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# About Soft Effects

Soft effects bring the power of the Smoke effects modules to the timeline. Unlike module effects, soft effects accelerate the creation and tweaking of effects because you apply the effect directly to the timeline. You can create soft effects from both the EditDesk record timeline and the BFX timeline.

Applying a module effect involves three main steps. First, you match the element in the timeline to its source clip in the Source Area. Next, you apply the module effect to the source clip in the chosen module, creating a new clip. Finally you replace the old element in the timeline with the new clip. Using soft effects, the element you are modifying remains in the timeline; there is no need to match or replace clips. Similarly, all changes are made in-place to the media element that has already been modified. However, not all module effects are available as soft effects.

Soft effects are commonly applied to video and audio elements. They can also be applied to gaps in the timeline, including empty layers. Gap effects allow you to create an effect that spans more than one element.

If proxies are enabled for your project, you can switch between full resolution and proxy mode in both the soft effects quick menus and the editors. Working with proxies speeds up processing time in projects with high-resolution images.

Most of the illustrations in this chapter are of the EditDesk record timeline. There may be some differences with those of those of a BFX timeline.

If an interface element is not described in this chapter, refer to the corresponding effect in the module chapter. For information on audio soft effects, see Working with Audio in the Timeline.