A graphics system includes an effect engine, which executes a predefined set of graphics operations having a higher computational complexity than pipeline operations. The graphics system further includes a graphics pipeline operative to perform the pipeline operations on graphical objects in a frame. The effect engine is operative to execute the predefined set of graphics operations on a subset of the graphical objects in the frame. One or more buffers are operative to receive pixels of the frame for display. The frame includes the graphical objects operated on by the graphics pipeline and the subset of the graphical objects operated on by the effect engine.