ON1 Effects 2023 Getting Started Guide
Welcome
ON1 Effects 2023 is a complete stylizing tool for your photos. With a professional-grade effects engine that includes 31 filters, Effects gives you endless possibilities for finishing your photos, with extensive stacking, AI-powered masking and blending options; hundreds of borders and textures; and a set of local adjustment tools for applying basic tone and color options to your images. You can even create multi-layered composites with Effects’ Layers feature. And, to help get you started, Effects comes with more than 100 built-in presets, and you can save and apply your own presets with the click of a button.
First Steps
You can use ON1 Effects 2023 on both Mac and Windows.
A license lets you install Effects on 2 computers. When you enter your ON1 account info, Effects communicates with the ON1 activation server and registers your software for that computer.
Standalone Workflow
You can use ON1 Effects 2023 as a standalone app, simply by dragging and dropping photos into the primary app window. When using Effects as a standalone app, you have complete re-editability of your original files, regardless of their format.
Opening a Photo from Within Effects
When you first launch Effects, the main window will have an icon in the center and an Open Photo button. To start working on a photo, you can either drag a photo from your desktop onto the icon, or you can click on the Open Photo button, both of which will open the primary Effects window, where you can start applying filters and other edits to your photos.
On both MacOS and Windows, you can also drag a photo on top of the Effects 2023 icon, which will launch the app with that image, bypassing the startup window.
Plugin Workflow
You can use ON1 Effects 2023 as a plugin for other photo editors such as Adobe’s Photoshop, Lightroom Classic CC, and Photoshop Elements, as well as other image editors like Affinity Photo, Capture One, Corel PaintShop Pro, and Apple Photos. When using Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, or Apple Photos as your primary editor, you have the option of having your work saved so that it is re-editable inside Effects at a later time. To harness the full potential of Effects as a seamless plugin for various photo editors, check out our in-depth guides below:
- Using ON1 2023 Plugins With Lightroom
- Using ON1 2023 Plugins with Adobe Photoshop
- Using ON1 2023 Plugins with Adobe Photoshop Elements
- Using ON1 2023 Plugins with Affinity Photo
- Using ON1 2023 Plugins with Capture One
- Using ON1 2023 Plugins with Corel PaintShop Pro
- Using ON1 2023 Plugins with Apple Photos
Extras
ON1 Effects 2023 supports a number of additional file types that can be used in various places. These files, called Extras, include the following types:
- Presets for use within Effects. If you download an .ONPreset or .ONP file (for use with Effects), double-click on it to install it.
- Borders can be imported and used with Effects’ Borders filter.
- Textures that can be imported and used with Effects’ Textures filter.
- Look-up tables (LUTs) for use with Effects’ LUTs filter.
- Brush shapes, which are generally saved as black-and-white TIF files. Effects can also import custom brushes saved in the Adobe Brush Preset format (.abr). These brushes are generally used within the Local Adjustments tab of Effects.
- Sun flares, which can be imported and used with Effects’ Sun Flare filter.
- Watermarks, and image files (transparent PNGs) that can be used with the Export function.
What Type of Images Can I Import as Extras?
Textures may be any image file that Effects can open, including JPEG, TIFF, raw or Photoshop files. Border files must have a large central area that is transparent, so only files that support transparency, such as PNG, can be imported as borders. LUTs can be in either .3DL or .CUBE format. Brush shapes can either be in the Adobe Brush Preset (.abr) file format, or saved as black-and-white TIF files. Sun flare files are usually JPEG files with a black background.
Using Extras
You access borders, textures, LUTs, and sun flares from within those four filter types in Effects. To use them follow these steps:
- Open an image into Effects.
- In the Filter Options pane, select the Borders, LUTs, Sun Flare or Textures filter type.
- From the Category pop-up, select a category you have imported. User-added extras categories will appear at the bottom of the category list.
- Choose an extra from the imported category.
ON1 Effects 2023 Main Screen Overview
Effects provides you with an easy-to-use work space for editing your photos. Below is an overview of the main sections of the Effects window:
A. Tool Well: Tools for working within Effects 2023.
B. Preferences/Help: Shortcuts to app preferences and help.
C. Filters/Preset panel: Tabbed panels with (a) a list of all installed presets (by category), or (b) a list of all Effects filters.
D. Search: Searches presets (and filters, when working in Effects) by name.
E. Preview Window: Displays the current photo in detail view.
F. Preview option toggles: Magnification slider for current image, compare (before/after) mode, show/hide mask, turn soft proofing and preview on or off.
G. Tool Options bar: Options and settings for currently selected tool.
H. Photo Information pane: Navigator, levels (histogram) and general photo information and edit history panel.
I. Layers pane: Add, edit and manage layers here.
J. Effects /Local tabs: Tabs for accessing the Effects and Local Adjustments sections of the Effects window. Clicking on each tab brings up the settings for that tab.
K. Filter stack: Where you add filters to apply to your photo. To add a filter, you can click on the Add Filter button at the top of the stack, or use the Presets or Filters panel on the left side of the window.
L. Reset bar: Reset All (restores settings to the original state when you opened the photos), Cancel (closes the photo without saving), Done (closes photo, opens a dialog box to let you specify the file name and type of the finished photo).
M. Output: Shortcuts for printing or exporting the current photo.
You've just scratched the surface of how to get started with Effects. If you're eager to dive deeper, we highly recommend checking out our comprehensive User Guide.
Learn More
View our free training resources to get up and running with Effects:
ON1 Effects 2023 User Guide | Getting Started in Effects 2023 Video Course |
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