Using the Layers panel
The Layers panel gives you a clear view of every element in your video and lets you control which elements appear in front of or behind others. If you have ever worked with layers in a design tool, the concept is the same: things higher in the list render on top of things lower in the list. This is especially important when you are working with titles, lower thirds, call-outs, and other graphics that need to appear over your video footage.
To open the Layers panel, click the Layers tab in the left sidebar.
How stacking order works
Every clip you add to your project appears in the Layers panel as a listed item. The position of a clip in that list determines its visual stacking order in the video:
- Clips higher in the list appear in front — they render on top of everything below them.
- Clips lower in the list appear behind — they sit underneath clips that are higher up.
This means if you have a text title and a video clip on the timeline at the same time, the title will only be visible if it is positioned above the video clip in the Layers panel. Video clips are always placed at the bottom of the list by default, so design elements and effects naturally render over the footage without any extra setup.
Overlap groups
When two or more clips share the same time range on the timeline — meaning they play at the same time — they appear together as an overlap group in the Layers panel. The group shows all the clips that are active during that overlapping period.
Reordering clips within an overlap group directly changes which element appears on top in the video output during that time range. This is how you control whether a lower-third title appears above or below a graphic overlay, for example.
Reordering clips
To change the stacking order of clips, click and drag any item in the Layers panel up or down. You can drag within an overlap group to change which element in the group appears in front, or drag a clip outside of a group entirely to move it to a different position in the overall layer stack.
The timeline automatically reflects any reordering you do in the Layers panel. There is no need to manually sync the two views — they stay in step with each other.
Effects and design elements vs. video clips
Design elements — such as titles, lower thirds, call-outs, and effects clips — appear toward the top of the Layers panel. Video clips sit at the bottom. This separation is intentional: it ensures that graphical elements are always rendered over the video layer, which is the expected behavior in almost every editing scenario.
Tip: If a design element you added seems to disappear or is invisible in the preview, check the Layers panel first. It may have been placed below a video clip or another opaque element. Drag it above the blocking clip to bring it forward and make it visible again.
