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Add a blur or highlight from Effect → Blur & highlight (press E) to hide sensitive details or draw attention to a region of screen footage, including uploaded video.
Blur and highlight work on footage in a layout’s Screen slot. Blur hides sensitive information; highlight masks everything except the area you want viewers to notice. The controls moved from Overlay to Effect. See Where did the Zoom tool go? for other moved controls.
Blur and highlight work on screen recordings, uploaded videos, and image or video B-roll in the Screen slot. On a camera-only clip, add a media layout with Screen-slot media first. If the clip has no screen recording and no Screen-slot media, the Effect panel asks you to record your screen or add a media layout.

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Where did the blur tool go?

  1. Open your video in the editor.
  2. Click Effect in the sidebar, or press E.
  3. Find Blur & highlight.
The Effect timeline shows zooms, blurs, and highlights together, so you can compare and adjust their timing in one place.

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Blur sensitive information

  1. Move the playhead to where the blur should start. You can also select a range on the timeline or in the transcript.
  2. Click the plus button beside Blur & highlight. Tella adds a blur to the footage in the Screen slot and opens its settings.
  3. On the canvas, drag and resize the blur to cover what you want to hide.
  4. On the Effect timeline, drag the card or either edge to change its timing.
  • Drag the start or end of the blur to change its duration.
  • Drag the card left or right to move it earlier or later.
  • Hold Option on Mac or Alt on Windows while dragging to turn snapping off.
Hover over a blur or highlight card or either duration handle to preview the exact frame under your pointer. While you drag a duration handle, the preview follows the moving edge while the red playhead stays parked.
A selected time range wins over the playhead. If you select several ranges, Tella adds one effect to each. Clear the selection first when you want the playhead to decide where the effect starts.
Blur and highlight timing follows your edited playback timeline, so removed sections are skipped. If the playhead is inside a cut, Tella starts the effect at the first visible frame after that cut.

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Add a highlight

  1. Click the plus button beside Blur & highlight.
  2. In the selected effect’s settings, change Type from Blur to Highlight.
  3. Position and resize the clear area around what you want viewers to notice.
  4. Adjust its timing on the Effect timeline.
You can also open Add in the timeline toolbar and choose Add highlight directly.

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Add overlapping effects

Click the plus button again to add another blur, or use Add in the timeline toolbar to choose a blur or highlight. Position each effect on the canvas and adjust its timing on the Effect timeline. You can run multiple blurs and highlights at the same time. Overlapping cards move onto separate tracks automatically so each one stays visible. See work with the multi-track timeline.

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Edit or remove an effect

Select a visible blur or highlight directly on the canvas, even when another editor tool is open. Tella switches to Effect and opens its settings. You can also select its card in the Effect timeline.
  • Drag the selected area to reposition it, or use the arrow keys to move it by one canvas pixel. Hold Shift while pressing an arrow key to move it by 10 pixels.
  • Use Type to switch between Blur and Highlight without recreating the effect.
  • Use Intensity to set how strong the effect is. For a highlight, it controls how dark the area outside the clear region gets. For a blur, it makes the blur heavier.
  • Use Transition to choose Smooth or Hard cut.
  • Click Delete in the timeline toolbar, or right-click the card and choose Delete blur or Delete highlight.
  • To remove every blur and highlight from the current clip, open More actions and choose Reset all blurs and highlights. This also removes effects hidden inside cuts. Click Undo in the confirmation message to restore them together.
A blur never gets lighter than its default. Lowering Intensity on a blur returns it to the standard strength, so whatever it covers stays hidden.

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Animate a blur or highlight

By default, a blur or highlight uses a Hard cut, appearing and disappearing instantly. Select Smooth under Transition to fade it in and out instead.
You cannot split a blur or highlight while its transition is set to Smooth. Change it to Hard cut first if you need to split it.

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Split at the playhead

  1. Select the blur or highlight.
  2. Move the playhead inside the effect.
  3. Click Split in the timeline toolbar, press X, or right-click the card and choose Split at playhead.
The new right half keeps the same type, position, size, intensity, and transition. You can then resize, reposition, or retime either half independently.

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Use blur and highlight with crops, layouts, and zooms

Blur and highlight apply to the footage in the layout’s Screen slot when the effect starts. If image or video B-roll is in that slot, the effect stays attached to the media and ends when the media leaves the Screen slot. It continues across adjacent layout sections that keep the same media there. Media in the Camera slot is unaffected. You can keep one area highlighted while another stays blurred as a zoom plays.
Blur and highlight areas follow the Shape selected in Style for that layout section. In a full layout, the camera or screen frame stays square at the canvas edge, while the effect keeps your Rounded or Circle shape in the editor and exported video.
When you add a blur or highlight during a zoom, Tella places it in the center of the visible zoomed area. You can then drag and resize it across the active Screen-slot footage, including areas outside the canvas.
If a crop still includes the full covered area, the effect stays anchored to the same content. If the crop cuts through part of it, Tella adjusts the effect to fit. Resetting the crop keeps that adjusted position and size. If the crop removes the covered area completely, Tella removes the blur or highlight.
Last modified on September 28, 2026