A mobile device can generate real-time complex visual image effects using asynchronous processing pipeline. A first pipeline applies a complex image process, such as a neural network, to keyframes of a live image sequence. A second pipeline generates flow maps that describe feature transformations in the image sequence. The flow maps can be used to process non-keyframes on the fly. The processed keyframes and non-keyframes can be used to display a complex visual effect on the mobile device in real-time or near real-time.