The image in the pictures is 1024 x 768. The project is 1280 x 720.
The image is blown up a bit, but I don’t think resolution is the problem; I have another image that is 1920 x 1080, and even at it’s natural size there is a distortion when I apply any effect.
And that wouldn’t explain why the example image would look fairly crisp without any effects on it, and then suddenly degrade with a simple filter.
Might it be a hardware issue, or rather some preference I have set?
I have recently cleared out my Motion files and app and did a reinstall, and this issue wasn’t resolved that way either, so I don’t think the issue would be in any preference files in my library.