You can set three types of effects: opacity, clipping and scaling.
Opacity/Fade
Opacity/Fade can be "Opacity" or "Fading".
For "Opacity" you can only set the alpha value: 0 is fully transparent, 255 is fully opaque. "Render alpha into image" creates a new image with the opacity already applied during compilation.
For "Fading" you have to set Alpha from/to and Speed. Speed is the number of frames used to change the alpha value from "Alpha from" to "Alpha to". If you set "Only once", the alpha value stops at the "Alpha to" value. Otherwise the alpha value changes continuously from "Alpha from" to "Alpha to" and back again (taking "Speed" frames in each direction).
If you want to change the opacity of the state at runtime, select the type "Opacity".
Clipping
Crops the state to the specified rectangle.
The clipping is applied in screen coordinates. It is attached to the state of the object and moves together with it. This matters in the following case: suppose your object is placed off the screen on the right (left coordinate 2000) and is 300 pixels wide. If you apply a clipping whose "right" value is 1919, you will not see this state even after you move it onto the screen. In this case you have to use 2300 for "right".
Scaling
Scaling can be "Scale" (simple scaling) or "Custom scaling". With simple scaling you can only set a percentage or the target size of the image.
"Custom scaling" is a text field in which you can create your own scaling animation.
Scaling cannot be used with text.
If you want to change the scale of the state at runtime, select the type "Scale".
Move container
If this is enabled, the state can be moved at runtime.
Global
The state remains global despite the effects applied to it.