | Speed, Scale, Thickness, Color |
| Hexagons | A honeycomb: a grid of hexagons shimmering in different shades. The Sound checkbox makes them pulse with the music | Sound, Speed (including separate Speed X and Speed Y), Size, Audio Decay, Audio Amplitude, Number of Hues, Hue, Saturation, Brightness, Border Size, Distance, Gain, Gamma, Color |
| Plasma | Slowly shifting swirling patterns. Five scale parameters shape the pattern of the swirls | Speed, Scale 1…Scale 5, Color |
| Clouds | Drifting clouds against a sky background, colored with two colors | Speed, Scale, Illumination, Darkening, Convergence, Alpha, Hue, Color 1 and Color 2 |
| Snow | Falling snow in several layers — the farther snowflakes are smaller and slower | Speed, Size, Layers, Depth, Width, Color |
| Psycho Circles | A pulsating volumetric shape opening up toward you; it opens widest on the loudest parts of the track | Speed, Audio Decay, Audio Amplitude, Size, Brightness, Scale X, Scale Y, Color |
| Equalizer | Sound spectrum bars, colored with a gradient. The direction the bars grow in is chosen from a list, and the Min Index and Max Index pair of values sets which part of the spectrum to show | Direction, Number of Bars, Min Index, Max Index, Multiplier, Speed, Decay, Gradient |
| Beat Light | A flash of color on every beat in the music. The speed of the attack and decay is adjustable | Sound, Attack, Decay, Color |
| Color Change | Cycles through a list of colors, smoothly transitioning from one to the next. The colors in the list are set manually | Speed, Smoothness, color list |
| Text | A running line of text in any font installed in the system | Font, Text, Speed, Pause, Direction, Scale X and Scale Y, Position X and Position Y, Angle, Color |
| Set Channel Values | Doesn't draw a picture — it directly sets the values of selected channels on selected fixtures. This is how service channels are controlled: shutter, strobe, pan/tilt, fixture modes | list of fixtures and their channel values |
| Spout | Receives a picture from another program that supports Spout — such as After Effects, TouchDesigner, or Resolume — and places it on fixtures like a regular effect | Spout Settings — choosing a source from the list of running programs |
Sound-reactive effects — Atom, Lines, Hexagons, Psycho Circles, Equalizer, and Beat Light — take sound from the input selected in the program's settings: menu Settings → Properties (Ctrl+P), group Audio Input. If the input is off or the wrong source is selected, such effects will remain still — see Properties.
Favorites and sorting into sections
An effect can be moved to a different section: drag its tile onto a section name in the list above. This is how you build Favorites — your own short list of effects you need most often in your work.
Note: the effect moves rather than being copied — it disappears from its previous section, but stays in place in the All section. The layout holds until the program is closed: on the next launch, effects are sorted back into their original sections.
Renaming behaves the same way: double-clicking the name under a tile lets you rewrite it, but the original name returns after the program restarts. Renaming in the library doesn't affect effects already added to compositions — their names are edited right on the timeline.
If something goes wrong
The "Effects" window won't open. Check the Window → Effects checkbox in the main menu. If the window was docked to the edge of the workspace, look for its tab where it was docked last time — see Workspace.
The tiles aren't moving. That's normal: the animation only plays under the mouse cursor. Hover the cursor over the tile.
Can't find an effect that's definitely there. You're most likely on a section other than the one the effect belongs to. Switch to All and search again.
Double-clicking an effect doesn't add anything. No composition is open in the program. Create or open a composition in the Compositions window — see Compositions.
The effect was added to the wrong place. It lands on whichever timeline row was selected, or the top layout if nothing was selected. Drag it to the layout you need — Moving Effects Between Layouts.
The effect was added, but the fixtures aren't lighting up. The playback cursor must be within the effect's bar. Also check the effect's opacity and whether another effect above it is covering it — Blend Modes.
On the mapping, the effect doesn't look the way it does on the tile. The preview is square, while the effect stretches to fit the layout's area. Adjust the layout size or the effect's own scale parameters.
The "Favorites" I built disappeared after restarting. The sorting into sections isn't saved between program launches in the current version.