Moving Effects Between Layouts

A layout is a rectangular area on the Mapping field within which effects play: Main layout occupies the entire field, while additional layouts mark out parts of it so that different animations go to different fixtures. Each effect belongs to a single layout and is only visible on fixtures that fall within that area. That's why moving an effect to another layout is a routine operation: the effect is already configured, and you simply need to show it on a different part of the project. It is moved by dragging in the left part of the Timeline window, together with all its parameters and keyframes.

What Is Kept and What Changes When Moving

Kept	Changes
All effect parameters and keyframes	The fixtures on which the effect is visible — now these are the fixtures of the new layout
Position on the time scale and duration	The area in which the effect is rendered: it is rebuilt to fit the size and shape of the new layout
Blend mode, opacity, and the effect's name	Its place in the stacking order — the effect goes wherever you place it

By default, an effect occupies the entire area of its layout, so after moving it to a layout of a different shape the image may look different: stripes may become narrower or wider, a large pattern may shrink, and movement may travel a different distance. This is not a bug but a recalculation of the effect for the new proportions. The settings themselves are not reset — if needed, simply adjust them in the Properties window.

How to Move an Effect

1. Open the composition by double-clicking it in the Compositions window. The left part of the Timeline window shows a row for every layout in the project, with the effects belonging to it listed beneath each one.
2. Expand the layout the effect currently sits in: click the arrow to the left of the layout's name. You don't need to expand the target layout.
3. Press and hold the left mouse button on the row with the effect's name, and drag the cursor toward the target layout.
4. Choose where to place the effect. Hovering the cursor over a layout's row highlights it — the effect will be placed at the very top of that layout. Hovering inside an already expanded layout, between adjacent effects, shows an insertion line — the effect will be placed exactly there.
5. Release the button. The effect moves to the new layout and immediately starts playing on its fixtures — the result is visible on the Mapping field and in the 3D View. If the layout was collapsed, it expands automatically.

An empty layout also stays collapsed: as long as it contains no effects, the arrow to the left of its name doesn't do anything. This doesn't get in the way of moving an effect — just drop the effect right on that layout's name row.

An unsuccessful move can be undone with Ctrl+Z and redone with Ctrl+Y.

The effect's bar in the right part of the Timeline controls timing, not the layout: dragging it shifts the effect along the time scale, and with Shift held it snaps to the start of the composition, to the playback cursor, and to the start and end points of neighboring effects. Moving an effect between layouts is done specifically via the row with its name in the left part of the window.

Exactly Where to Place the Effect

Within a layout, effects are stacked: the one higher in the list is drawn on top of those below it, taking into account its own режима смешивания and opacity. That's why, when moving an effect, it matters not only which layout it ends up in, but also its position within that layout's list: higher up if it should cover the others, lower down if it should serve as their background. Dropping onto a layout's name row always places the effect at the top of the stack; to place it elsewhere, expand the layout and drop the effect between its effects, at the insertion line. You can change its position afterward with the same drag-and-drop within the layout.

Layouts themselves are stacked the same way: a layout positioned higher in the Timeline covers those below it wherever their areas overlap. Main layout occupies the entire field, so an opaque effect in it will cover everything playing in the other layouts.

If the Effect Isn't Visible After Moving It

Check, in order:

• whether the effect itself is enabled — the checkbox next to its name — and whether its opacity isn't set to zero;
• whether the layout you moved it to is enabled: the layout's row has the same kind of checkbox;
• whether the new layout is covered by another layout positioned higher in the Timeline (Main layout can also be moved down below the others by dragging);
• whether the fixtures you need fall within the layout's boundaries: the boundaries are visible on the Mapping field, see Создание и изменение лейаутов;
• whether the playback cursor is within the effect's bar — moving an effect doesn't change its timing, so it may simply not have started yet or may have already ended.

How to Avoid Moving an Effect

A new effect from the Effects window is added to whichever layout is selected in the Timeline (a selected layout is filled with a light color); if none is selected, it goes into the topmost layout in the list. Select the layout you need beforehand by clicking its row, and you won't need to move the effect afterward. This is also a convenient way to figure out which layout is which: along with the row in the Timeline, its rectangle on the Mapping field is highlighted too. For more details, see Adding an Effect to a Composition.

If you need the effect in two layouts at once, don't move it — make a copy instead: right-click the effect, choose Duplicate, and move the copy to the other layout. From that point on these are two independent effects — edits to one don't affect the other.

Things Worth Remembering

• Layouts are shared across the whole project, while effects belong to a specific composition. Moving an effect happens within the open composition and doesn't affect other compositions: they have the same layouts but their own set of effects.
• Only one effect is moved at a time — the one whose row you dragged. Move several effects one by one, so you can see the order in which they land in the new layout.
• The same applies not only to effects from the library but also to images, sequences, and videos added to the timeline — they live within layouts on the same terms.
• The same drag-and-drop moves an effect into a projection group and back; for how effects work on a projection, see Adding Effects to a Projection.