The timeline runs left to right along the bottom of the editor. Each row is a layer; layers stack top-down, with the topmost layer painting over everything below.
Layer types
- Video layer — MP4 / WebM / MOV clips with audio.
- Image layer — JPG / PNG / WebP / SVG / GIF.
- Text layer — single text block with font, size, colour, weight, alignment. The TEXT LAYER section also sets the text box Width and Wrap (None = only manual line breaks, drawing past the frame edges for camera moves), and a TEXT RANDOMIZER section gives every word, line or letter its own seeded size, colour, font weight and italic — with Uniform / Gaussian / Every-Nth / Wave distributions and ready-made presets (Random Pop, Chaos Letters, Random Rise, Ransom Note) in the text-animation gallery.
- Shape layer — rectangle, ellipse, circle, arrow or custom path with fill, border and shadow.
- Audio layer — standalone audio without video.
- Voice layer — narration you record or synthesise, editable word-by-word in the Transcribe Editor.
- Motion layer — a native MotionFast animated template.
- Sequence layer — several layers grouped into one compound clip you can edit in place.
- Grid layer — several layers arranged by a live rule and animated as one. See Grid Builder.
- 3D model layer — a real 3D object (device mockups or your own .glb/.gltf/.obj) filmed by the project camera. See 3D Model Layers.
- Adjustment layer — draws nothing itself; re-grades and transforms every layer below it, and can carry GPU effects and a colour LUT.
- Camera layer — a virtual camera that moves the whole stack. See Camera Layer.
There is no hard cap on the number of layers. Practical projects use 3–10 layers.
Colour LUTs on adjustment layers
Select an adjustment layer and open the LUT section in the right panel to load a standard .cube colour look-up table (3D LUTs, as exported by DaVinci Resolve, Premiere, or any LUT pack). The LUT grades everything below the layer, on top of the layer’s own filter settings and before any stacked GPU effects.
- Load .cube LUT… parses the file and stores it inside the project, so the look travels with the project file and renders identically in exports — no external file reference to break.
- Intensity (0–100%) blends between the original and the graded image, and can be animated with keyframes (the ◆ next to the field).
- Very large LUTs (64³/65³) are resampled to 33³ on import — the standard realtime-grading resolution — to keep project files light. 1D LUTs are not supported.
Add a layer
- Drag a media element from the canvas onto the timeline.
- Drag from the Media Library directly onto the timeline.
- Use the timeline toolbar: the strip reads Add Channel · Add Layer · Camera · Record · AI Fill, plus the Smart AI menu of AI actions (AI Reframe, AI Shorts, AI Beats, AI Transcribe / AI Captions, AI Fill). Add Layer ▾ holds Text, Shape, 3D, Grid, Voice and Audio.
- Add Channel ▾ opens a menu with Add empty channel and Add adjustment channel. With layers selected, the adjustment entry changes to over selection — the new layer spans the selected clips and lands directly above them.
A new clip lands at the playhead position by default. Cmd / Ctrl-D duplicates the selected layer(s) onto a fresh channel directly above, at the same time position.
Layer order and depth
Drag a layer row up or down to change stacking. The top layer paints last and is most visible — unless a layer has a Z position: what sits in front of what is decided by depth first, so a layer pushed toward the camera comes forward past the layers above it, exactly as it looks in the 3D view. Layers at the same depth keep their channel order, and adjustment layers / clip masks still act on everything below them.
Many-layer helpers
- Compact switches every channel to half-height rows for projects with many layers; the choice is remembered.
- Clean (the broom) removes every empty channel in one click, telling you how many first.
- Right-click a channel header to select every layer on it.
- With playback paused, ← / → step the playhead one frame (Shift = 10) — and a marquee drag past the timeline’s edge auto-scrolls it.
- Dragging a multi-selection snaps it as one object to clip edges, markers, the playhead and 0s (Alt bypasses).
Trim, split, move
- Drag a clip to move it along the timeline.
- Drag the left or right edge to trim in / out.
- Click the playhead position and press Cmd / Ctrl-K to split a clip at the playhead.
- Cmd / Ctrl-click two clips to ripple-delete the gap between them.
Selection
- Click a clip to select.
- Shift-click to add to selection.
- Selected clips show the inline property panel: position, scale, rotation, opacity, blend mode, audio gain.
Solo and mute
Each layer row has solo and mute toggles. Solo plays only that layer; Mute silences audio on that layer without changing video.
Press M with a layer selected (or a multi-selection) to mute it — the volume drops to 0. Press M again to restore the previous level. The pre-mute level survives saving and reopening the project.
Lock
Lock a layer to prevent accidental edits. Useful for finished background layers when you are working on overlays.
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