Which format effects can i use?

As well as its own internal SVFX format, Ai can make use of FreeFrameGL effects – an open source effects standard freely available from many sources across the internet. They can be added to Ai by installing them to the relevant directory:

Distrib/Modules/Effects/FreeFrame
Distrib/Modules/Effects/FreeFrameGL

Caution should be applied when making use of FreeFrame 1.0 plugins, as they are processed on the CPU and not the GPU. This can result in a bottleneck in the system due to a CPU being able to process less operations at the same time when compared to a dedicated GPU.

For this reason, where possible, a FreeFrame 1.5 version of an effect is preferable over a FreeFrame 1.0 version.