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Pulse & motion effect

Only Moving

Only Moving is a beat-reactive motion effect in FRCTL, the browser VJ studio. The picture survives only where it moved; everything still falls away.

Runs live on video, images, a camera or generated art. Stack it with any other effect, and route LFOs, envelopes or any of ten audio bands to its controls so it moves with the music.

Try Only Moving free All effects

The untouched demo art: an eye inside a triangle over wavy teal, blue and peach lines — Source

The eye-in-triangle art dimmed toward dark brown and teal, with still areas sinking toward black — Only Moving, default settings

What Only Moving does

Keeps the picture only where it has recently moved and sinks everything still toward dim grey or black. Moved areas stay open for a moment after they stop, so a dancer leaves a fading window behind them. Reveal sets how much motion opens the mask, Hold how long it lingers, Soften the edge blur, Fill whether still areas turn dim grey or full black.

Using Only Moving

Where it works: Cuts a performer out of a busy background without a green screen, which helps with a live camera on the dancefloor or a dance clip that needs a clean black backdrop for text.
With the music: The mask follows movement by itself. B1 (kick) on Reveal opens more of the frame on each kick, and a slow LFO on Fill swings the still areas between grey and black over a phrase.
Starting point: Reveal centre, Hold three-quarters, Soften centre, Fill hard right, Sense centre, then raise Reveal if slow gestures vanish.

Controls

Reveal: How much measured motion it takes to open the mask.
Soften: Blur radius on the mask edge.
Hold: How long a moved area stays open after it stops.
Fill: What the still areas become, from dim grey through to black.
Sense: How little texture counts as motion worth revealing.

Pairs well with Only Moving