Upload a clip and describe a single effect — exploding gold coins, god rays and lens flare, neon haze, electric arcs, drifting sparkle. The preservation rules are written for you server-side, so the product, the framing and the camera move come back the way you filmed them and the effect is what changed.Upload a clip and describe a single effect — exploding gold coins, god rays and lens flare, neon haze, electric arcs, drifting sparkle.
Describe the effect, not the scene. Everything that keeps the shot yours — same subject, same background, same framing, same camera move, no invented captions — is added around your words before the clip is rendered.
Your clip is the reference, not the inspiration
The upload’s own aspect ratio and runtime are preselected
Subject, background, framing and camera move pinned
No invented captions, logos or watermarks
Sample result gallery
The same shot, with one thing added
Nine real runs from this tool. Every card plays the actual source clip beside the actual output — both complete files, not posters — so you can check the product against itself rather than take the effect on trust.
Source clip — no effect
Coins erupt from the screen
videoAdd an effect
Fintech app · exploding gold coins
The reward-moment effect a finance or gaming ad needs at the hook, added to a plain phone-in-hand shot instead of shot with a coin cannon.
Source: Soku-generated source clip
Source clip — no effect
Blue arcs pulse around the product
videoAdd an effect
Headphones · electric energy arcs
Crackling arcs and sparks trace the product silhouette. The earcup, the reflection and the black studio ground survive them.
Source: Soku product clip
Source clip — no effect
Neon haze rolls under the frames
videoAdd an effect
Sunglasses · neon haze and light streaks
Low haze lit magenta and cyan, with streaks raking the lenses — the club-poster look, on a clean studio pack shot.
Source: Soku product clip
Source clip — no effect
Glitter and bokeh around the bottle
videoAdd an effect
Serum bottle · sparkle and bokeh
Fine glitter and soft glowing bokeh drift upward around the bottle. The label text is legible in both halves, which is the thing worth checking.
Source: Soku product clip
Source clip — no effect
Volumetric rays and anamorphic flare
videoAdd an effect
Running shoe · god rays and lens flare
A harder example: the source already carries motion streaks, so the added light has to read as a separate layer rather than more of the same.
Source: Soku product clip
Source clip — no effect
A glow lifts the bottle out of the shot
videoAdd an effect
Skincare UGC · warm product glow
A creator-style hold-to-camera shot, with a warm halo lit around the bottle. Her face, the tank top and the bathroom behind her are the source frames — only the light on the product is new.
Source: Soku product clip
Source clip — no effect
Ribbons fall through the frame
videoAdd an effect
Retail promo · falling gold ribbons
Gold confetti ribbons drop through a mall walk-and-carry shot, the sale-moment cue a retail ad wants at the hook without a second shoot day.
Source: Soku product clip
Source clip — no effect
Trails streak off the wheels
videoAdd an effect
EV · neon light trails
Coloured light trails follow the car through the corner. The road, the cliff and the dusk sky are untouched; the trails are the whole edit.
Source: Soku product clip
Source clip — no effect
An arc snaps across the can
videoAdd an effect
Energy drink · lightning arc
A single electric arc cracks across the can mid-drink. It is one beat rather than a constant overlay, which is what keeps it readable at the hook.
Source: Soku product clip
Features
What the tool actually does
You write the effect, not the brief
“Exploding gold coins” is a complete prompt here. The clauses that keep the subject, wardrobe, background, framing and camera move identical are added server-side, where they cannot drift.
The effect is told to stay off the product
Coin bursts, confetti and particle storms will happily bury the thing being advertised. The instruction that stops them is part of every run rather than something you have to remember.
Shape and length follow the upload
A vertical 12-second ad comes back vertical and 12 seconds. Both are preselected from the file you drop in, so an effect is not also a silent recut.
No invented on-frame copy
The model is told not to add text, captions, logos or watermarks. Garbled burned-in copy is what turns a near-miss into an unusable ad.
One effect at a time, on purpose
Stacking four effects in one prompt is how you get a clip where none of them read. Run them one at a time and keep the version that tested.
Already in the campaign workspace
The result lands beside your campaigns, so testing the effect version against the original does not begin with a re-upload.
Three deliberate steps
01
Upload the clip
Any video up to 15 seconds — a product shot, a UGC take, an ad that is already running. Its aspect ratio and runtime are read off the file.
02
Name the effect
One phrase: coins bursting out of the screen, god rays across the frame, neon haze, electric arcs, frost creeping over the surface, drifting sparkle.
03
Check it against the original
Both clips play side by side. Look at the product, the label, the hands and the frame edges before it carries any spend.
Why Soku
The effect is the cheap part. Knowing it worked is not.
Adding a coin burst to a hook is a twenty-minute job in After Effects and a five-second job here — but neither one tells you whether the coin burst earned its place. The reason this sits next to your ad accounts is that the second question is the expensive one.
Your footage, held down
A general video model treats an upload as a mood board and re-imagines the scene. The prompt this tool wraps around your words exists to stop that, and the gallery above is what it buys you.
A variant, not a rebuild
The point of an effect version is that everything else is unchanged, so the test is clean. That is a constraint on the tool, not a caveat about it.
Honest about what it is
This is generative, not compositing. The clip is re-rendered with the effect in it, so fine detail can move — which is why both halves are always shown instead of just the output.
Then run it as an ad
The clip sits where your campaigns live. Launch the effect cut against the original and let the result decide whether effects are worth doing again.
Use cases
Who reaches for this, and when
Fintech & gaming
Put the reward moment in the first second
Coins, confetti, level-up glow — the visual grammar of the category, on your own app footage rather than on a stock cutaway.
Performance marketer
Test whether the effect actually lifts anything
Run the effect version against the original in the same audience. Same shot, same length, one variable.
DTC brand
Make a flat pack shot feel produced
A light sweep or a sparkle pass turns catalogue footage into something that survives a paid-social feed, without a re-shoot.
Agency
Show the effect on the client’s product
Pitch the treatment on their actual footage instead of a reference reel from someone else’s campaign.
Creative team
Try five looks before booking one
Neon, embers, frost, arcs, haze — generate them all against the same source and take the winner into production.
Social team
Refresh a clip that is fatiguing
The creative that is tiring does not always need replacing. Sometimes it needs a new first second.
Specifications
Input
One clip, and one phrase naming the effect.
Source
Any video file up to 15 seconds
Best results
A clear subject, stable framing, and room in the frame for the effect to live in
Prompt
The effect only — coins, rays, flare, haze, arcs, embers, frost, sparkle, confetti
Scales with duration and resolution, shown before you generate
Included
A complete playable video file
Not included
Headline, claim, offer, voiceover, captions, CTA, end card
What to review
Product label and pack text, logos, hands and fingers, reflections, frame edges, and whether the effect ever hides the product
Alternatives
How this compares to the other ways of doing it
There are three realistic ways to get an effect onto an ad: composite it, pick a preset, or generate it. They differ mostly in how much of your original footage is still there afterwards.
Uses your actual clip
Soku
Yes — it is the reference
Preset apps
Yes, as a layer underneath
After Effects
Yes, frame for frame
Plain text-to-video
No — a new clip entirely
Effects available
Soku
Anything you can describe
Preset apps
The ones in the pack
After Effects
Anything you can build
Plain text-to-video
Anything you can describe
Reacts to the scene
Soku
Yes — lighting and occlusion are generated with it
Preset apps
No — it sits on top
After Effects
Only if you track and light it by hand
Plain text-to-video
N/A
Pixel-exact original
Soku
No — the clip is re-rendered
Preset apps
Yes
After Effects
Yes
Plain text-to-video
No
Skill required
Soku
One sentence
Preset apps
Pick a preset
After Effects
A compositor
Plain text-to-video
Prompt craft
Time to a testable cut
Soku
One generation
Preset apps
Minutes
After Effects
Hours
Plain text-to-video
One generation
Capability
Soku
Preset apps
After Effects
Plain text-to-video
Uses your actual clip
Yes — it is the reference
Yes, as a layer underneath
Yes, frame for frame
No — a new clip entirely
Effects available
Anything you can describe
The ones in the pack
Anything you can build
Anything you can describe
Reacts to the scene
Yes — lighting and occlusion are generated with it
No — it sits on top
Only if you track and light it by hand
N/A
Pixel-exact original
No — the clip is re-rendered
Yes
Yes
No
Skill required
One sentence
Pick a preset
A compositor
Prompt craft
Time to a testable cut
One generation
Minutes
Hours
One generation
Comparison is by category, not by vendor — the specific tools in each column change faster than this page does.
Pricing
Pay per clip, not per seat
Effects are billed in credits, so trying five looks against one source costs five runs rather than a subscription decision.
One run is one clip. Cost scales with duration and resolution, is shown before you generate, and is recorded against that run in your history.
AI VFX means describing a visual effect in plain language and having a model produce it, instead of compositing it frame by frame. Here it is scoped to one job: adding an effect to a clip you already have, while keeping the subject, framing and camera move that clip already had.
What effects can I ask for?
Anything you can name in a phrase. The ones that read best on ad creative are bursts (gold coins, confetti, sparks), light (god rays, lens flare, light sweeps, rim light), atmosphere (neon haze, smoke, embers, frost, fog) and particles (glitter, bokeh, dust motes, electric arcs). Ask for one at a time.
Is my original footage preserved exactly?
No, and it is worth being clear about it. This is a generative model, not a compositor: your clip is the reference and the output is re-rendered with the effect in it. The prompt is built to hold the subject, product, background, framing, colour and camera move steady, and the samples above show how close that gets — but fine detail such as small pack text, hands and reflections can shift, so check both halves before you publish.
Will the effect cover my product?
The instruction sent with every run says the effect must read clearly but never cover the product or the subject. That is the single most common failure mode for burst effects, which is why it is pinned server-side rather than left to your prompt.
Does it change my aspect ratio or length?
Not by default. Both are preselected from the file you upload, so a vertical 12-second ad comes back vertical and 12 seconds. You can override either before generating.
How long can the clip be?
Up to 15 seconds of source, and 4–15 seconds of output at 480p or 768p. Credit cost scales with duration and resolution and is shown before you generate.
Can I use it on an ad that is already running?
Yes — that is the most useful case. Add an effect to the creative that is fatiguing, run it against the original in the same audience, and keep whichever wins.
How is this different from restyling a video?
A restyle changes the whole look of the footage — claymation, anime, film stock. This adds one thing to footage whose look is meant to stay the same. If you want the former, use the video restyler; if you want a variant of the ad you already have, use this.
Put the effect on your own footage and see if it earns the slot.
Upload one clip, name one effect, and check it against the original before it carries any spend.
Soku AI
