Overlays

Overlays let you layer additional visual content on top of your video timeline — things like picture-in-picture video, images, SVG graphics, logos, lower-thirds, and animated elements. They sit above your main video clips and can be positioned, scaled, and animated independently.

What Are Overlays?

An overlay is a visual element that renders on top of your video. Unlike text overlays (which display styled text), these overlays can contain video clips, images, SVG graphics, or preset animations. They're useful for:

• Picture-in-picture — Show a second video (like a webcam feed or B-roll) in a corner of the screen
• Images — Place photos, logos, or any image on top of your video using a URL (PNG, JPG, etc.). For now, images must be provided as URLs.
• SVG graphics — Add icons, badges, animated lower-thirds, title cards, or custom illustrations
• B-roll footage — Layer supplementary video content on top of your main timeline
• Preset animations — Built-in animated overlays like caption presets that render dynamic, timed content on top of your video

Overlay Types

Video Overlays

Video overlays let you place a video clip on top of your timeline. The video can come from your library or from an external URL. You control which portion of the source video plays (using in and out points) and when it appears on your timeline.

"Add a picture-in-picture of the interview clip in the bottom right corner from 0:05 to 0:15."

"Overlay the product demo video in the top left, small size, starting at 0:10."

Image Overlays

Image overlays let you place a static image on top of your video. Provide an image URL (PNG, JPG, or other common formats) and the assistant will layer it on your timeline. This is great for logos, watermarks, photos, or any visual element that doesn't need to move or animate on its own.

"Add the company logo from this URL as an overlay in the top left corner for the entire video."

"Place this product photo in the bottom right from 0:05 to 0:12."

SVG Overlays

SVG overlays let you place vector graphics on your video. These can be static images or animated SVGs. You can generate SVGs using AI (see SVG Graphics) or provide your own.

"Add the logo SVG as an overlay in the bottom right corner for the entire video."

"Place the animated lower-third graphic at the bottom center from 0:03 to 0:08."

Preset Overlays

Preset overlays are built-in animated effects that render dynamic content on top of your video. The most common example is caption presets — animated caption styles that display your transcript words with custom animations, colors, and effects. See the Captions section for details on browsing and applying caption presets.

Preset overlays appear as purple blocks in the overlay track on the timeline.

Positioning and Layout

Each overlay has several layout controls:

• Position — Where on screen the overlay appears, using X and Y coordinates (0 to 1 range, where 0.5 is center)
• Anchor — Which point of the overlay aligns to the position (top/bottom/center, left/right/center). For example, anchoring to "bottom right" and positioning at the bottom-right corner places the overlay neatly in that corner.
• Scale — How large the overlay is relative to the video canvas. A width of 0.25 means the overlay takes up a quarter of the video width.
• Opacity — How transparent the overlay is (0 = invisible, 1 = fully visible)
• Z-index — Stacking order when multiple overlays are on screen at the same time. Higher values appear on top.
• Cropping — Crop the overlay content to show only a portion of it (video overlays only — see Cropping Overlays below)

Managing Overlays

You can describe what you want in natural language:

Adding overlays:

"Add a picture-in-picture of the interview in the bottom right corner."

"Overlay the animated logo in the top left from 0:00 to 0:05."

Updating overlays:

"Move the overlay to the center of the screen."

"Make the picture-in-picture larger."

"Change the overlay opacity to 50%."

Removing overlays:

"Remove the logo overlay."

"Delete all overlays."

Premiere Pro Export

Video overlays and SVG overlays are fully supported in the Premiere Pro project export. When you export, overlays are placed on separate video tracks above your main timeline. Positioning, scale, opacity, playback speed, and in/out points all carry over into Premiere Pro as Basic Motion filter parameters, so your overlays appear exactly where you placed them. If you've animated an overlay's position or opacity with keyframes, those animations export as keyframes in Premiere Pro too. External video overlays (from URLs) are downloaded and bundled in the ZIP alongside your library media.

For SVG-specific export details, see SVG Graphics.

The Overlay Track

Overlays have their own dedicated track in the timeline editor, shown below the audio track. Each overlay clip appears as a colored block indicating its type:

• Indigo — Video overlays
• Teal — SVG / animation overlays
• Purple — Preset overlays
• Green — Split-screen panels

Each block shows the overlay type, duration, and playback speed (if changed from 1x) at a glance. Split-screen overlays also display a link icon to indicate they belong to a group.

Moving Overlays

Drag an overlay clip left or right on the timeline to change when it appears in your video.

Trimming Overlays

Click the overlay clip to focus it, then use the handles that appear on either side to adjust its start or end time — just like trimming a video clip. This shortens or lengthens the overlay by trimming source content.

Hold Shift while dragging a trim handle to change the overlay's playback speed instead of trimming it. This keeps all the source content but plays it faster or slower to fit the new duration.

Stacking

When multiple overlays share the same time range, they stack vertically in the overlay track so you can see and manage each one individually. Overlays with a higher z-index appear on top in the preview and are grouped together in the track.

Interactive Editing in the Preview

You can edit overlays directly in the video preview — no need to type out positions and sizes manually.

Focusing an Overlay

Click an overlay clip on the timeline to focus it. The focused overlay gets a blue outline and the rest of the video dims, making it easy to see exactly what you're working with.

Dragging to Reposition

When an overlay is focused and has a selected keyframe (or no keyframes yet), grab it and drag to move it around the preview. The overlay snaps to the edges of the video canvas. On touch devices, you can drag with your finger.

Resizing with Handles

A focused overlay shows resize handles on its corners and edges. Drag any handle to make the overlay larger or smaller. Corner handles resize in both directions at once; edge handles resize in one direction.

Anchor Point Indicators

When focused, nine dots appear on the overlay representing the possible anchor points. The active anchor is highlighted — this is the point the overlay's position is measured from.

The Overlay Panel

The Overlay Panel is a dedicated side panel for editing the currently focused overlay. Open it by clicking an overlay in the preview or on the timeline — the panel appears on the right side of the editor.

The panel shows all the controls for the selected overlay in one place, so you can adjust settings without hunting through menus. If no overlay is focused, the panel displays a prompt to select one.

Fit Mode

Controls how the overlay's content scales within its bounding box:

• Contain — The content fits entirely within the box, preserving its aspect ratio (may show empty space)
• Cover — The content covers the entire box, preserving its aspect ratio (may crop edges)
• Fill — The content stretches to fill the box exactly (may distort the aspect ratio)

Anchor

A 3×3 grid lets you set the overlay's anchor point visually. The anchor determines which point of the overlay aligns to its position. For example, setting the anchor to "bottom right" and positioning the overlay at the bottom-right corner places it neatly in that corner. Hover over the info icon for a quick reminder of how the anchor interacts with the fit mode.

Crop

For video overlays, the panel includes crop controls:

• Crop — Opens the visual crop editor (see Cropping Overlays below). A small preview of the current crop region is shown in the panel when a crop is applied.
• Reset — Removes any existing crop and shows the full video frame again (only appears when a crop is applied)

Keyframes

The keyframes section lets you navigate and manage keyframes for the selected overlay:

• Add a keyframe at the playhead — Move the playhead over the overlay, then add a keyframe to set a position for that moment in time
• Navigate between keyframes — Use the previous/next buttons to jump to adjacent keyframes
• Change interpolation type — Switch a selected keyframe between Linear, Ease, and Hold
• Remove a keyframe — Delete the currently selected keyframe
• Copy a keyframe — Select a keyframe and press Ctrl+C (or Cmd+C on Mac) to copy its position and opacity values
• Paste to a keyframe — Select a different keyframe and press Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V on Mac) to apply the copied values

Copy/paste is available for framing, volume, and overlay keyframes alike — handy for making two keyframes match exactly without manually entering the same numbers. A copied keyframe pastes onto another keyframe of the same kind, so an overlay keyframe goes onto another overlay keyframe rather than onto a framing one. Volume keyframes are interchangeable between audio clips and video clips. The copy also travels with you: paste it into another project, or into the editor open in a second browser tab.

Opacity

The opacity slider controls how transparent the overlay is. When no keyframes have opacity set, the slider adjusts the overlay's base opacity — the same value for the entire duration.

To animate opacity over time, select a keyframe and adjust the slider. The value is applied to that specific keyframe, and StarZero Agents interpolates smoothly between keyframes. When any keyframe has an explicit opacity, the slider becomes read-only unless a keyframe is selected — it shows the live opacity at the current playhead position so you can see what's on screen.

"Fade the logo overlay in over the first second, then fade it out at the end."

Linking

The panel shows whether the overlay is linked to a video clip. You can:

• Link to a video clip — Attaches the overlay to a video clip that overlaps it, so they move together when reordering. The button is disabled if no suitable video clip is found.
• Unlink from video clip — Detaches the overlay so it stays in place independently.

See Linked Overlays for more details on how linking works.

Removing an Overlay

At the bottom of the panel, a Remove overlay button lets you delete the focused overlay from the project.

Animating Overlays with Keyframes

Overlays support keyframe animation to create movement over time. You can animate:

• Position — Move the overlay across the screen (e.g., slide in from off-screen)
• Opacity — Fade the overlay in or out, or pulse its visibility over time
• Crop focal point — Pan within the overlay content over time

Keyframe Markers on the Timeline

Overlay keyframes appear as small markers on the overlay clip in the timeline. Click a marker to select that keyframe and jump to its time. Right-click a marker to open a context menu where you can change its interpolation type or remove it.

You can also right-click anywhere on an overlay clip to add a keyframe at that position on the timeline.

Each keyframe has an interpolation type that controls the transition from this keyframe to the next. The keyframe's shape on the timeline tells you which type it is:

• Circle — Ease (smooth acceleration and deceleration, default)
• Diamond — Linear (constant speed)
• Square — Hold (stays at this position until the next keyframe)

"Add the logo overlay in the top right, and have it slide in from off-screen over the first second."

Live Preview

The preview player shows your overlays in real time. As you play or scrub through the timeline, overlays appear at their configured position, size, and opacity — exactly as they'll look in the final render. SVG animations play back live, and video overlays stay synchronized with the timeline.

Cropping Overlays

Video overlays support visual cropping, letting you show only a specific region of the source video. This is useful for zooming into a person's face, isolating a section of the frame, or fitting content into a particular layout.

Opening the Crop Editor

There are two ways to open the crop editor for a video overlay:

• Click the crop icon that appears on the overlay clip in the timeline
• Open the overlay menu and select Crop

Using the Crop Editor

The crop editor shows a full preview of the overlay's source video with a draggable crop region on top:

• Drag the crop region to reposition which part of the video is visible
• Drag the corner or edge handles to resize the crop area
• Click Apply to save your crop, Reset to return to a full-frame crop, or Cancel to discard changes

Video Frame Scrubber

For video overlays, the crop editor includes a frame scrubber below the preview. This slider lets you scrub through the source video to pick the exact frame you want to crop against — so you can set your crop region on the right moment in the clip rather than whichever frame happened to load first.

The scrubber spans the overlay's in-point to out-point range. As you drag the slider, the preview updates in real time. The current source time and corresponding timeline time are shown on either side of the slider, and a marker indicates where the timeline playhead was when you opened the crop editor.

Aspect Modes

The crop editor has three aspect modes, shown as a toggle group at the bottom of the editor. Each mode is color-coded so you can tell at a glance how the crop will behave:

• Locked (blue) — The crop shape is locked to match the overlay's shape on the canvas. Resizing the crop maintains these proportions, so the result displays without any stretching. This is the default for new crops.
• Adapt (yellow) — Crop freely to any shape. When you apply, the overlay automatically resizes on the canvas to match the cropped area's proportions. Use this when you want to reframe the content and have the overlay adjust to fit.
• Free (red) — Crop without any constraints. The overlay keeps its original size on the canvas, so the content may appear stretched or squeezed if the crop shape doesn't match the overlay shape.

Resetting a Crop

To remove a crop and show the full video frame again, open the overlay menu and select Reset crop.

Crop and Keyframes

Overlay crops work together with keyframe animation. You can animate the crop's focal point over time to create panning effects within the cropped region.

Split-Screen Layouts

Split-screen layouts let you show multiple views of the same video side by side — for example, two speakers in a conversation, different angles of a scene, or zoomed-in regions. Each panel shows a different cropped region of the same source clip, all playing in sync. The result looks like a multi-camera production from a single video.

You can create split-screen layouts two ways: visually using the Split Screen panel in the editor, or by asking the AI assistant in chat.

The Split Screen Panel

Open the Split Screen panel from the editor's side panel (the grid icon). The panel shows what's under the playhead:

• No clip under the playhead — Move the playhead over a video clip to get started.
• A clip with no split screen yet — Click Create split screen to open the editor.
• An existing split screen — A card shows the layout diagram, preset name, and time range. Click Update to edit or Delete to remove it.

Creating a Split Screen

When you open the split-screen editor, you'll see:

1. A video preview of the source clip, with colored rectangles showing where each panel crops into the frame. Drag and resize these rectangles to position each panel's view. Areas outside the crop zones are dimmed so you can see exactly what each panel captures.

2. A preset rail on the left with layout options. Presets are sorted so the best-fitting layouts for your project's aspect ratio appear first. Presets that would produce very narrow or very tall panels are dimmed (you can still select them).

3. A time slider at the bottom with trim caps that define which portion of the source clip the split screen covers. Shot boundaries appear as tick marks on the slider, and the trim caps snap magnetically to shot boundaries for precise alignment. A scrub handle lets you preview any frame in the source clip.

Layout Presets

Nine built-in presets cover the most common arrangements:

• Stacked — 2 panels top and bottom
• Side by side — 2 panels left and right
• 3 rows / 3 columns — 3 panels in a line
• 2 over 1 / 1 over 2 — 3 panels with an asymmetric split
• 2×2 grid — 4 equal panels
• 4 rows / 4 columns — 4 panels in a line

Custom Grids

For layouts beyond the presets, click the pencil icon on any preset tile to open the Custom Grid Builder. Starting from any preset layout (or a blank canvas), you can:

• Split a panel into columns (side by side) or rows (stacked) to add more panels
• Remove a panel to simplify the layout
• Drag dividers between panels to resize them — column dividers snap magnetically to the equal-split point
• Build grids with up to 12 panels

Click Apply to use the layout. Your custom layout is saved for reuse across projects — it appears as the Custom tile in the preset rail.

Suggest Layout

Click Suggest layout (sparkle icon) to let the AI analyze the current frame and automatically position the crop zones on detected subjects. If two or more subjects are found, each panel is placed to frame one subject. If the detected subject count doesn't match the current panel count, the layout switches to the best-fitting preset automatically.

This works well for conversation footage where you want each speaker in their own panel — scrub to a frame where all speakers are visible, then click Suggest layout.

Copy and Paste

The Copy and Paste buttons in the editor footer let you transfer a layout between clips:

• Copy captures the grid structure and crop positions
• Paste applies a copied layout, automatically adjusting crop zones for the new clip's aspect ratio

Copy/paste works across projects and browser tabs. You can also use Ctrl+C / Cmd+C and Ctrl+V / Cmd+V while the editor is open.

Asking the AI Assistant

You can also create split-screen layouts by describing what you want in chat:

"Create a split-screen with the two speakers, one on top and one on the bottom."

"Make a left-right split screen showing each person."

"Set up a three-panel layout with each speaker in their own section."

"Create a 3+2 grid — three panels on top, two on the bottom."

The AI analyzes your video to detect subjects and sets up the layout with proper cropping for each panel. Split-screen layouts created by the AI can be edited in the visual editor, and vice versa.

Linked Overlays

Split-screen overlays are linked to their parent timeline clip. This means:

• When the AI moves or reorders the parent clip, the linked overlays move with it automatically
• When the parent clip is deleted, its linked overlays are removed too
• When the parent clip is split, linked overlays are automatically split to match — each half stays linked to the correct new clip
• When the parent clip's playback speed changes, linked split-screen panels match it automatically so all panels stay in sync
• If you manually drag or trim a linked overlay on the timeline so it no longer overlaps with its parent clip, the link breaks and it becomes an independent overlay

To manually unlink an overlay, click the link icon on the overlay clip in the timeline, or right-click the clip and choose "Unlink from parent clip."

On the Timeline

Split-screen panels appear as green blocks on the overlay track, with a link icon indicating they belong to a group. If you individually delete, trim, or move a panel on the timeline (outside the split-screen editor), the group becomes broken and can only be deleted — open the Split Screen panel to see the status.

Tips for Split-Screen

• Make sure your project has an aspect ratio set before creating a split-screen layout — the editor needs it to calculate proper panel dimensions.
• Split-screen overlays are placed behind regular overlays (lower z-index), so your other overlays like logos or lower-thirds still appear on top.
• For conversation footage, scrub to a frame where all speakers are clearly visible before using Suggest layout — it works best when every subject is on screen.
• Use the time slider's shot-boundary snapping to align the split screen precisely with cuts in your footage.

Tips

• Start with a small scale (like 0.25 width) for picture-in-picture, then adjust if needed.
• Use anchor points to make positioning intuitive — anchor to "bottom right" for corner placements.
• Focus an overlay and drag it in the preview for quick repositioning — often faster than typing coordinates.
• Use the resize handles to fine-tune overlay size visually.
• Overlays render at full quality, even if the preview looks simplified.
• SVG overlays with animations will render smoothly in the final video, even if the in-app preview pauses them for performance.
• Use the overlay track to fine-tune timing visually — it's often faster than describing exact timestamps in the chat.
• Right-click overlay clips on the timeline to quickly add keyframes at specific positions.
• Use the crop editor to zoom into the important part of a video overlay — great for focusing on a face in a picture-in-picture view.
• Use Locked mode in the crop editor when you want consistent framing across multiple overlays. Switch to Adapt mode if you want the overlay to resize automatically to match your crop.