Procedural Compositing with Batch > Batch FX > Converting Soft Effects to Batch Nodes >
Examples of Soft Effects Converted to Nodes

When you extract a soft effect, segments or other soft effects may also get extracted so that vertical editing from the timeline is maintained. Some of these scenarios are illustrated in the following examples.

If a clip contains only one segment and it is not part of a vertical edit, only the soft effect is extracted. Its corresponding node is automatically connected to the original clip.

Example 1: Extracting a Text soft effect from a segment not part of a vertical edit:

1. Select the timeline segment with the soft effect that you want to extract.

   In the following example, the selected segment is not part of a vertical edit. The segment has a Text soft effect.

   (a) Text soft effect indicator

2. Bring the segment into a BFX level with the Post option.

   The segment you selected is loaded as a clip in a Batch setup. All applied soft effects are brought in with the clip.

3. To display the clip's timeline, select the clip and click Timeline. Then Ctrl-drag the Text soft effect indicator from the clip’s timeline to the schematic.
   NoteIf you do not see the Timeline button, swipe the left side of the screen or double-click the clip.

   The Text soft effect is converted to a Text node. The node is automatically connected to the clip brought into the BFX setup.

4. Use the Text node to modify the Text setup or to connect to other clips.

If you enter a BFX level with all segments that make up the vertical edit and then extract soft effects, the corresponding segment becomes a new clip and is automatically connected to the extracted soft effects.

Only the selected soft effects get extracted if there are no other soft effects affecting the vertical edit.

Example 2: Extracting soft effects on segments that make up a complete vertical edit:

1. Select the segments making up the vertical edit on the timeline.

   In the following example, the front layer on the timeline is keyed over a background layer with an Axis soft effect. The front layer also has a Text soft effect.

   (a) Axis and Text soft effect indicators

2. Bring both segments into a BFX level using the Post option.

   Both segments are loaded in a Batch setup as a single clip with their soft effects.

3. To display the clip's timeline, select the clip in the schematic and click Timeline.
   NoteIf you do not see the Timeline button, swipe the left side of the screen or double-click the clip.

   The imported timeline layers and their soft effects are preserved.

4. Ctrl-drag both soft effect indicators from the clip’s timeline to the schematic.

5. The extracted soft effects are converted to nodes and their corresponding segment becomes a new clip. The nodes are connected together in the order of the soft effects pipeline.

   NoteIn this example, if you extracted only the Text soft effect, you would get the same result. The Action node would also get extracted because its segment is part of a vertical edit.
6. Use any of the nodes to modify the setups or to connect to other clips.

If you extract a soft effect from a segment that is part of a vertical edit, everything above the extracted soft effect is also extracted so as to preserve the same visual result. In this workflow, you enter a BFX level with all segments that make up the vertical edit.

Example 3: Extracting soft effects on segments that are part of a vertical edit:

1. Select all the segments making up the vertical edit on the timeline.
2. Bring the segments into a BFX level using the Post option.

   The segments you selected are loaded as a clip in a Batch setup. All applied soft effects are brought in with the clip.

3. To display the clip's timeline, select the clip and click Timeline.
   NoteIf you do not see the Timeline button, swipe the left side of the screen or double-click the clip.

   All applied soft effects are preserved on the imported segments.

   (a) Clip layers and soft effects

4. Ctrl-drag the soft effect indicators to the schematic.
5. Use any of the nodes to modify the setups or to connect to other clips.