Lay B-roll, a picture or a GIF over your video
Lay another shot, a picture or a GIF over a video on up to four layers, over the whole picture or in a corner, and drag blocks between the layers.
01Add a layer
Open a video in the Studio and play to where the other shot should start. Layer, in the OVERLAYS group of the Add rail, asks for a video, a picture or a GIF and lays it over the whole picture from the play position. A video runs as long as it is, up to the next block on that layer or the end of your video, and a picture stays 5 seconds. The block goes on the first layer that is free there, and its page opens on the right, named after its layer, with a card headed for example LAYER 1 · 0:12 TO 0:17.
02The sound stays your video's
A video on a layer comes in without its own sound, so you keep hearing your video under it, a voice-over for example. To hear the layer instead, click Its sound in the card (Hear this cell instead of the video under it), and click it again to go back. Its sound only shows for a video that has sound.
03The whole picture or a corner
SIZE has Small, Medium, Large and Full. Full covers the whole picture. With Small, Medium or Large the block sits in a corner and CORNER appears, with Top left, Top right, Bottom left and Bottom right. Fill crops the file to fill its place, and with Fill you drag it on the preview to choose which part shows. Whole shows all of it and leaves the rest open, so your video shows around it. Replace… puts another video or picture in its place.
04Or start in a corner with Collage
Collage on the Add rail with just one file puts it in a corner from the start: Medium, at the bottom right, fading in and out, and a picture such as a logo shown whole with its transparency. Two to four files make a collage on the Video row instead. Either way, COMES AND GOES is Straight cut or Fade (a block from Layer starts with a straight cut), and Remove or the Delete key takes the block off.
05Layer 2 lies over layer 1
There are up to four layers, Layer 1 to Layer 4, under OVERLAYS on the timeline: the layers in use and one empty line under them. A higher layer lies over the lower ones, so a corner on layer 2 stays visible over a full shot on layer 1. Text, marks and captions lie over every layer.
06Move and time the blocks
Drag a block along its line to move it, and drag its edges to make it longer or shorter. A block lasts at least half a second, and on one layer blocks never overlap. Drag a block up or down onto another layer's line and it goes there if that line has room for its whole length, otherwise it stays where it was. A double click on a layer's line asks for a video or a picture and puts it in a corner on that layer, at that point. A block lies on the clip it starts on, so it moves with that clip on the Video row, and goes when that clip is removed.
07When every layer is taken
Four blocks can lie over the same moment. When all four layers are taken at the play position, the Studio adds nothing and says Every layer is taken at the play position. Move the play position or shorten a layer's block there. Pasting a block where all four are taken says Every layer is taken there. Shorten a layer's block there or paste it somewhere else.
08A GIF as a layer
A GIF repeats for as long as its block shows and keeps its transparency, so a sticker or an animated logo sits on the video with nothing around it. Its block starts at 5 seconds whatever the GIF's own length; drag its edge to keep it longer. Added in a corner, with Collage or a double click on a layer's line, it is shown whole.
09Make it move
The KEYFRAMES card under the layer's card lets a block travel, grow or fade, for example a full shot that shrinks into a corner. Up to 1.8.1 the Studio had a single Picture in picture row for one file over the video; from 1.9.0 it has Layer 1 to Layer 4.
Didn't solve it? Write to us - attach a diagnostics log if you have one. Missing a feature? Tell us what you would use it for; several of the recent ones started as a suggestion.