ArKaos VJ: Layering Effects for Spectacular Visuals

It’s easy to create completely unique, dynamic visuals in ArKaos VJ by layering different effects on top of each other. The layering process, achieved by simultaneously pressing two or more keys that are mapped to trigger effects, is known as “chaining effects.” While the visual possibilities of this process are infinite, there are a few simple guidelines we recommend you observe when chaining effects.

It is important to understand that the order in which you trigger your effects has an impact on the resulting visual. For example, if you play a kaleidoscope effect then a particle effect, the resulting image will be very different from the image created by triggering a particle effect followed by a kaleidoscope effect. The ArKaos engine renders multiple effects by drawing them as layers, starting with the oldest active key you are holding, then adding the result of the keys you depress after that. Keep that in mind when planning out the order in which you will play your effects.

The second thing to consider is that not all kinds of effects and/or movies can be played as chords (when two or more keys that represent images and effects are played at once). You can think of visual effects as falling into two families. The first group of effects completely fills the screen (kaleidoscope and tunnel, for example). The second group of effects makes use of the previous layer when rendering (such as particle, flag, and spinning cube). It is recommended that you play effects from the first family first*. For example, a kaleidoscope will work very well with a particle effect, but only when the kaleidoscope is the oldest layer. Effects from the second family can be played at any place in the layers, and you will always see a visual result.

*While it is possible to play effects that completely fill the screen over other effects, be aware that this will cause the program to process more slowly.